Page images
PDF
EPUB

The wiles and guiles that women work,
Dissembled with an outward show,
The tricks and toys that in them lurk,
The cock that treads them shall not know.
Have you not heard it said full oft,

A woman's nay doth stand for nought?

Think, women love to match with men 3,
And not to live so like a saint:
Here is no heaven; they holy then
Begin, when age doth them attaint.
Were kisses all the joys in bed,
One woman would another wed.

But soft; enough,-too much I fear;
For if my lady hear my song,
She will not stick to ring mine ear,
To teach my tongue to be so long:
Yet will she blush, here be it said,
To hear her secrets so bewray'd3.

3 Think, women love to match with men, &c.] In printing this stanza I have followed the old manuscript copy, which has likewise furnished some other minute variations now adopted. The Passionate Pilgrim reads:

"Think women still to strive with men,

"To sin and never for to saint;

"There is no heaven by holy then,

"When time with age shall them attaint."

MALONE.

RING mine ear,] Should not this be wring mine ear? Cynthius aurem vellit. Boswell.

To hear her secrets so bewray'd.] The foregoing sixteen Sonnets are all that are found in the Collection printed by W. Jaggard, in 1599, under the title of The Passionate Pilgrim, excepting two, which have been already inserted in their proper places (p. 345, and 348); a Madrigal, beginning with the words, "Come live with me," &c. which has been omitted, as being the production, not of Shakspeare, but Marlowe; and the two Sonnets that were written by Richard Barnefielde. In the room of these the two following small pieces have been added, the authenticity of which seems unquestionable. MALONE.

XVII.

Take, oh, take those lips away,
That so sweetly were forsworn ;
And those eyes, the break of day,
Lights that do mislead the morn:
But my kisses bring again,

Seals of love, but seal'd in vain.

Take, oh, take those lips away.] This little poem is not printed in The Passionate Pilgrim, probably because it was not written so early as 1599. The first stanza of it is introduced in Measure for Measure. In Fletcher's Bloody Brother it is found entire. Whether the second stanza was also written by Shakspeare, cannot now be ascertained. All the songs, however, introduced in our author's plays, appear to have been his own composition; and the present contains an expression of which he seems to have been peculiarly fond. See the next note.

MALONE.

7 SEALS OF LOVE, but seal'd in vain.] So, in Shakspeare's 142d Sonnet:

[ocr errors]

not from those lips of thine,

"That have profan'd their scarlet ornaments,
"And seal'd false bonds of love, as oft as mine."

Again, in his Venus and Adonis ;

"Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted,
"What bargains may I make, still to be sealing?"

MALONE.

I regret that I cannot agree with Mr. Malone in assigning this exquisite little poem to Shakspeare. The argument, founded upon one expression which is found in it, will prove nothing; for, if it were not sufficient to say that it is an obvious metaphor, it would be easy to produce a variety of instances in which it has been used exactly in the same way by contemporary writers. The first stanza of this poem, it is true, appears in Measure for Measure; but, as it is there supposed to be sung by a boy, in reference to the misfortune of a deserted female, the second stanza could not have been written for that occasion, as being evidently addressed by a male lover to his mistress. Mr. Weber, in his edition of Beaumont and Fletcher, in a note on the Bloody Brother, seems willing, according to the colloquial phrase, to split the difference; and is of opinion that " the first stanza was Shakspeare's, and that Fletcher added the second to suit his own purposes." But the truth is, that this poem would not suit

Hide, oh, hide those hills of snow
Which thy frozen bosom bears,
On whose tops the pinks that grow

Are of those that April wears:
But first set my poor heart free,
Bound in those icy chains by thee.

XVIII.

Let the bird of loudest lay,
On the sole Arabian tree1.

8

the purposes of either. In the one case, it is sung apparently to soothe the melancholy of Marina; in the other, to amuse Rollo. If I were to ascribe it either to Shakspeare or Fletcher, I should be compelled to say, that the latter has a better claim. However inferior in all those higher qualities which have constituted Shakspeare, "the sovereign of the drama," his accomplished contemporary has, I think, been more happy in the short lyrical compositions which are interspersed in the plays by him and Beaumont. But, as we often find, in our old dramas, the stage direction [Here a song], I have great doubts whether this delicate little poem may not, from its popularity at the time, have been introduced by the printer, to fill up the gap, and gratify his readers, from some now forgotten author. Many writers of that day, whose general merits have not been sufficient to rescue them from oblivion, have been remarkably happy in short poetical flights; and in what Warton harshly terms the futile novels of Lodge and Greene, we occasionally meet with lyrical compositions of exquisite beauty. Boswell.

