This ill prefage advisedly the marketh:-
Even as the wind is hufh'd before it raineth",
Or as the wolf doth grin before he barketh,
Or as the berry breaks before it staineth,
Or like the deadly bullet of a gun 3,

His meaning struck her ere his words begun 4.

And at his look fhe flatly falleth down,
For looks kill love, and love by looks reviveth:
A fmile recures the wounding of a frown;
But bleffed bankrupt, that by love fo thriveth!
The filly boy believing the is dead,

Claps her pale cheek, till clapping makes it red;

And in amaze brake off his late intent,
For fharply he did think to reprehend her,
Which cunning love did wittily prevent:
Fair fall the wit, that can fo well defend her!
For on the grafs the lies, as the were flain,
Till his breath breatheth life in her again.

He wrings her nofe, he ftrikes her on the cheeks,
He bends her fingers, holds her pulfes hard;
He chafes her lips; a thoufand ways he feeks
'To mend the hurt that his unkindness marr'd;
He kiffes her; and fhe, by her good will,
Will never rife, so he will kiss her still.

The night of forrow now is turn'd to day:
Her two blue windows faintly fhe up-heaveth,

2 Even as the wind is hush'd before it raineth,] So, in Hamlet: "But, as we often fee against fome ftorm

"The bold winds fpeechlefs, and the orb below

"As bufh as death," &c. STEEVENS.

3 Or like the deadly bullet of a gun,] So, in Romeo and Juliet:

66 that name

"Shot from the deadly level of a gun,-." STEEVENS.

Like

4 His meaning ftruck ber, ere bis words begun.] So, in K. Henry IV. P. II. Vol. V. p. 283:

"But Priam found the fire, ere he his tongue."

Our authour is inaccurate. He should have written began. MALONE. 5er two blue windows-] So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

"Downy windows, clofe;

.

D 2

"And

Like the fair fun, when in his fresh array
He cheers the morn, and all the world relieveth:
And as the bright fun glorifies the fky 6,
So is her face illumin'd with her eye;

Whose beams upon his hairless face are fix'd,
As if from thence they borrow'd all their fhine.
Were never four fuch lamps together mix'd,
Had not his clouded with his brows' repine;

But hers, which through the cryftai tears gave light,
Shone like the moon, in water feen by night.

O, where am I, quoth fhe? in earth or heaven,
Or in the ocean drench'd, or in the fire?
What hour is this? or morn or weary even?
Do I delight to die, or life defire?

But now I liv'd, and life was death's annoy;
But now I dy'd, and death was lively joy.

O, thou didst kill me;-kill me once again :
Thy eyes' fhrewd tutor, that hard heart of thine,
Hath taught them fcornful tricks, and fuch difdain,
That they have murder'd this poor heart of mine';

"And golden Phoebus never be beheld "Of eyes again fo royal!" MALONE. This thought is more dilated in Cymbeline:

"the enclofed lights now canopied

"Under thefe windows :-white and azure! laced
"With blue of heaven's own tinct." STEEVENS.

glorifies the sky,] So, in King John:

And

"Do glorify the banks that bound them in." STEEVENS.

7-bis hairless face-] So, in K. John:

"This unbair'd faucinefs, and boyish troops." STEEVENS. 8 But bers, which through the crystal tears gave light,

Shone like the moon, in water feen by night.] So, in Love's La

bour's Loft:

Nor fhines the filver moon one half fo bright,

"Through the transparent bofom of the deep,

"As doth thy face through tears of mine give light;

"Thou shin'ft in every tear that I do weep." MALONE,

-murder'd this poor beart-] So, in K. Henry V:
"The king hath kill'd bis heart." STEEVENS.

And these mine eyes, true leaders to their queen,
But for thy piteous lips no more had seen.

Long may they kifs each other, for this cure!
O, never let their crimson liveries wear!
And as they laft, their verdure still endure,
To drive infection from the dangerous year!
That the ftar-gazers, having writ on death,
May fay, the plague is banish'd by thy breath.

Pure lips, sweet feals in my foft lips imprinted,
What bargains may I make, ftill to be fealing?
To fell myself I can be well contented,
So thou wilt buy, and pay, and ufe good dealing;
Which purchase if thou make, for fear of flips
Set thy feal-manual on my wax-red lips.

A thousand kiffes buys my heart from me+;
And pay them at thy leifure, one by one.
What is ten hundred kiffes unto thee?
Are they not quickly told, and quickly gone?

Again, in K. Richard II:

" 'twere no good part

"To take on me to keep, and kill thy heart." MALONE. I their verdure ftill endure,

To drive infection from the dangerous year!] I have somewhere read, that in rooms where plants are kept in a growing state, the air is never unwholefome. STEEVENS.

