plexion. I had as lieve, Helen's golden tongue had commended Troilus for a copper nose.

Pan. I fwear to you, I think Helen loves him better than Paris.

Cre. Then he's a merry Greek, indeed.

Pan. Nay, I am fure she does. She came to him the other day into the compass'd window ',and, you know, he has not past three or four hairs on his chin.

One and fifty bairs, quoth he, and one white. That white hair is my father, and all the reft are bis fons. Jupiter! quoth fhe, which of thefe bairs is Paris, my bufband? The forked one, quoth he; pluck i 5 out, and give it bim. But, there was fuch laughing! and Helen fo blush'd, and Paris fo chaf'd, and all the reft so laugh'd, that it pass'd.

Cre. Indeed, a tapfter's arithmetic may foon bring 10 his particulars therein to a total.

Pan. Why, he is very young: and yet will he, within three pound, lift as much as his brother Hector.

Cre. Is he fo young a man, and so old a lifter 2? 15 Pan. But, to prove to you that Helen loves him; he came, and puts me her white hand to

his cloven chin,

Cre. Juno have mercy!-How came it cloven?
Pan. Why, you know, 'tis dimpled: I think, 20
his fmiling becomes him better than any man in
all Phrygia.

Cre. O, he fmiles valiantly.
Pan. Does he not?

Cre. O, yes; an 'twere a cloud in autumn.

Pan. Why, go to then :-But, to prove to you that Helen loves Troilus,

Cre. Troilus will stand to the proof, if you'll prove it fo.

251

Pan. Troilus? why he esteems her no more 30 than I efteem an addle egg.

Cre. If you love an addle egg as well as you! love an idle head, you would eat chickens i' the fhell.

Pan. I cannot chufe but laugh, to think how the tickled his chin;-Indeed, he has a marvellous white hand, I must needs confefs.

Cre. Without the rack.

Pan. And he takes upon her to fpy a white hair on his chin.

Cre. Alas, poor chin! many a wart is richer.
Pan. But, there was fuch laughing;-Queen
Hecuba laugh'd, that her eyes ran o'er.

Cre. With mill-ftones.

Pan. And Caffandra laugh'd.

Cre. But there was more temperate fire under the pot of her eyes ;-Did her eyes run o'er too?

Pan. And Hector laugh'd.

Cre. At what was all this laughing?

Cre. So let it now; for it has been a great while going by.

Pan. Well, coufin, I told you a thing yesterday; think on 't.

Cre. So I do.

Pan. I'll be fworn, 'tis true; he will weep you, an 'twere a man born in April. [Sound a retreat. Cre. And I'll fpring up in his tears, an 'twere a nettle against May.

Pan. Hark, they are coming from the field: Shall we ftand up here, and fee them, as they país toward Ilium? good niece, do; fweet niece Creffida. Cre. At your pleasure.

Pan. Here, here, here's an excellent place; here we may fee most bravely: I'll tell you them all by their names, as they pass by; but mark Troilus above the rest.

Eneas paffes over the ftags.

Cre. Speak not fo loud.

Pan. That's Æneas; Is not that a brave man? he's one of the flowers of Troy, I can tell you; But mark Troilus; you shall see anon.

Cre. Who's that?

Antenor paffes over.

Pan. That's Antenor; he has a fhrewd wit, I can tell you; and he's a man good enough: he's one o' the foundest judgement in Troy, whofoever; 35 and a proper man of perfon: -When comes Troilus? I'll fhew you Troilus anon; if he fee me, you fhall fee him nod at me.

401

Cre. Will he give you the nod ?
Pan. You fhall fee.

Cre. If he do, the rich fhall have more 3.
Hector paffes over.

Pan. That's Hector, that, that, look you, that! There's a fellow!-Go thy way, Hector;-There's a brave man, niece.-O brave Hector!-Look, 45 how he looks! there's a countenance: Is 't not a brave man?

Cre. O, brave man!

Pan. Is 'a not? It does a man's heart goodLook you, what hacks are on his helmet? look

Pan. Marry, at the white hair that Helen fpied 50lyou yonder, do you fee? look you there! There's

on Troilus' chin.

