Let my good name, that senseless reputation,
For Collatine's dear love be kept unspotted :
If that be made a theme for disputation,
The branches of another root are rotted ;
And undeserv'd reproach to him allotted,

That is as clear from this attaint of mine,
As I, ere this, was pure to Collatine.

O unseen shame! invisible disgrace!
O unfelt sore! crest-wounding, private scar!
Reproach is stamp'd in Collatinus' face,
And Tarquin's eye may read the mot afar”,
How he in peace is wounded, not in war.

Alas, how many bear such shameful blows,
Which not themselves, but he that gives them,

knows!

If, Collatine, thine honour lay in me,
From me by strong assault it is bereft.
My honey lost, and I, a drone-like bee,
Have no perfection of my summer left,
But robb’d and ransack'd by injurious theft:

In thy weak hive a wandering wasp hath crept,
And suck'd the honey which thy chaste bee kept.

Yet am I guiltless of thy honour's wreck ';
Yet for thy honour did I entertain him;
Coming from thee, I could not put him back,

9 — may read the mot afar,) The motto, or word, as it was sometimes formerly called. So, in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1609 :

“ The word, lux tua vita mihi.” Again, in the title of Nashe's Have With You to Saffron Walden, 1596 : “ - The mott or paesie, instead of omne tulit punctum, pacis fiducia nunquam." The modern editors read unintelligibly:

“— may read the mote afar.” Malone. " Yet am I Guiltless of thy honour's wreck ;] The old copy reads, I think, corruptedly:

“Yet am I guilty of thy honour's wreck ; ”

For it had been dishonour to disdain him:
Besides of weariness he did complain him,

And talk'd of virtue:-0, unlook'd for evil,
When virtue is prophan’d in such a devil!

Why should the worm intrude the maiden bud??
Or hateful cuckoos hatch in sparrows' nests?
Or toads infect fair founts with venom mud ?
Or tyrant folly lurk in gentle breasts ? ?
Or kings be breakers of their own behests ?

But no perfection is so absolute *,
That some impurity doth not pollute.

Dr. Sewell has endeavoured to make sense by a different punctuation :

“ Yet, am I guilty of thy honour's wreck ?" But this docs not correspond with the next verse, where the words are arranged as here, and yet are not interrogatory, but affirmative. Guilty was, I am persuaded, a misprint. Though the first quarto seems to have been printed under our author's inspection, we are not therefore to conclude that it is entirely free from typographical faults. Shakspeare was probably not a very diligent corrector of his sheets; and however attentive he might have been, I am sorry to be able to observe, that, notwithstanding an editor's best care, some errors will happen at the press.

If the present emendation be not just, and the author wrote guilty, then undoubtedly there was some error in the subsequent line. Shakspeare might have written

“Yet am I guilty of thy honour's wreck ?

“No; for thy honour did I entertain him." The compositor's eye might have glanced a second time on the first line, and thus the word yet might have been inadvertently repeated. MALONE.

According to the old copy, which I think right, she is reproaching herself, at first, for having received Tarquin's visit ; but instantly defends herself by saying that she did it out of respect to her husband. Boswell.

2 Why should the worm intrude the maiden Bud?] So, in Twelfth Night:

“ But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,

“ Feed on her damask cheek.” 3 Or tyrant folly lurk in Gentle breasts ?] Folly is, I believe, here used, as in Scripture, for wickedness. Gentle, is wellborn. Malone.

4 But no perfection is so ABSOLUTE,] So complete. So, in Pericles :

The aged man that coffers up his gold, .
Is plagu'd with cramps, and gouts, and painful fits;
And scarce hath eyes his treasure to behold,
But like still-pining Tantalus he sits,
And useless barns the harvest of his wits ;

Having no other pleasure of his gain,
But torment that it cannot cure his pain.

So then he hath it, when he cannot use it,
And leaves it to be master'd by his youngo;
Who in their pride do presently abuse it :
Their father was too weak, and they too strong,
To hold their cursed-blessed fortune long.

The sweets we wish for turn to loathed sours,
Even in the moment that we call them ours.

