XI Venus, with young Adonis sitting by her Under a myrtle shade, began to woo him: "Even thus," quoth she, "the warlike god embraced me,' And would not take her meaning nor her pleasure. XI This sonnet repeats with very slight change in ten of its lines Sonnet iii of B. Griffin's sonnet-sequence entitled Fidessa, 1596. The four lines, 9-12 ("Even thus," quoth she, "he seized. . . her pleasure), are completely altered. In Venus and Adonis Shakespeare makes Venus refer to her wooing by "the stern and direful god of war" (lines 98 seq.). Griffin, doubtless, developed Shakespeare's hint and is probably responsible for both the extant versions of this sonnet. 5 warlike] Griffin gives wanton. 6 clipp'd] Griffin gives clasp'd. 9-12 “Even thus," quoth she, “he seized... her pleasure] In Griffin's Fidessa these lines run thus: "But he a wayward boy refusde her offer, And ran away, the beautious Queene neglecting: Shewing both folly to abuse her proffer, And all his sex of cowardise detecting," 12 her meaning] Cf. Mids. N. Dr., II, ii, 46: "Love takes the meaning in love's conference." 10 Ah, that I had my lady at this bay, XII Crabbed age and youth cannot live together: Youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; Age, I do abhor thee; youth, I do adore thee; 13 at this bay] at such an extremity, within my power Cf. Tit. Andr., IV, ii, 41-42: "I would we had a thousand Roman dames At such a bay." The expression is from the metaphor of a hunted dog, baying or barking at his pursuers. XII This piece appears with a worthless continuation of some ninety lines in Deloney's poetical miscellany called Garland of good will, which was first published in 1595, though the earliest extant edition is dated 1604. "Crabbed age and youth cannot live together" is noticed as a popular song by the Elizabethan dramatists. Cf. Fletcher's Woman's Prize, IV, i, 37: "Hast thou forgot the ballad Crabbed age?"; so William Rowley's Match at Midnight, 1633, Act V, Sc. i, and John Ford's Fancies, Act IV, Sc. i. Percy prints the piece as given in the present text in his Reliques. The early music is lost. Stevens, Bishop, and Horn have composed modern settings. ... 4 Youth like summer brave . . . bare] This line is omitted by Deloney. 6 nimble] Deloney reads wild, as in line 8. 10 my love is young] Deloney reads "my lord is young.” 10 Age, I do defy thee: O, sweet shepherd, hie thee, XIII Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good; A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, And as goods lost are seld or never found, So beauty blemish'd once 's for ever lost, XIII Numerous Elizabethan poems in the six-line stanza are in sentiment and phrase hardly distinguishable from this piece; but none seems quite identical. Cf. Greene's Alcida, 1588: "Beauty is vain, accounted but a flower, Whose painted hue fades with the summer sun" (Greene's Works, ed. Grosart, ix, 87). A somewhat improved version of the present piece appears in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1750, xx, p. 521, under the title "Beauty's value by Wm. Shakespeare: from a corrected MS." This was again printed in the same periodical in 1760, xxx, p. 39. The emendations seem due to eighteenth century ingenuity, and have no historic interest. 2-6-8 vadeth ... vaded. . . vaded] See note on X, 1-2, supra. XIV share: Good night, good rest. Ah, neither be my "Farewell," quoth she, "and come again to morrow:" Fare well I could not, for I supp'd with sorrow. Yet at my parting sweetly did she smile, XV Lord, how mine eyes throw gazes to the east! XIV In the 1640 edition of Shakespeare's Poems this piece is printed continuously with the one succeeding it (No. XV), and the two are given the single title "Loath to depart." The metre and meaning of the two make Jaggard's bifurcation unnecessary. They together form a lover's meditation at night and dawn. 3 daff'd me] dismissed me, sent me off. 8 nill I] I will not. Cf. T. of Shrew, II, i, 263: "will you nill you." XV Though division has been adopted by most modern editors, the three stanzas of No. XV seem to belong to No. XIV. (See note, supra.) The two numbers form together a single piece of five stanzas. 2 doth charge the watch] impatiently challenges the night-watchman to announce daybreak. 10 Doth cite each moving sense from idle rest. While Philomela sits and sings, I sit and mark, For she doth welcome daylight with her ditty, The night so pack'd, I post unto my pretty; sorrow; For why, she sigh'd, and bade me come to-morrow. Were I with her, the night would post too soon; Pack night, peep day; good day, of night now Short, night, to-night, and length thyself to-morrow. [XVI] It was a lording's daughter, the fairest one of three, 6-7 the lark... with her ditty] Cf. Rom. and Jul., III, v, 6: "It was the lark, the herald of the morn." 9 pack'd] sent packing. Cf. line 17, infra. 15 a moon] Thus Malone. The old editions give an houre, which does not rhyme. [XVI] In the original edition, this poem, which is not met with anywhere else but may be by Deloney (see No. XII, supra), is preceded by a new 10 |