Cre. An't had been a green hair, I fhould have laugh'd too.

Pan. They laugh'd not fo much at the hair, as at

his pretty answer.

Cre. What was his anfwer?

Pan. Quoth fhe, Here's but one and fifty hairs on your chin, and one of them is white.

155

no jefting: laying on; take 't off who will, as they fay: there be hacks!

Cre. Be thofe with fwords?

Paris paffes over.

Pan. Swords? any thing, he cares not: an the devil come to him, it's all one: By god's lid, it does one's heart good:- Yonder comes Paris, yonder comes Paris: look ye yonder, niece; Is't not a gallant man too, is 't not?-Why, this is Pan. That's true; make no queftion of that. 60 brave now.-Who faid, he came home hurt to

Cre. This is her question.

1 The compass'd window is the fame as the bow-window. 2 The word lifter means a thief. We ftill call a perfon who plunders fhops, a fhop-lifter. 3 The allufion here is to the word moddy, which, as now, did in our author's time, and long before, fignify a filly fellow, and may, by its etymology, fignify likewife full of nods. Creffid means, that a noddy shall have more neds.

day?

day? he's not hurt: why, this will do Helen's heart good now. Ha! 'would I could fee Troilus now!-you shall fee Troilus anon.

Cre. Who's that?

Helenus pajes over.

Pan. That's Helenus,-I marvel, where Troilus is: That's Helenus;-I think he went not forth to-day;-That's Helenus.

Cre. Can Helenus fight, uncle?

5

Pan. Helenus? no;—yes, he'll fight indifferent 10I well:- marvel, where Troilus is!-Hark; do you not hear the people cry, Troilus? Helenus is a priest.

Cre. What fneaking fellow comes yonder?

Troilus paffes over.

Pan. Where? yonder? that's Deiphobus: 'Tis Troilus! there's a man, niece! - Hem!-Brave Troilus! the prince of chivalry!

Cre. Peace, for shame, peace!

15

what I would not have hit, I can watch you for telling how I took the blow; unless it fwell paft hiding, and then it is past watching.

Pan. You are fuch another!

Enter Troilus' Boy.

Boy. Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you.
Pan. Where?

Boy. At your own houfe; there he unarms him.
Pan. Good boy, tell him I come [Exit Boy]:
doubt he be hurt.-Fare ye well, good niece.
Cre. Adieu, uncle.

Pan. I'll be with you, niece, by and by.
Cre. To bring, uncle,-

Pan. Ay, a token from Troilus.

Cre. By the fame token-you are a bawd.-
[Exit Pandarus.
Words, vows, gifts, tears, and love's full facrifice,
He offers in another's enterprize:

But more in Troilus thousand fold I fee
Than in the glass of Pandar`s praise may be;
Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing;
Things won are done, joy's foul lies in the doing:
That the belov'd knows nought, that knows not
this,-

Pan. Mark him; note him:-O brave Troi-20
lus!-look well upon him, niece; look you, how
his fword is bloody'd, and his helm more hack'd
than Hector's; And how he looks, and how he
goes! O admirable youth! he ne'er faw three
and twenty. Go thy way, Troilus, go thy way; 25 Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is:

had I a fifter were a grace, or a daughter a goddefs, he should take his choice. O admirable man! Paris?-Paris is dirt to him; and, I warrant, Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot.

Enter Soldiers, &c.

Cre. Here come more.

That the 2 was never yet, that ever knew Love got fo fweet, as when defire did fue: Therefore this maxim out of love I teach, Atchievement is, command; ungain'd, befeech: 30 Then though my heart's content 3 firm love doth bear,

Pan. Affes, fools, dolts! chaff and bran, chaff and bran! porridge after meat! I could live and die i' the eyes of Troilus. Ne'er look, ne'er 35] look; the eagles are gone; crows and daws, crows and daws! I had rather be fuch a man as Troilus, than Agamemnon and all Greece.

Cre. There is among the Greeks, Achilles; a better man than Troilus.

Pan. Achilles? a dray-man, a porter, a very camel.

