Page images
PDF
EPUB

4

At the port, lord, I'll give her to thy hand;
And, by the way, poffefs thee what the is.
Entreat her fair; and, by my foul, fair Greek,
If e'er thou ftand at mercy of my fword,
Name Creffid, and thy life fhall be as fafe
As Priam is in Ilion.

Dio. Fair lady Creffid,

So please you, fave the thanks this prince expects;
The luftre in your eye, heaven in your check,
Pleads your fair ufage; and to Diomed

You shall be miftrefs, and command him wholly.
Troi. Grecian, thou doft not use me courteously,
To fhame the zeal of my petition to thee,
In praising her: I tell thee, lord of Greece,
She is as far high-foaring o'er thy praises,
As thou unworthy to be call'd her fervant.
I charge thee, ufe her well, even for my charge;
For, by the dreadful Pluto, if thou dost not,
Though the great bulk Achilles be thy guard,
I'll cut thy throat.

Dio. O, be not mov'd, prince Troilus:

Let me be privileg'd by my place, and meffage,
To be a speaker free; when I am hence,
I'll answer to my luft; And know you, lord,

6

3 At the port, -] The port is the

4

I'll

STEEVENS. gate. -poffefs thee what he is.] I will make thee fully underfland. This fenfe of the word poffefs is frequent in our author.

To fhame the feal of my petition towards thee,

JOHNSON.

By praifing ber.] To shame the feal of a petition is nonfenfe. Shakspeare wrote:

To fhame the zeal

and the fenfe is this: Grecian, you use me difcourteously; you fee I am a paffionate lover by my petition to you; and therefore you should not fhame the zeal of it, by promising to do what I require of you, for the fake of her beauty: when, if you had good manners, or a fense of a lover's delicacy, you would have promised to do it in compaffion to his pangs and fufferings. WARBURTON. —my lift :-} This 1 think is right, though both the old copies read luft. JOHNSON.

What

I'll nothing do on charge: to her own worth
She fhall be priz'd; but that you fay-be't fo,
I speak it in my spirit and honour,-no.

Troil. Come, to the port.-I'll tell thee, Diomed,
This brave fhall oft make thee to hide thy head.-
Lady, give me your hand; and, as we walk,
To our own felves bend we our needful talk.
[Exeunt Troilus and Creffida. Sound trumpet.

Par. Hark! Hector's trumpet.

Ene. How have we spent this morning! The prince must think me tardy and remifs,

That fwore to ride before him to the field.

Par. 'Tis Troilus' fault: Come, come, to field with him.

7 Dio. Let us make ready ftraight.

Ene, Yea, with a bridegroom's fresh alacrity,
Let us addrefs to tend on Hector's heels:

The glory of our Troy doth this day lie
On his fair worth, and fingle chivalry.

[Exeunt.

What is the difference, in our old writers, between luft and lift?

STEEVENS.

7 Dio.] Thefe five lines are not in the quarto, being probably added at the revifion. JOHNSON.

But why should Diomed fay, Let us make ready ftraight? Was he to tend with them on Hector's heels? Certainly not. Dio. has therefore crept in by mistake; the line either is part of Paris's fpeech, or belongs to Deiphobus, who is in company. As to Diomed, he neither goes along with them, nor has any thing to get ready: he is now walking with Troilus and Creffida, towards the gate, on his way to the Grecian camp.

REMARKS.

SCENE

SCENE V.

The Grecian Camp.

Enter Ajax arm'd, Agamemnon, Achilles, Patroclus, Menelaus, Ulyffes, Neftor, &c.

Aga. Here art thou in appointment fresh and fair,
Anticipating time with tarting courage.
Give with thy trumpet a loud note to Troy,
Thou dreadful Ajax; that the appalled air
May pierce the head of the great combatant,
And hale him hither.

Ajax. Thou, trumpet, there's my purse.
Now crack thy lungs, and fplit thy brazen pipe;
Blow, villain, 'till thy fphered bias cheek
Qut-fwell the cholic of puff'd Aquilon:

Come, ftretch thy cheft, and let thy eyes fpout blood;
Thou blow'st for Hector.

