8

Or forc'd examples, 'gainst her own content,
To put the by-pass'd perils in her way?
Counsel may stop a while what will not stay;
For when we rage, advice is often seen
By blunting us to make our wits more keen.

Nor gives it satisfaction to our blood,
That we must curb it upon others' proof,
To be forbid the sweets that seem so good,
For fear of harms that preach in our behoof.
O appetite, from judgment stand aloof!
The one a palate hath that needs will taste,
Though reason weep, and cry, "it is thy last."

For farther I could say, "this man's untrue,"
And knew the patterns of his foul beguiling;
Heard where his plants in others' orchards grew,
Saw how deceits were gilded in his smiling;
Knew vows were ever brokers to defiling;
Thought characters, and words, merely but art,
And bastards of his foul adulterate heart.

And long upon these terms I held my city,
Till thus he 'gan besiege me: "Gentle maid,
Have of my suffering youth some feeling pity,
And be not of my holy vows afraid :

That's to you sworn, to none was ever said;
For feasts of love I have been call'd unto,
Till now did ne'er invite, nor never vows.

All my offences that abroad you see,

Are errors of the blood, none of the mind;
Love made them not: with acture they may be',

Where neither party is nor true nor kind:

They sought their shame that so their shame did find,

nor never vow.] So the quarto, 1609, although we may suspect that too might be the poet's word, misread by the compositor. If, however, woo best suits the rhyme," vow seems preferable for the sense.

9 - with ACTURE they may be,] This is the word in the old copy, and "acture" is supposed to be synonymous with action, for which word it may easily have been misprinted. Nevertheless, in "Hamlet," Vol. vii. p. 273, we have enactures in a similar sense.

And so much less of shame in me remains,
By how much of me their reproach contains.

Among the many that mine eyes have seen,

Not one whose flame my heart so much as warmed,
Or my affection put to the smallest teen',

Or any

of my

leisures ever charmed:

Harm have I done to them, but ne'er was harmed;
Kept hearts in liveries, but mine own was free,
And reign'd, commanding in his monarchy.

Look here, what tributes wounded fancies sent me,
Of paled pearls, and rubies red as blood;
Figuring that they their passions likewise lent me
Of grief and blushes, aptly understood

In bloodless white and the encrimson'd mood;
Effects of terror and dear modesty,

Encamp'd in hearts, but fighting outwardly.

And lo! behold these talents of their hair,
With twisted metal amorously impleach'd,
I have receiv'd from many a several fair,
(Their kind acceptance weepingly beseech'd)
With the annexions of fair gems enrich'd,
And deep-brain'd sonnets, that did amplify
Each stone's dear nature, worth, and quality.

The diamond; why, 'twas beautiful and hard,
Whereto his invis'd properties3 did tend,
The deep-green emerald, in whose fresh regard
Weak sights their sickly radiance do amend;
The heaven-hued sapphire, and the opal blend
With objects manifold: each several stone,
With wit well blazon'd, smil'd, or made some moan.

1- to the smallest TEEN,] "Teen" is sorrow, a word that has frequently occurred before. See this Vol. p. 397.

2

behold these TALENTS of their hair,] in reference to the supposed value of the gift.

"Talents" seems employed here "Impleach'd," in the next line,

means plaited or interwoven. See this Vol. p. 108.

3 his INVIS'D properties-] "Invis'd" is explained unseen or invisible. Malone considered it "a word of Shakespeare's coining," and we have no other example of its use.

4

Lo! all these trophies of affections hot,
Of pensiv'd and subdued desires the tender,
Nature hath charg'd me that I hoard them not,
But yield them up where I myself must render;
That is, to you, my origin and ender:
For these, of force, must your oblations be,
Since I their altar, you enpatron me.

O! then, advance of yours that phraseless hand,
Whose white weighs down the airy scale of praise;
Take all these similes to your own command,
Hallow'd with sighs that burning lungs did raise;
What me, your minister, for you obeys,
Works under you; and to your audit comes
Their distract parcels in combined sums.

Lo! this device was sent me from a nun,
Or sister sanctified, of holiest note;
Which late her noble suit in court did shun,
Whose rarest havings made the blossoms dote':
For she was sought by spirits of richest coat,
But kept cold distance, and did thence remove,
To spend her living in eternal love.

