By this, poor Wat, far off upon a hill,
Stands on his hinder legs with listening ear,
To hearken if his foes pursue him still;
Anon their loud alarums he doth hear;

And now his grief may be compared well
To one sore sick, that hears the passing bell 3.

Then shalt thou see the dew-bedabbled wretch
Turn, and return, indenting with the way;
Each envious briar his weary legs doth scratch*,
Each shadow makes him stop, each murmur stay:
For misery is trodden on by many,
And being low, never reliev'd by any.

Lie quietly, and hear a little more;

Nay, do not struggle, for thou shalt not rise:
To make thee hate the hunting of the boar,
Unlike myself thou hear'st me moralize3,
Applying this to that, and so to so;

For love can comment upon every woe.

2-Echo replies,

As if another chase were in the skies.] So Dryden [in his Secular Masque, 1700]:

"With shouting and hooting we pierce through the sky, 'And echo turns hunter, and doubles the sky."

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STEEVENS.

3 To one sore sick, that HEARS THE PASSING BELL.] This thought is borrowed by Beaumont and Fletcher in Philaster : like one who languishing

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• Each envious BRIAR his weary LEGS doth SCRATCH,] So, in The Taming of the Shrew;

"roaming through a thorny wood

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Scratching her legs." STEEVENS.

5 Unlike MYSELF, thou hear'st me moralize,] So the quarto 1593. For myself, the edition of 1596 has thyself, which is followed in some of the subsequent copies.

To moralize here means to comment; from moral, which our author generally uses in the sense of latent meaning. So, in The Taming of the Shrew: " He has left me here behind to expound the meaning or moral of his signs and tokens."

5

MALONE.

Where did I leave ?-No matter where, quoth he;
Leave me, and then the story aptly ends:
The night is spent. Why, what of that, quoth she:
I am, quoth he, expected of my friends;

And now 'tis dark, and going I shall fall;-
In night, quoth she, desire sees best of all ".

But if thou fall, O then imagine this,
The earth, in love with thee, thy footing trips,
And all is but to rob thee of a kiss".

Rich preys make true men thieves; so do thy lips
Make modest Dian cloudy and forlorn,

Lest she should steal a kiss, and die forsworn?.

Now, of this dark night I perceive the reason:
Cynthia for shame obscures her silver shine',

In night, quoth she, desire sees best of all.] So, in Marlowe's Hero and Leander, which preceded the present poem: dark night is Cupid's day." Malone.

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I verily believe that a sentiment similar, in some sort, to another uttered by that forward wanton Juliet, occurreth here:

"Lovers can see to do their amorous rites

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'By their own beauties." AMNER.

7 The EARTH, in love with thee, thy footing trips,

And all is but to ROB THEE OF A KISS.] So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona :

"Should from her vesture chance to steal a kiss."

STEEVENS.

Rich preys make TRUE men thieves ;] True men, in the language of Shakspeare's time, meant honest men; and the expression was thus frequently used in opposition to thieves. See vol. ix. p. 148, n. 8.

This passage furnishes a signal proof of what I have had frequent occasion to observe, the great value of first editions, every re-impression producing many corruptions. In the 16mo. of 1596, we here find Rich preys make rich men thieves ; a corruption which has been followed in the subsequent copies. The true reading I have recovered from the original quarto 1593. MALONE. 9 die FORSWORN.] i. e. having broken her oath of virginity. STEEVENS.

I her silver SHINE.] See p. 39, n. 5. MALONE.

Till forging Nature be condemn'd of treason,
For stealing moulds from heaven that were divine;
Wherein she fram'd thee, in high heaven's despite,
To shame the sun by day, and her by night.

And therefore hath she brib'd the Destinies,
To cross the curious workmanship of nature;
To mingle beauty with infirmities,

And pure perfection with impure defeature";
Making it subject to the tyranny

Of mad mischances, and much misery;

As burning fevers, agues pale and faint,
Life-poisoning pestilence, and frenzies wood,
The marrow-eating sickness, whose attaint
Disorder breeds by heating of the blood:
Surfeits, impostumes, grief, and damn'd despair,
Swear nature's death for framing thee so fair.

