'Good night,' quoth she; and, ere he says 'Adieu,'
The honey fee of parting tender'd is:

Her arms do lend his neck a sweet embrace;
Incorporate then they seem; face grows to face.

91 Till, breathless, he disjoin'd, and backward drew

The heavenly moisture, that sweet coral mouth, Whose precious taste her thirsty lips well knew,

Whereon they surfeit, yet complain on drouth: He with her plenty press'd, she faint with dearth, (Their lips together glued), fall to the earth.

92 Now quick Desire hath caught the yielding prey, And glutton-like she feeds, yet never filleth ; Her lips are conquerors, his lips obey,

Paying what ransom the insulter willeth; Whose vulture thought doth pitch the price so high,

That she will draw his lips' rich treasure dry.

93 And having felt the sweetness of the spoil,
With blindfold fury she begins to forage;

Her face doth reek and smoke, her blood doth boil,
And careless lust stirs up a desperate courage;
Planting oblivion, beating reason back,
Forgetting shame's pure blush, and honour's wrack.

94 Hot, faint, and weary, with her hard embracing, Like a wild bird being tamed with too much

handling,

Or as the fleet-foot roe, that's tired with chasing,
Or like the froward infant still'd with dandling,
He now obeys, and now no more resisteth,
While she takes all she can, not all she listeth.

95 What wax so frozen but dissolves with tempering, And yields at last to every light impression? Things out of hope are compass'd oft with venturing,

Chiefly in love, whose leave1 exceeds commission: Affection faints not like a pale-faced coward,

But then woos best, when most his choice is froward.

96 When he did frown, oh, had she then gave over,
Such nectar from his lips she had not suck'd.
Foul words and frowns must not repel a lover;
What though the rose have prickles? yet 'tis pluck'd:
Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast,
Yet love breaks through, and picks them all at last.

The

97 For pity now she can no more detain him;
poor fool prays her that he may depart :
She is resolved no longer to restrain him;
Bids him farewell, and look well to her heart,
The which, by Cupid's bow she doth protest,
He carries thence incagèd in his breast.

98 'Sweet boy,' she says, 'this night I'll waste in sorrow,
For my sick heart commands mine eyes to watch.
Tell me, love's master, shall we meet to-morrow?
Say, shall we? shall we? wilt thou make the match?'
He tells her, no; to-morrow he intends

To hunt the boar with certain of his friends.

99 The boar!' quoth she; whereat a sudden pale,
Like lawn being spread upon the blushing rose,
Usurps her cheeks; she trembles at his tale,

And on his neck her yoking arms she throws:
She sinketh down, still hanging by his neck,
He on her belly falls, she on her back.

Leave:' licence.

100 Now is she in the very lists of love,

Her champion mounted for the hot encounter:
All is imaginary she doth prove,

He will not manage her, although he mount her;
That worse than Tantalus' is her annoy,

To clip1 Elysium, and to lack her joy.

101 Even as poor birds, deceived with painted grapes,
Do surfeit by the eye, and pine the maw,
Even so she languisheth in her mishaps,

As those poor birds that helpless berries saw:
The warm effects which she in him finds missing,
She seeks to kindle with continual kissing.

102 But all in vain; good queen, it will not be : She hath assay'd as much as may be proved; Her pleading hath deserved a greater fee;

She's Love, she loves, and yet she is not loved. 'Fie, fie,' he says, 'you crush me; let me go; You have no reason to withhold me so."

103 "Thou hadst been gone,' quoth she, 'sweet boy, ere this, But that thou told'st me thou would'st hunt the boar,

Oh be advised! thou know'st not what it is

With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore,
Whose tushes never-sheath'd he whetteth still,
Like to a mortal2 butcher, bent to kill.

104 On his bow-back he hath a battle set

Of bristly pikes, that ever threat his foes;
His eyes like glowworms shine when he doth fret;
His snout digs sepulchres where'er he goes;
Being moved, he strikes whate'er is in his way,
And whom he strikes, his cruel tushes slay.

105 His brawny sides, with hairy bristles arm'd,
Are better proof than thy spear's point can enter ;
His short thick neck cannot be easily harm'd;

Being ireful, on the lion he will venture:
The thorny brambles and embracing bushes,
As fearful of him, part; through whom he rushes.

106 Alas, he nought esteems that face of thine,

To which Love's eyes pay tributary gazes ; Nor thy soft hands, sweet lips, and crystal eyne, Whose full perfection all the world amazes; But having thee at vantage (wondrous dread!) Would root these beauties as he roots the mead.

107 'Oh, let him keep his loathsome cabin still!

Beauty hath nought to do with such foul fiends;
Come not within his danger by thy will;

They that thrive well, take counsel of their friends.
When thou didst name the boar, not to dissemble,
I fear'd thy fortune, and my joints did tremble.

108 Didst thou not mark my face? Was it not white?
Saw'st thou not signs of fear lurk in mine eye?
Grew I not faint? And fell I not downright?
Within my bosom, whereon thou dost lie,

My boding heart pants, beats, and takes no rest,
But, like an earthquake, shakes thee on my breast.

109 For where Love reigns, disturbing Jealousy Doth call himself Affection's sentinel;

Gives false alarms, suggesteth mutiny,

And in a peaceful hour doth cry, "Kill, kill!"
Distempering gentle Love in his desire,
As air and water do abate the fire.

110 This sour informer, this 1bate-breeding spy,

This canker that eats up love's tender spring,2
This carry-tale, dissentious jealousy,

That sometime true news, sometime false doth bring, Knocks at my heart, and whispers in mine ear,

That if I love thee, I thy death should fear :

111 'And more than so, presenteth to mine eye
The picture of an angry chafing boar,
Under whose sharp fangs on his back doth lie
An image like thyself, all stain'd with gore;
Whose blood upon the fresh flowers being shed,
Doth make them droop with grief, and hang the head.

112 'What should I do, seeing thee so indeed, That tremble at the imagination?

The thought of it doth make my faint heart bleed,

And fear doth teach it divination :

I prophesy thy death, my living sorrow,
If thou encounter with the boar to-morrow.

113 'But if thou needs wilt hunt, be ruled by me;
Uncouple at the timorous flying hare,
Or at the fox, which lives by subtilty,

Or at the roe, which no encounter dare:
Pursue these fearful creatures o'er the downs,
And on thy well-breath'd horse keep with thy
hounds.

114 And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare, Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles, How he outruns the wind, and with what care He cranks and crosses, with a thousand doubles : ''Bate:' strife. Spring:' young shoot.-Cranks :' winds.