Et ſpeſſo manca nel ſouerchio ardore,
Qual ſemplice farfalla al lume auuezza.
Coſi piacer conduce à morte.
Now can there be unreasonableness in supposing that out of these many Emblem writers Shakespeare may have had some one in view when he ascribed to Portia the words,—
“Thus hath the candle singed the moth.
O, these deliberate fools! when they do choose,
They have the wisdom by their wit to lose.”
Act ii. sc. 9, lines 79–81.
The opening of the third of the caskets (act. iii. sc. 2, l. 115, vol. ii. p. 328), that made of lead, is also as much an Emblem delineation as the other two, excelling them, indeed, in the beauty of the language as well as in the excellence of the device, a very paragon of gracefulness. “What find I here?” demands Bassanio; and himself replies,—
“Fair Portia’s counterfeit! What demi-god