So flides he down upon his grained bat3,
And comely-diftant fits he by her fide;
When he again defires her, being fat,
Her grievance with his hearing to divide:
If that from him there may be aught apply'd
Which may her fuffering ecftafy affuage,
'Tis promis'd in the charity of age.

4

Father, fhe fays, though in me you behold
The injury of many a blafting hours,
Let it not tell your judgment I am old;
Not age, but forrow, over me hath power":
I might as yet have been a spreading flower,
Fresh to myself, if I had felf-apply'd
Love to myself, and to no love befide.

But woe is me! too early I attended
A youthful fuit (it was to gain my grace)
Of one by nature's outwards fo commended,
That maidens' eyes ftuck over all his face :

3-bis grained bat,] So, in Coriolanus:

"My grained afh-."

His grained bat is his ftaff on which the grain of the wood was visible. STIEVENS.

A bat is a club. The word is again ufed in King Lear: "Ife try whether your coftard or my bat be the harder." MALONE.

4-ber fuffering ecftafy-] Her painful perturbation of mind. See Vol. IV. p. 361, n. 9. MALONE.

5 The injury of many a blasting hour,] So in K. Henry IV. P. II. every part about you blafted with antiquity." MALONE.

• Let it not tell your judgment I am old ;

Not age, but forrow, over me bath power:] So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"These griefs, these woes, these forrows, make me old."

Thus Lufignan, in Voltaire's Zayre:

"Mes maux m'ont affaibli plus encor que mes ans."

MALONE.

STEEVENS.

7 Of one by nature's outwards so commended,] The quarto reads: O one by nature's outwards, &c.

Mr. Tyrwhitt propofed the emendation inferted in the text, which appears to me clearly right. MALONE.

A a 2

Love

Love lack'd a dwelling, and made him her place;
And when in his fair parts fhe did abide,
She was new lodg'd, and newly deified.

His browny locks did hang in crooked curls;
And every light occafion of the wind
Upon his lips their filken parcels hurls.
What's fweet to do, to do will aptly find':
Each eye that faw him did enchant the mind;
For on his vifage was in little drawn,
What largenefs thinks in paradife was fawn.

Small show of man was yet upon his chin;
His phoenix down 3 began but to appear,
Like unfhorn velvet, on that termless skin,
Whofe bare out-brag'd the web it seem'd to wear ;
Yet fhow'd his vifage by that cost most dear;
And nice affections wavering ftood in doubt
If beft 'twere as it was, or beft without.

His qualities were beauteous as his form,
For maiden-tongu'd he was, and thereof free;

9-made him ber place;] i. e. her feat, her manfion. In the facred writings the word is often ufed with this fenfe. STEEVENS: So, in As you like it, Vol. III. p. 147, n. I.

"This is no place; this houfe is but a butchery." Plas in the Welch language fignifies a manfion-house. MALONE, What's fweet to do, to do will aptly find:] I fuppofe he means, things pleasant to be done will eafily find people enough to do them. STEEVENS.

2-inparadife was fawn.] i. e. feen. This irregular participle, which was forced upon the authour by the rhyme, is, I believe, ufed by no other writer. MALONE.

The fame thought occurs in King Henry V:

"Leaving his body as a paradife."

Again, in Romeo and Juliet:

"In mortal paradife of fuch sweet flesh." STEEVENS.

3 His phoenix down] I fuppofe the means matchlefs, rare, down.

MALONE.

4 Yet fhow'd bis vifage] The words are placed out of their patural order for the fake of the metre:

Yet his vifage bow'd, &c. MALONE.

Yet

Yet, if men mov'd him, was he fuch a ftorm 5
As oft 'twixt May and April is to see,

When winds breathe fweet, unruly though they be.
His rudeness fo with his authoriz❜d youth

Did livery falseness in a pride of truth.

Well could he ride, and often men would say,

That horse his mettle from his rider takes1:

Proud of fubjection, noble by the fway,

What rounds, what bounds, what course, what top he

makes!

And controversy hence a question takes,

Whether the horse by him became his deed,
Or he his manage by the well-doing steed.

5 Yet, if men mov'd him, was be fuch a form, &c.] Thus alfo in Troilus and Creffida that prince is defcribed as one

"Not foon provok'd, nor being provok'd, foon calm'd."

So alfo, in Antony and Cleopatra:

66 his voice was property'

"As all the tuned fpheres, and that to friends;

"But when he meant to quail, and shake the orb,

"He was as rattling thunder."

