O, what excufe will my poor beaft then find,
When swift extremity can feem but flow 3?
Then should I fpur, though mounted on the wind+;
In winged speed no motion shall I know:
Then can no horfe with my defire keep pace;
Therefore defire, of perfect love being made,
Shall neigh (no dull flesh) in his firy race';
But love, for love, thus fhall excufe my jade;
Since from thee going he went wilful-flow,
Towards thee I'll run, and give him leave to go.

LII.

So am I as the rich, whofe bleffed key

Can bring him to his fweet up-locked treasure,

3 When fwift extremity can feem but flow?] So, in Macbeth:
"The fifteft wing of recompence is flow." STEEVENS.
4 Then fhould I fpur, though mounted on the wind;] So, in Macbeth =
"And Pity, like a naked new-born babe,

"Striding the blaft, or Heaven's cherubin, bors'd
"Upon the fightless couriers of the air,

"Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye."

It is likewife one of the employments of Ariel,

"To run upon the fharp wind of the north."

Again, in King Kenry IV. P. II.

"I, from the orient to the drooping west,
"Making the wind my poft-bor fe—.”

Again, in Cymbeline:

-whofe breath

"Rides on the posting winds." MALONE.

5 Shall neigh (no dull fleft) in bis firy race;] The expreffion is here fo uncouth, that I strongly fufpect this line to be corrupt. Perhaps we fhould read:

Shall neigh to dull flesh, in his firy race. Defire, in the ardour of impatience, fhall call to the fluggish animal, (the horfe) to proceed with fwifter motion. MALONE.

Perhaps this paffage is only obfcured by the aukward fituation of the words no dull flefb. The fenfe may be this: "Therefore defire, being no dull piece of horse-firb, but compofed of the most perfect love, fhall neigh as he proceeds in his hot career." "A good piece of hortefiefb,' ," is a term ftill current in the table. Such a profufion of word, and only to tell us that our author's paffion was impetuous, though

his horfe was flow! STEVENS.

The

The which he will not every hour furvey For blunting the fine point of feldom pi Therefore are feafts fo folemn and fo rare Since feldom coming, in the long year f Like ftones of worth they thinly placed a Or captain jewels in the carcanet.

So is the time that keeps you, as my che
Or as the wardrobe, which the robe doth
To make fome special inftant fpecial-bleft
By new unfolding his imprifon'd pride.

Bleffed are you, whofe worthiness gives
Being had, to triumph, being lack'd, to

Hor. M

For blunting the fine point of feldom pleasure.] T blunting, &c. See Vol. VI. p. 204, n. 9. Voluptates commendat rarior ufus. -aciefque babetatur amori Mutato toties. Alicubi. STEEVENS. 7 Therefore are feasts so folemn and so rare, Since feldom coming, in the long year fet, Like ftones of worth, &c.] So, in King Henry IV "If all the year were playing bolidays, "To fport would be as tedious as to work;

"But, when they feldom come, they with'd-for c "And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents." Again, ibidem:

year.

66

-my state,

"MA

"Seldom, but fumptuous, fhewed like a feaft,
"And won by rarenefs much folemnity.'
-feafts fo folemn and fo rare,] He means the four

STEEVENS.

8 Or captain jewels in the carcanet.] Jewels of fuperio in Timon of Athens:

"The afs more captain than the lion, and the fo "Loaden with irons, wifer than the judge."

Again, in the 66th Sonnet:

"And captive Good attending captain Ill."

The carcanet was an ornament worn round the neck. M

9 Or as the wardrobe, which the robe doth bide,

P. I:

To make fome special inftant Special-bleft,] So, in King

"Then did I keep my perfon fresh and new;

My prefence, like a robe pontifical,
"Ne'er feen but wonder'd at." STEEVENS.

LIII.

What is your fubftance, whereof are you made,
That millions of ftrange fhadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one fhade,
And you, but one, can every fhadow lend,
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit1
Is poorly imitated after you;

On Helen's cheek all art of beauty fet,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new:
Speak of the fpring, and foizon of the year2;
The one doth fhadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear 3 ;
And you in every bleffed fhape we know.

In all external grace you have some part,
But you like none, none you, for constant heart.

LIV.