8 On whose tops the PINKS that grow,] thought in one of Prior's poems is akin to this:

The following

"An ugly hard rose-bud has fallen in my neck.”

STEEVENS.

9 Let the bird of loudest lay,] In 1601 a book was published, entitled "Loves Martyr, or Rosalins Complaint, Allegorically shadowing the Truth of Love, in the constant Fate of the Phoenix and Turtle. A Poem enterlaced with much Varietie and Raritie; now first translated out of the venerable Italian Torquato Cæliano, by Robert Chester. With the true Legend of famous King Arthur, the last of the nine Worthies; being the first Essay of a new British Poet: collected out of diverse authentical Records. To these are added some new Compositions of several modern Writers, whose names are subscribed to their several Workes; upon the first Subject, viz. the Phoenix and Turtle."

66

Herald sad and trumpet be 2,

To whose sound chaste wings obey.

But thou shrieking harbinger,
Foul pre-currer of the fiend,
Augur of the fever's end",

To this troop come thou not near1!

Among these new compositions is the following poem, subcribed with our poet's name. The second title prefixed to these verses, is yet more full. "Hereafter follow diverse Poetical Essaies on the former Subject, viz. the Turtle and Phoenix. Done by the best and chiefest of our modern Writers, with their Names snbscribed to their particular Workes. Never before

extant.

"And now first consecrated by them all generally to the Love and Merit of the true-noble Knight, Sir John Salisburie."

The principal writers associated with Shakspeare in this collection are Ben Jonson, Marston, and Chapman. The above very particular account of these verses leave us, I think, no room to doubt of the genuineness of this little poem. MALONE.

It is printed as Shakspeare's in his poems, edit. 1640. BOSWELL.

On the SOLE Arabian TREE,] A learned friend would read:

"Sole on the Arabian tree."

As there are many Arabian trees, though fabulous narrations have celebrated but one Arabian bird, I was so thoroughly convinced of the propriety of this change, that I had once regulated the text accordingly. But in emendation, as in determining on the life of man, nulla unquam cunctatio longa est; for the following passage in The Tempest fully supports the old copy:

......

Now I will believe

"That there are unicorns; that in Arabia

"There is one tree, the phoenix' throne: one phoenix
"At this hour reigning there."

This singular coincidence likewise serves to authenticate the present poem.

MALONE.

2 HERALD SAD and TRUMPET be,]

46

So, in King John:

Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,

"And sullen presage of your own decay." STEEVENS.

3 But thou SHRIEKING HARBINGER,

Foul PRE-CURRER of the fiend,

Augur of the fever's end,] So, in Hamlet:

"And even the like precurse of fierce events,

"As harbingers preceding still the fates,

66

And prologue to the omen coming on—

From this session interdict

Every fowl of tyrant wing,
Save the eagle, feather'd king 5:
Keep the obsequy so strict.

Let the priest in surplice white,
That defunctive musick can 6,
Be the death-divining swan,
Lest the requiem lack his right.

And thou, treble-dated crow",
That thy sable gender mak'st 8

"Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
"Unto our climatures and countrymen."

The shrieking harbinger here addressed, is the scritch owl, the foul precurrer of death. So, in a Midsummer-Night's

"Now the wasted brands do glow,

"While the scritch-owl, scritching loud,
"Puts the wretch that lies in woe,

"In remembrance of a shrowd."

Dream:

4 To this troop come thou not near!] Part of this poem resembles the song in a Midsummer-Night's Dream :

"Ye spotted snakes with double tongue,

66

66

Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;

Newts, and blind worms, do no harm;

"Come not near our fairy queen," &c. STEEVENS. the eagle, FEATHER'D king:] So, in Mr. Gray's Ode on the Progress of Poetry:

5

"thy magick lulls the feather'd king

"With ruffled plumes and flagging wing." STEEVENS. That defunctive musick can,] That understands funereal musick. To con in Saxon signifies to know. The modern

editions read:

"That defunctive musick ken." MALONE.

7 And thou, TREBLE-DATED crow,] So, in The Rape of

Lucrece :

"To pluck the quills from ancient ravens' wings,"

cornicum ut secla vetusta.

Ter tres ætates humanas garrula vincit
Cornix.-Lucret. STEEVENS.

8 THAT THY SABLE GENDER MAK'ST

MALONE.

With the breath thou giv'st and tak'st,] I suppose

this un

« PreviousContinue »