Within himselfe he sayd to her, thou iustly mayst thee boste.
Of perfit shapes renoune, and Beauties sounding prayse:
Whose like ne hath, ne shalbe seene, ne liueth in our dayes.
And whilest he fixd on her his partiall perced eye,
His former loue, for which of late he ready was to dye,
Is nowe as quite forgotte, as it had neuer been."
47. [Her beauty hangs.] The reading of the later folios, adopted by many editors. The quartos and 1st folio have "It seemes she hangs." As Verplanck remarks, it is quite probable that the correction was the poet's own, obtained from some other MS. altered during the poet's life; it is besides confirmed by the repetition of beauty in 49. Delius, who retains it seems, thinks that the boldness of the simile led the poet to introduce it in that way; but it is Romeo who is speaking, and the simile is not over-bold for him. The commentators often err in looking at the text from the "stand-point" of the critic rather than that of the character.
48. [Ethiope's ear.] For the simile, cf. Sonn. 27. 11: "Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night," etc. Holt White quotes Lyly, Euphues: "A fair pearl in a Morian's ear."
55. [I ne'er saw,] etc. Cf. Hen. VIII. i. 4. 75:—
"The fairest hand I ever touch'd! O beauty,