Round-hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long, Broad breast, full eye, small head, and nostril wide, High crest, short ears, straight legs, and passing strong,

Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide: Look what a horse should have, he did not lack, Save a proud rider on so proud a back.

Sometime he scuds far off, and there he stares;
Anon he starts at stirring of a feather';
To bid the wind a base he now prepares 2,

And whe'r he run, or fly, they know not whether 3; For through his mane and tail the high wind sings,

Fanning the hairs, who wave like feather'd wings.

He looks upon his love, and neighs unto her;
She answers him, as if she knew his mind :
Being proud, as females are, to see him woo her,
She puts on outward strangeness*, seems unkind;

9

full EYE,] So the original copy 1593, and the 16mo. 1596. Later editions-full eyes. MALONE.

Anon he starts at stirring of a feather;] So, in King Richard III.:

"Tremble and start at wagging of a straw." MALONE.

2 TO BID the wind A BASE he now prepares,] To "bid the wind a base," is to challenge the wind to a contest for superiority.' Base is a rustick game, sometimes termed prison-base; properly prison bars. It is mentioned by our author in Cymbeline :"lads more like to run the country base," &c. Again, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona :

-

"Indeed I bid the base for Protheus."

MALONE.

3 And WHE'R he run, or fly, they know not whether ;] Whe'r, for whether. So, in King John:

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Now shame upon thee, wher he does or no." Again, in a poem in praise of Ladie P-, Epitathes, Epigrammes, &c. by G. Turberville, 1567:

"I doubt where Paris would have chose

4

"Dame Venus for the best." outward STRANGENESS,] i. e.

MALONE.

seeming coyness, shy

Spurns at his love, and scorns the heat he feels, Beating his kind embracements with her heels.

Then, like a melancholy malecontent,
He vails his tail", that, like a falling plume
Cool shadow to his melting buttock lent";
He stamps, and bites the poor flies in his fume:
His love perceiving how he is enrag'd,
Grew kinder, and his fury was assuag'd.

His testy master goeth about to take him;
When lo, the unback'd breeder, full of fear,
Jealous of catching, swiftly doth forsake him,
With her the horse, and left Adonis there:

As they were mad, unto the wood they hie them, Out-stripping crows that strive to over-fly them.

All swoln with chasing, down Adonis sits,
Banning' his boist'rous and unruly beast;
And now the happy season once more fits,
That love-sick Love by pleading may be blest;
For lovers say, the heart hath treble wrong,
When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue

ness, backwardness. Thus Iachimo, speaking of his servant to
Imogen: "He's strange and peevish." STEEVENS.
Again, more appositely, in Romeo and Juliet :

"But trust me, gentlemen, I'll prove more true,
"Than those who have more cunning to be strange."
MALONE.

5 He VAILS his tail,] To vail, in old language, is to lower. MALONE.

6 to his melting BUTTOCK lent ;] So the quarto 1593, and the 16mo. of 1596. That of 1600 and the modern editions have -buttocks. MALONE.

7 BANNING] i. e. cursing. So, in King Richard III. : "Fell banning hag," &c.

STEEVENS.

8 the heart hath treble wrong,

When it is barr'd the aidance of the tongue.] So, in Mac

beth:

An oven that is stopp'd, or river stay'd,
Burneth more hotly, swelleth with more rage:
So of concealed sorrow may be said;
Free vent of words love's fire doth assuage';

But when the heart's attorney once is mute,
The client breaks', as desperate in his suit.

He sees her coming, and begins to glow,
(Even as a dying coal revives with wind,)
And with his bonnet hides his angry brow;
Looks on the dull earth with disturbed mind 2;
Taking no notice that she is so nigh,
For all askaunce he holds her in his eye.

O, what a sight it was, wistly to view
How she came stealing to the wayward boy!
To note the fighting conflict of her hue!
How white and red each other did destroy3 !

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9 Free vent of words love's FIRE doth assuage.] Fire is here, as in many other places, used by our poet as a dissyllable.

MALONE.

the grief that does not speak,

Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break.”

STEEVENS.

1 But when the heart's ATTORNEY once is mute,
The CLIENT breaks, &c.] So, in King Richard III. :
"Why should calamity be full of words?

Windy attorneys to their client woes." STEEVENS. The heart's attorney is the tongue, which undertakes and pleads for it.

MALONE.

2 Looks on the DULL EARTH, &c.] So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

"She excells each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling."

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STEEVENS.

3 the fighting conflict of her hue!

How white and red, &c.] So, in the Taming of the Shrew : "Such war of white and red within her cheeks." Again, in Hamlet:

Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting." W.

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But now, her cheek was pale, and by and by
It flash'd forth fire, as lightning from the sky.

Now was she just before him as he sat,
And like a lowly lover down she kneels;
With one fair hand she heaveth up his hat,
Her other tender hand his fair cheek feels:
His tend'rer cheek receives her soft hand's print,
As apt as new-fall'n snow takes any dint.

O, what a war of looks was then between them! Her eyes, petitioners, to his eyes suing;

His eyes saw her eyes as they had not seen them; Her eyes woo'd still, his eyes disdain'd the wooing: And all this dumb play had his acts made plain With tears, which, chorus-like, her eyes did rain 3.

4

Full gently now she takes him by the hand,
A lily prison'd in a gaol of snow,

Or ivory in an alabaster band;

So white a friend engirts so white a foe:
This beauteous combat, wilful and unwilling,
Show'd like two silver doves that sit a billing.

Once more the engine of her thoughts began:
O fairest mover on this mortal round,
Would thou wert as I am, and I a man,
My heart all whole as thine, thy heart my

4

had His acts] His for its. So, in Hamlet:
the dram of base

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11

"Doth all the noble substance of worth dout
"To his own scandal."

MALONE.

5 And all this DUMB PLAY had his ACTS made plain

With tears, which, CHORUS-LIKE, her eyes did rain.] From the present passage, I think it probable, that this first production of our author's muse was not composed till after he had left Stratford, and became acquainted with the theatre. MALONE.

6

thy heart my wound ;] i. e. thy heart wounded as mine is. MALONE.

wound';

For one sweet look thy help I would assure thee, Though nothing but my body's bane would cure thee.

9

Give me my hand, saith he, why dost thou feel it?
Give me my heart, saith she, and thou shalt have it;
O give it me, lest thy hard heart do steel it,
And being steel'd, soft sighs can never grave it
Then love's deep groans I never shall regard,
Because Adonis' heart hath made mine hard.

8

For shame, he cries, let go, and let me go;
My day's delight is past, my horse is gone,
And 'tis your fault I am bereft him so;
I pray you hence, and leave me here alone;

For all my mind, my thought, my busy care,
Is how to get my palfrey from the mare.

Thus she replies: Thy palfrey, as he should,
Welcomes the warm approach of sweet desire.
Affection is a coal that must be cool'd;
Else, suffer'd, it will set the heart on fire:

The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath none; Therefore no marvel though thy horse be gone.

How like a jade he stood, tied to the tree',
Servilely master'd with a leathern rein!

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7- lest thy hard heart do STEEL IT,] ·thou dost stone my heart." - soft sighs can never GRAVE IT;] an impression on it. STEEVENS.

9 The sea hath bounds, but deep desire hath none;] So, in Macbeth:

So, in Othello:
STEEVENS.

Engrave it, i. e. make

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but there's no bottom, none,

"To my voluptuousness." W.

1

tied to THE tree,] Thus the quarto 1593, and the 16mo. 1596; for which the edition of 1600 and all subsequent have substituted-a tree. MALONE.