A reverend man that graz'd his cattle nigh,
(Sometime a blusterer, that the ruffle knew 8
Of court, of city, and had let go by
The swiftest hours,) observed as they flew1
Towards this afflicted fancy 2 fastly drew;
And, privileged by age, desires to know
In brief, the grounds and motives of her woe.

So slides he down upon his grained bat3,
And comely-distant sits he by her side;
When he again desires her, being sat,
Her grievance with his hearing to divide:
If that from him there may be aught apply'd,

;

8 that the RUFFLE knew-] Rufflers were a species of bullies in the time of Shakspeare. "To ruffle in the common wealth," is a phrase in Titus Andronicus. STEEVENS.

In Sherwood's French and English Dictionary at the end of Cotgrave's Dictionary, Ruffle and hurliburly are synonymous. See also vol. v. p. 482, n. 3. MALONE.

9 and had let go by

The SWIFTEST HOURS-] Had passed the prime of life, when time appears to move with his quickest pace. MALONE.

1

observed AS THEY FLEW ;] i. e. as the scattered fragments of paper flew. Perhaps, however, the parenthesis that I have inserted, may not have been intended by the author. If it be omitted, and the swiftest hours be connected with what follows, the meaning will be, that this reverend man, though engaged in the bustle of court and city, had not suffered the busy and gay period of youth to pass by without gaining some knowledge of the world. MALONE.

2 - this afflicted FANCY-] This afflicted love-sick lady. Fancy, it has been already observed, was formerly sometimes used in the sense of love. So, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream : Sighs and tears, poor fancy's followers." MALONE. his GRAINED BAT,] So, in Coriolanus:

3

66

"My grained ash-."

His grained bat is his staff on which the grain of the wood was visible. STEEVENS.

A bat is a club. The word is again used in King Lear: "Ise try whether your costard or my bat be the harder." MALONE.

Which may her suffering ecstacy* assuage, 'Tis promis'd in the charity of age.

Father, she says, though in me you behold
The injury of many a blasting hour,
Let it not tell your judgment I am old;
Not age, but sorrow, over me hath power":
I might as yet have been a spreading flower,
Fresh to myself, if I had self-apply'd
Love to myself, and to no love beside.

But woe is me! too early I attended
A youthful suit (it was to gain my grace)
Of one by nature's outwards so commended',
That maidens' eyes stuck over all his face :
Love lack'd a dwelling, and made him her place3;

her suffering ECSTACY-] Her painful perturbation of mind. See vol. vii. p. 333, n. 2. MALONE.

5 The injury of many a BLASTING HOUR,] So, in King Henry IV. Part II.: " every part about you blasted with antiquity."

MALONE.

6 Let it not tell your judgment I am OLD; Not age, but sorrow, over me hath power:] So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"These griefs, these woes, these sorrows, make me old.”

Thus Lusignan, in Voltaire's Zayre:

MALONE.

Mes maux m'ont affaibli plus encor que mes ans.

STEEVENS.

7 Or one by nature's outwards so commended,] The quarto reads:

"O one by nature's outwards," &c.

Mr. Tyrwhitt proposed the emendation inserted in the text, which appears to me clearly right. MALONE.

8

made him her PLACE ;] i. e. her seat, her mansion. In the sacred writings the word is often used with this sense.

So, in As You Like It:

STEEVENS.

"This is no place; this house is but a butchery." Plas in the Welch language signifies a mansion-house.

MALONE.

And when in his fair parts she did abide,
She was new lodg'd, and newly deified.

His browny locks did hang in crooked curls;
And every light occasion of the wind
Upon his lips their silken parcels hurls'
What's sweet to do, to do will aptly find':
Each eye that saw him did enchant the mind;
For on his visage was in little drawn,

What largeness thinks in paradise was sawn 2.

Small show of man was yet upon his chin;
His phoenix down began but to appear,

3

4

Like unshorn velvet, on that termless skin,
Whose bare out-brag'd the web it seem'd to wear;
Yet show'd his visage by that cost most dear;
And nice affections wavering stood in doubt
If best 'twere as it was, or best without.

