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O hard-believing love, how ftrange it seems
Not to believe, and yet too credulous !
Thy weal and woe are both of them extremes
Defpair and hope make thee ridiculous:

The one doth flatter thee in thoughts unlike
With likely thoughts the other kills thee q

Now the unweaves the web that she had wroug
Adonis lives, and death is not to blame;
It was not fhe that call'd him all to nought;
Now the adds honour to his hateful name;

She clepes him king of graves, and grave for
Imperious fupreme of all mortal things.

No, no, (quoth fhe,) fweet Death, I did but jef
Yet pardon me, I felt a kind of fear,
When as I met the boar, that bloody beast,
Which knows no pity, but is ftill fevere;

Then, gentle fhadow, (truth I must confefs,)
I rail'd on thee, fearing my love's decease.

'Tis not my fault: the boar provok'd my tongue Be wreak'd on him, invifible commander 9 9; 'Tis he, foul creature, that hath done thee wrong I did but act, he's authour of thy flander:

Grief hath two tongues, and never woman yet Could rule them both, without ten women's wit

6 With likely thoughts-] The edition of 1596 has-T &c. the compofitor having caught the word The from the lin The correction was made in that of 1600. MALONE.

7 Imperious fupreme-] So the first octavo. That of 1600 r perial. The original is the true reading, and had formerly t meaning. So, in Troilus and Creffida:

"I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon." MALON 8 When as I met the boar,-] When as and when were ufe criminately by our ancient writers. MALONE.

9-invifible commander ;] So, in K. Jobn:

"Death, having prey'd upon the outward parts,
"Leaves them invifible; and his fiege is now
Against the mind." MALONE.

Thus hoping that Adonis is alive,

Her rash fufpect the doth extenuate';
And that his beauty may the better thrive,

With death she humbly doth infinuate 2;

Tells him of trophies, ftatues, tombs 3; and ftories
His victories, his triumphs, and his glories.

O Jove, quoth fhe, how much a fool was I,
To be of fuch a weak and filly mind,

To wail his death, who lives, and must not die,
Till mutual overthrow of mortal kind!

For he being dead, with him is beauty flain 5,
And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again.

Fie,

1 Her rafb fufpect he doth extenuate ;] Sufpe& is fufpicion. Sɔ, in our authour's 70th Sonnet:

"The ornament of beauty is fufpect." MALONE.

2 With death fhe bumbly doth infinuate;] To infinuate meant formerJy, to footh, to flatter. To infinuate with was the phrafeology of Shak fpeare's time. So, in Twelfth Night:

"Defire him not to flatter with his lord." MALONE.

3 Tells him of trophies, flatues, tombs;-] As Venus is here bribing Death with flatteries to fpare Adonis, the editors could not help thinking of pompous tombs. But tombs are no honour to Death, confidered as a being, but to the parties buried. I much fufpect our author intended: Tells him of trophies, ftatues, domes-. THEOBALD.

The old copy is undoubtedly right. Tombs are in one fenfe bonours to Death, inasmuch as they are fo many memorials of his triumphs over mortals. Befides, the idea of a number of tombs naturally presents to our mind the dome or building that contains them; so that nothing is ob tained by the change.

As. Mr. Theobald never published an edition of Shakspeare's poems, the reader may perhaps wonder where his obfervations upon them have been found. They are inferted in the fecond volume of Dr. Jortin's Mifcellaneous Obfervations on authors, 8vo, 1731. MALONE.

4 and ftories

His victories, bis triumphs, and bis glories.] This verb is also used in The Rape of Lucrece:

"He ftories to her ears her husband's fame-".

Again, in Cymbeline: "How worthy he is, I will leave to appear hereafter, rather than ftory him in his own hearing." MALONE.

5 For be being dead, with him is beauty flain,] So, in Romeo and Juliet: "O, the is rich in beauty; only poor,

"That, when the dies, with beauty dies ber ftore." MALONE. 6 And, beauty dead, black chaos comes again.] The fame expreffion

occurs in Othello:

"Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my foul,

But

Fie, fie, fond love, thou art fo full of fear,
As one with treasure laden, hemm'd with thieves;
Trifles, unwitneffed with eye or ear,

Thy coward heart with falfe bethinking grieves.
Even at this word the hears a merry horn,
Whereat she leaps, that was but late forlorn.

As faulcon to the lure, away fhe flies;
The grafs ftoops not, fhe treads on it fo light7;
And in her hafte unfortunately fpies

The foul boar's conqueft on her fair delight;
Which feen, her eyes, as murder'd with the view,
Like stars afham'd of day, themfelves withdrew.

Or, as the fnail, whofe tender horns being hit,
Shrinks backward in his fhelly cave with pain,
And there, all fmother'd up, in shade doth fit,
Long after fearing to creep forth again;

So, at his bloody view, her eyes are fled
Into the deep dark cabins of her head:

Where they refign their office and their light
To the difpofing of her troubled brain;
Who bids them ftill confort with ugly night,
And never wound the heart with looks again;
Who, like a king perplexed in his throne,
By their fuggeftion gives a deadly groan,

"But I do love thee! and when I love thee not,
"Chaos is come again." MALONE.

