But when Adonis liv'd, fun and fharp air
Lurk'd like two thieves, to rob him of his fair;

And therefore would he put his bonnet on,
Under whose brim the gaudy fun would peep;
The wind would blow it off, and, being gone,
Play with his locks 3; then would Adonis weep:
And straight, in pity of his tender years,

They both would strive who first thould dry his tears.

To fee his face, the lion walk'd along

Behind fome hedge, because he would not fear him*;
To recreate himself when he hath fung,

The tyger would be tame, and gently hear him;
If he had spoke, the wolf would leave his prey,
And never fright the filly lamb that day.

When he beheld his fhadow in the brook,
The fishes fpread on it their golden gills;
When he was by, the birds fuch pleafure took,
That fome would fing, fome other in their bills

Would bring him mulberries, and ripe red cherries
He fed them with his fight, they him with berries.

But this foul, grim, and urchin-fnouted boar,
Whofe downward eye ftill looketh for a grave,
Ne'er faw the beauteous livery that he wore ;
Witness the entertainment that he gave :

If he did fee his face, why then I know,

He thought to kifs him, and hath kill'd him fo*.

"C the winds,

'Tis

"Who, nothing hurt withal, bifs'd him in fcorn." STEEVENS. 3 Play'd with bis locks ;] So the octavo, 1596. That of 1600 has

lokes. MALONE.

4-because be would not fear him ;] Because he would not terrify him. So, in K. Henry VI. P. II:

"For Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all." MALONE. 5-ben be bath fung,

The tyger would be tame,] So, in Othello:

"She would fing the favageness out of a bear." STEEVENS6 6-urchin fnouted boar,] An urchin is a hedgehog. MALONE. *He thought to kifs him, and hath kill'd bim fo.] This conceit of the

VOL. X.

F

boar's

'Tis true, 'tis true; thus was Adonis flain;
He ran upon the boar with his sharp spear,
Who would not whet his teeth at him again,
But by a kifs thought to perfwade him there;
And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine
Sheath'd, unaware, his tusk in his soft groin

Had I been tooth'd like him, I must confess
With kiffing him I should have kill'd him first;
But he is dead, and never did he bless
My youth with his ; the more I am accurft.
With this fhe falleth in the place fhe ftood,
And ftains her face with his congealed blood,

She looks upon his lips, and they are pale;
She takes him by the hand, and that is cold;
She whispers in his ears a heavy tale,
As if they heard the woeful words fhe told;

She lifts the coffer-lids that close his eyes,
Where lo! two lamps, burnt out, in darkness 1

boar's having killed Adonis inadvertently, when he meant him, is found in the 30th Idyllium of Theocritus, but the tranflation of that poet in our authour's time. MALONE. 71 the loving fwine

Sheath'd, unaware, bis tufk in bis foft groin.] So, in ? beard's Song of Venus and Adonis, 1600;

"On the ground he lay,

"Blood had left his cheeke

"For an orped fwine

Smit bim in the groyne;

3

"Deadly wound his death did bring;
"Which when Venus found,

"She fell in a swound,

"And, awakte, her hands did wring." MALONE. My youth with bis ;] Thus the octavo, 1596. The edition and the modern copies, read, my mouth; which cannot be Adonis bad granted her a kiss.

"He with her plenty prefs'd, fhe faint with dearth,

"(Their lips together glew'd) fell to the earth." MAL 9-two lamps, burnt out, in darkness lies.] The fame want mar is difcoverable in Cymbeline:

"His fteeds to water at thofe Springs

"On chalic'd flow'rs that lies."

STEEVENS.

Two glaffes, where herself herself beheld
A thousand times, and now no more reflect;
Their virtue loft, wherein they late excell'd,
And every beauty robb'd of his effect:

Wonder of time, quoth fhe, this is my fpite',
That, you being dead, the day fhould yet be light.

Since thou art dead, lo! here I prophesy,
Sorrow on love hereafter fhall attend;
It fhall be waited on with jealousy,
Find fweet beginning, but unfavoury end;
Ne'er fettled equally, but high or low2;

That all love's pleasure shall not match his woe.

It fhall be fickle, falfe, and full of fraud;
Bud and be blafted in a breathing-while;
The bottom poison, and the top o'er-ftraw'd
With fweets, that shall the trueft fight beguile:
The strongest body fhall it make most weak;
Strike the wife dumb, and teach the fool to speak.

It shall be sparing, and too full of riot,
Teaching decrepit age to tread the measures 3;
The ftaring ruffian fhall it keep in quiet,

Pluck down the rich, enrich the poor with treasures:
It shall be raging-mad, and filly-mild,

Make the young old, the old become a child.

