Being lafs-lorn; thy pole-clipt vineyard;2 than that of the turfy mountains, would, for want of this precaution, be devoured, and fo the intended ftover [hay, or winter keep] with which thefe meads are proleptically defcribed as Thatched, be loft. The giving way and caving in of the brims of thofe banks, occafioned by the heat, rains, and frofts of the preceding year, are made good, by opening the trenches from whence the banks themselves were at firft raifed, and facing them up a fresh with the mire thofe trenches contain. This being done, the brims of the banks are, in the poet's language, pioned and twilled.-Mr. Warton himself in a note upon Comus, hath cited a pallage in which pioners are explained to be diggers [rather trenchers] and Mr. Steevens mentions Spenfer and the author of Muleaffes, as both ufing pioning for digging. TWILLED is obviously formed from the participle of the French verb touiller, which Cotgrave interprets filthily to mix or mingle; confound or fhuffle together; bedirt; begrime; befmear-fignifications that join to confirm the explanation here given. This bank with pioned and twilled brims is described, as trimmed, at the behest of Ceres, by Spungy April, with flowers, to make cold aymphs chafte crowns. Thefe flowers were neither peonies uor lilies, for they never blow at this feafon, but " ladyfmocks all filver white," which during this humid month, ftart up in abundance on fuch banks, and thrive like oats on the fame kind of foil:— "Avoine touillée croift comme enragée.”—That OU changes into W, in words derived from the French is apparent in cordwainer, from cordouannier, and many others. HENLEY. Mr. Henley's note contends for fmall proprieties, and abounds with minute obfervation. But that Shakspeare was no diligent Botanist, may be ascertained from his erroneous defcriptions of a Cowflip, (in the Tempest and Cymbeline) for who ever heard it characterized as a bell-shaped flower, or could allow the drops at the bottom of it to be of a crimĵon hue? With equal careleifness, or want of information, in the Winter's Tale he enumerates lilies of all kinds," among the children of the fpring, and as contemporaries with the daffodil, the primrofe, and the violet. It might be added, (if we must speak by the card) that wherever there is a bank there is a ditch; where there is a ditch there may be water; and where there is water the aquatic lilies may flourish, whether the bank in queftion belongs to a river or a field.—These are petty remarks, but they are occafioned by petty cavils It was enough for our author that Peonies and Lilies were well-known Where thou thyself do'ft air: The queen o'the sky Enter CERES. CER. Hail, many-colour'd meffenger, that ne'er Doft difobey the wife of Jupiter; Who, with thy faffron wings, upon my flowers flowers, and he placed them on any bank, and produced them in any of the genial months, that particularly fuited his purpose. He who has confounded the customs of different ages and nations, might easily confound the produce of the feafons. That his documents de Re Rufticâ were more exact, is equally improbable. He regarded objects of Agriculture, &c. in the grofs, and little thought, when he meant to bestow fome ornamental epithet on the banks appropriated to a Goddess, that a future critic would with him to fay their brims were filthily mixed or mingled, confounded or Shuffled together, bedirted, begrimed, and befmeared. Mr. Henley, however, has not yet proved the exiftence of the derivative which he labours to introduce as an English word; nor will the lovers of elegant defcription wish him much fuccefs in his attempt. Unconvinced therefore by his ftri&ures, I fhall not exclude a border of flowers to make room for the graces of the fpade, or what Mr. Pope, in his Dunciad, has flyled the majefty of mud." STEEVENS. 8 and thy broom groves,] Broom, in this place, fignifies the Spartium Scoparium, of which brooms are frequently made. Near Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire it grows high enough to conceal the tallest cattle as they pafs through it; and in places, where it is cultivated, ft higher. STEEVENS. 