But O, my sweet! what labour is't to leave
The thing we have not, mastering what not strives?
Paling the place' which did no form receive;
Playing patient sports in unconstrained gyves?

made the BLOSSOMS dote ;] Mr. Barron Field would read bosoms for "blossoms," and refers to a passage in " King Lear," Vol. vii. p. 478, where, in one of the quarto editions, "bosom" is misprinted "blossom." This may certainly be so; but as the old text, taking "blossoms" as the flower of the nobility, the "spirits of richest coat," is intelligible, we refrain from making any change. For the same reason we do not alter "The thing we have not" to "The thing we love not," which Mr. Barron Field also recommends, and which would certainly make the sense of the poet more evident and forcible.

5 PALING the place-] The old copy has " Playing the place," the compositor having, probably, caught "Playing" from the next line. Malone substituted "Paling" with some plausibility, and no better suggestion has yet been offered: he understands "Paling the place" as fencing it; but if the compositor caught "Playing" from the next line, the word rejected might be one of a very different appearance and import, and "paling the place" cannot be said to accord as well as could be wished with the rest of the line: "Planing the place" may possibly be the right word.

She that her fame so to herself contrives",
The scars of battle scapeth by the flight,
And makes her absence valiant, not her might.

O, pardon me, in that my boast is true!
The accident which brought me to her eye,
Upon the moment did her force subdue,
And now she would the caged cloister fly;
Religious love put out religion's eye :
Not to be tempted, would she be immur'd,
And now, to tempt all, liberty procur'd'.

How mighty then you are, O hear me tell!
The broken bosoms that to me belong,
Have emptied all their fountains in my well,
And mine I
pour your ocean all among:
I strong o'er them, and you o'er me being strong,
Must for your victory us all congest,

As compound love to physic your cold breast.

My parts had power to charm a sacred sun3,
Who, disciplin'd, I dieted in grace',
Believ'd her eyes, when they t' assail begun,
All vows and and consecrations giving place.
O most potential love! vow, bond, nor space,
In thee hath neither sting, knot, nor confine,
For thou art all, and all things else are thine.

When thou impressest, what are precepts worth
Of stale example? When thou wilt inflame,

"contrive."

6 She that her fame so to herself CONTRIVES,] In "The Taming of the Shrew," Vol. iii. p. 136, we meet with a somewhat similar use of the verb to 7 Not to be tempted, would she be immur'd,

And now, to tempt all, liberty procur'd.] The passage is thus given in the quarto, 1609

"Not to be tempted would she be enur'd,

And now, to tempt all, liberty procure."

There is little doubt that the lines have been properly amended by Malone. 8 to charm a sacred SUN,] Very possibly, as Malone proposes, we ought to read nun for " sun."

Who, disciplined, I DIETED in grace,] Our text is from the quarto, 1609, the property of Lord Francis Egerton. Malone's copy at Oxford has "I died" for "and dieted," which he substituted at the suggestion of a correspondent. The meaning of the reading we have restored, and which must have been substituted in the press, is very distinct.

How coldly those impediments stand forth

Of wealth, of filial fear, law, kindred, fame?

Love's arms are peace', 'gainst rule, 'gainst sense, 'gainst shame;

And sweetens, in the suffering pangs it bears,

The aloes of all forces, shocks, and fears.

Now, all these hearts that do on mine depend,
Feeling it break, with bleeding groans they pine;
And supplicant their sighs to you extend,

To leave the battery that you make 'gainst mine,
Lending soft audience to my sweet design,
And credent soul to that strong-bonded oath,
That shall prefer and undertake my troth."

This said, his watery eyes he did dismount,
Whose sights till then were level'd on my face;
Each cheek a river running from a fount
With brinish current downward flow'd apace.
O, how the channel to the stream gave grace!
Who, glaz'd with crystal, gate the glowing roses
That flame through water which their hue incloses.

O father! what a hell of witchcraft lies

In the small orb of one particular tear;

But with the inundation of the eyes

What rocky heart to water will not wear?
What breast so cold that is not warmed here?
O cleft effect! cold modesty, hot wrath,
Both fire from hence and chill extincture hath!

For lo! his passion, but an art of craft,
Even there resolv'd my reason into tears;
There my white stole of chastity I daff'd;
Shook off my sober guards, and civil fears:

1 Love's arms are PEACE,] We may suppose a misprint here, but still sense can be made out of the original text. Malone would read "Love's arms are proof;" and Steevens, "Love aims at peace." If we made any change, we should prefer the recommendation of Malone, but even he did not think it expedient to insert it in the text. We must make "Love," understood, the nominative to "sweetens."

20 cleft effect!"] The old copy has "Or cleft effect," doubtless an error, and properly corrected by Malone.