As the dial1 hand tells o’er
The same hours it had before,
Still beginning in the ending,
Circular account still lending,
5 So, most mighty Queen we pray,
Like the dial day by day
You may lead the seasons on,
Making new when old are gone,
That the babe which now is young
10 And hath yet no use of tongue
Many a Shrovetide11 here may bow
To that empress I do now,
That the children of these lords,
Sitting at your council boards,14
15 May be grave and agèd seen
Of her that was their fathers’ queen.
Once I wish this wish again,
Heaven subscribe it with ‘Amen’.
LET the bird1 of loudest lay
On the sole Arabian tree
Herald sad and trumpet3 be,
To whose sound chaste wings obey.
5 But thou shrieking harbinger,5
Foul precurrer6 of the fiend,
Augur7 of the fever’s end,
To this troop come thou not near.
From this session9 interdict
10 Every fowl10 of tyrant wing,
Save11 the eagle, feathered king:
Keep the obsequy12 so strict.
Let the priest in surplice13 white,
That defunctive14 music can,
15 Be the death-divining15 swan,
Lest the requiem lack his right.16
And thou treble-dated17 crow,
That thy sable gender18 mak’st
With the breath thou giv’st and tak’st,
20 ’Mongst our mourners shalt thou go.
Here the anthem21 doth commence:
Love and constancy is dead;
Phoenix23 and the turtle fled
In24 a mutual flame from hence.
25 So25 they loved, as love in twain
Had the essence26 but in one,
Two distincts,27 division none:
Number28 there in love was slain.
Hearts remote,29 yet not asunder;
30 Distance30 and no space was seen
’Twixt this turtle and his queen:
But32 in them it were a wonder.
So between them love did shine
That the turtle saw his right34
35 Flaming in the phoenix’ sight:35
Either36 was the other’s mine.
Property37 was thus appalled
That the self was not the same:38
Single39 nature’s double name
40 Neither two nor one was called.
Reason, in itself confounded,41
Saw division grow together,42
To43 themselves yet either neither,
Simple44 were so well compounded,
45 That it45 cried, ‘How true a twain
Seemeth this concordant46 one!
Love hath reason, reason none,
If what48 parts can so remain.’
Whereupon it made this threne49
50 To the phoenix and the dove,
Co-supremes51 and stars of love,
As chorus to their tragic scene.
Death is now the phoenix’ nest,
And the turtle’s loyal breast
To eternity doth rest,
65 To this urn let those repair65
That are either true or fair,
For these dead birds sigh a prayer.
William Shakespeare
VENUS AND ADONIS
Q = First Quarto text of 1593
Q2 = a correction introduced in the Second Quarto text of 1594
Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor
185 Souring = Q (So wring) 193 shines but = Q corrected by hand in unique copy to shineth but 198 earthly = Q corrected by hand in unique copy to this earthly 231 deer spelled deare in Q 325 chafing = Q. Ed = chasing 466 love = Q. Ed = loss 654 air = Q. Ed = earth 748 th’impartial = Q2. Q = the th’impartiall 754 sons = Q2. Q = suns 832 deeply = Q. Ed = doubly 873 twined = Q (twin’d). Ed = twine 962 the = Q. Ed = her 1031 are = Q. Ed = as 1054 had = Q. Ed = was 1095 sung = Ed. Q = song 1113 did = Q. Q2 = would
THE RAPE OF LUCRECE
Q = First Quarto text of 1594
Q (uncorrected) = uncorrected version of this edition
Q (corrected) = corrected version of this edition
Q2 = a correction introduced in the Second Quarto text of 1598
Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor
THE RAPE OF LUCRECE = Q (poem header and running header, but just LUCRECE on title page) 21 peer = Q. Q2 = prince 24 morning’s = Q (corrected). Q (uncorrected) = morning 31 apology = Q (uncorrected). Q (corrected) = Apologies 48 repentant = Q. Ed = repentance 50 Collatium = Q (uncorrected). Q (corrected) = Colatia 77 in = Q. Ed = o’er 125 themselves betake = Q (corrected). Q (uncorrected) = himself betakes 126 wake = Q (corrected). Q (uncorrected) = wakes 425 Slaked spelled Slakt in Q. Ed = Slacked 550 blows = Ed. Q = blow 684 prone = Q. Ed = proud/foul 755 in = Q. Ed. = e’en 782 musty = Q. Ed = misty 812 quote spelled cote in Q 950 cherish = Q. Ed = perish/blemish 1037 betumbled spelled betombled in Q 1310 tenor spelled tenure in Q 1316 stained her stained = Q. Ed = stained her strain’d/stained her stain’s 1452 chaps spelled chops in Q 1652 robbed spelled rob’d in Q 1680 on = Q. Ed = one/in 1712 The = Q. Ed = Her 1713 in it = Ed. Q = it in 1822 wounds help = Q. Ed = wounds heal
To the Queen
Stanford = a reading in the original manuscript of “To the Queen” (commonplace book of Henry Stanford, Cambridge University Library MS Dd.5.75, fol. 46)
Ed = a modern editorial reading
To the Queen = Stanford (“to the Q. by the players 1598”); date is old style calendar 16 fathers’ = Ed. Stanford = father
“Let the Bird of Loudest Lay”
The 1601 Quarto printing in Robert Chester’s collection, Love’s Martyr, contains no disputed readings