As plays the fun upon the glaffy ftreams,
Twinkling another counterfeited beam,
So feems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes.
Fain would I woo her, yet I dare not speak:
I'll call for pen and ink, and write my mind:
Fye, De la Poole! difable not thyself;'

Haft not a tongue? is the not here thy prisoner ?2
Wilt thou be daunted at a woman's fight?
Ay; beauty's princely majesty is such,

Confounds the tongue, and makes the senses rough.3

MAR. Say, earl of Suffolk,—if thy name be so,—

my heart accords thereto,

"And yet a thousand times it anfwers-no."

STEEVENS.

9 As plays the fun upon the glaffy Streams, &c.] This comparison, made between things which feem fufficiently unlike, is intended to exprefs the foftness and delicacy of Lady Margaret's beauty, which delighted, but did not dazzle; which was bright, but gave no pain by its luftre. JOHNSON.

Thus, Taffo:

"Qual raggio in onda, le fcintilla unrifo

66

Negli umidi occhi tremulo-." HENLEY.
Sidney, in his Aftrophel and Stella, ferves to fupport Dr.
Johnson's explanation:

"Left if no vaile these brave gleames did disguise,
They, fun-like, should more dazle than delight."

66

STEEVENS.

▪disable not thyself;] Do not represent thyself so weak. To difable the judgment of another was, in that age, the fame as to deftroy its credit or authority. JOHNSON.

So, in As you like it, A& V: “If again, it was not well cut, he difabled my judgment." STEEVENS.

2 Haft not a tongue? is he not here thy prifoner?] The words-thy prifoner, which are wanting in the first folio, are found in the fecond. STEEVENS.

3 and makes the fenfes rough.] The meaning of this word is not very obvious. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads-crouch.

MALONE.

What ransome must I pay before I país?
For, I perceive, I am thy prifoner.

SUF. How canft thou tell, fhe will deny thy fuit, Before thou make a trial of her love? [Afide. MAR. Why speak'st thou not? what ransome must

SUF. She's beautiful; and therefore to be woo'd: She is a woman; therefore to be won.4

[Afide. MAR. Wilt thou accept of ranfome, yea, or no? SUF. Fond man! remember, that thou haft a wife;

Then how can Margaret be thy paramour? [Afide. MAR. I were béft leave him, for he will not hear. SUF. There all is marr'd; there lies a cooling

card.5

MAR. He talks at random; fure, the man is mad. SUF. And yet a dispensation may be had.

MAR. And yet I would that you would answer me. SUF. I'll win this lady Margaret. For whom? Why, for my king: Tufh! that's a wooden thing."

4 She is a woman; therefore to be won.] This seems to be a proverbial line, and occurs in Greene's Planetomachia, 1585. STEEVENS.

5 a cooling card.] So, in Marius and Sylla, 1594: "I'll have a prefent cooling card for you.' STEEVENS. a wooden thing.] Is an aukward bufinefs, an undertaking not likely to fucceed.

6

Would I were out of these

So, in Lyly's Galathea, 1592: woods, for I shall have but wooden luck."

Again, in Sidney's Aftrophel and Stella:

Or, seeing, have so woodden wits as not that worth to

know."

Again, in The Knave of Spades, &c. no date:"

"To make an end of that fame wooden phrafe."

STEEVENS.

MAR. He talks of wood: It is fome carpenter. SUF. Yet fo my fancy may be fatisfied, And peace established between these realms. But there remains a fcruple in that too: For though her father be the king of Naples, Duke of Anjou and Maine, yet is he poor, And our nobility will fcorn the match. [Afide. MAR. Hear ye, captain ? Are ye, captain? Are you not at leifure? Sur. It fhall be fo, difdain they ne'er fo much: Henry is youthful, and will quickly yield.— Madam, I have a secret to reveal.

MAR. What though I be enthrall'd? he seems a knight,

And will not any way dishonour me.

[Afide. SUF. Lady, vouchsafe to liften what I say.

MAR. Perhaps, I shall be rescu'd by the French; And then I need not crave his courtesy. [Afide. Sur. Sweet madam, give me hearing in a cause— MAR. Tufh! women have been captivate ere now. [Afide.

SUF. Lady, wherefore talk you fo?

MAR. I cry you mercy, 'tis but quid for quo. SUF. Say, gentle princefs, would you not fuppofe Your bondage happy, to be made a queen?

MAR. To be a queen in bondage, is more vile, Than is a flave in base fervility;

For princes fhould be free.

And fo fhall you,

my fancy-i. e. my love. So, in A Midsummer

Night's Dream:

"Fair Helena in fancy following me."

See Vol. IV. p. 454, n. 6. STEEVENS.

If happy England's royal king be free.

MAR. Why, what concerns his freedom unto me? SUF. I'll undertake to make thee Henry's queen; To put a golden fcepter in thy hand,

And fet a precious crown upon thy head,
If thou wilt condefcend to be my 8

MAR.

SUF. His love.

What?

MAR. I am unworthy to be Henry's wife.
Sur. No, gentle madam; I unworthy am
To woo fo fair a dame to be his wife,
And have no portion in the choice myself.
How fay you, madam; are you fo content ?

MAR. An if my father please, I am content.
SUF. Then call our captains, and our colours,

forth:

And, madam, at your father's caftle walls
We'll crave a parley, to confer with him.

[Troops come forward.

A Parley founded. Enter REIGNIER, on the Walls.

SUF. See, Reignier, fee, thy daughter prifoner. REIG. To whom?

If thou wilt condefcend to be my-] I have little doubt that the words-be my, are an interpolation, and that the paffage originally stood thus:

If thou wilt condefcend to

What?

His love.

Both fenfe and measure are then complete. STEEVENS.

REIG.

Suffolk, what remedy?

to weep,

I am a foldier; and unapt
Or to exclaim on fortune's fickleness.

SUF. Yes, there is remedy enough, my lord:
Confent, (and, for thy honour, give confent,)
Thy daughter fhall be wedded to my king;
Whom I with pain have woo'd and won thereto;
And this her easy-held imprisonment

Hath gain'd thy daughter princely liberty.
REIG. Speaks Suffolk as he thinks?

Fair Margaret knows,

SUF.
That Suffolk doth not flatter, face, or feign.9

REIG. Upon thy princely warrant, I defcend,
To give thee answer of thy juft demand.

[Exit, from the Walls. SUF. And here I will expect thy coming.

Trumpets founded. Enter REIGNIER, below.

REIG. Welcome, brave earl, into our territories; Command in Anjou what your honour pleases.

SUF. Thanks, Reignier, happy for fo fweet a child, Fit to be made companion with a king: What answer makes your grace unto my fuit?

REIG. Since thou doft deign to woo her little. worth,'

Hence the

9 face, or feign,] "To face (fays Dr. Johnson) is to carry a falfe appearance; to play_the_hypocrite." name of one of the characters in Ben Jonson's Alchymift.

So, in The Taming of the Shrew:

MALONE.

"Yet have I faced it with a card of ten." STEEVENS. 'Since thou doft deign to woo her little worth, &c.] To woo VOL. XIII.

M