When every thing doth make a gleeful boast?
The birds chaunt melody on every bush;
The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun;
The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind,
And make a checquer'd shadow1 on the ground:
Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit,
And whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds,
Replying shrilly to the well-tun'd horns,

As if a double hunt were heard at once,2-
Let us sit down, and mark their yelling noise :
And-after conflict, such as was suppos'd
The wandering prince and Dido once enjoy'd,
When with a happy storm they were surpriz'd,
And curtain'd with a counsel-keeping cave,-
We may, each wreathed in the other's arms,
Our pastimes done, possess a golden slumber;
Whiles hounds, and horns, and sweet melodious birds,
Be unto us, as is a nurse's song

"The emperor, with wine and luxury o'ercome,
"Is fallen asleep; in 's pendant couch he 's laid,
"That hangs in yonder grotto rock'd by winds,
"Which rais'd by art to give it gentle motion:
"And troops of slaves stand round with fans perfum'd,
"Made of the feathers pluck'd from Indian birds,
"And cool him into golden slumbers:

"This time I chose to come to thee, my Moor.

My lovely Aaron, wherefore," &c.

An emperor who has had too large a dose of love and wine, and in consequence of satiety in both, falls asleep on a bed which partakes of the nature of a sailor's hammock, and a child's cradle, is a curiosity which only Ravenscroft could have ventured to describe on the stage. I hope I may be excused for transplanting a few of his flowers into the barren desart of our comments on this tragedy. Steevens.

My lovely Aaron, &c.] There is much poetical beauty in this speech of Tamora. It appears to me to be the only one in the play that is in the style of Shakspeare.

M. Mason.

1 —— a checquer'd shadow —] Milton has the same expression:

many a maid

"Dancing in the checquer'd shade."

The same epithet occurs in Locrine.

Steevens.

2 As if a double hunt were heard at once,] Hence, perhaps, a line in a well known song by Dryden:

"And echo turns hunter, and doubles the cry."

Steevens.

Of lullaby, to bring her babe asleep.3

Aar. Madam, though Venus govern your desires,
Saturn is dominator over mine:4

What signifies my deadly-standing eye,
My silence, and my cloudy melancholy?
My fleece of woolly hair that now uncurls,
Even as an adder, when she doth unroll
To do some fatal execution?

No, madam, these are no venereal signs;
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
Hark, Tamora, the empress of my soul,

Which never hopes more heaven than rests in thee,-
This is the day of doom for Bassianus ;

His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day :5

Thy sons make pillage of her chastity,

And wash their hands in Bassianus' blood.

3

as is a nurse's song

Of lullaby, to bring her babe asleep.] Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, says, "it is observable that the nurses call sleep by, by; lullaby is therefore lull to sleep." But to lull originally signified to sleep. To compose to sleep by a pleasing sound is a secondary sense retained after its primitive import became obsolete. The verbs to loll and lollop evidently spring from the same root. And by meant house; go to by is go to house or cradle. The common compliment at parting, good by is good house, may your house prosper; and Selby, the Archbishop of York's palace, is great house. So that lullaby implies literally sleep in house, i. e. the cradle. H. White.

4

though Venus govern your desires,

Saturn is dominator over mine:] The meaning of this pas sage may be illustrated by the astronomical description of Saturn, which Venus gives in Greene's Planetomachia, 1585: "The star of Saturn is especially cooling, and somewhat drie," &c. Again, in The Sea Voyage, by Beaumont and Fletcher :

for your aspect

"You 're much inclin'd to melancholy, and that
"Tells me the sullen Saturn had predominance

"At your nativity, a malignant planet!

"And if not qualified by a sweet conjunction
"Of a soft ruddy wench, born under Venus,
"It may prove fatal." Collins.

Thus also, Propertius, L. IV, i, 84:

"Et grave Saturni sydus in omne caput." Steevens.

5 His Philomel &c.] See Vol. XVI, p. 53, n. 9. Steevens.

Seest thou this letter? take it up, I pray thee,
And give the king this fatal-plotted scroll:-
Now question me no more, we are espied;
Here comes a parcel of our hopeful booty,
Which dreads not yet their lives' destruction.
Tam. Ah, my sweet Moor, sweeter to me than life!
Aar. No more, great empress, Bassianus comes:
Be cross with him; and I 'll go fetch thy sons
To back thy quarrels, whatsoe'er they be.

Enter BASSIANUS and LAVINIA.

[Exit.

Bas. Who have we here? Rome's royal emperess,
Unfurnish'd of her well-beseeming troop?
Or is it Dian, habited like her;

Who hath abandoned her holy groves,

To see the general hunting in this forest?
Tam. Saucy controller of our private steps!7
Had I the power, that, some say, Dian had,
Thy temples should be planted presently
With horns, as was Acteon's; and the hounds
dine Should"drive" upon thy new-transformed limbs,"
Unmannerly intruder as thou art!

