THE POEMS OF SHAKSPEAUE. 457 



' Oh ! what a sight it was, worthy of view, 

 How she came stealing to the wayward boy, 

 To note the fighting conflict of her hue, 

 How white and red each other did destroy ; 

 But now her cheek was pale, and by and by 

 It flashed forth fire as lightning from the sky. 



Now was she just before him as he sat, 

 And like a lowly lover down she kneels, 

 With one fair hand she heaveth up his hat, 

 Her other tender hand his fair cheek feels ; 

 His tender cheek receives her soft hand's print, 

 As apt as new-fallen snow takes any dint. 



Oh ! what a war of looks was then between them, 

 Her eyes petitioners to his eyes suing ; 

 His eyes saw her eyes/' &c. 



What a study for an actor is Collatings, on intelligence of his mis- 

 fortune, 



" Lo ! here the hopeless merchant of this loss, 

 With head inclined, and voice dammed up with woe, 

 With sad set eyes and wretced arms across, 

 And lips now waxen pale." 



Another of the peculiarities of the buskin is discoverable in the veer- 

 ing of the sentiment before the gust of passion, the first topic suggesting, 

 or rather extracting another, in that orderly disarray which nature mar- 

 shals. When Sextus, trying to surmount his invincible lust by a waver- 

 ing conscience, calls to mind the attachment of Lucrece to her husband, 

 and the proofs of it he had discovered in her reception of himself ; 



"Quoth he, she took me kindly by the hand, 

 And gazed for tidings in my eager eyes, 

 Fearing some hard news from the warlike band 

 Where her beloved Collatinus lies ; 

 * Oh ! how her fear did make her colour rise, 



And how her hand in my hand being locked, 

 Forced it to tremble with her loyal fear, 

 Which struck her sad, and then it faster rocked, 

 Until her husband's welfare she did hear ; 

 Whereat she smiled with so sweet a cheer, 

 That had Narcissus seen her as she stood, 

 Self-love had never drowned him in the flood." 



This picture of her devotedness to Collatinus, and the recollection of 

 her hand and smile, do not accomplish their original intention of calming 



him, but bring him to the conclusion of the irresistible nature of beauty 



Narcissus could not have resisted such charms. 



" Why hunt I then for colours or excuses ? 

 All orators are dumb when beauty pleads." 



Another distinctive mark of the drama, is the strict observance of that 

 fact in nature, that the mind can change the thought more rapidly than 

 the tongue the word. So Lucrece, after her rape, while attending the 