"Two kinfmen digg'd their graves with weeping eyes."

This inaccuracy may be found in every page of our authour's works, as well as in thofe of many of his contemporaries and predeceffors. In a very few places either the metre or the rhimes render it incurable. See Vol. I. p. 46, n. 8, and Vol. II. p. 419, n. 7. MALONE. 1-this is my spite,] This is done, purpofely to vex and diftrefs me.

MALONE.

2 Ne'er fettled equally, but high, or low;] So, in The Midsummer Night's Dream:

"The courfe of true love never did run fmooth, &c.

"O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low, &c. STEEVENS. -'er-straw'd :] So the old copy, and fuch perhaps was the pronunciation of o'er-frew'd in our authour's time. Formerly, however, our poets often changed the termination of words for the fake of rhyme. MALONE.

3to tread the measures ;] To dance. See Vol. II. p.405, n. 4. MALONE.

It fhall fufpect, where is no caufe of fear;
It fhall not fear, where it should most mistrust;
It shall be merciful, and too fevere,

And most deceiving, when it seems most juft;
Perverse it shall be, when it fhews moft toward
Put fear to valour, courage to the coward.

It shall be caufe of war, and dire events,
And fet diffention 'twixt the fon and fire;
Subject and fervile to all difcontents,
As dry combuftious matter is to fire;

Sith in his prime death doth my love destroy,
They that love beft, their loves shall not enjoy,

By this, the boy that by her fide lay kill'd,
Was melted like a vapour from her fight",
And in his blood, that on the ground lay fpill'd,
A purple flower fprung up, checquer'd with white
Refembling well his pale cheeks, and the blood
Which in round drops upon their whitenefs flood

She bows her head, the new-fprung flower to fmell
Comparing it to her Adonis' breath;

And fays, within her bofom it shall dwell,
Since he himself is reft from her by death:

She crops the ftalk, and in the breach appears
Green dropping fap, which the compares to tear

Poor flower, quoth fhe, this was thy father's guife,
(Sweet iflue of a more fweet-fmelling fire,)

It shall be cause of war, &c.] Several of the effects h dicted of love, in Timen of Athens are afcribed to gold. STEEV 5 Was melted like a vapour-] So, in Macbeth:

"-and what feem'd corporal, melted

"Like breath into the wind." STEEVENS.

Again, in The Tempeft:

-Thefe our actors,

"As I foretold you, were all fpirits, and

"Are melted into air, into thin air." MALONE.

For every little grief to wet his eyes:
To grow unto himself was his defire,

And fo 'tis thine; but know, it is as good
To wither in my breaft, as in his blood.

Here was thy father's bed, here in my breast";
Thou art the next of blood, and 'tis thy right:
Lo! in this hollow cradle take thy reft,

My throbbing heart thall rock thee day and night:
There fhall not be one minute in an hour,
Wherein I will not kifs my fweet love's flower.

Thus weary of the world, away fhe hies,
And yokes her filver doves; by whofe fwift aid,
Their mistress mounted through the empty skies
In her light chariot quickly is convey'd;

Holding their courfe to Paphos, where their queen
Means to immure herself and not be feen 7.

6-bere in my breaft;] The old copy reads here is my breast. I have received Mr. Theobald's emendation for the reasons he affigns. MALONE.

As Venus fticks the flower to which Adonis is turned, in her bosom, I think we must read against all the copies, and with much more elegance:

Here was thy father's bed, here in my breast

for it was her breaft which she would infinuate to have been Adonis' bed. The clofe of the preceding ftanza partly warrants this change: -but know it is as good

"To wither in my breaft, as in his blood."

as the fucceeding lines in this ftanza likewife do:

"Lo! in this hollow cradle take thy rett." THEOBALD.

7 This poem is received as one of Shakspeare's undifputed performances, a circumftance which recommends it to the notice it might otherwife have escaped.

There are fome excellencies which are lefs graceful than even their oppofite defects; there are fome virtues, which being merely conftitutional, are entitled to very fmall degrees of praife. Our poet might defign his Adonis to engage our esteem, and yet the fluggish coldness of his difpofition is as offenfive as the impetuous forwardness of his wanton mistress. To exhibit a young man infenfible to the carefies of transcendent beauty, is to defcribe a being too rarely feen to be acknowledged as a natural character, and when seen, of too little value to deferve fuch toil of reprefentation. No elogiums are due to Shakspeare's hero on the fcore of mental chastity, for he does not pretend to have fubdued