And not the least of all these maladies

But in one minute's fight brings beauty under3:

2

defeature ;] This word is derived from defaire, Fr. to undo. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

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strange defeatures in my face." STEEVENS. 3 Of MAD mischances,] So the quarto 1593. The edition of 1596, has "sad mischances," which has been followed in all the subsequent copies.

The following stanza, where some of these mischances are enumerated, supports the original reading: burning fevers, frenzies wood, and damn'd despair, are well entitled to this epithet.

It may also be observed, that an alliteration appears to have been intended in this verse. MALONE.

4- and frenzies wooD,] Wood, in old language, is frantick, So in King Henry VI. Part I.:

"How the young whelp of Talbot's, raging wood,

"Did flesh his puny sword in Frenchman's blood." MALONE. 5 But in one minute's FIGHT brings beauty under:] Thus the edition of 1593, and that of 1596. The least of these maladies. after a momentary engagement, subdues beauty. Not being pos

Both favour, savour, hue, and qualities,
Whereat the impartial gazer late did wonder,
Are on the sudden wasted, thaw'd, and done?,
As mountain-snow melts with the mid-day sun.

Therefore, despight of fruitless chastity,
Love-lacking vestals, and self-loving nuns,
That on the earth would breed a scarcity,
And barren dearth of daughters and of sons,
Be prodigal: the lamp that burns by night,
Dries up his oil, to lend the world his light.

What is thy body but a swallowing grave",
Seeming to bury that posterity1

sessed of these copies, when the first edition of these poems was printed, in 1780, I printed sight, the reading of the copy of 1600: but I then conjectured that fight was the true reading, and I afterwards found my conjecture confirmed. Malone.

6

the IMPARTIAL gazer-] Thus the original copy of 1593, and the edition of 1596. Impartial is here used, I conceive, in the same sense as in Measure for Measure, vol. ix. p. 187, n. 7. The subsequent copies have-imperial. MALONE.

7

-thaw'd, and DONE,] Done was formerly used in the sense of wasted, consumed, destroyed. So, in King Henry VI. Part I.: "And now they meet, where both their lives are done." In the West of England it still retains the same meaning.

Ye nuns and vestals, says Venus, imitate the example of the lamp, that profiteth mankind at the expence of its own oil.-I do not apprehend that the poet had at all in his thoughts the torch of the loves, or the nocturnal meeting of either Hero and Leander or any other persons.

The preceding precept here illustrated is general, without any limitation of either time or space. MALONE.

9 What is thy body but a SWALLOWING GRAVE,] So, in King Richard III.:

in the swallowing gulph

"Of dark forgetfulness and deep oblivion."

Which by the rights of time thou needs must have,
If thou destroy them not in dark obscurity 2?

If so, the world will hold thee in disdain,
Sith in thy pride so fair a hope is slain.

So in thyself thyself art made away;

A mischief worse than civil home-bred strife,
Or theirs, whose desperate hands themselves do

slay,

Or butcher-sire 3, that reaves his son of life.

Foul cankering rust the hidden treasure frets, But gold that's put to use, more gold begets*.

Again, in our author's 77th Sonnet :

"The wrinkles which thy glass will truly shew,

"Of mouthed graves will give thee memory." MALONE: 1 -a swallowing grave,

ཀ།

Seeming to BURY that POSTERITY, &c.] So, in our author's third Sonnet:

1

66 who is so fond, will be the tomb

"Of his self-love, to stop posterity? MALONE. any bag 2 — in DARK obscurity ?] So the quarto 1593, and the edition of 1596; that of 1600 and the subsequent copies have"in their obscurity." MALONE.

3 Or BUTCHER-sire-] So the earliest copy, 1593, and the 16mo. 1596. The reviser of the edition in 1600, not comprehending how butcher could be used adjectively, printed-" butcher's sire; a good specimen of the capricious changes made ad libitum, from ignorance, in the sheets of our author's plays and poems as they passed through the press. See p. 54, n. 8.

MALONE.

4 But GOLD that's put to use, more GOLD begets.] So, in The Merchant of Venice:

"Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams?

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Shy. I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast."

STEEVENS.

In Marlowe's poem, Leander uses the same argument to Hero,

that Venus here urges to Adonis :

"What difference between the richest mine
"And basest mould, but use? for both, not us'd,
"Are of like worth. Then treasure is abus'd,
"When misers keep it; being put to lone,

"In time it will returne us two for one." MALOne.