negia, Vinegia! non te vedi, ei non tè pregia. Old Mantuan, old Mantuan! Who understandeth thee not, loves thee not; ut re føl·la mi fa. Under pardon, Sir, what are the contents? or rather, as Horace fays in his : What! my foul! verses?

Nath. Ay, Sir, and very learned.

Hol. Let me hear a staff, a stanza, a verfe; Lege, Domine. Nath. If love make me forfworn, how fhall I fwear to love?

Ah, never faith could hold, if not to beauty vow'd; Tho' to myself forfworn, to thee I'll faithful prove; Those thoughts to me were oaks, to thee like ofiers bow'd.

Study his biafs leaves, and makes his book thine eyes ; Where all thofe pleasures live, that art would comprehend:

If knowledge be the mark, to know thee shall suffice; Well learned is that tongue, that well can thee commend,

All ignorant that Soul, that fees thee without wonder: Which is to me fome praise, that I thy parts admire. Thy eye Jove's lightning bears, thy voice is dreadful

thunder ;

Which, not to anger bent, is mufick, and sweet fire. Celestial as thou art, Oh pardon, love, this wrong, That fings the heav'ns praife with fuch an earthly

tongue.

Hol. You find not the Apostrophes, and fo miss the accent. Let me fupervise the canzonet. Here are only numbers ratify'd (4); but for the elegancy, facility,

and

te piaech.] And thus Mr. Rowe and Mr. Pope. But that Poets, Scholars, and Linguifts, could not restore this little Scrap of true Italian, is to me unaccountable. Our Author is applying the Praises of Mantuanus to a common proverbial Sentence, faid of Venice. Vinegia, Vinegia! qui non te vedi, ei non te pregia. O Venice, Venice, he, who has never feen thee, has thee not in Efteem. THEOBALD.

The proverb, as I am informed, is this; He that fees Venice little, values it much; be that fees it much, values it little. But I fuppofe Mr. Theobald is right, for the true proverb would not ferve the fpeaker's purpose.

(4) Nath. Here are only Numbers ratifyed ;] been all along placed to Sir Nathanael, I have

Tho' this Speech has ventured to join it to

the

and golden cadence of poefie, caret: (5) Ovidius Nafo was the man. And why, indeed, Nafe; but for fmelling out the odoriferous flowers of fancy? the jerks of invention? imitari, is nothing: (fo doth the hound his mafter, the ape his keeper, the try'd horfe his rider: But Damofella Virgin, was this directly to you

?

Faq. Ay, Sir, from one Monfieur Biron, to one of the ftrange Queen's Ladies.

Hol. I will overglance the fuperfcript. To the fnowwhite hand of the most beauteous lady Rofaline. I will look again on the intellect of the letter, for the nomination of the party writing to the person written unto.

the preceding Words of Holofernes; and not without reafon. The Speaker here is impeaching the Verfes; but Sir Nathanael, as it appears above, thought them learned ones: befides, as Dr. Thirlby obferves, almost every Word of this Speech, fathers itself on the Pedant. So much for the Regulation of it: now, a little, to the Contents.

And why indeed Nafo, but for smelling out the odariferous Flowers of Fancy? the Jerks of Invention imitary is nothing.

Sagacity with a Vengeance! I fhould be afham'd to own myself a Piece of a Scholar, to pretend to the Tafk of an Editor, and to pafs fuch Stuff as this upon the World for genuine. Who ever heard of Invention imitary? Invention and Imitation have ever been accounted two diftinct Things. The Speech is by a Pedant, who frequently throws in a Word of Latin amongst his English; and he is here flourishing upon the Merit of Invention, beyond That of Imitation, or copying after another. My Correction makes the whole fo plain and intelligible, that, I think, it carries Conviction along with it. THEOBALD..

(5) Ovidius Nafo was the man.] Our author makes his pedant affect the being converfant in the beft authors: Contrary to the practice of modern wits, who reprefent them as defpifers of all fuch. But those who know the world, know the pedant to be the greatest affecter of politeness. WARBURTON.

(6) So doth the hound his mafter, the ape his keeper, the TIRED horfe bis rider :] The pedant here to run down Imitation, shews that it is a quality within the capacity of beafts: that the dog and the ape are taught to copy tricks by their mafter and keeper and fo is the tir'd horfe by his rider. This last is a wonderful inftance; but it happens not to be true. The author must have wrote--the TRYED horfe his rider: i. e. one, exercifed, and broke to the manage: for he obeys every fign, and motion of the rein, or of his rider. So in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, the word is ufed in the sense of trained, exercised;

And bow be cannot be a perfect man,
Not being try'd and tuter'd in the world.

WARBURTON.
Кольт

Your Ladyfbip's in all defir'd employment, Biron.

