“O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies
In the small orb of one particular tear !
But with the inundation of the eyes

What rocky heart to water will not wear?
What breast so cold that is not warméd here ?
O cleft effect! cold modesty, hot wrath,

Both fire from hence and chill extincture hath.

"For, lo, his passion, but an art of craft,
Even there resolved my reason into tears;
There my white stole of chastity I daff'd,
Shook off my sober guards and civil fears ;
Appear to him, as he to me appears,

All melting; though our drops this difference bore,
His poison'd me, and mine did him restore.

"In him a plenitude of subtle matter,
Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives,
Of burning blushes, or of weeping water,
Or swooning paleness; and he takes and leaves,
In either's aptness, as it best deceives,
To blush at speeches rank, to weep at woes,

Or to turn white and swoon at tragic shows:

"That not a heart which in his level came
Could 'scape the hail of his all-hurting aim,
Showing fair nature is both kind and tame ;
And, veil'd in them, did win whom he would maim:
Against the thing he sought he would exclaim;
When he most burn'd in heart-wish'd luxury,
He preach'd pure maid, and praised cold chastity.

“Thus merely with the garment of a Grace
The naked and concealed fiend he cover'd;
That th' unexperient gave the tempter place,
Which like a cherubin above them hover'd.
Who, young and simple, would not be so lover'd ?
Ay me! I fell; and yet do question make
What I should do again for such a sake.

"O that infected moisture of his eye,

O that false fire which in his cheek so glow'd,
O that forced thunder from his heart did fly,
O that sad breath his spongy lungs bestow'd,
O all that borrow'd motion, seeming owed,
Would yet again betray the fore-betray'd,
And new pervert a reconciléd maid!"

THE END

NOTES

The object of this collection is to bring the purely lyrical works of Shakespeare, and the lyrical only, within a portable volume. The Venus and the Lucrece, which in modern times have generally accompanied the Sonnets, (as belonging rather to the class Lyrical-narrative, than Lyric pure), are hence omitted, together with a very few sonnets connected closely in subject with the Venus, and marked, like it, by a warmth of colouring unsuited for the larger audience-compared with that before the Elizabethan Muses-which poetry now addresses.

The Songs have been arranged under classes: as when grouped thus, the minor lyrics acquire more value, and the series presents a less fragmentary character. Songs too closely involved in the action of the play for intelligible separation from it, and some of doubtful authorship, are not included. In the Sonnets the original order has been preserved. The text is that of the "Globe" edition of 1864. The principle of that edition is a sparing introduction of the most plausible emendations of the most obviously corrupt passages. Except, however, perhaps, in the Lover's Complaint, the original texts of the lyrical poetry do not seem so faulty as those of the dramatic. Most of the notes are simply glossarial. For some of the exegetical, the reader is indebted to the kindness of Mr. W. G. Clark.

Pleasure is the object of poetry: and the best fulfilment of its task is the greatest pleasure of the greatest number. But pleasure demands intelligibility; and, in the hope of aiding it, titles have been added to the poems. The editor was here encouraged by the counsel of a friend, distinguished for refinement in poetical criticism; he has tried to make his titles explanatory to the lovers of poetry, either by way of hint or of more direct statement; he submits this intrusion upon Shakespeare to their good nature. There are very few men whose greatness is so conspicuous and imperial, that their writings have obtained a prescriptive right to appear, century after century, without the formality or impertinence of introduction by other hands. Homer, Virgil, Dante, Milton, and Shakespeare are monumental. They move through the ages in a long triumph; and even a Preface cannot presume to go before them. But every book should carry its own history with it, and, so far as possible, its own explanation. A few remarks upon the style and character of the preceding poems are therefore added here, as an Envoy to the reader.

Νου. 1865

F. T. PALGRAVE

PAGE

SONGS FROM THE PLAYS

I And Phoebus, &c.: the sun begins to drink the dew in the

flower-cups.

7 she doth owe: doth own.

IO youth and kind: youth and nature.

16 On a day: The version of this song in the Passionate Pilgrim reads gan for can, l. 6, and Wish'd for Wish, 1. 8.

18 foison: abundance.

20 cypres: crape.

23 Consign to thee: become confederates and partakers with thee.

25 whist: quiet.

28 the triple Hecate: used here for Diana; the moon.

30 takes his gait: his way.

33 pugging tooth: thieving appetite.

34 hent the stile take it.

36 toys for your head: caps.

44 keel: generally explained, skim. May it not be, cool? Compare leese for lose.

THE SONNETS

Only three or four generations of fairly long-lived men lie between us and Shakespeare; literature in his own time had reached a high development; his grandeur and sweetness were freely recognised; within seventy years of his death his biography was attempted; yet we know little more of Shakespeare himself than we do of Homer. Like several of the greatest men,-Lucretius, Virgil, Tacitus, Dante,- —a mystery never to be dispelled hangs over his life. He has entered into the cloud. With a natural and an honourable diligence, other men have given their lives to the investigation of his, and many external circumstances, mostly of a minor order, have been thus collected : yet of "the man Shakespeare,” in Mr. Hallam's words, we know nothing. Something