And they would stand auspicious to the hour *, Even there he starts:-quoth he, I must deflower; The powers to whom I pray, abhor this fact, How can they then assist me in the act? Then Love and Fortune be my gods, my guide! This said, his guilty hand pluck'd up the latch, 4 And THEY would stand auspicious to the hour.] This false concord perhaps owes its introduction to the rhyme. In the second line of the stanza one deity only is invoked; in the fourth line he talks of more. We must therefore either acknowledge the want of grammar, or read : "And he would stand auspicious to the hour," &c. STEEVENS. The same inaccuracy is found in King Richard III. : "Richard yet lives, hell's black intelligencer, 66 Only reserv'd their factor, to buy souls, "And send them thither." Again, in the same play, Act I. Sc. III. : "If heaven have any grievous plague in store, "O, let them keep it, till thy sins be ripe." MALONE. 5 The BLACKEST sin. is clear'd with absolution ;] The octavo 1616, and the modern editions, read: "Black sin is clear'd with absolution." Our author has here rather prematurely made Tarquin a disciple of modern Rome. MALONE. The EYE OF HEAVEN-] So, in King Richard II. : "All places that the eye of heaven visits." STEEVENS. Again, in Romeo and Juliet: "Now ere the sun advance his burning eye-." MALONE. But she, sound sleeping, fearing no such thing, Lies at the mercy of his mortal sting. Into the chamber wickedly he stalks', Which gives the watch-word to his hand full soon, To draw the cloud that hides the silver moon. Look, as the fair and firy-pointed sun, 7 Into the chamber wickedly he STALKS,] That the poet meant by the word stalk to convey the notion, not of a boisterous, but quiet, movement, appears from a subsequent passage: "For in the dreadful dark of deep midnight, "With shining falchion in my chamber came Thus also, in a preceding stanza: "Which drives the creeping thief to some regard." Again, in Cymbeline: 66 Our Tarquin thus "Did softly press the rushes, ere he waken'd "The chastity he wounded." A person apprehensive of being discovered, naturally takes long steps, the sooner to arrive at his point, whether he is approaching or retiring, and thus shorten the moments of danger. MALONE. 8 Which gives the watch-word to his hand FULL SOON,] The octavo 1616 reads-too soon. MALONE. 9 Milton : FIRY-POINTED Sun,] I would read-fire-ypointed. So, "Under a star-ypointing pyramid." STEEVENS. I suppose the old reading to be right, because in Shakspeare's edition the word is spelt fierie-pointed. MALONE. That dazzleth them, or else some shame supposed; But blind they are, and keep themselves enclosed. O, had they in that darksome prison died, Her lily hand her rosy cheek lies under', 1 her rosy CHEEK lies under,] Thus the first copy. The edition of 1600, and the subsequent impressions, have cheeks. MALONE. 2 Her lily hand her rosy cheek lies under, Cozening the pillow of a lawful kiss ;] Among the poems of Sir John Suckling, (who is said to have been a great admirer of our author,) is one entitled, A Supplement of an imperfect Copy of Verses of Mr. William Shakspeare; which begins with these lines, somewhat varied. We can hardly suppose that Suckling would have called a passage extracted from a regular poem "an imperfect copy of verses." Perhaps Shakspeare had written the lines quoted below (of which Sir John might have had a manuscript copy) on some occasion previous to the publication of his Lucrece, and afterwards used them in this poem, with some variation. In a subsequent page the reader will find some verses that appear to have been written before Venus and Adonis was composed, of which, in like manner, the leading thoughts were afterwards employed in that poem. This supposed fragment is thus supplied by Suckling.-The variations are distinguished by Italick characters. I. "One of her hands one of her cheeks lay under, "Which therefore swell'd, and seem'd to part asunder, "The one look'd pale, and for revenge did long, "While t' other blush'd 'cause it had done the wrong. Swelling on either side, to want his bliss ; II. "Out of the bed the other fair hand was, III. "Her eyes (and therefore it was night) close laid "Which turn'd to smiles, still as't came near her face. IV. "Her beams, which some dull men call'd hair, divided "Curl'd back in rings, and seem'd to turn again, This description is given in England's Parnassus, p. 396, with only Shakspeare's name affixed to it; and Suckling might have met with it there, and not knowing from what poem it was taken, supposed it a fragment. BOSWELL. 4 Where, like a virtuous MONUMENT, she lies,] On our ancient monuments the heads of the persons represented are commonly reposed on pillows. Our author has nearly the same image in Cymbeline: "And be her sense but as a monument, "Thus in a chapel lying." STEEVENS. Again, in All's Well that Ends Well: "You are no woman, but a monument." MALOne. Thus far (says Suckling) Shakspeare. + Suckling probably wrote divide in the former line; and here "But these, as rude, by her breath put still aside-." Without the bed her other fair hand was, With pearly sweat, resembling dew of night 5. Till they might open to adorn the day. Her hair, like golden threads, play'd with her breath; As if between them twain there were no strife", Her breasts, like ivory globes circled with blue, 5 With pearly sWEAT, resembling DEW OF NIGHT.] So, Dryden : "And sleeping flow'rs beneath the night-dew sweat." STEEVENS. 6 Her EYES, like marigolds, had sheath'd their light, And, CANOPIED in darkness, sweetly lay, &c.] So, in Cym beline : 66 The flame o' the taper, "Bows toward her, and would underpeep her lids, "Under these windows." MALONE. 7 SHOWING life's triumph-] The octavo 1616 reads Showring. MALONE. 8 in the MAP of death,] So, in King Richard II.: "Thou map of honour." STEEVENS. 9 As if between them twain there were no STRIFE, But that LIFE liv'd in DEATH, and DEATH in LIFE.] So, in Macbeth: "That death and nature do contend about them, "Whether they live or die." STEEVENS. Again, in All's Well that Ends Well: ❝ —— Nature and sickness "Debate it at their leisure." MAlone. |