Cre. At what was all this laughing?

Pan. Marry, at the white hair that Helen fpied on Troilus' chin.

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

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

Cre. What was his anfwer?

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

Cre. This is her question.

Pan. That's true; make no queftion of that. One and fifty hairs, quoth he, and one white: That white hair is my father, and all the reft are his fons. Jupiter! quoth fhe, which of thefe hairs is Paris, my bufband? The forked one, quoth he; pluck it out, and give it him. But there was fuch laughing! and Helen fo blufh'd, and Paris so chaf'd, and all the rest fo laugh'd, that it pafs'd.

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 stand up here, and see them, as they pafs toward Ilium? good niece, do; fweet niece Creffida. Cre. At your pleasure.

Pan. Here, here, here's an excellent place; here we may see most bravely: I'll tell you them all by

Two and fifty hairs,-] I have and fifty, I think with fome certainty. be mike out Priam and his fifty fons?

ventured to substitute one How else can the numTHEOBALD.

their names, as they pafs by; but mark Troilus above the rest.

Eneas paffes over the stage.

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 fhall fee 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 foundeft judgment in Troy, whofoever; 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.

Cre. Will he give you the nod?

Pan. You fhall fee.

Cre. If he do,

the rich fhall have more.

s That's Antenor; he has a fhrewd wit, -]

"Anthenor was

Hellor

"Copious in words, and one that much time spent
To jeft, when he was in companie,

"So driely, that no man could it efpie;
"And therewith held his countenaunce fo well,
"That every man received great content
"To heare him fpeake, and pretty jefts to tell,
"When he was pleafant, and in merriment:
"For tho' that he most commonly was fad,
"Yet in his fpeech fome jeft he always had."

Lidgate, p. 105.
STEEVENS.

-the rich fhall have more. .] To give one the nod, was a phrafe fignifying to give one a mark of folly. The reply turns upon this fenfe, alluding to the expreflion give, and fhould be read thus:

-the mich fhall have more.

C 4

i. e. much. He that has much folly already fhall then have more.

This

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, how he looks!-there's a countenance: Is't not a brave man?

Cre. O, a brave man!

Pan. Is 'a not? It does a man's heart good-Look you, what hacks are on his helmet? look you yonder, do you fee? look you there! There's no jefting: laying on; take't off who will, as they say: 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, nicce; Is't not a gallant man too, is't not?-Why, this is brave now. Who faid, he came home hurt to-day? he's not hurt: why, this will do Helen's heart good now. Ha!

This was a proverbial fpeech, implying that benefits fall upon The Oxford editor alters it to:

the rich.

the rest fhall have none. WARBURTON.

I wonder why the commentator fhould think any emendation neceffary, fince his own fenfe is fully expreffed by the prefent reading. Hanmer appears not to have understood the paffage. That to give the nod fignifies to fet a mark of folly, I do not know; the allufion is to the word noddy, 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. Crefid means, that a noddy fhall have more nods. Of fuch remarks as thefe is a comment to confift? JOHNSON.

10 give the nod, was, I believe, a term in the game at cards called Noddy. This game is perpetually alluded to in the old comedies. See Vol. 1. p. 143. STEEVENS.

'would

'would I could fee Troilus now!-you fhall fee Troilus anon.

Cre. Who's that?

Helenus paffes 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?

Pan. Helenus? no;-yes, he'll fight indifferent well:-I 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 fhame, peace!

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

·his helm more back'd than He&tor's ;-] So in Chaucer's Troilus and Creffeide, b. iii. 640:

8

"His helme to herwin was in twenty places, &c." STEEVENS.

an eye to boot.] So the quarto. The folio, with lefs force, Give money to boot. JOHNSON.

Enter

Enter foldiers, &c.

Cre. Here come more.

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 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.

Pan. Well, well?-Why, have you any difcretion? have you any eyes? Do you know what a man is? Is not birth, beauty, good fhape, difcourfe, manhood, learning, gentlenefs, 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 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 like.

Cre. Upon my back, to defend my belly; upon my wit, to defend my wiles; upon my fecrecy, to

no date in the pye,-] To account for the introduction of this quibble, it should be remembered that dates were an in gredient in ancient pastry of almost every kind. So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"They call for dates and quinces in the paftry." Again, in All's well that ends well, A&t I.

-your date is better in your pye and porridge than in your cheek." STEEVENS.

1

upon my wit, to defend my wiles ;-] So read both the copies yet perhaps the author wrote:

Upon my wit to defend my will.

The terms wit and will were, in the language of that time, put often in oppofition. JOHNSON

defend