Where neither party is nor true nor kind:

They sought their shame that so their shame did find,
And so much less of shame in me remains,
By how much of me their reproach contains.

Among the many that mine eyes have seen,

Not one whose flame my heart so much as warmed,
Or my affection put to the smallest teen',

Or any of my

leisures ever charmed:

Harm have I done to them, but ne'er was harmed;
Kept hearts in liveries, but mine own was free,
And reign'd, commanding in his monarchy.

Look here, what tributes wounded fancies sent me,
Of paled pearls, and rubies red as blood;
Figuring that they their passions likewise lent me
Of grief and blushes, aptly understood

In bloodless white, and the encrimson'd mood;
Effects of terror and dear modesty,

Encamp'd in hearts, but fighting outwardly.

And lo! behold these talents of their hair,
With twisted metal amorously impleach'd,
I have receiv'd from many a several fair,
(Their kind acceptance weepingly beseech'd)
With the annexions of fair gems enrich'd,
And deep-brain'd sonnets, that did amplify
Each stone's dear nature, worth, and quality.

The diamond; why, 'twas beautiful and hard,
Whereto his invis'd properties' did tend,
The deep-green emerald, in whose fresh regard
Weak sights their sickly radiance do amend;
The heaven-hued sapphire, and the opal blend

have been misprinted. Nevertheless, in "Hamlet," Vol. v. p. 542, we have enactures in a similar sense.

1- to the smallest TEEN,] "Teen" is sorrow, a word that has frequently occurred before: see Vol. iv. p. 308, Vol. v. p. 112, &c.

2 behold these TALENTS of their hair,] "Talents" seems employed here in reference to the supposed value of the golden gift. "Impleach'd," in the next line, means plaited or interwoven.

3

his INVIS'D properties] "Invis'd" is explained unseen or invisible. Malone considered it "a word of Shakespeare's coining," and we have no other example of its use.

With objects manifold: each several stone,

With wit well blazon'd, smil'd, or made some moan.

Lo! all these trophies of affections hot,

Of pensiv'd and subdued desires the tender,
Nature hath charg'd me that I hoard them not,
But yield them up where I myself must render;
That is, to you, my origin and ender:
For these, of force, must your oblations be,
Since I their altar, you enpatron me.

Oh! then, advance of your's that phraseless hand,
Whose white weighs down the airy scale of praise;
Take all these similes to your own command,
Hallow'd with sighs that burning lungs did raise;
What me, your minister, for you obeys,
Works under you; and to your audit comes
Their distract parcels in combined sums.

Lo! this device was sent me from a nun,
Or sister sanctified, of holiest note;
Which late her noble suit in court did shun,
Whose rarest havings made the blossoms dote‘:
For she was sought by spirits of richest coat,
But kept cold distance, and did thence remove,
To spend her living in eternal love.

But oh, my sweet! what labour is't to leave
The thing we have not, mastering what not strives ?
Paling the place which did no form receive;

made the BLOSSOMS dote:] The late Mr. Barron Field would read bosoms for "blossoms," and referred to a passage in "King Lear," Vol. v. p. 723, where, in one of the 4to. editions, "bosom " is misprinted blossom. This may certainly be so; but as the old text, taking "blossoms" as the flower of the nobility, the "spirits of richest coat," is intelligible, we refrain from making any change. For the same reason we do not alter "The thing we have not " to "The thing we love not," which Mr. Barron Field also recommended, and which would certainly make the sense of the poet more evident and forcible.

PALING the place] The old copy has "Playing the place," the compositor having, probably, caught "Playing" from the next line. Malone substituted "Paling" with some plausibility, and no better suggestion has yet been offered: he understands "Paling the place" as fencing it; but if the compositor caught "Playing" from the next line, the word rejected might be one of a very different appearance and import, and "Paling the place" cannot be said to accord as well as could be wished with the rest of the line: "Planing the place" may possibly be the right word.

Playing patient sports in unconstrained gyves?
She that her fame so to herself contrives",
The scars of battle scapeth by the flight,
And makes her absence valiant, not her might.

Oh, pardon me, in that my boast is true!
The accident which brought me to her eye,
Upon the moment did her force subdue,
And now she would the caged cloister fly;
Religious love put out religion's eye:
Not to be tempted would she be immur'd,
And now, to tempt all, liberty procur'd'.

How mighty then you are, oh, hear me tell!
The broken bosoms that to me belong
Have emptied all their fountains in my well,
And mine I pour your ocean all among:

I strong o'er them, and you o'er me being strong,
Must for your victory us all congest,

As compound love to physic your cold breast.

My parts had power to charm a sacred sun",
Who, disciplin'd, I dieted in grace',
Believ'd her eyes, when they t' assail begun,
All vows and consecrations giving place.
Oh most potential love! vow, bond, nor space,
In thee hath neither sting, knot, nor confine,
For thou art all, and all things else are thine.