-with falfe bethinking grieves.] Here the falfe concord cannot be corrected on account of the rhyme. See p. 66, n. 9. MALONE. 7 The grafs ftoops not, fhe treads on it fo light ;]

"Illa per intactas fegetes, vel fumma volaret

"Gramina, nec teneras curfu læfiffet ariftas." Virgil. STELV Or, as the frail, whofe tender horns being bit,

Shrinks backward in bis thelly cave with pain,] So, in Coriolanus: "Thrufts forth his borns again into the world;

"Which were in-fhell'd when Marcius ftood for Rome.” The former of these paffages fupports Mr. Tyrwhitt's reading of an other. See Vol. VII. p. 271, and Vol. II. p. 53, n. 5. STEEVENS. 9-confort with ugly night,] So, in Romeo and Juliet:

To be conforted with the humorous night." MALONE.

Whereat

Whereat each tributary fubject quakes';
As when the wind, imprifon'd in the ground,
Struggling for paffage, earth's foundation shakes,
Which with cold terrour doth men's mind confound:
This mutiny each part doth fo furprise,

That from their dark beds, once more, leap her eyes;

And, being open'd, threw unwilling fight"
Upon the wide wound that the boar had trench'd+
In his foft flank; whofe wonted lily white

With purple tears, that his wound wept, was drench'd":
No flower was nigh, no grafs, herb, leaf, or weed,
But stole his blood, and feem'd with him to bleed.

This folemn fympathy poor Venus noteth;
Over one shoulder doth fhe hang her head;
Dumbly the paffions, frantickly the doteth;
She thinks he could not die, he is not dead:

Her voice is stopp'd, her joints forget to bow;
Her eyes are mad that they have wept till now.

Who like a king

Whereat each tributary subje& quakes ;] So, in King Lear:
-Ay, every inch a king:

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"When I do stare, fee how the fubject quakes." STEEVENS. 2 Ás when the wind, imprison'd in the ground,

Struggling for paffage, earth's foundation fhakes,] So, in King Henry IV. P. I:

oft the teeming earth

"Is with a kind of cholick pinch'd and vex'd

"By the imprisoning of unruly wind

"Within her womb; which, for enlargement striving,

"Shakes the old beldame earth," &c.

STEEVENS.

3 -unwilling fight-] The earliest octavo reads-night. The correction was made in the edition of 1600. MALONE.

4-that the boar bad trench'd-] Trench'd is cut. Trancher, Fr. See Vol. IV. p. 368, n. 9. MALONE.

5-was drencb'd; ] First octavo-bad drench'd, the compofitor having. caught the word bad from the line above. Corrected in the edition of 1600. MALONE.

Dumbly the paffions, frantickly fhe datetb,] This verb is again used by our authour in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

"Madam, 'twas Ariadne, paffioning

"For Thefeus' perjury and unjust flight." MALONE.

Upon

Upon his hurt the looks fo ftedfaftly,

That her fight dazling makes the wound seem t
And then the reprehends her mangling eye,
That makes more gathes where no breach fhould
His face feems twain, each feveral limb is do
For oft the eye mistakes, the brain being trou

My tongue cannot exprefs my grief for one,
And yet, quoth fhe, behold two Adons dead!
My fighs are blown away, my falt tears gone,
Mine eyes are turn'd to fire, my heart to lead:
Heavy heart's lead, melt at mine eyes' red fire
So fhall I die by drops of hot defire.

Alas, poor world, what treasure haft thou loft!
What face remains alive that's worth the viewin
Whofe tongue is mufick now? what canft thou
Of things long fince, or any thing enfuing?

The flowers are sweet*, their colours fresh and But true-fweet beauty liv'd and dy'd in him.

Bonnet or veil henceforth no creature wear!
Nor fun nor wind will ever ftrive to kiss you":
Having no fair to lofe, you need not fear;
The fun doth fcorn you, and the wind doth hiss y

7-mine eyes' red fire!] The edition of 1596 reads-red a the copy of 1600 red is omitted, and as retained. MALONE. Whofe tongue is mufick now?-] So, in The Comedy of Fr That never words were mufick to thine ear." MAL The flowers are fweet-] I fufpect Shakspeare wrote-T &c. MALONE. 9-nor wind will ever ftrive to kifs you :] So, in Othello:

"The bawdy wind that kiffes all it meets. STEEVEN Again, in The Merchant of Venice.

"Hugg'd and embraced by the ftrumpet wind." MAL Having no fair to lofe-] Fair was formerly used as a fubit. the fenfe of beauty. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

"My decayed fair

"A funny look of his would foon repair."

See alfo Vol. III. p. 170, n. 6.

It appears from the correfponding rhime, and the jingle in th line, that the word fear was pronounced in the time of Shakfp it were written fare. It is still fo pronounced in Warwickshir the vulgar in Ireland. MALONE.

2--the wind dotb hifs you :] So, in Romeo and Juliet:

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