Again, in K, Henry IV. P. II:

"He hath a tear for pity, and a hand

"Open as day to melting charity;

"Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd he's flint;

"As humourous as winter, and as fudden
"As flarus congealed in the spring of day.”

Again, in K. Henry VIII:

"The hearts of princes kifs obedience,

"So much they love it; but to ftubborn fpirits

"They fwell and grow as terrible as ftorms." MALONE. Again, in Cymbeline:

and yet as rough,

"Their royal blood enchaf'd, as the rudeft wind,

"That by the top doth take the mountain pine,

"And make him ftoop to the vale." STEEVENS.

6 When winds breathe sweet, unruly though they be.] So, Amiens in As you like it, addreffing the wind:

"Thou art not fo unkind,

"Although thy breath be rude." MALONE.

7 That borfe bis mettle from bis rider takes :] So, in King Henry II' P. II:

"For from his metal was his party steel'd." STEEVENS.

But

But quickly on this fide the verdict went ;
His real habitude gave life and grace
To appertainings and to ornament,
Accomplish'd in himself, not in his cafe:
All aids themfelves made fairer by their place;
Came for additions, yet their purpos'd trim
Piec'd not his grace, but were all grac'd by him".

So on the tip of his fubduing tongue

All kind of arguments and queftion deep,
All replication prompt, and reafon strong,
For his advantage ftill did wake and fleep:
To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep,
He had the dialect and different fkill,
Catching all paffions in his craft of will";

That he did in the general bofom reign3
Of young, of old; and fexes both enchanted",

But quickly on this fide-] Perhaps the authour wrote-bis. There is however no need of change. MALONE.

9 All aids themselves made fairer by their place ;

Came for additions,-] The old copy and the modern editions read-can for additions. This appearing to me unintelligible. I have fubftituted what I fuppofe to have been the authour's word. The fame mistake happened in Macbeth, where we find

As thick as tale

"Can poft with post-."

printed inftead of " Came poft with poft." MALONE. yet their purpos'd trim

Piec'd not bis grace, but were all grac'd by him.] So, in Timon of Aibens:

"You mend the jewel by the wearing it." MALONE.

2 Catching all possions in bis craft of will;] Thefe lines, in which our poet has accidentally delineated his own character as a dramatist, would have been better adapted to his monumental infcription, than fuch as are placed on the fcroll in Westminster Abbey. By our undifcerning audiences, however, they are always heard with profounder filence, and followed by louder applaufe, than accompany any other paffage throughout all his plays. The vulgar feem to think they were felected for publick view, as the brighteft gems in his poetick crown. STEEVINS. 3 That he did in the general bofom reign-] So, in Hamlet: "And cleave the general car with horrid speech." STEVENS

Το

To dwell with him in thoughts, or to remain
In perfonal duty, following where he haunted":"
Confents bewitch'd, ere he defire, have granted;
And dialogu'd for him what he would fay,
Afk'd their own wills, and made their wills obey.

Many there were that did his picture get,
To ferve their eyes, and in it put their mind;
Like fools that in the imagination set

The goodly objects which abroad they find

Of lands and manfions, their's in thought affign'd;
And labouring in more pleasures to bestow them,
Than the true gouty landlord which doth owe them 6:

So many have, that never touch'd his hand,
Sweetly fuppos'd them miftrefs of his heart.
My woeful felf, that did in freedom stand,
And was my own fee-fimple7, (not in part,)
What with his art in youth, and youth in art,
Threw my affections in his charmed power,
Referv'd the stalk, and gave him all my flower.

Yet did I not, as fome my equals did,
Demand of hiin, nor being defired, yielded;

4-be did in the general bofom reign

Of young, of old; and fexes both enchanted,-
Confents, bewitch'd, &c.] So, in Cymbeline:
-Such a holy witch,

"That he enchants focieties to him."

A fimilar panegyrick is bestowed by our authour upon Timen : his large fortune

"Upon his good and gracious nature hanging,

"Subdues and properties to his love and tendance
"All forts of hearts." MALONE.

5-following where be haunted:] Where he frequented. So, in

Romeo and Juliet:

"here in the publick baunt of men." MALONE. 6-the true gouty landlord which doth owe them :] So, Timon, adareffing himself to the gold he had found:

-Thou'lt go, ftrong thief,

"When gouty keepers of thee cannot ftand." STEEVENS. 7 And was my cron fee-fimple-] Had an abfolute power over my. felf; as large as a tenant in fee has over his eftate. MALONE.

A a 4

Finding