Unruly blasts wait on the tender spring; Unwholesome weeds take root with precious flowers: The adder hisses where the sweet birds sing;

“ still she vies

“ With absolute Marina." Perhaps but has here the force of-But that. Malone. “ — no perfection is so absolute, “ That some impurity doth not pollute.” So, in Othello :

“- Where's that palace, where into foul things

“ Sometimes intrude not?” Steevens. s And useless BARNS the harvest of his wits ;] Thus all the copies before that of 1616, which reads :

" And useless buns the harvest of his wits." This has been followed in all the modern editions. Malone. 6 So then he hath it, when he cannot use it,

And leaves it to be master'd by his young, &c.] So, in Measure for Measure:

“— Thou hast not youth nor age,
“ But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep,
“ Dreaming on both : for all thy blessed youth
“ Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms
“Of palsied eld : and when thou art old and rich,
“ Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty,
“ To make thy riches pleasant.” Malone.

What virtue breeds, iniquity devours :
We have no good that we can say is ours,

But ill annexed opportunity
Or kills his life, or else his quality.

0, Opportunity! thy guilt is great: "Jis thou that execut'st the traitor's treason; Thou set'st the wolf where he the lamb may get; Whoever plots the sin, thou 'point'st the season; 'Tis thou that spurn'st at right, at law, at reason;

And in thy shady cell, where none may spy him, Sits Sin, to seize the souls that wander by him,

Thou mak'st the vestal violate her oath? :
Thou blow'st the fire when temperance is thaw'd ;
Thou smother'st honesty, thou murder'st troth;
Thou foul abettor! thou notorious bawd !
Thou plantest scandal, and displacest laud:

Thou ravisher, thou traitor, thou false thief,
Thy honey turns to gall, thy joy to grief!

Thy secret pleasure turns to open shame,
Thy private feasting to a publick fast;
Thy smoothing titles to a ragged name;

Thou mak’st the vestAL VIOLATE HER OATH;] So, in Antony and Cleopatra :

“ women are not
“ In their best fortunes strong ; but want will perjure

“ The ne'er-touch'd vestal." Steevens. & Thy SMOOTHING titles to a Ragged name;] Thy flattering titles. So, in King Lear :

“ Such smiling rogues as these
“ smooth every passion

“ That in the nature of their lords rebels.” Again, in Pericles, ' Prince of Tyre, 1609 :

“ The sinful father

“ Seem'd not to strike, but smooth,” The edition of 1616, and all afterwards, read without authority:

“ Thy smoth'ring titles.”

Thy sugar'd tongue to bitter wormwood taste":
Thy violent vanities can never last '.

How comes it then, vile Opportunity,
Being so bad, such numbers seek for thee ?

When wilt thou be the humble suppliant's friend,
And bring him where his suit may be obtain'd?
When wilt thou sort an hour' great strifes to end ?
Or free that soul which wretchedness hath chain’d ?
Give physick to the sick, ease to the pain’d ?
The poor, lame, blind, halt, creep, cry out for

thee;
But they ne'er meet with Opportunity.

The patient dies while the physician sleeps ;
The orphan pines while the oppressor feeds;
Justice is feasting while the widow weeps;
Advice is sporting while infection breeds 3;
Thou grant'st no time for charitable deeds :

A ragged name means a contemptible, ignominious name. See vol. xvii. p. 18, n. 5. Malone.

9 Thy Sugar'D tongue to BITTER WORMWOOD taste :] So, in Othello : " — the food that to him now is luscious as locusts, shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida.” Steevens.

Thy violent vanities can never last.] So, in Romeo and Juliet:

“ These violent delights have violent ends,

" And in their triumph die." Again, in Othello : “ — it was a violent commencement in her, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration," MALONE. Fierce vanities is an expression in King Henry VIII. Scene I.

STEEVENS. ? When wilt thou sort an hour -] When wilt thou choose out an hour. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

“Let us into the city presently
“ To sort some gentlemen well-skill'd in musick."

MALONE. Again, in King Richard III.:

“ But I will sort a pitchy day for thee." STEEVENS. 3 Advice is sporting while infection breeds ;] While infection is spreading, the grave rulers of the state, that ought to guard