Venus and Adonis (Quarto 1, 1592-3)
Author: William ShakespeareEditor: Hardy M. CookPeer Reviewed
¶Once more the engin of her thoughts began,
¶O faire
st mouer on this mortall round,
¶VVould thou wert as I am, and I a man,
370My heart all whole as thine, thy heart my wound,
¶_For one
sweet looke thy helpe I would a
ssure thee,
¶_Thogh nothing but my bodies bane wold cure thee
¶Giue me my hand (
saith he,) why do
st thou feele it?
¶Giue me my heart (
saith
she,) and thou
shalt haue it.
375O giue it me le
st thy hard heart do
steele it,
¶And being
steeld,
soft
sighes can neuer graue it.
¶_Then loues deepe grones, I neuer
shall regard,
¶_Becau
se Adonis heart hath made mine hard.
¶For
shame he cries, let go, and let me go,
380My dayes delight is pa
st, my hor
se is gone,
¶And tis your fault I am bereft him
so,
¶I pray you hence, and leaue me here alone,
¶_For all my mind, my thought, my bu
sie care,
¶_Is how to get my palfrey from the mare.
385Thus
she replies, thy palfrey as he
should,
¶VVelcomes the warme approch of
sweet de
sire,
¶Affection is a coale that mu
st be coold,
¶El
se
sufferd it will
set the heart on fire,
¶_The
sea hath bounds, but deepe de
sire hath none,
390_Therfore no maruell though thy hor
se be gone.
¶How like a iade he
stood tied to the tree,
¶Seruilly mai
sterd with a leatherne raine,
¶Bnt when he
saw his loue, his youths faire fee,
¶He held
such pettie bondage in di
sdaine:
395_Throwing the ba
se thong from his bending cre
st,
¶_Enfranchi
sing his mouth, his backe, his bre
st.