His qualities were beauteous as his form,
For maiden-tongu'd he was, and thereof free;

9

hurls.] Perhaps purls. See p. 186, n. 2. What's sweet to do, to do will aptly find:]

BOSWELL.

I

suppose he

means, things pleasant to be done will easily find people enough to do them. STEEVENS.

2 in paradise was SAWN.] i. e. seen. This irregular participle, which was forced upon the author by the rhyme, is, I believe, used by no other writer. MALONE.

I rather think the word means sown, i. e. all the flowers sown in Paradise. This word is still pronounced sawn in Scotland.

The same thought occurs in King Henry V.:

Leaving his body as a paradise."

Again, in Romeo and Juliet :

"In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh."

BOSWELL.

STEEVENS.

3 His PHOENIX down —] I suppose she means matchless, rare,

4 yet show'd his visage ] The words are placed out of their natural order for the sake of the metre:

"Yet his visage show'd," &c. MALONE.

Yet, if men mov'd him, was he such a storm'
As oft 'twixt May and April is to see,

When winds breathe sweet, unruly though they be°.
His rudeness so with his authoriz'd youth

Did livery falseness in a pride of truth.

Well could he ride, and often men would say,
That horse his mettle from his rider takes":
Proud of subjection, noble by the sway,

What rounds, what bounds, what course, what stop he makes!

And controversy hence a question takes,

5 Yet, if men mov'd him, was he such a storm, &c.] Thus also in Troilus and Cressida that prince is described as one

"Not soon provok'd, nor being provok'd, soon calm'd." So also, in Antony and Cleopatra :

his voice was property'd

"As all the tuned spheres, and that to friends;
"But when he meant to quail, and shake the orb,
"He was as rattling thunder."

Again, in King Henry IV. Part II. :

"He hath a tear for pity, and a hand

66

Open as day to melting charity;

"Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd, he's flint;
"As humorous as winter, and as sudden

"As flaws congealed in the spring of day."

Again, in King Henry VIII. :

"The hearts of princes kiss obedience,

"So much they love it; but to stubborn spirits

66

They swell and grow as terrible as storms." MALONE. Again, in Cymbeline :

"Their royal blood enchaf'd, as the rudest wind,

46

That by the top doth take the mountain pine, "And make him stoop to the vale." STEEVEns.

6 When WINDS BREATHE Sweet, UNRULY though they be.] So, Amiens in As You Like It, addressing the wind:

66

Thou art not so unkind,

"Although thy breath be rude." MALONE.

7 That horse his METTLE from his rider takes:] So, in King Henry IV. Part II. :

"For from his metal was his party steel'd." STEEVENS.

Whether the horse by him became his deed,
Or he his manage by the well-doing steed.

8

But quickly on this side the verdict went;
His real habitude gave life and grace
To appertainings and to ornament,
Accomplish'd in himself, not in his case:
All aids themselves made fairer by their place;
Came for additions, yet their purpos'd trim
Piec'd not his grace, but were all grac'd by him '.

So on the tip of his subduing tongue

All kind of arguments and question deep,
All replication prompt, and reason strong,
For his advantage still did wake and sleep:
To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep,
He had the dialect and different skill,
Catching all passions in his craft of will2;

8 But quickly on THIS side-] Perhaps the author wrote-his. There is however no need of change. MALONE.

9 All aids themselves made fairer by their place;

CAME for additions,-] The old copy and the modern editions read-can for additions. This appearing to me unintelligible, I have substituted what I suppose to have been the author's word. The same mistake happened in Macbeth, where we find

As thick as tale

"Can post with post-."

printed instead of-" Came post with post." MALONE.

—yet their purpos'd trim

Piec'd not his grace, but WERE ALL GRAC'D BY HIM.] So, in Timon of Athens:

"You mend the jewel by the wearing it." MALONE. 2 Catching all passions in his craft of will;] These lines, in which our poet has accidentally delineated his own character as a dramatist, would have been better adapted to his monumental inscription, than such as are placed on the scroll in Westminster Abbey. By our undiscerning audiences, however, they are always heard with profounder silence, and followed by louder applause, than accompany any other passage throughout all his plays. The vulgar seem to think they were selected for publick view, as the brightest gems in his poetick crown. STEEVENS.