A woman I forfwore; but, I will prove, Thy grace being gain'd, cures all difgrace in me. Vows are but breath, and breath a vapour is: Then thou, fair fun, which on my earth doft fhine, Exhalt this vapour vow; in thee it is: If broken then, it is no fault of mine; If by me broke, What fool is not fo wife, To lofe an oath to win a paradife? BIRON. [Afide.] This is the liver vein which makes flefh a deity; A green goofe, a goddefs: pure, pure idolatry. God amend us, God amend! we are much out o'the way. Enter DUMAIN, with a paper. LONG. By whom fhall I fend this?-Company! ftay. [Stepping afide. BIRON. [Afide.] All hid, all hid,' an old infant play: Like a demi-god here fit I in the sky, And wretched fools' fecrets heedfully o'er-eye. More facks to the mill! O heavens, I have my wifh Dumain transform'd: four woodcocks in a difh!" 3 To lofe an oath to win a paradife?] The Paffionate Pilgrim, 1599, in which this fonnet is alfo found, reads- To break on oath. But the oppofition between lofe and win is much in our author's manner. 4 MALONE. the liver vein, The liver was anciently fuppofed to be the feat of love. JOHNSON. So, in Much ado about nothing: "I ever love had intereft in his liver." STEEVENS. • All hid, all hid,] The children's cry at hide and feek. 6 MUSGRAVE. four woodcocks in a dish!] See note on Much ado about nothing, A& V. fc. i. Doug, DUM. O moft divine Kate! BIRON. O moft prophane coxcomb! [Afide. DUM. By heaven, the wonder of a mortal eye! BIRON. By earth, the is but corporal; there you Afide. lie. 7 DUM. Her amber hairs for foul have amber coted. 3 BIRON. An amber-colour'd raven was well noted. [Afide. 7 By earth, he is but corporal; there you lie.] Old edition: By earth, he is not, corporal, there you lie.' Dumain, one of the lovers,in fpite of his vow to the contrary, thinking himself alone bere, breaks out into fhort foliloquies of admiration on his miftrefs; and Biron, who ftands behind as an eves-dropper, takes pleasure in contradicting his amorous raptures. But Dumain was a young lord: he had no fort of poft in the army: what wit, or allufion, then, can there be in Biron's calling him corporal? I dare warrant, I have reftored the poet's true meaning, which is this. Dumain calls his miftrefs divine, and the wonder of a mortal eye; and Biron in flat terms denies these hyperbolical praises. I fcarce need hint, that our poet commonly uses corporal, as corporeal. THEOBALD. I have no doubt that Theobald's emendation is right. The word corporal in Shakspeare's time was used for corporeal. So, in Macbeth, each corporal agent. Again: and what feem'd corporal, melted "As breath into the wind: Again, in Julius Cæfar: "His corporal motion govern'd by my fpirit. This adjective is found in Bullokar's Expofitor, 8vo. 1616, but corporeal is not. Not is again printed for but in the original copy of The Comedy of Errors, and in other places. MALONE. Hamlet: amber coted.] To cote is to outftrip, to overpafs. So, in .certain players "We coted on the way." Again, in Chapman's Homer: Words her worth had prov'd with deeds, "Had more ground been allow'd the race, and coted far his feeds. The beauty of amber confifts in its variegated cloudinefs, which Dumain calls foulaefs. The hair of his miftrefs in varied shadows DUM. As upright as the cedar. BIRON. Her fhoulder is with child. DUM. BIRON. Ay, as fome days; but then no fhine. Stoop, I fay; [Afide. As fair as day. fun muft [ Afide. [ Afide. [Afide. DUM. O that I had my with! LONG. KING. And I mine too, good Lord! BIRON. Amen, so I had mine: Is not that a good word? DUM. I would forget her; but a fever fhe Reigns in my blood," and will remember'd be. BIRON. A fever in your blood! why, then incifion Would let her out in faucers; Sweet mifprifion! 2 [Afide. exceeded thofe of amber, Foul may be used (as Fair often is) as a fubftantive. STEEVENS. Quoted here, I think, fignifies marked, All's Well that ends Well: written down. So, in "He's quoted for a most perfidious knave." The word in the old copy is-coted; but that (as Dr. Johnfon has obferved in the laft fcene of this play) is only the old fpelling of quoted, owing to the tranfcriber's trufting to his ear, and foliowing the pronunciation. To cote, is elsewhere used by our author, with the fignification of over-take, but that will by no means fuit here. MALONE. The word here, intended, though mifpelled, is quoted, which fignifies obferved or regarded, both here and in every place where it occurs in thefe plays; and the meaning is, that amber itself is res garded as foul, when compared with her hair. Would let her out in faucers;] It was the fashion among the young DUM. Once more I'll read the ode that I have writ. BIRON. Once more I'll mark how love can vary wit. DUм. On a day, (alack the day!) 3 [ Afide. Love, whofe month is ever May, Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn: " gallants of that age, to ftab themselves in the arms, or elsewhere, in order to drink their miftrefs's health, or write her name in their blood, as a proof of their paffion. Thus in The Humorous Lieutenant, a gentleman gives the following description of him, when in love with the King. Thus he begins, thou light and life of creatures, - But the custom is more particularly defcribed in Jonfon's Cynthia's, Revels, where Phantafte, defcribing the different modes of making love, fays "A fourth with ftabbing himself, and drinking healths, or writing languishing letters in his blood." And in the Palinode, at the end of the play, Amorphus fays, " From ftabbing of arms, &c. Good Mercury deliver us! M. MASON. 3 'gan paffage find;] The quarto, 1598, and the first folio, have-can, Corre&ed by Mr. Theobald. In the line next but one, Wish (the reading of the old copies) was corrected by the editor of the fecond folio. MALONE. 4 Air, would I might triumph fo!] Perhaps we may better read: "Ah! would I might triumph fo!" JOHNSON. my hand is fworn, ] A copy of this fonnet is printed in England's Helicon, 1614, and reads: "But, alas! my hand hath fworn." Vow, alack, for youth unmeet; That I am forfworn for thee: Thou for whom even Jove would fwear, Juno but an Ethiop were; And deny himself for Jove, Turning mortal for thy love. This will I fend; and fomething elfe more plain, Would from my forehead wipe a perjur'd note; LONG. Dumain, [advancing. ] thy love is far from That in love's grief defir'ft fociety: You may look pale, but I fhould bluff, I know, - It is likewife printed as Shakspeare's, in Jaggard's Collection, 1599. 6 STEEVENS. -from thy thorn:] So Mr. Pope. The original copy reads -throne. MALONE. 7 even Jove would swear,] The word even has been fupplied; and the two preceding lines are wanting in the copy publifhed in England's Helicon, 1614. STEEVENS. Swear is here ufed as a diffyllable. Mr. Pope, not attending to this, reads ev'n Jove, which has been adopted by the fubfequent editors. MALONE. I would willingly abandon the adoption, if I could read the line without it, and perfuade myself that I was reading a verse. But when was fwear ever used, as a diffyllable, at the end of a verfe? STEEVENS. 8 -my true love's fafting pain.] Fafting is longing, hungry, wanting. JOHNSON. |