Graze on my lips; and, if thofe hills be dry,
Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie?

Within this limit is relief enough,
Sweet bottom-grafs, and high delightful plain,
Round rifing hillocks, brakes obfcure and rough,
To shelter thee from tempeft and from rain;
Then be my deer, fince I am fuch a park ;
No dog fhall rouze thee, though a thousand bark.

At this Adonis fmiles, as in difdain,
That in each cheek appears a pretty dimple:
Love made those hollows, if himself were flain,
He might be buried in a tomb fo fimple;

Fore-knowing well, if there he came to lie,
Why there love liv'd, and there he could not die.

Thefe lovely caves, thefe round enchanting pits,
Open'd their mouths to fwallow Venus' liking:
Being mad before, how doth fhe now for wits?
Struck dead at first, what needs a fecond striking * ?
Poor queen of love, in thine own law forlorn,
To love a cheek that fmiles at thee in fcorn!

Now which way shall she turn? what shall she say?
Her words are done, her woes the more increafing;
The time is spent, her object will away,.
And from her twining arms doth urge releafing:
Pity,- (fhe crys) fome favour,-fome remorfe ;-
Away he fprings, and hafteth to his horse.

But lo, from forth a copfe that neighbours by,
A breeding jennet, lufty, young, and proud,
Adonis' trampling courfer doth efpy,

And forth the rufhes, fnorts, and neighs aloud:

The

6 Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale; Graze on my lips;] So, in Love's Labour's Loft: "unless we feed on your lips." MALONE. 7-bere the pleafant fountains lie.] So, Strumbo, in the tragedy of Locrine: "the pleafant water of your fecret fountain." AMNER. * Struck dead at firft, what needs a fecond firiking!] So, in Cymbeline:

"What

The ftrong-neck'd fteed, being tied unto a tre
Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he.

Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds,
And now his woven girts he breaks asunder;
The bearing earth with his hard hoof he wounds
Whofe hollow womb refounds like heaven's thun
The iron bit he crusheth 'tween his teeth,
Controlling what he was controlled with.

9

His ears up prick'd; his braided hanging mane
Upon his compais'd creft now ftands on end;
His noftrils drink the air ', and forth again,
As from a furnace, vapours doth he fend2:

His eye, which fcornfully gliters like fire,
Shews his hot courage and his high defire.

Sometimes he trots, as if he told the steps,
With gentle majefty, and modeft pride;
Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps,
As who fhould fay, lo! thus my ftrength is try'd;
And thus 1 do to captivate the eye

Of the fair breeder that is standing by.

"What shall I need to draw my fword? The paper "Hath cut her throat already." W.

The bearing earth with bis bard boof, &c.] So Virgil, Æn. Quadrupedante putrem fonitu quatit ungula campum. M 8 Controlling what he was controlled with.] So, in K. Job "Controulment for controulment. So answer France." 9 Upon bis compafs'd creft-] Compass'd is arched. A c cieling is a phrafe yet in ufe.

MALONE.

So, in Troilus and Creffida: "the came to him the other the compafs'd window," i. e. the bow window. STEVENS. His noftrils drink the air,-] So, Ariel in the Tempest: "I drink the air before me.

Again, in Timon of Athens:

"and through him

"Drink the free air."

"

STEEVENS.

MALONE.

2 His noftrils drink the air, and forth again,

As from a furnace, vapours doth be fend;] So, in As you Lik "And then the lover,

"Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad."

In this defcription of a horfe Shakspeare feems to have had th of Job in his thoughts. MALONE.

What recketh he his rider's angry ftir,
His flattering holla 3, or his Stand, I say?
What cares he now for curb, or pricking fpur?
For rich caparifons, or trapping gay?

He fees his love, and nothing elle he fees,
For nothing elfe with his proud fight agrees.

Look, when a painter would furpass the life,
In limning out a well-proportion'd steed,
His art with nature's workmanship at frife,
As if the dead the living fhould exceed;

So did this horfe excell a common one,
In fhape, in courage, colour, pace, and bone.

Round-hoof'd, fhort-jointed, fetlocks fhag and long,
Broad breaft, full eyes, fmall head, and noftril wide,
High creft, fhort ears, ftraight legs, and paling strong,
Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide:

Look what a horfe fhould have, he did not lack,
Save a proud rider on fo proud a back.