When thou impressest, what are precepts worth
Of stale example? When thou wilt inflame,

6 She that her fame so to herself CONTRIVES,] In "The Taming of the Shrew," Vol. ii. p. 469, we meet with a somewhat similar use of the verb to "contrive." 7 Not to be tempted would she be IMMUR'D,

And now, to tempt all, liberty PROCUR'D.] The passage is thus given in the 4to, 1609:

"Not to be tempted would she be enur'd,
And now, to tempt all, liberty procure."

There is little doubt that the lines have been properly amended by Malone.

8 to charm a sacred SUN,] Very possibly, as Malone proposes, we ought to read nun for "sun."

9 Who, disciplin'd, I DIETED in grace,] Our text is from the 4to, 1609, the property of the Earl of Ellesmere. Malone's copy at Oxford has " I died " for " and dieted," which he substituted at the suggestion of a correspondent. The meaning of the reading we have restored, and which must have been inserted while the sheet was in the press, is very distinct.

How coldly those impediments stand forth

Of wealth, of filial fear, law, kindred, fame?

Love's arms are peace', 'gainst rule, 'gainst sense, 'gainst shame;

And sweetens, in the suffering pangs it bears,

The aloes of all forces, shocks, and fears.

Now, all these hearts that do on mine depend,
Feeling it break, with bleeding groans they pine;
And supplicant their sighs to you extend,

To leave the battery that you make 'gainst mine,
Lending soft audience to my sweet design,
And credent soul to that strong-bonded oath,
That shall prefer and undertake my troth."

This said, his watery eyes he did dismount,
Whose sights till then were level'd on my face;
Each cheek a river running from a fount
With brinish current downward flow'd apace.
Oh, how the channel to the stream gave grace!
Who, glaz'd with crystal gate the glowing roses,
That flame through water which their hue incloses.

Oh father! what a hell of witchcraft lies
In the small orb of one particular tear;
But with the inundation of the eyes
What rocky heart to water will not wear?
What breast so cold that is not warmed here?
Oh cleft effect! cold modesty, hot wrath,
Both fire from hence and chill extincture hath!

For lo! his passion, but an art of craft,
Even there resolv'd my reason into tears;
There my white stole of chastity I daff'd;
Shook off my sober guards, and civil fears:
Appear to him, as he to me appears,

1 Love's arms are PEACE,] We may suppose a misprint here, but still sense can be made out of the original text. Malone would read Love's arms are proof;" and Steevens, "Love aims at peace." If we made any change, we should prefer the recommendation of Malone, but even he did not think it expedient to insert it in the text. We must make " Love," understood, the nominative to "sweetens."

2 OH cleft effect!] The old copy has "Or cleft effect," doubtless an error, and properly corrected by Malone.

All melting; though our drops this difference bore,
His poison'd me, and mine did him restore.

In him a plenitude of subtle matter,
Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives,
Of burning blushes, or of weeping water,
Or swooning paleness; and he takes and leaves,
In either's aptness, as it best deceives

To blush at speeches rank, to weep at woes,
Or to turn white, and swoon at tragic shows':

That not a heart, which in his level came,
Could scape the hail of his all-hurting aim,
Showing fair nature is both kind and tame,
And veil'd in them, did win whom he would maim:
Against the thing he sought he would exclaim;
When he most burn'd in heart-wish'd luxury,
He preach'd pure maid, and prais'd cold chastity.

Thus, merely with the garment of a grace
The naked and concealed fiend he cover'd;
That th' unexperienc'd gave the tempter place,
Which, like a cherubin, above them hover'd.
Who, young and simple, would not be so lover'd?
Ah me! I fell; and yet do question make,
What I should do again for such a sake.

Oh, that infected moisture of his eye!

Oh, that false fire, which in his cheek so glowed!
Oh, that forc'd thunder from his heart did fly!
Oh, that sad breath his spongy lungs bestowed!
Oh, all that borrow'd motion, seeming owed',
Would yet again betray the fore-betray'd,
And new pervert a reconciled maid!

3 and swoon at tragic shows:] It is "sound at tragic shows" in the 4to, 1609 in "Romeo and Juliet," Vol. iv. p. 157, the 4to, 1597, has "swounded," and all later impressions sounded. The Rev. Mr. Dyce here properly prints "swoon:" "Shakespeare's Poems," 1832. Why he should afterwards have varied from this uniformity, excepting under the compulsion of the rhyme, we cannot imagine.

4 Oh, all that borrow'd motion, seeming OWED,] i. e. Seeming owned: Malone explains the passage thus,-that passion which he borrowed from others so naturally, that it seemed real, and his own.

FINIS.