"Ay me," quoth Venus, "young, and so unkind! I'll make a shadow for thee of my hairs; If they burn too, I'll quench them with my tears. "The sun that shines from heaven shines but warm, And, lo, I lie between that sun and thee: The heat I have from thence doth little harm, "Art thou obdurate, flinty, hard as steel? 204 unkind] without family, childless. Cf. All's Well, IV, ii, 8-10: "you are cold and stern; And now you should be as your mother was When your sweet self was got." "This " 205 contemn me this] contemptuously refuse me this favour. 190 200 210 "Fie, lifeless picture, cold and senseless stone, Well painted idol, image dull and dead, Statue contenting but the eye alone, Thing like a man, but of no woman bred! Thou art no man, though of a man's complexion, This said, impatience chokes her pleading tongue, And now she weeps, and now she fain would speak, Sometimes she shakes her head, and then his hand, "Fondling," she saith, "since I have hemm'd thee here Within the circuit of this ivory pale, I'll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer; Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale: 220 230 222 intendments] intentions (of utterance). Cf. As you like it, I, i, 119: "you might stay him from his intendment." 230 this ivory pale] this enclosure of ivory skin. Cf. Com. of Errors, II, i, 100-101 (of an incensed husband): "too unruly deer he breaks the pale, And feeds from home." Graze on my lips, and if those hills be dry, Then be my deer, since I am such a park; At this Adonis smiles as in disdain, Foreknowing well, if there he came to lie, Poor queen of love, in thine own law forlorn, Now which way shall she turn? what shall she say? Her words are done, her woes the more increasing; 236 bottom-grass] luxuriant grass in the depths of a valley. 240 rouse] a hunting term technically employed in the chase of the hart. See Wyndham's edition of Shakespeare's Poems, p. 213. 243 if himself] so that if he himself. 251 in thine own law forlorn] lost or ruined by the force of thine own law. 240 250 The time is spent, her object will away The strong-neck'd steed, being tied unto a tree, Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, His ears up-prick'd; his braided hanging mane His eye, which scornfully glisters like fire, 257 remorse] compassion. 260 jennet] a small Spanish mare, a nag. 272 compass'd] rounded, arched. Cf. Troil. and Cress., I, ii, 106: "the compassed window," i. e., bow window. 260 270 Anon he rears upright, curvets and leaps, As who should say "Lo, thus my strength is tried; 280 And this I do to captivate the eye Of the fair breeder that is standing by." What recketh he his rider's angry stir, He sees his love, and nothing else he sees, Look, when a painter would surpass the life So did this horse excel a common one Round-hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long, Look, what a horse should have he did not lack, 279 curvets] prances. 284 "Holla"] Stop! Cf. As you like it, III, ii, 229-230: "Cry 'holla' to thy tongue,... it curvets unseasonably." According to Cotgrave, Fr.-Engl. Dict., "Holla" meant "Enough; soft, soft; no more of that, if you love me." 291 His art at strife] Cf. line 11, supra, and note. 290 800 |