9 Being lafs-lorn;] Lafs-lorn is forfaken of his mistrefs. Sa Spenfer: 2 Who after that he had fair Una lorn." STEEVENS, thy pole-clipt vineyard] To clip is to twine round or embrace, The poles are clip'd or embraced by the vines. Vineyard is here feud as a trifyllable. STEEVENS, And with each end of thy blue bow doft crown On the blefs'd lovers. CER. Tell me, heavenly bow, If Venus, or her fon, as thou doft know, IRIS. Of her fociety Be not afraid; I met her deity } Cutting the clouds towards Paphos; and her fon Dove-drawn with her: here thought they to have done Some wanton charm upon this man and maid, Her wafpifh-headed fon has broke his arrows, 3 My bofky acres, &c.] Bofky is woody. divided from each other by hedge-rows. for wood. Bofquet, Fr. So Milton: Bosky acres are fields Bofcus is niddle Latin "And every boky bourn from fide to fide." Again, in K. Edward I. 1599. "Hale him from hence, and in this boky wood Bury his corps.' STEEVENS, 4 to this fhort-grafs'd green?] The old copy reads fhart-gras'd Short-graz'd green means grazed fo as to be short. green. correction was made by Mr. Rowe. STEEVENS. The Swears he will shoot no more, but play with fpar rows, And be a boy right out. CER. Higheft queen of ftate, Great Juno comes; I know her by her gait. Enter JUNO, JUNO. How does my bounteous fifter? Go with me, To bless this twain, that they may profperous be, And honour'd in their iffue, SONG. JUNO. Honour, riches, marriage-bleffing, Highest queen of fate, Great Juno comes; I know her by her gait.] Mr. Whalley thinks this paffage a remarkable inftance of Shakspeare's knowledge of ancient poetic ftory; and that the hint was furnished by the Divum incedo Regina of Virgil. John Taylor, the water-poet, declares, that he never learned his Accidence, and that Latin and French were to him Heathen Greek; yet, by the help of Mr. Whalley's argument, I will prove him a learned man, in fpite of every thing he may fay to the contrary for thus he makes a gallant addrefs his lady; "Moft inestimable magazine of beauty! in whom the port and majesty of Juno, the wifdom of Jove's brain-bred girle, and the feature of Cytherea, have their domeftical habitation." FARMER. So, in The Arraignement of Paris, 1584: Firft ftatelie Juno, with her porte and grace." STEEVENS, 7 CER. Earth's increafe, and foifon plenty; FER. This is a moft majestic vifion, and Harmonious charmingly: May I be bold 8 6 Earth's increase, and foifon plenty; &c.] All the editions, that I have ever feen, concur in placing this whole fonnet to Juno; but very abfurdly, in my opinion. I believe every accurate reader, who is acquainted with poetical hiftory, and the diftin&t offices of these two goddesses, and who then seriously reads over our author's lines, will agree with me that Ceres's name ought to have been placed, where I have now prefixed it. THEOBALD. The And is not in the old copy. It was added by the editor of the fecond folio. Earth's increafe, is the produce of the earth. expreffion is fcriptural: "Then fhall the earth bring forth her increafe, and God, even our God, shall give us his bleffing." PSALM lxvii. MALONE. This is one amongst a multitude of emendations which Mr. Malone acknowledges to have been introduced by the Editor of the second Folio; and yet, in contradiction to himself in his Prolegomena, he depreciates the fecond edition, as of no importance or value. FENTON. 7 foifon plenty ;] i. e. plenty to the utmost abundance; foison fignifying plenty. See p. 62. STEEVENS. 8 Harmonious charmingly:] Mr. Edwards would read: "Harmonious charming lay." For though [fays he] the benediction is fung by two goddeffes, it is yet but one lay or hymn. I believe however, this paffage appears as it was written by the poet, who, for the fake of the verfe, made the words change places. We might read [transferring the laft fyllable of the fecond word to the end of the firft] Harmoniously charming." Ferdinand has already praised this aerial Mafque as an object of fight and may not improperly or inelegantly fubjoin, that the |