Art left the prey of every vulgar thief.

Thee have I not lock'd up in any chest,

Save where thou art not, though I feel thou art,
Within the gentle closure of my breast,

From whence at pleasure thou mayst come and part;

And even thence thou wilt be stol'n, I fear,

For truth proves thievish for a prize so dear.

49.

Against that time, if ever that time come,
When I shall see thee frown on my defects,
Whenas thy love hath cast his utmost sum,
Call'd to that audit by advised respects;1
Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass,
And scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye,
When love, converted from the thing it was,
Shall reasons find of settled gravity ;2
Against that time do I ensconce me here
Within the knowledge of mine own desert,
And this my hand against myself uprear,
To guard the lawful reasons on thy part:

To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws,
Since why to love I can allege no cause.

50.

How heavy do I journey on the way,

When what I seek

my weary travel's end.

Doth teach that ease and that repose to say,

Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend!

1 Advised respects is deliberate judgment or consideration.

2 Well explained from Julius Cæsar, iv. 2: "When love begins to sicken and decay, it useth an enforced ceremony."

The beast that bears me, tirèd with my woe,
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me,
As if by some instinct the wretch did know

His rider loved not speed, being made from thee :
The bloody spur cannot provoke him on
That sometimes anger thrusts into his hide;
Which heavily he answers with a groan,

More sharp to me than spurring to his side;
For that same groan doth put this in my mind,
My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.

51.

Thus can my love excuse the slow offence

Of my dull bearer when from thee I speed:

From where thou art why should I haste me thence?
Till I return, of posting is no need.

O, what excuse will my poor beast then find,
When swift extremity 3 can seem but slow?

Then should I spur, though mounted on the wind,
In wingéd speed no motion shall I know:

Then can no horse with my desire keep pace;
Therefore desire, of perfect'st love being made,
Shall neigh
no dull flesh in his fiery race ;
But love, for love, thus shall excuse my jade,

Since from thee going he went wilful-slow, Towards thee I'll run, and give him leave to go.

52.

So am I as the rich, whose blessèd key
Can bring him to his sweet up-lockèd treasure,
The which he will not every hour survey

3 Swift extremity is extreme swiftness, or the top of speed.

4

For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure.
Therefore are feasts so solemn and so rare,
Since, seldom coming, in the long year set,
Like stones of worth they thinly placed are,
Or captain jewels in the carcanet.5

So is the time that keeps you, as my chest,
Or as the wardrobe which the robe doth hide,
To make some special instant special-blest,
By new unfolding his imprison'd pride.

Blessed are you, whose worthiness gives scope,
Being had, to triumph, being lack'd, to hope.

53.

What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you, but one, can every shadow lend.
Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
Is poorly imitated after you;

On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
And you in Grecian tires are painted new:
Speak of the Spring, and foison7 of the year;
The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
The other as your bounty doth appear;
And you in every blessèd shape we know.

In all external grace you have some part,

But you like none, none you, for constant heart.

4 For blunting is equivalent to for fear of blunting, or lest he blunt. The phrase occurs repeatedly. See vol. i. page 172, note 15. Also, vol. xix. page 15, note 6.

5་ "Captain jewels" are chief or principal jewels. Carcanet is necklace. See vol. i. page 102, note I.

6 Strange in the sense of alien or foreign: shadows not your own, not proper to you.

Foison is plenty or abundance. See vol. xix. page 238, note 5.

1

54.

O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.

The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly

When Summer's breath their maskèd buds discloses :
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade;
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so ;

Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made:
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When that shall vade, my verse distills your

truth.

55.

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme ;
But
you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,

And broils root out the work of

masonry,

Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.

'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity

Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room

Even in the eyes of all posterity

That wear this world out to the ending doom.

8 Canker-blooms are the blossoms of the canker-rose or dog-rose.

9 That refers to youth: "when your youth shall fade," &c.

original form of fade; from the Latin vado.

Vade is the

So, till the judgment that yourself arise,10
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

56.

Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said
Thy edge should blunter be than appetite,
Which but to-day by feeding is allay'd,
To-morrow sharpen'd in his former might:
So, love, be thou; although to-day thou fill
Thy hungry eyes even till they wink with fullness,
To-morrow see again, and do not kill

The spirit of love with a perpetual dullness.
Let this sad interim like the ocean be

Which parts the shore, where two contracted-new 11

Come daily to the banks, that, when they see
Return of love, more blest may be the view;

Or call it Winter, which, being full of care,

Makes Summer's welcome thrice more wish'd, more

rare.

57.

Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require.

Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour1
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,

10 Arise is here used transitively, and is put in the plural for the rhyme, though its subject is in the singular: "Till the judgment-day that raises yourself from the dead," is the meaning.—Touching the sentiment of this Sonnet, see page 97, note 10.

11 Meaning, I suppose, two lovers newly engaged.

1 The hour that, while I am watching the clock for you, seems as if it would never come to an end.