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On his bow-back he hath a battle set

Of bristly pikes, that ever threat his foes;
His eyes, like glow-worms, shine when he doth fret';
His snout digs sepulchres where'er he goes;

Being mov'd, he strikes what e'er is in his way,
And whom he strikes, his cruel tushes slay.

His brawny sides, with hairy bristles arm'd,
Are better proof than thy spear's point can enter;
His short thick neck cannot be easily harm'd;
Being ireful, on the lion he will venture:

The thorny brambles and embracing bushes,
As fearful of him, part; through whom he rushes2.

Alas, he nought esteems that face of thine,
To which Love's eyes pay tributary gazes;
Nor thy soft hands, sweet lips, and crystal eyne,
Whose full perfection all the world amazes ;

But having thee at vantage, (wond'rous dread!)
Would root these beauties as he roots the mead.

On his bow-back he bath a battle set

Of bristly pikes, that ever threat his foes;

His eyes, like glow-worms, shine when he doth fret ;] In this description Shakspeare had perhaps in view that given by Ovid of the Calydonian boar, slain by Meleager. See Golding's translation, book viii. :

"His eyes did glister blood and fire; right dreadful was to see "His brawned back; right dreadful was his haire, which grew as thicke

"With pricking points as one of them could well by other

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sticke:

And, like a front of armed pikes set close in battel ray,

"The sturdie bristles on his back stood staring up alway."

MALONE.

2 The thorny brambles and embracing bushes, As fearful of him, part; through whom he rushes.] Thus Virgil describing the rapid passage of two centaurs through the woods :

dat euntibus ingens

Sylva locum, et magno cedunt virgulta fragore.

STEEVENS

O, let him keep his loathsome cabin still3;
Beauty hath nought to do with such foul fiends:
Come not within his danger by thy will;

4

They that thrive well, take counsel of their friends: When thou didst name the boar, not to dissemble, I fear'd thy fortune, and my joints did tremble.

Didst thou not mark my face? Was it not white? Saw'st thou not signs of fear lurk in mine eye? Grew I not faint? And fell I not downright? Within my bosom, whereon thou dost lie,

My boding heart pants, beats, and takes no rest,
But, like an earthquake, shakes thee on my breast.

For where love reigns, disturbing jealousy
Doth call himself affection's sentinel;
Gives false alarms, suggesteth mutiny,
And in a peaceful hour doth cry, kill, kill3;
Distemp'ring gentle love in his desire,
As air and water do abate the fire.

This sour informer, this bate-breeding' spy,
This canker, that eat's up love's tender spring,

3

his loathsome CABIN still;] Cabin, in the age of Queen Elizabeth, signified a small mean dwelling place, and was much in use. The term still is used universally through Ireland, where the word cottage is scarcely ever employed. MALONE.

4 Come not within his danger -] This was a common expression in Shakspeare's time, and seems to have meant, Expose not yourself to one who has the power to do you mischief. See vol. v. p. 120, n. 2. MALONE.

And in a peaceful hour doth cry, KILL, KILL;] So, in King Lear:

"And when I have stolen upon these sons-in-law,

"Then kill, kill, kill." STEEVENS.

IN his desire-] So the original copy 1593, and the 16mo. 1596. In the edition of 1600, we find with his desire. MALONE.

7-bate-breeding -] So, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Mrs. Quickly observes that John Rugby is "no tell-tale, no

VOL. XX.

E

This carry-tale, dissensious jealousy,

That sometime true news, sometime false doth bring1,

Knocks at my heart, and whispers in mine ear,

That if I love thee, I thy death should fear :

And more than so, presenteth to mine eye
The picture of an angry chafing boar,
Under whose sharp fangs on his back doth lie
An image like thyself, all stain'd with gore;

Whose blood upon the fresh flowers being shed, Doth make them droop with grief, and hang the head.

What should I do, seeing thee so indeed,
That tremble at the imagination?

3

breed-bate." Bate is an obsolete word signifying strife, contention. STEEVENS.

8 - love's tender spring,] I once thought that love's tender spring meant, printemps d'amour. So, in The Rape of Lucrece : "Unruly blasts wait on the tender spring."

Again, in the present poem:

"Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain—."

