By fome illufion fee thou bring her here;
I'll charm his eyes, against fhe do appear.
PUCK. I go, I go; look, how I go;
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.' [Exit.
OBE. Flower of this purple dye,
Hit with Cupid's archery,
Sink in apple of his eye!
When his love he doth efpy,
Let her fhine as gloriously
As the Venus of the fkv.-
When thou wak'ft, if the be by,
Beg of her for remedy.

and

Re-enter PUCK.

PUCK. Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand;

And the youth, miftook by me,

Pleading for a lover's fee;

Shall we their fond pageant fee?
Lord, what fools thefe mortals be!

blood-fucking fighs." All alluding to the ancient fuppofition that every figh was indulged at the expence of a drop of blood. STEEVENS.

5 Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.] So, in the 19th Book of Ovid's Metamorphofis: tranflated by Golding, 1567:

and though that she

"Did fly as fwift as arrow from a Turkye bowe."

DOUCE.

A Tartar's painted bow of lath" is mentioned in Romeo and Juliet. STEEVENS.

6 Hit with Cupid's archery,] This alludes to what was faid before:

It fell upon a little western flower,

Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound."

STEEVENS,

OBE. Stand afide: the noise they make,
Will caufe Demetrius to awake.

PUCK. Then will two, at once, woo one;
That must needs be sport alone:

And thofe things do beft please me,

That befal prepofterously.

Enter LYSANDER and HELENA.

Lrs. Why fhould you think, that I fhould woo in fcorn?

Scorn and derifion never come in tears:
Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows fo born,
In their nativity all truth appears.

How can these things in me feem fcorn to you,
Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?"
HEL. You do advance your cunning more and

more.

When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray! These vows are Hermia's; Will you give her o'er? Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing

weigh:

Your vows, to her and me, put in two scales,
Will even weigh; and both as light as tales.

Lrs. I had no judgement, when to her I fwore.
HEL. Nor none, in my mind, now you give her

o'er.

Lrs. Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.

Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?] This is faid in allufion to the badges (i. e. family crefts) anciently worn on the fleeves of fervants and retainers. So, in The Tempest:

Mark the badges of these men, and then say if they be true."
STEEVENS.

DEM. [awaking.] O Helen, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!

To what, my love, fhall I compare thine eyne?
Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show
Thy lips, thofe kiffing cherries, tempting grow!
That pure congealed white, high Taurus' fnow,?
Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow,
When thou hold'st up thy hand: O let me kifs
This princefs of pure white, this feal of bliss!"
HEL. O fpite! O hell! I fee you all are bent
To fet against me, for your merriment.
If you were civil, and knew courtesy,
You would not do me thus much injury.
Can you not hate me, as I know you do,
But

you muft join, in fouls, to mock me too?

Taurus' fnor,] Taurus is the name of a range of mountains in Afia. JOHNSON.

8 This princefs of pure white,] Thus all the editions as low as Sir Thomas Hanmer's. He reads:

"This pureness of pure white;"

and Dr. Warburton follows him. The old reading may be justified from a paffage in fir Walter Raleigh's Difcovery of Guiana, where the pine-apple is called The princefs of fruits. Again, in Wyat's Poems, "Öf beauty princeffe chief." STEEVENS.

In The Winter's Tale we meet with a fimilar expreffion : -good footh, the is

66

"The queen of curds and cream." MALONE.

9-feal of blifs!] He has in Measure for Measure, the fame image:

But my kiffes bring again,

"Seals of love, but feal'd in vain." JOHNSON.

More appofitely, in Antony and Cleopatra:

2

66

My play-fellow, your hand; this kingly feal,

"And plighter of high hearts." STEEVENS.

-join, in fouls,] i. e. join heartily, unite in the fame mind. Shakspeare in K. Henry V. ufes an expreffion not unlike this: For we will hear, note, and believe in heart;"

i. e. heartily believe: and in Measure for Measure, he talks of electing with Special foul. In Troilus and Crefida, Ulyffes, relating the character of Hector as given him by Ancas, fays:

If you were men, as men you are in fhow,
You would not use a gentle lady fo;

To vow, and fwear, and fuperpraise my parts,
When, I am fure, you hate me with your hearts.
You both are rivals, and love Hermia;
And now both rivals, to mock Helena;

with private foul

"Did in great Ilion thus tranflate him to me." And, in All Fools, by Chapman, 1605, is the fame expreffion as

that for which I contend:

Happy, in foul, only by winning her."

Again, in a masque called Luminalia, or the Feftival of Light's 1637:

66

"You that are chief in fouls, as in your blood." Again, in Pierce Pennylefs his Supplication to the Devil, 1595: whofe fubverfion in foul they have vow'd.' Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602. B. XII. ch. lxxv: "Could all; in foul, of very God fay as an Ethnick faid "To one that preached Hercules ?"

Again, in our author's Twelfth Night:

"And all those fwearings keep as true in soul.”

Sir T. Hanmer would read-in flouts; Dr. Warburton, infolents.

I rather believe the line fhould be read thus:

STEEVENS.

But you must join, ill fouls, to mock me too??? Ill is often ufed for bad, wicked. So, in The Sea Voyage of Beaumont and Fletcher, Act IV, sc. i:

"They did begin to quarrel like ill men;"

which I cite the rather, because ill had there also been changed into in, by an error of the prefs, which Mr. Sympfon has corrected from the edition 1647. TYRWHITT.

This is a very reasonable conjecture, though I think it hardly tight. JOHNSON.

We meet with this phrase in an old poem by Robert Dabourne: Men fhift their fashions

--

They are in fouls the fame." FARMER.

A fimilar phrafeology is found in Measure for Meafure: "Is't not enough thou haft fuborn'd thefe women "To accufe this worthy man, but in foul mouth To call him villain!" MALONE.

A trim exploit, a manly enterprize,'
To conjure tears up in a poor maid's eyes,
With your derifion! none, of noble fort,*
Would fo offend a virgin; and extort
A poor foul's patience,' all to make you sport.

Lrs. You are unkind, Demetrius; be not fo;
For you love Hermia; this, you know, I know:
And here, with all good will, with all my heart,
In Hermia's love I yield you up my part;
And yours of Helena to me bequeath,
Whom I do love, and will do to my death.

HEL. Never did mockers wafte more idle breath. DEM. Lyfander, keep thy Hermia; I will none: If e'er I lov'd her, all that love is gone. My heart with her but, as gueft-wife, fojourn'd; And now to Helen it is home return'd,

3 A trim exploit, a manly enterprize, &c.] This is written much in the manner and fpirit of Juno's reproach to Venus in the fourth book of the Eneid:

4

"Egregiam vero laudem et fpolia ampla refertis,

Tuque puerque tuus; magnum et memorabile nomen, "Una dolo divûm fi fœmina victa duorum eft."

STEEVENS.

-none, of noble fort,] Sort is here ufed for degree or quality. So, in the old ballad of Jane Shore:

Long time I lived in the court,

"With lords and ladies of great fort." MALONE.

- extort

A poor foul's patience,] Harrafs, torment. JOHNSON.

6 My heart with her but, as guest-wife, fojourn'd;

And now to Helen it is home return'd,] The ancient copies read-" to her." Dr. Johnfon made the correction, and exemplified the fentiment by the following paffage from Prior:

"No matter what beauties I saw in my way,

"They were but my vifits; but thou art my home."

So, in our author's 109th Sonnet:

"This is my home of love; if I have rang'd,

STERVENS.

"Like him that travels, I return again." MALONE.