This Biron is one of the votaries with the King; and here he hath fram'd a letter to a fequent of the stranger Queen's, which acodentally, or by the way of progreffion, hath mifcarry'd. Trip and go, my fweet; deliver this paper into the hand of the King; it may concern much; ftay not thy compliment; I forgive thy duty adieu.

:

Faq. Good Coftard, go with me. Sir, God fave your life.

Coft. Have with thee, my girl.

[Exeunt Coft. and Jaq Nath. Sir, you have done this in the fear of God, very religiously and as a certain father saith

Hol. Sir, tell not me of the father, I do fear colourable colours (7). But, to return to the verses; did they please you, Sir Nathanael ?

Nath. Marvellous well for the pen.

Hol. I do dine to day at the father's of a certain pupil of mine; where if (being repaft) it shall please you to gratifie the table with a grace, I will, on my privilege I have with the parents of the aforefaid child or pupil, undertake your ben venuto; where will I prove thofe verfes to be very unlearned, neither favouring of poetry, wit, nor invention. I beseech your fociety. Nath. And thank you too for fociety (faith the text) is the happiness of life.

Hol And, certes, the text moft infallibly concludes it. Sir, I do invite you too; [To Dull.] you shall not fay me, nay Pauca verba. Away, the gentles are at their game, and we will to our recreation. [Exeunt.

Enter Biron with a paper in his hand, alone.

Biron. The King is hunting the deer, I am courfing myfelf. They have pitcht a toil, I am toiling in a pitch*; pitch, that defiles ; defile! a foul word: well,

(7) Colourable colours.] That is fpecious, or fair-feeming appearances. Alluding to lady Rofaline's complexion, who is, through the whole play, reprefented as a black beauty.

fet:

fet thee down, forrow; for fo they fay the fool faid, and fo fay I, and I the fool. Well prov'd wit. By the Lord, this love is as mad as Ajax, it kills sheep, it kills me, I a fheep. Well prov'd again on my fide. I will not love; if I do, hang me; i'faith, I will not. O, but her eye: by this light, but for her eye, I would not love; yes, for her two eyes. Well, I do nothing in the world but lie, and lie in my throat. By heaven, I do love ; and it hath taught me to rhime, and to be melancholy; and here is part of my rhime; and here my melancholy. Well, the hath one o'my fonnets already; the clown bore it; the fool fent it, and the lady hath it sweet clown, fweeter fool, fweeteft lady! by the world, I would not care a pin if the other three were in. Here comes one with a paper; God give him grace to groan! [He fands afide.

King Ay me!

Enter the King,

Biron. [afide.] Shot, by heav'n! proceed, fweet Cupid; thou haft thumpt him with thy bird-bolt under the left pap: in faith, fecrets.

King. [reads.] So fweet a kifs the golden fun gives

not

To thofe fresh morning drops upon the rofe,

As thy eye-beams, when their fresh rays have fmote
The night of dew, that on my cheeks down
flows (8);

Nor fhines the filver rtoon one half fo bright,
Through the tranfparent bofom of the deep,
As doth thy face through tears of mine give light;
Thou fhin'ft in every tear that I do weep;
No drop, but as a coach doth carry thee,
So rideft thou triumphing in my woe.
Do. but behold the tears that fwell in me,

And they thy glory through my grief will shew;

(8) The night of dew, that in my cheeks down flows;] I cannot think the night of dew the true reading, but know not what to offer.

But

But do not love thy felf, then thou wilt keep
My tears for glaffes, and ftill make me weep.
O Queen of Queens, how far dost thou excel !
No thought can think, no tongue of mortal tell.

How fhall the know my griefs? I'll drop the paper;
Sweet leaves, fhade folly. Who is he comes here?
[The King fteps afide.

Enter Longueville.

What! Longueville! and reading!

Liften, ear.

Biron. [afide.] Now in thy likeness one more fool

appears.

Long. Ay me! I am forfworn.

Biron. [afide.] Why, he comes in like a Perjure, wearing papers (9).

King [afide] In love, I hope; fweet fellowship in fhame.

Biron. [afide.] One drunkard loves another of the

name.

Long. [afide.] Am I the firft, that have been perjur'd fo?

Biron. [afide.] I could put thee in comfort: not by two that I know ;

Thou mak'ft the triumviry, the three-corner-cap of fociety,

The fhape of love's Tyburn, that hangs up fimplicity. Long. I fear, these stubborn lines lack power to

move :

O fweet Maria, Emprefs of my love,

Thefe numbers will I tear, and write in profe.

Biron. [afide.] Oh ! rhimes are guards on wanton Cupid's hofe :

Disfigure not his flop (*).

Long

(9) He comes in like a perjure,] The punishment of perjury is to wear on the b east a paper expreffing the crime.

(1) Oh! Rhimes are guards on wanton Cupid's Hofe ; Disfigure not his Shop] All the Editions happen to concur in this Error; but what Agreement in Senfe is there betwixt Cupid's Hofe and his Shop? Or, what Relation can those two Terms have to

one