O, how much more doth beauty beauteous feem,
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye,
As the perfumed tincture of the rofes+;

Hang

1-and the counterfeit-] A counterfeit, it has been already obferved, formerly fignified a portrait. See p. 202, n. 8. MALONE.

2 Speak of the fpring, and foizon of the year;] Foizon is plenty. See Vol. I. p. 40, n. 6. The word is yet in common ufe in the North of England. MALONE.

3 The other as your bounty,-] The foizon, or plentiful feason, that is, the autumn, is the emblem of your bounty. So, in The Tempeft: "How does my bounteous filter [Ceres]?"

Again, in Antony and Cleopatra:

-For his bounty,

"There was no winter in't; an autumn 'twas,
"That grew the more by reaping." MALONE.

4 The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye,

As the perfumed tincture of the roles;] The canker is the canterrofe or dog-rofe. The rofe and the canker are oppofed in like manner in Much ado about Nothing: "I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rofe in his grace." MALONE.

Shakficare

:

Hang on fuch thorns, and play as wantonly
When fummer's breath their mafked buds discloses 5;
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwoo'd, and unrefpected fade;
Die to themselves; Sweet rofes do not fo;
Of their sweet deaths are fweeteft odours made7:
And fo of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When that fhall fade, my verfe diftills your

LV.

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments?

truth.

Of princes, fhall out-live this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unfwept ftone, befmear'd with fluttish time'.

Shakspeare had not yet begun to obferve the productions of nature with accuracy, or his eyes would have convinced him that the cynorbodon is by no means of as deep a colour as the rofe. But what has truth or nature to do with Sonnets? STEEVENS.

5 When summer's breath their masked buds discloses:] So, in Hamlet ; "The charieft maid is prodigal enough,

"If the unmask her beauty to the moon:

"Virtue itself fcapes not calumnious strokes :
"The canker galls the infants of the spring,

"Too oft before their buttons be difclofed." MALONE.

6 But, for their virtue-] For has here the fignification of because. So, in Othello:

"haply for I am black." MALONE.

7-Sweet roles do not fo;

Of their fweet deaths are sweetest odours made :] The fame image occurs in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

66 earthlier happy is the rofe diftill'd,

--

"Than that, which, withering on the virgin thorn,
"Grows, lives, and dies, in fingle bleffedncfs."

MALONE.

8 —my verse diftills your truth ] The old copy reads, I think, corruptedly-by ve: fe diftills your truth. MALONE.

9 Not marble, nor the gilded monuments, &c.]

Exegi monumentum ære perennius,
Regalique fitu pyramidum altius.

Hor.

This Sonnet furnishes a very ftrong confirmation of my interpreta

tion of the words, "a paper epitaph," in K. Henry V.
p. 468, n. 7. MALONE.

1 Than unfwept ftone, befmear'd with fluttish time.]
Well that ends Well:

"Where duft, and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb
"Of honour'd bones indeed." MALONE.

See Vol. V.

So, in All's

When

When wasteful war shall statues overturn,

And broils root out the work of masonry,

Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory 2.

'Gainft death and all-oblivious enmity

Shall you pace forth; your praise fhall ftill find room Even in the eyes of all pofterity,

That wear this world out to the ending doom.

So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

LVI,

Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not faid,
Thy edge fhould blunter be than appetite;
Which but to-day by feeding is allay'd,
To-morrow fharpen'd in his former might:
So, love, be thou; although to-day then fill
Thy hungry eyes, even till they wink with fulness,
To-morrow fee again, and do not kill

The fpirit of love with a perpetual dulnefs.
Let this fad interim like the ocean be

Which parts the fhore, where two contracted-new
Come daily to the banks, that, when they fee
Return of love, more bleft may be the view:
Or call it winter 3, which being full of care,
Makes fummer's welcome thrice more wifh'd, more

rare.

LVII.

Being your flave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your defire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor fervices to do, till you require.

2 When wasteful war fall ftatues overturn, &c.]
Jamque opus exegi, quod nec Jovis ira nec ignes,
Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetuftas. Ovid.

MALONE.

3 Or call it winter,] The old copy reads-As call it, &c. The emendation, which requires neither comment nor fupport, was fuggefted to me by the late Mr. Tyrwhitt. MALONE.

Nor