Cre. Well, well.

40

Pan. Well, well?-Why, have you any difcretion? have you any eyes? Do you know what a 45 man is? Is not birth, beauty, good shape, difcourfe, manhood, learning, gentleness, virtue, youth, liberality, and fuch like, the fpice and falt that season a man?

Cre. Ay, a minc'd man: and then to be bak'd 50 with no date in the pye,-for then the man's date is out.

Pan. You are fuch a woman! one knows not at what ward you lie.

Cre. Upon my back, to defend my belly; upon 55 my wit, to defend my wiles; upon my secrecy, to defend mine honefty; my mask, to defend my beauty; and you, to defend all thefe: and at all thefe wards I lie, at a thousand watches.

Pan. Say one of your watches.

Cre. Nay, I'll watch you for that; and that's one of the chiefeft of them too: if I cannot ward

1 To account for the introduction of this ingredient in ancient pastry of almost every kind.

Agam. Princes,

What grief hath fet the jaundice on your cheeks?
The ample propofition, that hope makes

In all designs begun on earth below,
Fails in the promis'd largenefs; checks and difafters
Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd;
As knots, by the conflux of meeting fap,
Infect the found pine, and divert his grain
Tortive and errant from his courfe of growth.
Nor, princes, is it matter new to us,
That we come fhort of our suppose so far,
That, after feven years' fiege, yet Troy walls ftand;
Sith every action that hath gone before,
Whereof we have record, trial did draw
Bias and thwart, not answering the aim,
And that unbodied figure of the thought
That gave 't furmifed fhape.Why then, you princes,
Do you with cheeks abafh'd behold our works;
And think them fhames, which are, indeed,
nought elfe

60 But the protractive trials of great Jove,
To find perfiftive conftancy in men?
The fineness of which metal is not found

quibble, it should be remembered that dates were an 2 i, e. that woman. 3 Content for capacity.

In

In fortune's love: for then, the bold and coward,
The wife and fool, the artist and unread,
The hard and foft, feem all affin'd and kin:
But, in the wind and tempeft of her frown,
Diftinction, with a broad and powerful fan,
Puffing at all, winnows the light away;
And what hath mass, or matter, by itself
Lies, rich in virtue, and unmingled.

Neft. With due obfervance of thy godlike feat,
Great Agamemnon, Neftor fhall apply
Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance
Lies the true proof of men: The fea being smooth,
How many fhallow bauble boats dare fail
Upon her patient breaft, making their way
With thofe of nobler bulk?

But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage

Uly. Troy, yet upon her bafis, had been down,
And the great Hector's fword had lack'd a master,
But for thefe instances.

The fpecialty of rule 4 hath been neglected;
And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand
Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.
When that the general is not like the hive,
To whom the foragers shall all repair,
What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded,
10 The unworthieft fhews as fairly in the mask.
The heavens themfelves, the planets, and this
center 5,

Obferve degree, priority, and place,
Infifture, urfe, proportion, season, form,
15 Office, and cuftom, in all line of order:
And therefore is the glorious planet, Sol,
In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd
Amidst the other; whofe med'cinable eye
Corrects the ill afpects of planets evil,

Like Perfeus' horfe: Where's then the faucy boat, 20 And pofts, like the commandment of a king,

Whofe weak untimber'd fides but even now
Co-rival'd greatness? either to harbour fled,
Or made a toaft for Neptune. Even fo
Doth valour's fhew, and valour's worth, divide
In storms of fortune: For, in her ray and brightness,
The herd hath more annoyance by the brize',
Than by the tyger: but when splitting winds
Make flexible the knees of knotted oaks,

And flies flee under fhade, Why, then, the thing

of courage 2,

As rowz'd with rage, with rage doth sympathize,
And with an accent tun'd in self-fame key,
Returns to chiding fortune.

