Thou tell'ft me, there is murder in mine eye: That eyes, that are the frail'ft and fofteft things, Should be call'd tyrants, butchers, murderers !— And if mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee: Now counterfeit to fwoon; why, now fall down; Or, if thou can'st not, oh, for shame, for fhame, Lye not, to fay mine eyes are murderers. Now fhew the wound mine eyes have made in thee: Scratch thee but with a pin, and there remains Some scar of it; lean but upon a rush, The cicatrice and capable impreffure Thy palm fome moments keeps: but now mine eyes, That can do hurt. Sil. O dear Phebe, Ifever (as that ever may be near) You meet in fome fresh cheek the power of fancy, That love's keen arrows make. Phe. But 'till that time, Come not thou near me: and when that time comes, Afflict me with thy mocks, pity me not; "He is but coarf to run a course, "Whose shanks are bigger than his thigh; "That often dyes before he die. "Where ye 66 fee the words course and dye ufed in divers fenfes, one giving the rebound to the other." The cicatrice and capable impreffure] STEEVENS. Cicatrice is here not very properly used; it is the fear of a wound. Capable impressure ar rows mark. JOHNSON. 3 power of fancy,] Fancy is here ufed for love, as before in Midfummer Night's Dream. JoHNSON. Rof. Rof. And why, I pray you?-Who might be your mother, That you infult, exult, and all at once, 5 Over the wretched? What though you have beauty 4 -Who might be your mother,] It is common for the poets to exprefs cruelty by saying, of thofe who commit it, that they were born of rocks, or fuckled by tigreffes. JOHNSON. 5 That you infult, exult, and ALL at once] If the speaker intended to accufe the perfon fpoken to only for infulting and exulting; then, instead of- all at once, it ought to have been, But by examining the crime of the perfon accufed, we fhall difcover that the line is to be read thus, both at once. That you infult, exult, and RAIL, at once. For these three things Phebe was guilty of. But the Oxford editor improves it, and, for rail at once, reads domineer. WARB. I fee no need of emendation. The fpeaker may mean thus: Who might be your mother, that you infult, exult, and that too all in a breath. Such I take to be the meaning of all at once. STEEVENS. 6 what though you have no beauty,] Though all the printed copies agree in this reading, it is very accurately obferved to me by an ingenious unknown correfpondent, who figns himself L. H. (and to whom I can only here make my acknowledgements) that the negative ought to be left out. THEOBALD. 7 Of nature's fale-work:] i. e. thofe works that nature makes up carelessly and without exactnefs. The allufion is to the practice of mechanicks, whofe work bespoke is more elaborate, than that which is made up for chance customers, or to fell in quantities to retailers, which is called fale-work. WARBURTON. That That can entame my fpirits to your worship. Rof. [afide] He's fallen in love with her foulness," and fhe'll fall in love with my anger. If it be fo, as fast as she answers thee, with frowning looks, I'll fauce her with bitter words.-Why look you fo upon me? That can ENTAME my spirits to your worship.] I should ra ther think that Shakespeare wrote ENTRAINE, draw, allure. WARBURTON, The common reading feems unexceptionable. JoHNSON. 9 Foulis moft foul, being FOUL to be a feoffer:] The only fenfe of this is, An ill-favoured perfon is most ill-favoured, when if be be ill-favoured, he is a feoffer. Which is a deal too absurd to come from Shakespeare; who, without question, wrote, Foul is moft foul, being FOUND to be a scoffer: i. e. where an ill-favoured perfon ridicules the defects of others, it makes his own appear exceffive. WARBURTON. The fenfe of the received reading is not fairly reprefented; it is, The ugly jeem most ugly, when, though ugly, they are fcoffers. 1 JOHNSON. with her foulness,] So fin T. Hanmer, the other editions, your foulness. JOHNSON. VOL. III. X Phe. Phe. For no ill will I bear you. Rof. I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falfer than vows made in wine: Befides, I like you not. If you will know my house, 'Tis at the tuft of olives, here hard by. Will you go, fifter?-Shepherd, ply her hard :Come, fifter:-fhepherdefs, look on him better, And be not proud. Though all the world could see,2 None could be fo abus'd in fight, as he. Come, to our flock. [Excunt Rof. Cel. and Corin. Phe. Dead fhepherd, now I find thy faw of might; Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at firft fight? Sil. Sweet Phebe ! Phe. Hah! what fay'ft thou, Silvius? Phe. Why, I am forry for thee, gentle Silvius. If you do forrow at my grief in love, By giving love, your forrow and my grief Phe. Thou haft my love; is not that neighbourly Phe. Why, that were covetoufness. Silvius, the time was, that I hated thee. And I in fuch a poverty of grace, That I fhall think it a moft plenteous crop 2 Though all the world could fee, None could be jo abuş'd in fight, as be] Though all mankind could look on you, none could be fo de ceived as to think you beautiful but he. JOHNSON. Το To glean the broken ears after the man Phe. Know'st thou the youth that spoke to me ere> while? Sil. Not very well, but I have met him oft; And he hath bought the cottage and the bounds, That the old Carlot once was mafter of. Phe. Think not, I love him, tho' I ask for him; But, fure, he's proud; and yet his pride becomes him : A little riper, and more lufty red Than that mix'd in his cheek; 'twas just the difference Betwixt the constant red and mingled damask. There be fome women, Silvius, had they mark'd him To fall in love with him: but, for my part, I have more caufe to hate him than to love him: For what had he to do to chide at me? He said, mine eyes were black, and my hair black; And, now I am remembred, fcorn'd at me : I marvel, why I anfwer'd not again: But that's all one; omittance is no quittance: Phe. I'll write it straight; X 2 The |