But I am now of opinion that spring is used here, as in other places, for a young shoot or plant, or rather, the tender bud of growing love. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

"Even in the spring of love, thy love-springs rot."

MALONE.

"This canker, that eats up love's tender spring." So, in Romeo and Juliet :

"Full soon the canker death eats up that plant."

STEEVENS.

9 This CARRY-TALE,] So, in Love's Labour's Lost : "Some carry-tale, some please-man," &c. STEEVENS. That sometime true news, sometime false doth bring,] Tam ficti pravique tenax quam nuntia veri. Virg.

STEEVENS. Doth make them DROOP-] So the quarto 1593, and the editions of 1596 and 1600. The modern editions have-drop.

MALONE.

3 That TREMBLE -] So the original copy, 1593. The edition of 1596 has-trembling. MALONE.

The thought of it doth make my faint heart bleed, And fear doth teach it divination *:

I prophesy thy death, my living sorrow,

If thou encounter with the boar to-morrow.

5

But if thou needs wilt hunt, be rul'd by me :
Uncouple at the timorous flying hare
Or at the fox, which lives by subtilty,

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Or at the roe, which no encounter dare:

Pursue these fearful creatures o'er the downs, And on thy well-breath'd horse keep with thy hounds.

And when thou hast on foot the purblind hare, Mark the poor wretch, to overshut his troubles, How he out-runs the wind, and with what care He cranks' and crosses with a thousand doubles :

4 And fear doth teach it DIVINATION :] So, in King Henry IV. Part II.:

"Tell thou thy earl, his divination lies."

"And fear doth teach it divination:

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STEEVENS.

I prophecy thy death," &c. So, in Romeo and Juliet:
"O God! I have an ill divining soul;

"Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low,

"As one dead in the bottom of a tomb." MALONE.

5 But if thou needs wilt hunt, be rul'd by me :

Uncouple at the timorous flying hare,] So, in The Sheepheard's Song of Venus and Adonis, by H. C. 1600:

"Speake, sayd she, no more

"Of following the boare,
"Thou unfit for such a chase;
"Course the feareful hare,

"Venison do not spare,

"If thou wilt yield Venus grace." MALONE.

6 - to OVERSHUT his troubles,] I would read overshoot, i. e. fly beyond. STEEVENS.

To shut up, in Shakspeare's age, signified to conclude. I believe therefore the text is right. MALONE.

7 He CRANKS] i. e. he winds. So, in Coriolanus, the belly says:

"I send it through the rivers of your blood,

"And through the cranks and offices of man," &c.

The many musits through the which he goes,
Are like a labyrinth to amaze his foes.

Sometime he runs among a flock of sheep,
To make the cunning hounds mistake their smell;
And sometime where earth-delving conies keep",
To stop the loud pursuers in their yell;

And sometime sorteth with a herd of deer ';
Danger deviseth shifts; wit waits on fear:

For there his smell with others being mingled,
The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt;
Ceasing their clamorous cry till they have singled
With much ado the cold fault cleanly out;

Then do they spend their mouths: Echo replies,
As if another chase were in the skies 2.

Again, more appositely, in King Henry IV. Part I.:

"See, how this river comes me cranking in-." MALONE. The many MUSITS through the which he goes,] Musits are said by the lexicographers to be the places through which the hare goes for relief. The modern editions read umfits.

"Three things," says the author of the Choice of Change, 1585, are hard to be found:

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"" A hare without a muse;
"A fenne without a sluse.

"A whore without a skuse."

Coles, in his English Dictionary, 1677, renders "the muse of a hare," by "Arctus leporis per super transitus; leporis lacuna." So, in Ram Alley, 1611:

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"Y' wildest paths y' turnings and returns

"Y' traces squats, the mussers, forms, and holes."

MALONE. A muset is a gap in a hedge. See Cotgrave's explanation of the French word Trouée. STEEVENS.

9-keep,] i. e. dwell. This word, which was formerly common in this sense, is now almost obsolete. It is still, however, commonly used at Oxford and Cambridge. MALONE.

And sometime SORTETH with a herd of deer;] Sorteth means accompanies, consorts with. Sort anciently signified a troop, or company. See vol. v. p. 260, n. 8. MALONE.

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