When beauty boafted blushes, in defpite
Virtue would stain that o'er with filver white.

But beauty, in that white intituled,

From Venus' doves doth challenge that fair field;
Then virtue claims from beauty beauty's red,
Which virtue gave the golden age, to gild

Their filver cheeks, and call'd it then their fhield;
Teaching them thus to use it in the fight,-

When fhame affail'd, the red fhould fence the white.:

Virtue would flain that o'er with filver white.] The original edition exhibits this line thus:

Virtue would stain that ore with filver white.

Ore might certainly have been intended for oer, (as it is printed in the text,) the word over, when contracted, having been formerly written ore. But in this way the paffage is not reducible to grammar. Virtue would stain that, i. e. blushes, o'er with filver white. The word intended was, perhaps or, i, e. gold, to which the poet compares the deep colour of a blush.

Thus in Hamlet we find ore ufed by our authour manifeftly in the fenfe of or or gold:

"O'er whom his very madness, like fome ore

"Among a mineral of metals base,

Shews itfelf pure."

The terms of heraldry in the next ftanza feem to favour this fuppo fition; and the oppofition between or and the filver white of virtue is entirely in Shakspeare's manner. So, afterwards:

Which virtue gave the golden age, to giid "Their filver cheeks-, MALONE.

Shakspeare delights in oppofing the colours of gold and silver to each other. So, in Macbeth:

"His filver skin lac'd with his golden blood."

We meet with a defcription, allied to the prefent one, in Much ade about Nothing:

"A thousand blushing apparitions

"To start into her face; a thousand innocent fhames

"In angel whitenefs bear away those blushes." STEEVENS. 7-in that white intituled,] I fuppofe he means, that confifis in that whiteness, or takes its title from it. STEEVENS.

Our authour has the fame phrafe in his 37th Sonnet:

"For whether beauty, birth, or wealth, or wit,
"Or any of thefe all, or all, or more,

"Intitled in their parts, do crowned fit," MALONE.

This heraldry in Lucrece' face was feen,
Argued by beauty's red, and virtue's white.
Of either's colour was the other queen,
Proving from world's minority their right:
Yet their ambition makes them ftill to fight;
The fovereignty of either being fo great,
That oft they interchange each other's feat.

This filent war of lilies and of rofes,
Which Tarquin view'd in her fair face's field,
In their pure ranks his traitor eye encloses;
Where, left between them both it fhould be kill'd,
The coward captive vanquished doth yield

To those two armies, that would let him go,
Rather than triumph in fo falfe a foe.

Now thinks he that her husband's fhallow tongue
(The niggard, prodigal that prais'd her fo)
In that high talk hath done her beauty wrong,

8-in ber fair face's field,] Field is here equivocally used. The war of lilies and rofes requires a field of battle; the beraldry in the preceding ftanza demands another field, i. e. the ground or surface of a fhield or efcutcheon armorial. STEEVENS.

9 This filent war of lilies and of roses,

Which Tarquin view'd in her fair face's field, In their pure ranks bis traitor eye enclofes ;] There is here much confufion of metaphor. War is, in the firft line, ufed merely to fignify the conteft of lilies and rofes for fuperiority; and in the third, as actuating an army which takes Tarquin prifoner, and enclotes his eye in the pure ranks of white and red.

Our authour has the fame expreffion in Ceriolanus:

66 - -Our veil'd dames

"Commit the war of white and damask in

Their nicely gauded cheeks, to the wanton fpoil

"Of Phoebus' burning kifles."

Again, in Verus and Adonis:

"Topote the fighting conflict of her hue,

"How white and red each other did deftroy." MALONE.

So, in The Taming of Shrew:

"Haft thou beheld a fresher gentlewoman?

"Such war of white and red within her cheeks!"

Again, in Venus and Adonis:

"O, what a war of looks was then between them!" STZAY.

Which far exceeds his barren skill to show:
Therefore that praife which Collatine doth owe,
Enchanted Tarquin anfwers with furmife,
In filent wonder of ftill-gazing eyes.

This earthly faint, adored by this devil,
Little fufpecteth the falfe worshipper;

For unftain'd thoughts do feldom dream on evil;
Birds never lim'd no fecret bushes fear2:
So guiltless the fecurely gives good cheer

And reverend welcome to her princely gueft,
Whofe inward ill no outward harm exprefs'd:

For that he colour'd with his high eftate,
Hiding bafe fin in plaits of majefty 3;
That nothing in him feem'd inordinate,
Save fometime too much wonder of his eye,
Which, having all, all could not fatisfy;

But, poorly rich, fo wanteth in his store,
That cloy'd with much, he pineth still for more.