Uly Agamemnon,—

Sans check, to good and bad: But, when the

planets,

In evil mixture, to disorder wander,
What plagues, and what portents? what mutiny?
25 What raging of the fea? shaking of earth? [rors,
Commotion in the winds? frights, changes, hor-
Divert and crack, rend and deracinate
The unity and married calm of states

Quite from their fixture? O, when degree is shak'd, 30 Which is the ladder to all high defigns,

The enterprize is fick! How could communities,
Degrees in fchools, and brotherhoods in cities",
Peaceful commerce from dividable fhores,
The primogenitive and due of birth,

Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Greece, 35 Prerogative of age, crowns, fcepters, laurels,

Heart of our numbers, foul and only spirit,

In whom the tempers and the minds of all
Should be shut up,-hear what Ulyffes fpeaks.
Befides the applause and approbation

The which,-moft mighty for thy place and fway,-40
[To Agamemnon.
And thou most reverend for thy ftretcht-out life,-
[To Neftor

I give to both your fpeeches,-which were fuch,
As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece
Should hold up high in brass; and fuch again,
As venerable Neftor, hatch'd in filver 3,
Should with a bond of air (ftrong as the axle-tree
On which heaven rides) knit all the Greekish ears
To his experienc'd tongue,-yet let it please both,
Thou great, and wife,-to hear Ulyffes fpeak.
Agam. Speak, prince of Ithaca; and be 't of lefs
expect

That matter needlefs, of importless burden,
Divide thy lips; than we are confident,
When rank Therfites opes his mastiff jaws,
We fhall hear mufic, wit, and oracle.

45

50

But by degree, ftand in authentic place?
Take but degree away, untune that string,
And, hark, what difcord follows! each thing meets
In meer oppugnancy: The bounded waters
Should lift their bofoms higher than the fhores,
And make a fop of all this folid globe:
Strength should be lord of imbecility,
And the rude fon fhould ftrike his father dead:
Force fhould be right; or, rather right and wrong
(Between whofe endless jar juftice refides)
Should lofe their names, and so should justice too.
Then every thing includes itself in power,

Power into will, will into appetite;

And appetite, an universal wolf,

So doubly seconded with will and power,
Muft make perforce an universal prey,
And, laft, eat up himfelf. Great Agamemnon,
This chaos, when degree is fuffocate,
Follows the choaking.

55 And this neglection of degree it is,

That by a pace goes backward 7, with a purpose
It hath to climb: The general's disdain'd

i.e.

The brize is the gad or borse-fly. 2 It is said of the tiger, that in storms and high winds he rages and roars moft furiously. 3 Hatch'd in filver, may mean, whofe white hair and beard make him look like a figure engraved on filver. 4 i. e. the particular rights of supreme authority. the earth, which, according to the Ptolemaic system, then in vogue, is the center of the solar system. i. c. corporations, companies, confraternities. 7 That goes backward step by step.

By

By him one step below: he, by the next;
That next, by him beneath: so every step,
Exampled by the first pace that is fick
Of his fuperior, grows to an envious fever
Of pale and bloodless emulation':

And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,
Not her own finews. To end a tale of length,
Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength.
Neft. Moft wifely hath Ulyffes here discover'd
The fever whereof all our power is fick.

Agam. The nature of the fickness found, Ulyffes,
What is the remedy?

Uy. The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns
The finew and the forehand of our hoft,-
Having his ear full of his airy fame,

Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent

Lies mocking our designs: With him, Patroclus,
Upon a lazy bed, the livelong day
Breaks fcurril jefts;

And with ridiculous and aukward action
(Which, flanderer, he imitation calls)

In fuch a rein 5, in full as proud a place
As broad Achilles; keeps his tent like him;
Makes factious feafts; rails on our flate of war,
Bold as an oracle: and fets Therfites

5(A flave, whofe gall coins flanders like a mint)
To match us in comparisons with dirt;
To weaken and difcredit our exposure,
How rank foever rounded in with danger.
Uly. They tax our policy, and call it cowardice;
10 Count wifdom as no member of the war;
Foreftall pre-fcience, and efteem no act
But that of hand: the ftill and mental parts,
That do contrive how many hands fhall ftrike,
When fitnefs calls them on; and know, by mea
fure

15

Of their obfervant toil, the enemies' weight,-
Why, this hath not a finger's dignity;

They call this-bed-work, mappery, closet war:
So that the ram, that batters down the wall,
20 For the great swing and rudeness of his poize,
They place before his hand that made the engine;
Or thofe, that with the fineness of their fouls
By reafon guide his execution.