Sometime he fcuds far off, and there he ftares;
Anon he starts at ftirring of a feather * ;
To bid the wind a bafe he now prepares,

And whe'r he run, or fly, they know not whether";

For

As from a furnace, vapours doth be fend;] So, in Cymbeline: "He furnaceth the thick fighs from him." STEEVENS. 3 His flatt'ring holla,] This feems to have been formerly a term of "Cry bella to thy tongue, I the manege. So, in As you like it :

pr'ythee; it curvets unfeasonably." MALONE.

4 His art with nature's workmanship at ftrife,] So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rofamond, 1592:

"He greets me with a cafket richly wrought;

"So rare, that art did feem to frive with nature,

"To exprefs the cunning workman's curious thought."

See alfo Vol. VIII. p. 8, n. 6. MALONE.

So, in Timon of Athens:

"It tutors nature: artificial frife

"Lives in thefe touches, livelier than life."

STEEVENS.

Anon be farts at firring of a feather;] So, in King Richard III: "Tremble and ftart at wagging of a ftraw," MALONE, 5 To bid the wind a base be now prepares,] To bid the wind a base, is to challenge the wind to a contest for fuperiority. Bafe is a ruftick game, fometimes termed prison-base; properly prifon-bars. It is mentioned

by

For through his mane and tail the high wind f
Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather'd wi

He looks upon his love, and neighs unto her;
She answers him, as if she knew his mind:
Being proud, as females are, to fee him woo her
She puts on outward strangeness7, feems unkind
Spurns at his love, and scorns the heat he feels
Beating his kind embracements with her heels.

Then, like a melancholy malecontent,
He vails his tail, that, like a falling plume
Cool fhadow to his melting buttocks lent;
He ftamps, and bites the poor flies in his fume:
His love perceiving how he is enrag'd,
Grew kinder, and his fury was affuag'd.

His tefty mafter goeth about to take him;
When lo, the unback'd breeder, full of fear,
Jealous of catching, fwiftly doth forfake him,
With her the horse, and left Adonis there:

As they were mad, unto the wood they hie ther
Out-ftripping crows that ftrive to over-fly them.

All fwoln with chafing, down Adonis fits,
Banning his boisterous and unruly beaft;

by our authour in Cymbeline :-"lads more like to run the count &c. Again, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

MALONE.

"Indeed I bid the bafe for Protheus." 6 And whe'r be run or fly, they knew not whether ;] Whe'r, ther. So, in King Jobn:

"Now thame upon thee, whér he does or no."

Again, in a poem in praife of Ladie P-, Epitathes, Epigramn by G. Turberville, 1567:

7

"I doubt where Paris would have chofe

"Dame Venus for the beft." MALONE.

outward ftrangenefs,-] i. c. feeming coynefs, fhynefs wardness. Thus Jachimo, fpeaking of his fervant to Imogen: frange and peevish.'

" STEEVENS.

8 He vails his tail,—] To vail, in old language, is to lower. See p. 285, n. 9. MALONE.

9 Banning-] i. e. curfing. So, in King Richard III :

"Fell banning hag," &c. STEEVENS.

5

And now the happy season once more fits,
That love-fick Love by pleading may be bleft;
For lovers fay, the heart hath treble wrong,
When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue".

An oven that is stopp'd, or river ftay'd,
Burneth more hotly, fwelleth with more rage:
So of concealed forrow may be said;
Free vent of words love's fire doth affuage;

But when the heart's attorney once is mute,
The client breaks 2, as desperate in his fuit.

He fees her coming, and begins to glow,
(Even as a dying coal revives with wind,)
And with his bonnet hides his angry brow;
Looks on the dull earth with disturbed mind3;
Taking no notice that she is so nigh,
For all askaunce he holds her in his eye.

O, what a fight it was, wiftly to view
How fhe came ftealing to the wayward boy!
To note the fighting conflict of her hue!
How white and red each other did destroy*!
But now, her cheek was pale, and by and by
It flash'd forth fire, as lightning from the sky.

1- the beart bath treble wrong,

When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue.] So, in Macbeth:
66- the grief that does not speak,

"Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break." STEEV, 2 But when the beart's attorney once is mute,

The client breaks, &c.] So in King Richard III.

"Why should calamity be full of words?
"Windy attorneys to their client woes,-,"

STEEVENS.

3 Looks on the dull earth, &c.] So, in The Two Gent. of Verona

"She excells each mortal thing

"Upon the dull earth dwelling." STEEVENS.

➡the fighting conflict of ber bue!

How white and red, &c.] So, in the Taming of the Shrews
"Such war of white and red within her cheeks.”

Again, in Hamlet;

"Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting." W. See alfo Vol. VII. p. 194, n. 7. MALONE.

Now

1