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There is a mystery (with whom relation
Durst never meddle3) in the soul of state;
Which hath an operation more divine,

Than breath, or pen, can give expressure to
All the commérce that you have had with Troy,
As perfectly is ours, as yours, my lord;
And better would it fit Achilles much,
To throw down Hector, than Polyxena:

But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home,
When fame shall in our islands sound her trump;
And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing,-
Great Hector's sister did Achilles win;
But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.
Farewell, my lord: I as your lover speak;
The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break.

[Exit.

you:

PATR. To this effect, Achilles, have I mov❜d A woman impudent and mannish grown Is not more loath'd than an effeminate man In time of action. I stand condemn'd for this; They think, my little stomach to the war, And your great love to me, restrains you thus: Sweet, rouse yourself; and the weak wanton Cupid Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold, And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane, Be shook to air.5

3

ACHIL.

Shall Ajax fight with Hector?

(with whom relation

Durst never meddle)-] There is a secret administration of affairs, which no history was ever able to discover. JOHNSON.

All the commérce-] Thus also is the word accented by Chapman, in his version of the fourth Book of Homer's Odyssey: "To labour's taste, nor the commérce of men."

STEEVENS.

5to air.] So the quarto. The folio-ayrie air.

JOHNSON.

Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold;"
Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps;
Keeps place with thought, and almost, like the
gods,

Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.2

9 Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold;] For this elegant line the quarto has only:

Knows almost every thing. JOHNSON.

The old copy has-Pluto's gold; but, I think, we should read-of Plutus' gold. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, Act IV:

""Tis not the wealth of Plutus, nor the gold
"Lock'd in the heart of earth.

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STEEVENS.

The correction of this obvious error of the press, needs no justification, though it was not admitted by Mr. Steevens in his own edition. The same error is found in Julius Cæsar, Act IV. sc. iii. where it has been properly corrected:

[blocks in formation]

"Dearer than Pluto's mine, richer than gold."

So, in this play, Act IV. sc. i. we find in the quarto-to Calcho's house, instead of-to Calchas' house. MALONE.

1 Keeps place with thought,] i. e. there is in the providence of a state, as in the providence of the universe, a kind of ubiquity. The expression is exquisitely fine; yet the Oxford editor alters it to-Keeps pace, and so destroys all its beauty.

WARBURTON.

Is there not here some allusion to that sublime description of the Divine Omnipresence in the 139th Psalm? HENLEY.

2

? Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.] It is clear, from the defect of the metre, that some word of two syllables was omitted by the carelessness of the transcriber or compositor. Shakspeare perhaps wrote:

Or,

Does thoughts themselves unveil in their dumb cradles.

Does infant thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.

So, in King Richard III:

"And turn his infant morn to aged night."

In Timon of Athens, we have the same allusion: "Joy had the like conception in my brain,

“And at that instant, like a babe sprung up." MALONE. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads:

Does even our thoughts &c. STEEVENS.

There is a mystery (with whom relation
Durst never meddle3) in the soul of state;
Which hath an operation more divine,
Than breath, or pen, can give expressure to
All the commérce that you have had with Troy,
As perfectly is ours, as yours, my lord;
And better would it fit Achilles much,
To throw down Hector, than Polyxena:
But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home,
When fame shall in our islands sound her trump;
And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing,-
Great Hector's sister did Achilles win;
But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.
Farewell, my lord: I as your lover speak;
The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break.
[Exit.
PATR. To this effect, Achilles, have I mov❜d you:
A woman impudent and mannish grown
Is not more loath'd than an effeminate man
In time of action. I stand condemn'd for this;
They think, my little stomach to the war,
And your great love to me, restrains you thus:
Sweet, rouse yourself; and the weak wanton Cupid
Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold,
And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane,
Be shook to air.5

3

ACHIL.

Shall Ajax fight with Hector?

(with whom relation

Durst never meddle)-] There is a secret administration of affairs, which no history was ever able to discover. JOHNSON.

All the commérce-] Thus also is the word accented by Chapman, in his version of the fourth Book of Homer's Odyssey: "To labour's taste, nor the commérce of men."

STEEVENS.

5

to air.] So the quarto. The folio-ayrie air.

JOHNSON.

Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold;"
Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps;
Keeps place with thought, and almost, like the
gods,

Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.2

9 Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold;] For this elegant line the quarto has only:

Knows almost every thing. JOHNSON.

The old copy has-Pluto's gold; but, I think, we should read-of Plutus' gold. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, Act IV:

""Tis not the wealth of Plutus, nor the gold

"Lock'd in the heart of earth. -." STEEVENS.

The correction of this obvious error of the press, needs no justification, though it was not admitted by Mr. Steevens in his own edition. The same error is found in Julius Caesar, Act IV. sc. iii. where it has been properly corrected:

[ocr errors]

-within, a heart,

"Dearer than Pluto's mine, richer than gold."

So, in this play, Act IV. sc. i. we find in the quarto-to Calcho's house, instead of-to Calchas' house. MALONE.

1 Keeps place with thought,] i. e. there is in the providence of a state, as in the providence of the universe, a kind of ubiquity. The expression is exquisitely fine; yet the Oxford editor alters it to-Keeps pace, and so destroys all its beauty.

WARBURTON.

Is there not here some allusion to that sublime description af the Divine Omnipresence in the 139th Psalm? HENLEY.

2 Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.] It is clear, from the defect of the metre, that some word of two syllables was omitted by the carelessness of the transcriber or compositor. Shakspeare perhaps wrote:

Or,

Does thoughts themselves unveil in their dumb cradles.

Does infant thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.

So, in King Richard III:

"And turn his infant morn to aged night."

In Timon of Athens, we have the same allusion:

"Joy had the like conception in my brain,

"And at that instant, like a babe sprung up." MALONE. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads:

Does even our thoughts &c. STEEVENS.

There is a mystery (with whom relation
Durst never meddle3) in the soul of state;
Which hath an operation more divine,
Than breath, or pen, can give expressure to:
All the commérce that you have had with Troy,
As perfectly is ours, as yours, my lord;
And better would it fit Achilles much,
To throw down Hector, than Polyxena:
But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home,
When fame shall in our islands sound her trump;
And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing,-
Great Hector's sister did Achilles win;
But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.
Farewell, my lord: I as your lover speak;
The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break.
[Exit.
PATR. To this effect, Achilles, have I mov'd you:
A woman impudent and mannish grown
Is not more loath'd than an effeminate man
In time of action. I stand condemn'd for this;
They think, my little stomach to the war,
And your great love to me, restrains you thus:
Sweet, rouse yourself; and the weak wanton Cupid
Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold,
And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane,
Be shook to air.5

3

ACHIL.

Shall Ajax fight with Hector?

(with whom relation

Durst never meddle)-] There is a secret administration of affairs, which no history was ever able to discover. JOHNSON.

All the commérce-] Thus also is the word accented by Chapman, in his version of the fourth Book of Homer's Odyssey: "To labour's taste, nor the commérce of men."

STEEVENS.

5to air.] So the quarto. The folio-ayrie air.

JOHNSON.

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