But fhe, that never cop'd with ftranger eyes 4,
Could pick no meaning from their parling looks",
Nor read the fubtle-Thining fecrecies

Writ in the glaffy margents of fuch books;

She touch'd no unknown baits, nor fear'd no hooks;

Nor

Therefore that praife which Collatine doth ore,] Praife here figni fies the object of praife, i, e. Lucretia. To owe in old language means to poffefs. See Vol. II. p. 24, n. 1, and p. 160, n. 3.

MALONE.

2 Birds never lim'd no fecret bushes fear:] So, in K. Henry VI. P. III: "The bird that hath been limed in a bush,

"With trembling wings mifdoubteth every bush." STEEVENS.

3 Hiding bafe fin in plaits of majesty:] So, in King Lear: "Robes and furr'd gowns bide all." STEEVENS.

4

with franger eyes,] Stranger is here used as an adjective. So, in K. Richard II:

"And tread the franger paths of banishment." MALONE. 5 Could pick no meaning from their parling looks,] So, Daniel in his Rofamend:

"Ah beauty, Syren, fair enchanting good!

"Sweet filent rbetorick of perfuading eyes!" MALONE. *Writ in the glafly margents of fuch books;] So, in Romeo and Juliet :

"Apd

Nor could fhe moralize his wanton fight",
More than his eyes were open'd to the light,

He ftories to her ears her husband's fame,
Won in the fields of fruitful Italy;

And decks with praifes Collatine's high name,
Made glorious by his manly chivalry

With bruifed arms and wreaths of victory;
Her joy with heav'd-up hand the doth exprefs,
And wordlefs, fo greets heaven for his fuccefs.

Far from the purpose of his coming thither,
He makes excufes for his being there.
No cloudy fhow of ftormy bluftering weather
Doth yet in his fair welkin once appear;
Till fable Night, mother of Dread and Fear,
Upon the world dim darknefs doth display,
And in her vaulty prifon ftows the day.

"And what obfcur'd in this fair volume lies,
"Find written in the margin of his eyes."

Again, in Hamlet:

For

"I knew you must be edified by the margent, ere you had done." In all our ancient English books, the comment is printed in the margin. MALONE.

7 Nor could fhe moralize bis wanton fight,] To moralize here fignifies to interpret, to inveftigate the latent meaning of his looks. So, in Much ado about Nothing: "You have fome moral in this Benedictus." Again, in The Taming of the Sbrew: "—and has left me here to expound the meaning or moral of his figns and tokens." See alfo Vol. VII. p. 529, A.7. MALONE.

With bruifed arms and wreaths of victory :] So, in K. Richard III; "Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,

"Our bruifed arms hung up for monuments." MALONE. Till fable Night, tnother of Dread and Fear,

Upon the world dim darknefs docb difplay,

And in ber vaulty prifon stows the day. So, Daniel in his Rofa

mond, 1592:

"Com'd was the night, mother of fleep and fear,

"Who with her fable mantle friendly covers

"The fweet ftolne fports of joyful meeting lovers."

Thus the quarto, 1594, and the three fubfequent editions. The octavo, 1616, without any authority, reads thus:

Till fable night, fad fource of dread and fear,
Upon the world dim darkness doth display,

And in her vaulty prifon huts the day. MALONE.

Stows

.

94

For then is Tarquin brought unto his bed,
Intending wearinefs with heavy fpright;
For, after fupper, long he queftioned

With modeft Lucrece, and wore out the nig
Now leaden flumber3 with life's ftrength dot
And every one to rest himself betakes,
Save thieves, and cares, and troubled
wakes 4.

As one of which doth Tarquin lie revolving
The fundry dangers of his will's obtaining;
Yet ever to obtain his will refolving,
Though weak-built hopes perfuade him to abi
Despair to gain, doth traffick oft for gaining;

And when great treasure is the meed propos
Though death be adjunct, there's no death

Stows I believe to be the true, though the leaft elegant, in Hamlet, A& IV. fc, i: "Safely ftow'd." STEEVENS Intending weariness with beavy jpright;] Intending See Vol. VII. p. 540, n. 5. MALONE.

2 For, after fupper, long he questioned

With modeft Lucrece,-] Held a long converfation. Merchant of Venice:

"I pray you, think you queftion with the Jew." Again, in As you Like it: "I met the duke yesterday, an queftion with him." MALONE.

3-leader flumber-] So, in K. Richard III:

"Left leaden flumber peife me down to-morrow."

4 And every one to reft himself betakes,

Save thieves, and cares, and troubled minds, that wakes. quarto. The octavo 1600, reads:-themselves betake, and line:

Save thieves, and cares, and troubled minds that wa But the first copy was right. This difregard of concord is mon in our ancient poets. So, in our authour's Venus and. "two lamps burnt out in darknefs lies."

Again in the Tempest, 1623:

"at this hour

"Lies at my mercy all mine enemies."
MALONE.

See p. 96, n. 9.

5 Though death be adjunct,] So, in King John:

"Though that my death were adjunct to the act." S