Venus and Adonis (Quarto 1, 1592-3)
Author: William ShakespeareEditor: Hardy M. CookPeer Reviewed


¶VVho
sees his true-loue in her naked bed,
¶Teaching the
sheets a whiter hew then white,
¶But when his glutton eye
so full hath fed,
400His other agents ayme at like delight?
¶_VVho is
so faint that dares not be
so bold,
¶_To touch the fier the weather being cold?
¶Let me excu
se thy cour
ser gentle boy,
¶And learne of him I heartily be
seech thee,
405To take aduantage on pre
sented ioy,
¶Though I were dūbe, yet his proceedings teach thee
¶_O learne to loue, the le
sson is but plaine,
¶_And once made perfect, neuer lo
st againe.
¶I know not loue (quoth he) nor will not know it,
410Vnle
sse it be a Boare, and then I cha
se it,
¶Tis much to borrow, and I will not owe it,
¶My loue to loue, is loue, but to di
sgrace it,
¶_For I haue heard, it is a life in death,
¶_That laughs and weeps, and all but with a breath.
415VVho weares a garment
shapele
sse and vnfini
sht?
¶VVho plucks the bud before one leafe put forth?
¶If
springing things be anie iot dimini
sht,
¶They wither in their prime, proue nothing worth,
¶_The colt that's backt and burthend being yong,
420_Lo
seth his pride, and neuer waxeth
strong.
¶You hurt my hand with wringing, let vs part,
¶And leaue this idle theame, this bootle
sse chat,
¶Remoue your
siege from my vnyeelding hart,
¶To loues allarmes it will not ope the gate,
425_Di
smi
sse your vows, your fained tears, your flattry,
¶_For where a heart is hard they make no battry.

