Pan. I have bufinefs to my lord, dear queen. My lord, will you vouchfafe me a word? Helen. Nay, this fhall not hedge us out; we'll hear you fing, certainly. Pan. Well, fweet queen, you are pleafant with me; but (marry) thus, my lord.My dear lord, and most esteemed friend, your brother Troilus Helen. My lord Pandarus; honey-sweet lord- Commends himself most affectionately to you. Pan. Sweet queen, fweet queen; that's a fweet queen, I'faith Helen. And to make a fweet lady fad, is a four offence. Pan. Nay; that fhall not ferve your turn; that fhall it not in truth, la. Nay, I care not for fuch words; no, no. 3 And, my lord, he defires you, that if the king call for him at fupper, you will make his excufe. Helen. My lord Pandarus Pan. What fays my fweet queen; my very, very fweet queen. Par. What exploit's in hand? Where fups he tonight? Helen. Nay, but my lord Pan. What fays my fweet queen? My cousin will fall out with you. Helen. You muft not know where he fups. Par. I'll lay my life, 4 with my difpofer Creffida. Pen. And, my lord, he defires you,] Here I think the speech. of Pandarus fhould begin, and the rest of it fhould be added to that of Helen, but I have followed the copies. JoHNSON. with my DISPOSER Crefida.] I think difpofer fhould, in thefe places, be read DISPOUSER; he that would feparate Helen from him. WARBURTON. VOL. IX. E I do Pan. No, no, no fuch matter; you are wide: come, your difpofer is fick. Par. Well, I'll make excufe. Pan. Ay, good my lord. Why fhould you fay, Creffida? No, your poor difpofer's fick. Par. I fpy Pan. You fpy! what do you fpy? Come, give me an inftrument.-Now, fweet queen. Helen. Why, this is kindly done. Pan. My niece is horribly in love with a thing you have, fweet queen. Helen. She fhall have it, my lord, if it be not my lord Paris. Pan. He? no, fhe'll none of him; they two are twain. Helen. Falling in after falling out, may make them three. Pan. Come, come, I'll hear no more of this. I'll fing you a fong now. Helen. Ay, ay, pr'ythee now. By my troth 5 fweet lord, thou haft a fine fore-head. Pen. Ay, you may, you may. Helen. Let thy fong be love: this love will undo us all. Oh, Cupid, Cupid, Cupid! I do not understand the word difpofer, nor know what to fubftitute in its place. There is no variation in the copies. JOHNS. I fufpect that, You must not know where he fups, should be added to the fpeech of Pandarus; and that the following one of Paris fhould be given to Helen. That Creffida wanted to feparate Paris from Helen, or that the beauty of Creffida had any power over Paris, are circumftances not evident from the play. The one is the opinion of Dr. Warburton, the other a conjecture offered by the author of The Revifal. By giving, however, this line, I'll lay my life, with my difpofer Greifida, to Helen, and by changing the word difpofer into depofer, fome meaning may be obtained. She addreffes herfelf, I fuppofe, to Pandarus, and, by her depofer, means he who thinks her beauty (or, whofe beauty you fuppofe) to be fuperior to mine. STEEVENS. 5fweet lord,-] In the quarto fweet lad. JOHNS. Pan. Pan. Love!-ay, that it fhall, i̇'faith. Par. Ay, good now, love, love, nothing but love. Pan. In good troth, it begins fo: Love, love, nothing but love, ftill more! For ob, love's bow Shoots buck and doe: Thefe lovers cry, ob! oh! they die! 6 Yet that which feems the wound to kill, Oh! oh! a while, but ha! ba! ba! Hey bo! Helen. In love, i'faith, to the very tip of the nose. Par. He eats nothing but doves, love; and that breeds hot blood, and hot blood begets hot thoughts, and hot thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds are love. Pan. Is this the generation of love? hot blood, hot thoughts, and hot deeds?-Why, they are vipers: is love a generation of vipers?Sweet lord, who's afield to-day? Yet that, which feems the wound to kill,] To kill the wound is no very intelligible expreffion, nor is the measure preserved. We might read, Thefe lovers cry, Oh! oh! they die! But that which feems to kill, Doth turn, &c. So dying love lives fill. Yet as the wound to kill may mean the wound that Seems mortal, I alter nothing. JOHNSON. Par. Hector, Deiphobus, Helenus, Antenor, and all the gallantry of Troy. I would fain have arm'd to-day, but my Nell would not have it fo. How chance my brother Troilus went not? Helen. He hangs the lip at fomething. You know all, lord Pandarus. Pan. Not I, honey-fweet queen.I long to hear how they fped to-day. You'll remember excufe? Par. To a hair. Pan. Farewell, fweet queen. Helen. Commend me to your niece. your brother's [Exit. Sound a retreat. Par. They are come from field: let us to Priam's hall, To greet the warriors. Sweet Helen, I must woo you Yea, what he fhall receive of us in duty Gives us more palm in beauty than we have; Yea, over-fhines ourselves. Par. Sweet. Above thought I love thee. [Exeunt. Enter Pandarus and Troilus's Man. Pan. How now? where's thy mafter? at my coufin Creffida's? Serv. No, Sir; he stays for you to conduct him thither. Enter Enter Troilus. Pan. O, here he comes. How now, how now? Pan. Have you feen my coufin? Troi. No, Pandarus: I stalk about her door, Propos'd for the deferver! O gentle Pandarus, Pan. Walk here i' the orchard; I will bring her Troi. I am giddy; expectation whirls me round. That it enchants my fenfe; what will it be, 1 I fear it much; and I do fear befides, Re-enter Pandarus. Pan. She's making her ready, fhe'll come ftraight: you must be witty now. She does fo blush, and fetches her wind fo fhort, as if fhe were fraid with a and too fharp in fweetness,] So the folio and all modern editions; but the quarto more accurately, tun'd too fharp in fweetnefs. JOHNSON. |