Uly. No trumpet answers,
Achil. "Tis but early days.

Aga. Is not yon Diomed, with Calchas' daughter?
Uly. 'Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait;

He rifes on his toe; that fpirit of his

In afpiration lifts him from the earth.

Enter Diomed, with Creffida.

Aga. Is this the lady Creffida?

Dio. Even she.

Aga. Moft dearly welcome to the Greeks, fweet lady.

-bias cheek] Swelling out like the bias of a bowl.

JOHNSON.

So, in Vittoria Corombona, or the White Devil, 1612:

66

-'Faith his cheek

"Has a moft excellent bias".

STEEVENS.

Neft.

Neft. Our general doth falute you with a kifs.
Uly. Yet is the kindness but particular;
"Twere better, fhe were kiffed in general.
Neft. And very courtly counfel: I'll begin.-
So much for Neftor.

Achil. I'll take that winter from your lips, fair lady: Achilles bids you welcome.

Men. I had good argument for kiffing once. Patr. But that's no argument for kifling now: For thus popp'd Paris in his hardiment; And parted thus you and your argument.

Ulyff. O deadly gall, and theme of all our fcorns! For which we lose our heads, to gild his horns. Patr. The firft was Menelaus' kifs ;-this mine: Patroclus kiffes you.

Men. O, this is trim!

Patr. Paris, and I, kifs evermore for him.
Men. I'll have my kifs, fir:-Lady, by your
leave.

Cre. In kiffing, do you render, or receive?
Patr. Both take and give.

Cre. 'I'll make my match to live,

The kiss you take is better than you give;
Therefore no kiss.

Men. I'll give you boot, I'll give you three for one.
Cre. You're an odd man; give even, or give none.
Men. An odd man, lady? every man is odd.
Cre. No, Paris is not; for, you know, 'tis true,
That you are odd, and he is even with you.
Men. You fillip me o' the head.

Cre. No, I'll be sworn.

Both take and give.] This speech should rather be given to Menelaus. TYRWHITT.

1 I'll make my match to live.] I will make fuch bargains as I may live by, fuch as may bring me profit, therefore will not take a worse kifs than I give. JOHNSON.

I believe this only means-I'll lay my life. TYRWHITT.

Uly

Ulyff. It were no match, your nail against his horn.May I, fweet lady, beg a kifs of you?

Cre. You may.

Ulyff. I do defire it.

2

Cre. Why, beg then.

· Ulyff. Why then, for Venus' fake, give me a kiss, When Helen is a maid again, and his.

you.

Cre. I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due.
Ulyff, Never's my day, and then a kifs of
Dio. Lady, a word; -I'll bring you to your father.
[Diomed leads out Creffida.

Neft. A woman of quick fenfe.

Ulyff. Fie, fie upon her!

There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip,
Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton fpirits look out
At every joint and motive of her body.
O, these encounterers, fo glib of tongue,
That gives a coafting welcome ere it comes,
And wide unclafp the tables of their thoughts
To every ticklish reader! fet them down.
For fluttish fpoils of opportunity,

2

Why, beg then.] For the fake of rhime we should read:
Why beg two.

If you think kiffes worth begging, beg more than one. JOHNSON. 3 Never's my day, and then a kifs of you.] I once gave both these lines to Creffida. She bids Ulyffes beg a kifs; he asks that he may have it:

When Helen is a maid again

She tells him that 'then he shall have it:

When Helen is a maid again

Cre. I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due ;
Never's my day, and then a kifs for you.

But I rather think that Ulyffes means to flight her, and that the prefent reading is right. JOHNSON.

motive of her body.] Motive, for part that contributes to motion. JOHNSON.

[ocr errors]

6

-a coafting]. An amorous addrefs; courtship.

JOHNSON.

fluttish Spoils of opportunity,] Corrupt wenches, of whofe chastity every opportunity may make a prey. JOHNSON.

And

« PreviousContinue »