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He now obeys, and now no more resisteth,

While she takes all she can, not all she listeth:

What wax so frozen, 2 but dissolves with temp'ring,
And yields at last to every light impression?
Things out of hope are compass'd oft with vent'ring,
Chiefly in love, whose leaves exceeds commission.
Affection faints not, like a pale-fac'd coward,

But then woos best, when most his choice is froward.
When he did frown, O, had she then gave over !
Such nectar from his lips she had not suck'd;
Foul words and frowns must not repel a lover,
What tho' the rose have pricks, yet it is pluck'd:
Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast,
Yet love breaks thro' and picks them all at last.

For pity now she can no more detain him,
The poor fool prays her that he may depart,
She is resolv'd no longer to restrain him,
Bids him farewell, and look well to her heart,
The which by Cupid's bow she doth protest,
He carries thence engaged in his breast.

Sweet boy, she says, this night I'll waste in sorrow,
For my sick heart commands mine eyes to watch
Tell me, love's master, shall we meet to-morrow?
Say, shall we, shall we, wilt thou make the match?
He tells her, No: to-morrow he intends

To hunt the boar with certain of his friends.

The boar! (quoth she) whereat a sudden pale,
Like lawn being spread upon the blushing rose,
Usurps her cheeks; she trembles at his tale,
And on his neck her yoking arms she throws:
She sinketh down, still hanging on his neck,
He on her belly falls, she on her back.

Now is she in the very lists of love,
Her champion mounted for the hot encounter;
All is imaginary, she doth prove,

He will not manage her, altho' he mount her:
That worse than Tantalus is her annoy,

To clip Elysium, and to lack her joy.

[2] It was the custom formerly to seal with soft wax, which was temper ed between the fingers before the impression was made. MALONE. [3] Leave; i. e. licentiousness. STEEVENS.

Even as poor birds, deceiv'd with painted grapes,'
Do surfeit by the eye, and pine the maw;
Even so she languisheth in her mishaps

As those poor birds, that helpless berries saw.
The warm effects which she in him finds missing,
She seeks to kindle with continual kissing.

But all in vain, good queen, it will not be,
She hath assay'd as much as may be prov'd,
Her pleading hath deserv'd a greater fee :
She's Love, she loves, and yet she is not lov'd!
Fie, fie, he says, you crush me, let me go;
You have no reason to withhold me so.

Thou hadst been gone (quoth she) sweet boy, ere this,
But that thou told'st me thou would'st hunt the boar ;
O! be advis'd, thou know'st not what it is,
With javelin's point a churlish swine to gore,
Whose tushes never sheath'd, he whetteth still,
Like to a mortal butcher,2 bent to kill.

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 whate'er is in his way;
And whom he strikes, his crooked 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 rushes.
Alas! he nought esteems that face of thine,
To which love's eye pays tributary gazes;
Nor thy soft hand, sweet lips, and crystal eyne,
Whose full perfection all the world amazes ;

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

[1] Our author alludes to the celebrated picture of Zeuxis, mentioned by Pliny, in which some grapes were so well represented, that birds alighted on them to peck at them. MALONE.

[2] Mortal for deadly. So in Othello:

"And you, ye mortal engines," &c.

MALONE.

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O let him keep his loathsome cabin still s
Beauty hath nought to do with such foul fiends;
Come not with his danger by thy will;

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, where on 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, Kill ;4
Distemp'ring gentle love with his desire,
As air and water doth abate the fire.

This sour informer, this hate-breeding spy,
This canker that eats up love's tender spring,
This carry-tale, dissentious jealousy,

That sometime true news, sometime false doth bring,
Knocks at my heart, and whispers in mine ear,
That if I lov'd 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 'em drop with grief, and hang the head.

What should I do, seeing thee so indeed?
That trembling at th' imagination,

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.

But if thou needs will hunt, be rul'd by me,
Uncouple at the timorous flying hare;

[3] Cabin, in the age of Q.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] These were the words, I think, formerly uttered when orders were issued to an army for a general slaughter. MALONE.

Or at the fox, which lives by subtilty;
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.6
The many umsets7 through the which he goes,
Are like a labyrinth t' amaze his foes;

Sometime he runs among the 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 :S
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 there mouths; Echo replies,
As if another chace were in the skies.

By this poor Wat far off, upon a hill,
Stands on his hinder legs with list'ning ear,
To hearken if his foes pursue him still:
Anon their loud alarums he doth hear,

And now his grief may be compared well
To one sore sick, that hears the passing bell.
Then shalt thou see the dew-bedabbled wretch
Turn, and return, indenting with the way;
Each envious briar his weary legs doth scratch,
Each shadow makes him stop, each murmur stay.
For misery is trodden on by many;
And being low, never reliev'd by any.

Lie quietly, and hear a little more,
Nay, do not struggle, for thou shalt not rise:
To make thee hate the hunting of the boar,
Unlike myself, thou hear'st me moralize,

[6] He cranks; i. e. he winds. So, in Henry IV. Part 1: "See how this river comes me cranking in. MALONE. [7] Read musits. A muset is a gap in a hedge, through which the hare goes.

[graphic]

[8] Sorteth, consorts with. Sort a troop, or company.

Applying this to that, and so to so,

For love can comment upon every woe.

Where did I leave? No matter where (quoth he)
Leave me, and then the story aptly ends:
The night is spent. Why what of that? (quoth she,)
I am (quoth he) expected of my friends,

And now 'tis dark, and going I shall fall.
In night (quoth she) desire sees best of all.
But if thou fall, O! then imagine this,
The earth in love with thee, thy footing trips,
And all is but to rob thee of a kiss.

Rich preys make rich men thieves, so do thy lips
Make modest Dian cloudy and forlorn,

Lest she should steal a kiss, and die forsworn.
Now of this dark night I perceive the reason,
Cynthia for shame obscures her silver shrine,
Till forging nature be condemn'd of treason,
For stealing moulds from heaven, that were divine,
Wherein she fram'd thee in high heaven's despite,
To shame the sun by day, and her by night.

And therefore hath she brib'd the destinies
To cross the curious workmanship of nature,
To mingle beauty with infirmities,

And pure perfection with impure defeature ;
Making it subject to the tyranny

Of sad mischances and much misery.

As burning fever, agues pale and faint,
Life-poisoning pestilence, and frenzies woad,'
The marrow-eating sickness, whose attaint
Disorder breeds by heating of the blood:

Surfeits, imposthumes, grief, and damn'd despair,
Swear nature's death for framing thee so fair.

And not the least of all these maladies,
But in one minute's sight brings beauty under:
Both favour, savour, hue and qualities,
Whereat the imperial gazer late did wonder,

Are on the sudden wasted, thaw'd, and done,
As mountain snows melt with the mid-day sun.

So, in Comedy of

[9] This word is derived from defaire, Fr. to undo. Errors :-"Strange defeatures in my face." STEEVENS. [1] Read wood, which in old language signifies frantic.

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