CXXXV.
Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy will,
And will to boot, and will in over-plus;
More than enough am I that vex thee still,
To thy sweet will making addition thus.
Wilt thou, whose will is large and spacious,
Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine ?
Shall will in others seem right gracious,
And in my will no fair acceptance shine ?
The sea, all water, yet receives rain still,
And in abundance addeth to his store;
So thou, being rich in will, add to thy will
One will of mine, to make thy large will more!
Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill ;
Think all but one, and me in that one Will.
CXXXVI.
If thy soul check thee, that I come so near,
Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy Will,
And will, thy soul knows, is admitted there;
Thus far for love, my love-suit, sweet, fulfil.
Will will fulfil the treasure of thy love,
Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one'.
In things of great receipt with ease we prove ;
Among a number one is reckon'd none:
Then in the number let me pass untold ?,
i Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one.] The modern editors, by following the old copy, in which the vowel I is here used instead of ay, have rendered this line unintelligible.
Malone. 2 Among a NUMBER one is RECKON'D NONE:
Then in the number let me pass untold, &c.] The same conceit is found in Romeo and Juliet :
“ Search among view of many: mine being one,
“ May stand in number, though in reckoning none."
STEEVENS.
Though in thy stores' account I one must be;
For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold
That nothing me, a something sweet to thee:
Make but my name thy love, and love that still,
And then thou lov'st me, for my name is Will.
CXXXVII. Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes, That they behold, and see not what they see? They know what beauty is, see where it lies, Yet what the best is, take the worst to be. If eyes, corrupt by over-partial looks, Be anchor'd in the bay where all men ride, Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forged hooks, Whereto the judgment of my heart is ty'd ? Why should my heart think that a several plot", Which my heart knows the wide world's common
place ? Or mine eyes seeing this, say, this is not, To put fair truth upon so foul a face 6 ?
3 Be Anchor'd in the bay-] So, in Antony and Cleopatra :
“ There should he anchor his aspect, and die
“ With looking on his life.” MALONE. Again, in Measure for Measure :
“Whilst my intention, hearing not my tongue,
“ Anchors on Isabel." STEEVENS. 4 - HOOKS,
Whereto the judgment of my heart is Ty'D?] So, in Hamlet :
“ Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel.” Again, in Antony and Cleopatra :
“My heart was to thy rudder ty'd with strings.” Steevens. s Why should my heart think that a sevERAL plot,] The reader will find an account of a several or several plot, in a note on Love's Labour's Lost, vol. iv. p. 318, n. 6. Malone. 6 To put fair truth upon so foul a face ?] So, in Macbeth : « False face must hide what the false heart doth know."
STEEVENS.
In things right true my heart and eyes have err'd, And to this false plague are they now transferr'd.
CXXXVIII.
When my love swears ? that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies;
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue;
On both sides thus is simple truth supprest.
But wherefore says she not, she is unjust ?
And wherefore say not I, that I am old ?
0, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told :
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.
CXXXIX.
0, call not me to justify the wrong
That thy unkindness lays upon my heart;
7 When my love swears, &c.] This Sonnet is also found (with some variations) in The Passionate Pilgrim, a collection of verses printed as Shakspeare's in 1599. It there stands thus :
“ When my love swears that she is made of truth,
“ I do believe her, though I know she lies,
“ That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
“ Unskilfull in the world's false forgeries.
“ Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
“Although I know my years be past the best,
“ I smiling credit her false-speaking tongue,
“ Out-facing faults in love with love's ill rest.
“But wherefore savs my love that she is young?
“ And wherefore say not I that I am old ?
“0, love's best habit is a soothing tongue,
“ And age in love loves not to have years told.
“Therefore I'll lie with love, and love with me,
“ Since that our faults in love thus smother'd be.”
MALONE.
Wound me not with thine eye®, but with thy tongue; Use power with power, and slay me not by art. Tell me thou lov'st elsewhere; but in my sight, Dear heart, forbear to glance thine eye aside. What need'st thou wound with cunning, when thy
might
Is more than my o'er-press'd defence can 'bide ?
Let me excuse thee: ah! my love well knows
Her pretty looks have been mine enemies;
And therefore from my face she turns my foes,
That they elsewhere might dart their injuries:
Yet do not so; but since I am near slain,
Kill me out-right with looks, and rid my pain.
Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press
My tongue-ty'd patience with too much disdain ;
Lest sorrow lend me words, and words express
The manner of my pity-wanting pain.
If I might teach thee wit, better it were,
Though not to love, yet, love, to tell me soo;
(As testy sick men, when their deaths be near,
No news but health from their physicians know ;)
For, if I should despair, I should grow mad,
And in my madness might speak ill of thee:
Now this ill-wresting world is grown so bad,
Mad slanderers by mad ears believed be.
8 Wound me not with thine Eye,] Thus, in Romeo and Juliet: “ – he's already dead; stabb'd with a white wench’s black eye."
MALONE. “ Wound me not with thine eye, but with thy tongue.” So, in King Henry VI. Part III. : " Ah, kill me with thy weapons, not thy words.”
STEEVENS. 9- to tell me so;] To tell me, thou dost love me.
MALONE.
That I may not be so, nor thou bely'd,
Bear thine eyes straight, though thy proud heart
go wide.
CXLI.
In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note;
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who in despite of view is pleas'd to dote.
Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted;
Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone,
Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
To any sensual feast with thee alone:
But my five wits, nor my five senses can
Dissuade ? one foolish heart from serving thee,
Who lives unsway'd the likeness of a man,
Thy proud heart's slave and vassal wretch to be:
Only my plague thus far I count my gain,
That she that makes me sin, awards me pain.
CXLII.
Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving:
O, but with mine compare thou thine own state,
And thou shalt find it merits not reproving ;
i Bear thine eyes straight, though THY PROUD HEART GO wide.] That is (as it is expressed in a former Sonnet): “ Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place.”
MALONE. 2 But my five wits, nor my five senses can
Dissuade -] That is, but neither my wits nor senses can, &c. So, in Measure for Measure :
“More nor less to others paying-." “ The wits," Dr. Johnson observes, “ seem to have been reckoned five, by analogy to the five senses, or the five inlets of ideas. Wit in our author's time was the general term for the intellectual power." From Stephen Hawes's poem called Graunde Amour and La Bell Pucel, 1554, ch. 24, it appears that the five wits were “ common wit, imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory."
Malone.
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