2 Pure lips, fweet feals in my foft lips imprinted,] We meet with the fame image in Measure for Measure:

"Take, O take thofe lips away,

"That so sweetly were forfworn ;

"But my kiffes bring again,

"Seals of love, but feal'd in vain."

Again, in Troilus and Creffida:

"With diftinct breath, and confign'd kiffes to them."

The epithet foft has a peculiar propriety. See p. 39, n. 9. MALONE. 3 -for fear of flips,] i. e. of counterfeit money. See note on Romea and Juliet, A& II. fc. iv.

"what counterfeit did I give you?
"Mer. The flip, fir, the flip," &c.

STEEVENS.

4 Athousand kiffes buys my beart from me ;] So, in Troilus and Creffida:

"We two, that with fo many thousand tighs

"Did buy each other," &c. MALONE.

D 3

Say,

Say, for non-payment that the debt should
Is twenty hundred kiffes fuch a trouble?

Fair queen, quoth he, if any love you owe me
Measure my trangeness with my unripe years
Before I know myself, feek not to know me;
No fisher but the ungrown fry forbears:

The mellow plumb doth fall, the green ftich
Or being early pluck'd, is four to taste.

Look, the world's comforter, with weary gait,
His day's hot task hath ended in the west:
The owl, night's herald, fhrieks", 'tis very lat
The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their neft;
And coal-black clouds that fhadow heaven's
Do fummon us to part, and bid good night.

Now let me fay good night, and fo fay you;
If you will fay fo, you shall have a kiss.
Good night, quoth fhe; and, ere he fays adieu,
The honey fee of parting tender'd is:

Her arms do lend his neck a fweet embrace;
Incorporate then they feem; face grows to fa

Till, breathlefs, he disjoin'd, and backward dre The heavenly moisture, that fweet coral mouth, 4 Measure my strangenefs-] i. e. my bashfulness, my c in Romeo and Juliet:

"I'll prove more true,"

"Than thofe that have more cunning to be frange." 5 The owl, night's herald, fhrieks, &c.] So, in Macbeth: "It was the owl that fbrick'd, the fatal bellman, "Which gives the ftern'ft good-night."

In Romeo and Juliet, the lark is called the berald of the morn. -a afweet embrace;

Incorporate then they feem; face grows to face.] So, in K.1 how they clung

"In their embracements, as they grew together." ST Again, in All's well that ends well: "I grow to you, and of is a tortured body."-In the fame manner as here, in Conftabl Venus promises to let Adonis go, it he will give her a kifs. plains of its fhortnefs, and takes another :

"When he had thus fpoken,

"She gave him a token,

"And their naked bofums met." MALONE

Whofe precious tafte her thirfty lips well knew,
Whereon they furfeit, yet complain on drought:
He with her plenty prefs'd, the faint with dearth,
(Their lips together glew'd,) fall to the earth.

Now quick Defire hath caught the yielding prey,
And glutton-like the feeds, yet never filleth;
Her lips are conquerors, his lips obey,
Paying what ranfom the infulter willeth;

Whofe vulture thought doth pitch the price fo high,
That she will draw his lips' rich treasure dry.

And having felt the fweetnefs of the spoil,
With blind-fold fury fhe begins to forage;
Her face doth reek and smoke, her blood doth boil,
And careless luft stirs up a defperate courage;
Planting oblivion, beating reafon back,

Forgetting fhame's pure blush, and honour's wreck".

Hot, faint, and weary, with her hard embracing,
Like a wild bird being tam'd with too much handling,
Or as the fleet-foot roe, that's tir'd with chafing,
Or like the froward infant, ftill'd with dandling,
He now obeys, and now no more refifteth,
While fhe takes all fhe can, not all she lifteth.

What wax fo frozen but diffolves with temp'ring,
And yields at laft to every light impreffion??

7 Forgetting fhame's pure blufb,] Here the poet charges his heroine with having forgotten what the can never be fuppofed to have known. Shakfpeare's Venus may furely fay with Quartilla in Petronius: "Junonem meam iratam habeam, fi unquam me meminerim virginem fuiffe." STEEV. 8 While he takes all she can, not all he liftetb.] Thus Pope's Eloifa ; "Give all thou canft, and let me dream the reft." AMNER. diffolves with temp'ring,

9

And yields at laft to every light impreffion?] So, in K. Henry IV. P.II: "I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb, and fhortly will I feal with him." STEEVENS.

It should be remembered that it was the custom formerly to feal with foft wax, which was tempered between the fingers, before the impreffion was made. See the note on the paffage juft cited, in the APPENDIX. MALONE.