Cer. Hail, many-coloured messenger, that ne'er Iris. A contract of true love to celebrate; And some donation freely to estate On the bless'd lovers. ceal the tallest cattle as they pass through it; and, in places where it is cultivated, still higher a circumstance, that had escaped my notice, till I was told of it by Professor Martyn, whose name I am particularly happy to insert among those of other friends, who have honoured and improved this work by their various communications. Steevens. 2 Being lass-lorn;] Lass-lorn is forsaken of his mistress. So, Spenser: 3 "Who after that he had fair Una lorn." Steevens. - thy pole-clipt vineyard;] To clip is to twine round or embrace. The poles are clipped or embraced by the vines. Vineyard is here used as a trisyllable. Steevens. 4 My bosky acres, &c.] Bosky is woody. woody. Bosky acres are fields divided from each other by hedge-rows. Boscus is middle Latin for wood. Bosquet, Fr. So, Milton. " And every bosky bourn from side to side.” Again, in K. Edward, I. 1599 : 5 " Hale him from hence, and in this bosky wood to this short-grass'd green?] The old copy reads shortgras'd green. Short-graz'd green means grazed so as to be short. TEMPES Her and her blind boy's scanda Of her soci not afraid; I met her deit And be a boy right out. H Great Juno comes; I know boy's scandal'd company Of her society met her deity, Els towards Paphos; and her son arm upon this man and maid, e, that no bed-rite shall be paid, rch be lighted: but in vain; on is return'd again: aded son has broke his arrows, Highest queen of state, nes; I know her by her gait. Enter JUNO. I descends slowly ] loes my bounteous sister? Go with me, SONG. not duided in the Ms.of-1632. nour, riches, marriage-blessing, ng continuance, and increasing, urly joys be still upon you! no sings her blessings on you, no comes; I know her by her gait.] Mr. Whalley assage a remarkable instance of Shakspeare's knowment poetic story; and that the hint was furnished, by ncedo Regina of Virgil. lor, the water-poet, declares, that he never learned e, and that Latin and French were to him Heathen by the help of Mr. Whalley's argument, I will prove ed man, in spite of every thing he may say to the conthus he makes a gallant address his lady; "Most inmagazine of beauty? in whom the port and majesty of wisdom of Jove's brain-bred girle, and the feature of have their domestical habitation." Farmer. First statelie Funo, with her porte and grace." an also, in his version of the second Iliad, speaking of Is her Steemene Cer. Earth's increase, and foison plenty, Fer. This is a most majestic vision, and 7 Earth's increase, and foison plenty, &c.] All the editions, that I have ever seen, concur in placing this whole sonnet to Juno; but very absurdly, in my opinion. I believe every accurate reader, who is acquainted with poetical history, and the distinct offices of these two goddesses, and who then seriously reads over our author's lines, will agree with me, that Ceres's name ought to have been placed, where I have now prefixed it. Theobald. And is not in the old copy. It was added by the editor of the second folio. Earth's increase, is the produce of the earth. The expression is scriptural: "Then shall the earth bring forth her increase, and God, even our God, shall give us his blessing.” PSALM Ixvii. Malone. This is one among a multitude of emendations which Mr. Malone acknowledges to have been introduced by the editor of the second folio; and yet, in contradiction to himself, in his Prolegomena, he depreciates the second edition, as of no importance or value. Fenton. 8-foison plenty;] i. e. plenty to the utmost abundance; foison signifying plenty. See p. 54. Steevens. 9 Harmonious charmingly:] Mr. Edwards would read: " Harmonious charming lay." For though (says he) the benediction is sung by two goddesses, it is yet but one lay or hymn. I believe, however, this passage appears, as it was written by the poet, who, for the sake of the verse, made the words change places. We might read (transferring the last syllable of the second word to the end of the first) " Harmoniously charming." Ferdinand has already praised this aerial Masque, as an object of sight; and may not improperly or inelegantly subjoin, that the charm of sound was added to that of visible grandeur. Both Juno and Ceres are supposed to sing their parts. Steevens. A similar inversion occurs in A Midsummer Night's Dream: I have from their confines call' Mr present fancies. rare a wonder'd father, an Make this place Paradise. [JUNO and CERES whisper, S 30 and Ceres whisper serio onfines call'd, to enact Let me live here ever; I father, and a wife, aradise. Es whisper, and send Iris on employment. d crowns, and ever-harmless looks, Enter certain Nymphs. sicklemen, of August weary, om the furrow, and be merry; : your rye-straw hats put on, h nymphs encounter every one, ting. Reapers, properly habited: they join with the .] I had forgot that foul conspiracy no more. onder'd father,] i. e. a father able to perform, or proOnders. Steevens. ur crisp channels,] Crisp, i. e. curling, winding, Lat. Henry IV. Part I. Act I. sc. iv. Hotspur, speaking Severn: d hid his crisped head in the hollow bank." wever, may allude to the little wave or curl (as it is called) that the gentlest wind occasions on the surface Fer. This is most strange; your father's in some passion That works him strongly. Mira. Never till this day, And, like the baseless fabrick of this vision, 3 3 And, like the baseless fabrick of this vision, &c.] The exact period at which this play was produced is unknown: it was not, however, published before 1623. In the year 1603, the Tragedy of Darius, by Lord Sterline, made its appearance, and there I find the following passage: "Let greatness of her glassy sceptres vaunt, "Not sceptres, no, but reeds, soon bruis'd, soon broken; " And let this worldly pomp our wits enchant, 66 "All fades, and scarcely leaves behind a token. Those golden palaces, those gorgeous halls, 66 With furniture superfluously fair, "Those stately courts, those sky-encount'ring walls, "Evanish all, like vapours in the air." Lord Sterline's play must have been written before the death of Queen Elizabeth, (which happened on the 24th of March, 1603,) as it is dedicated to James VI. King of Scots. Whoever should seek for this passage (as here quoted from the 4to. 1603) in the folio edition, 1637, will be disappointed, as Lord Sterline made considerable changes in all his plays, after their first publication. Steevens. 4- all which it inherit,] i. e. all who possess, who dwell upon it. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: "This, or else nothing, will inherit her." Malone. 5 And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,] Faded means here -having vanished; from the Latin, vado. So, in Hamlet: "It faded on the crowing of the cock." To feel the justice of this comparison, and the propriety of the epithet, the nature of these exhibitions should be remembered. The ancient English pageants were shows, exhibited on the recерtion of a prince, or any other solemnity of a similar kind. They Leave not a rack behind: We before the time of our author, Leave not a rack behind- "In the middle air Again, in Shakspeare's Che |