Lav. Under your patience, gentle emperess,
'Tis thought you have a goodly gift in horning;

6 of her-] Old copies of our. Corrected by Mr. Rowe.

The edition 1600, reads exactly thus:
Vnfurnisht of her well beseeming troop? Todd.

7

Malone.

our private steps!] Edition 1600:-my private steps.

Todd.

8 Should drive upon thy new-transformed limbs,] Mr. Heath suspects that the poet wrote:

Should thrive upon thy new-transformed limbs, as the former is an expression that suggests no image to the fancy. But drive, I think, may stand, with this meaning: the hounds should pass with impetuous haste, &c. So, in Hamlet:

"Pyrrhus at Priam drives," &c.

i. e. flies with impetuosity at him.

Steevens.

The old copies have upon his new-transformed limbs. The emendation was made by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

It is said in a note by Mr. Malone, that the old copies read, 66 upon his new-transformed limbs," and that Mr. Rowe made. the emendation-thy. The edition of 1600 reads precisely thus: Should drive upon thy new transformed limbes. Todd.

And to be doubted, that your Moor and you
Are singled forth to try experiments:

Jove shield your husband from his hounds to-day!
'Tis pity, they should take him for a stag.

Bas. Believe me, queen, your swarth Cimmerian
Doth make your honour of his body's hue,
Spotted, detested, and abominable.

Why are you séquester'd from all

your train?
Dismounted from your snow-white goodly steed,
And wander'd hither to an obscure plot,
Accompanied with a barbarous Moor,1
If foul desire had not conducted you?
Lav. And, being intercepted in your sport,
Great reason that my noble lord be rated
For sauciness.-I pray you, let us hence,
And let her 'joy her raven-colour'd love;
This valley fits the purpose passing well.

Bas. The king, my brother, shall have note of this." Lav. Ay, for these slips have made him noted long :3 Good king! to be so mightily abus'd!

Tam. Why have I patience to endure all this?

Enter CHIRON and DEMETRIUS.

Dem. How now, dear sovereign, and our gracious mother,

Why doth your highness look so pale and wan?
Tam. Have I not reason, think you, to look pale?
These two have 'tic'd me hither to this place,
A barren detested vale, you see, it is:

9 swarth Cimmerian -] Swarth is black. The Moor is called Cimmerian, from the affinity of blackness to darkness. Johnson.

swarth Cimmerian] Edition 1600-swartie Cymerion.

Todd.

1 Accompanied with a barbarous Moor,] Edition 1600 reads: Accompanied but with a barbarous Moore. Todd.

2

have note of this,] Old copies-notice. Thus also the 4to. 1600. Todd.

Steevens.

3 · made him noted long:] He had yet been married but one night. Johnson.

The true reading may be-made her, i. e. Tamora. Steevens, 4 A barren detested vale,] As the versification of this play is VOL. XVII.

E

The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean,
O'ercome with moss, and baleful misletoe.
Here never shines the sun;5 here nothing breeds,
Unless the nightly owl, or fatal raven.

And, when they show'd me this abhorred pit,
They told me, here, at dead time of the night,
A thousand fiends, a thousand hissing snakes,
Ten thousand swelling toads, as many urchins,
Would make such fearful and confused cries,
As any mortal body, hearing it,

Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly.7
No sooner had they told this hellish tale,

But straight they told me, they would bind me here
Unto the body of a dismal yew;

And leave me to this miserable death.
And then they call'd me, foul adulteress,
Lascivious Goth, and all the bitterest terms
That ever ear did hear to such effect.
And, had you not by wondrous fortune come,
This vengeance on me had they executed:
Revenge it, as you love your mother's life,
Or be ye not henceforth call'd my children.
Dem. This is a witness that I am thy son. [Stabs BAS.
Chi. And this for me, struck home to show my
[Stabbing him likewise.
Lav. Ay come, Semiramis,-nay, barbarous Tamora!

strength.

by no means inharmonious, I am willing to suppose the author

wrote:

A bare detested vale,

Steevens.

5 Here never shines the sun; &c.] Mr. Rowe seems to have thought on this passage in his Jane Shore:

"This is the house where the sun never dawns,
"The bird of night sits screaming o'er it's roof,
"Grim spectres sweep along the horrid gloom,
"And nought is heard but wailings and lamentings."

6 urchins,] i. e. hedgehogs. See Vol. II, p. 35, n. 1. Steevens

7 Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly.] This is said in fabulous physiology; of those that hear the groan of the mandrake torn up. Johnson.

The same thought and almost the same expressions occur in Romeo and Juliet. Steevens.

8 Ay come, Semiramis,] The propriety of this address will be best understood from the following passage in P. Holland's