Neft. Let this be granted, and Achilles' horse
25 Makes many Thetis' fons. [Trumpet founds.
Agam. What trumpet? look, Menelaus.
Men. From Troy.

He pageants us. Sometime, great Agamemnon,
Thy topless deputation he puts on;
And, like a ftrutting player,-whofe conceit
Lies in his ham-string, and doth think it rich
To hear the wooden dialogue and found
'Twixt his ftretch'd footing and the scaffoldage,-
Such to-be-pitied and o'er-refted 3 seeming
He acts thy greatnefs in: and when he speaks,
'Tis like a chime a mending; with terms uníquar'd, 30|
Which, from the tongue of roaring Typlion drop'd,
Would feem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff,
The large Achilles, on his prefs'd bed lolling,
From his deep cheft laughs out a loud applaufe;
Cries Excellent!-'tis Agamemnon juft.—
Now play me Neftor;-hem, and ftroke thy
beard,

As he, being 'dreft to fome oration.'
That's done;-as near as the extremeft ends
Of parallels; as like as Vulcan and his wife:
Yet good Achilles ftill cries, Excellent!
'Tis Neftor right! Now play him me, Patroclus,
'Arming to answer in a night alarm.'
And then, forfooth, the faint defects of age
Must be the scene of mirth; to cough, and fpit,
And with a palfy-fumbling on his gorget,
Shake in and out the rivet :—and at this sport,
Sir Valour dies; cries, O!-enough, Patroclus;
Or give me ribs of fteel! I fhall split all
In pleasure of my spleen.' And in this fashion,
All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,
Severals and generals of grace exacta,
Atchievements, plots, orders, preventions,
Excitements to the field, or fpeech for truce,
Succefs, or lofs, what is, or is not, ferves
As ftuff for these two to make paradoxes.

Neft. And in the imitation of these twain
(Whom, as Ulyffes fays, opinion crowns
With an imperial voice) many are infect.
Ajax is grown felf-will'd; and bears his head

35

40

Enter Eneas.

Aga. What would you 'fore our tent? [you?
Ene. Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I pray
Aga. Even this.

Ene. May one, that is a herald, and a prince,
Do a fair meffage to his kingly ears?

Aga. With furety stronger than Achilles' arm
Fore all the Greekifh heads, which with one voice
Call Agamemnon head and general.

Ene. Fair leave, and large fecurity. How may
A ftranger to those most imperial looks
Know them from eyes of other mortals?

Aga. How?

Ene. I afk, that I might waken reverence,
And bid the check be ready with a blush
Modeft as morning when the coldly eyes
The youthful Phœbus:

45 Which is that god in office, guiding men?
Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon?
Aga. This Trojan fcorns us; or the men of Troy
Are ceremonious courtiers.

ne. Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd, 50 As bending angels; that's their fame in peace: But when they would feem foldiers, they have [accord,

galls, Good arms, ftrong joints, true fwords; and, Jove's Nothing fo full of heart. But peace, Æneas, 55 Peace, Trojan; lay thy finger on thy lips! The worthiness of praife diftains his worth, If that the prais'd himself bring the praise forth: But what the repining enemy commends, That breath fame blows; that praife, fole pure, tranfcends.

1601

1 An emulation not vigorous and active, but maliguant and sluggish.

2 Topless means fupreme,

fovereign. 3 read o'er-wrefted, i.e. over-charged. 4 All our good of grace exact, means our excellence irrepreberfible. 5 That is, holds up his head as haughtily. We still fay of a girl, she bridles.

• A rank weed is a high weed,

Aga.

▾ Confeffion for profession. 2 An armour for the arm, avantbras. of which is afcertained by the use of small characters, i. e. numerals.

doubt, when this duel comes to be proclaimed, but that Achilles, dull as he is, will discover the drift

5 Small points compared with the volumes,