CLIII.

Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep:
A maid of Dian's this advantage found,
And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep
In a cold valley-fountain of that ground;
Which borrow'd from this holy fire of Love
A dateless lively heat, still to endure,
And grew a seething bath, which yet men prove
Against strange maladies a sovereign cure.
But at my mistress' eye Love's brand new-fired,
The boy for trial needs would touch my breast;
I, sick withal, the help of bath desired,
And thither hied, a sad distemper'd guest,

But found no cure: the bath for my help lies
Where Cupid got new fire, my mistress' eyes.

CLIV.

The little Love-god lying once asleep

Laid by his side his heart-inflaming brand,

Whilst many nymphs that vow'd chaste life to keep
Came tripping by; but in her maiden hand
The fairest votary took up that fire

Which many legions of true hearts had warm'd;
And so the general of hot desire

Was sleeping by a virgin hand disarm'd.

CLIII. 5 this] his Sewell.

6 dateless lively] dateless-lively Dyce,
ed. 2 (S. Walker conj.).

8 strange] ed. 1640. strang Q.
9-11 new-fired...desired] new fired...
desired Q. new-fir'd...desir'd Ma-
lone (1790).

11 withal] withall Q. with all ed.

1640.

bath] See note (XI).

12 thither] Gildon. thether Q.

5

10

5

sad distemper'd] sad distempered ed. 1640. Hyphened by Delius.

14 eyes] ed. 1640. eye Q.

CLIV. 2 heart-inflaming] Malone. heart inflaming Q. heart in flaming ed. 1640.

8 virgin hand] Hyphened by Ewing.

This brand she quenched in a cool well by,
Which from Love's fire took heat perpetual,
Growing a bath and healthful remedy
For men diseased; but I, my mistress' thrall,
Came there for cure, and this by that I prove,
Love's fire heats water, water cools not love.

10

NOTES.

NOTE I.

LXIX. 14. As the verb 'to soil' is not uncommon in old English, meaning 'to solve,' as, for example: "This question could not one of theim all soile' (Udal's Erasmus, Luke, fol. 154 b), so the substantive 'soil' may be used in the sense of 'solution.' The play upon words thus suggested is in the author's manner.

NOTE II.

LXX. 6. The conjecture of Malone's correspondent 'C.' (probably Capell) is given differently in his two editions: 'wood oftime' (1780) and wood of time' (1790).

NOTE III.

LXXVII. 13, 14. In place of the two concluding lines of this Sonnet, Ewing's edition, by a strange error, gives the final couplet of Sonnet

CVIII. :

'Finding the first conceit of love there bred,

Where time and outward form would shew it dead.'

NOTE IV.

CXXV. 11. Mr Dyce in his edition of 1832 suggests that 'seconds' is a misprint.

NOTE V.

CXXVI. 2. Capell in his copy of Lintott's edition has corrected 'hower' to 'hoar,' leaving 'fickle.' Doubtless he intended to read 'sickle hoar.'

NOTE VI.

CXXVI. 12. After the last line an omission of two lines is marked in the Quarto by two pairs of parentheses.

NOTE VII.

torments' for It is found in

CXXXII. 2. Mr Collier attributes this emendation, 'torment,' to a correspondent of his, Mr J. O'Connell. the edition of 1640, and in those of Sewell and Ewing. rection was made by Capell in his copy of Lintott's edition.

NOTE VIII.

The same cor

CXXXV. In Sonnets cxxxv., cxxxvI., and CXLIII., we have printed 'Will' wherever Will (in italics) is found in the original edition.

Mr Massey says: "The lady's Will is a personification of her wilfulness; the speaker's 'Will' is his name." The latter he marks by inverted commas, thus: in Sonnet cxxxv., my 'will' (line 6), my 'will' (line 8), One 'will' (line 12), and one ('Will' line 14); in Sonnet cxxxvI., thy 'will' (line 2), my Will' (line 4), and Will' (line 14). He also prints 'rich' (line 11 of the former Sonnet) in capital letters, supposing this and other Sonnets to be addressed by William Lord Herbert to Lady Rich.

In line 13 of Sonnet LVII., which he classes in the same series, he prints 'Will' as a proper name.

NOTE IX.

CXXXVIII. The edition of 1640 has this Sonnet in the form in which it appears in the Passionate Pilgrim. The same may be said of Sonnet

CXLIV.

NOTE X.

CXLVI. 10. Malone says that the original copy and all the subsequent impressions read 'my' instead of 'thy.' The copies of the edition of 1609 in the Bodleian, one of which belonged to Malone himself, in the Bridgewater Library, and in the Capell collection, as well as Steevens's reprint, have 'thy.'

NOTE XI.

CLIII. 11. Steevens supposes that 'bath' should be printed 'Bath' as being a proper name. In the original Quarto it is printed 'bath.'

A LOVER'S COMPLAINT.