Chaucer, and is indebted for many accessory helps to the books mentioned by the commentators.

"We are not, however, left to probability and conjecture as to the use made by Shakespear of the poem of Chaucer. His other sources were Chapman's translation of Homer, the 'Troy Book' of Lydgate, and Caxton's History of the Destruction of Troy.' It is well known that there is no trace of the particular story of Troilus and Cresseide' among the ancients. It occurs, indeed, in Lydgate and Caxton; but the name and actions of Pandarus, a very essential personage in the tale as related by Shakespear and Chaucer, are entirely wanting, except a single mention of him by Lydgate, and that with an express reference to Chaucer as his authority. Shakespear has taken the story of Chaucer with all its imperfections and defects, and has copied the series of its incidents with his customary fidelity;-an exactness seldom to be found in any other dramatic writer."

PROLOGUE.

From isles of Greece

IN Troy, there lies the scene.
The princes orgulous," their high blood chaf'd,
Have to the port of Athens sent their ships,
Fraught with the ministers and instruments
Of cruel war: sixty and nine, that wore
Their crownets regal, from the Athenian bay
Put forth toward Phrygia; and their vow is made
To ransack Troy; within whose strong immures
The ravish'd Helen, Menelaus' queen,

With wanton Paris sleeps; and that's the quarrel.
To Tenedos they come;

And the deep-drawing barks* do there disgorge
Their warlike fraughtage. Now on Dardan plains
The fresh and yet unbruised Greeks do pitch
Their brave pavilions: Priam's six-gated city,
Dardan, and Tymbria, Helias, Chetas, Troien,
And Antenorides, with massy staples,
And corresponsive and fulfilling bolts,
Sperre up the sons of Troy.

Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits,
On one and other side, Trojan and Greek,
Sets all on hazard.-And hither am I come
A prologue arm'd," but not in confidence
Of author's pen or actor's voice; but suited

(*) First folio, Barke.

The princes orgulous,-] "Orgulous," from the French Orgueilleux, means proud, haughty.

b

Dardan, and Tymbria, Helias, Chetas, Troien,
And Antenorides,-]

So these names are exhibited in the folio 1623, (with the exception of the last, which is there "Antenonidus,") a circumstance that leads us to conjecture Shakespeare had consulted Lydgate's poem called, "The hystorye, Sege and dystruccyon of Troye,"—

Was by the Kynge called Dardanydes;
And in storye lyke as it is founde,
Tymbria was named the seconde;
And the thirde called Helyas;

The fourthe gate highte also Cetheas;

The fyfte Troiana, the syxth Anthonydes," &c.—

as well as Caxton's "Recuyell of the historyes of Troye," &c., where, in the chapter headed, "How the Kynge Priam reediffied the cyte of troye," it is said, "In this Cyte were sixe pryncipall gates, of whome that one was named dardane, the seconde tymbria. the third helyas. the fourthe chetas. the fifthe troyenne. and the sixthe antenorides." e Sperr up the sons of Troy.] The folio, where alone of the old editions this Prologue is given, reads, "Stirre up." Theobald first proposed "Sperr," an old word signifying to shut up, which is occasionally used by Chaucer, Spenser, and other of our early writers.

d

- arm'd,-] From this it appears that the speaker of the Prologue, instead of wearing the customary black cloak, was dressed in armour,-"In like conditions as our argument."

In like conditions as our argument,

To tell you, fair beholders, that our play

Leaps o'er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils,
Beginning in the middle; starting thence away
To what may be digested in a play.

Like, or find fault; do as your pleasures are;
Now good, or bad, 't is but the chance of war.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Troy. Before Priam's Palace.
Enter TROILUS armed, and PANDARUS.

TRO. Call here my varlet; I'll unarm again:
Why should I war without the walls of Troy,
That find such cruel battle here within?
Each Trojan that is master of his heart,
Let him to field; Troilus, alas! hath none.
PAN. Will this gear ne'er be mended?

TRO. The Greeks are strong, and skilful to their strength,
Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant;

But I am weaker than a woman's tear,

Tamer than sleep, fonder than ignorance;

Less valiant than the virgin in the night,

And skill-less as unpractis'd infancy.

PAN. Well, I have told you enough of this: for my part, I'll not meddle nor make no further.

He that will have a cake out of the

wheat must needs tarry the grinding.

TRO. Have I not tarried?

PAN. Ay, the grinding; but you must tarry the bolting.
TRO. Have I not tarried.

PAN. Ay, the bolting; but you must tarry the leavening.
'TRO. Still have I tarried.

PAN. Ay, to the leavening; but here's yet in the word hereafter, the kneading, the making of the cake, the heating of the oven, and the baking; nay, you must stay the cooling too, or you may chance to burn your lips.

TRO. Patience herself, what goddess e'er she be,

Doth lesser blench at sufferance than I do.

At Priam's royal table do I sit;

And when fair Cressid comes into my thoughts,

So, traitor!-when she comes!-when is she thence ?d

-

the vaunt-] That is, the van, the fore-going, the beginning. b-varlet;] A "varlet" anciently signified a footman or servant.

blench-1 To blench meant to finch, or start off. The word is found again in "The Winter's Tale," Act II. Sc. 2; in "Hamlet," "Act II. Sc. 2; and in "Measure for Measure," Act IV. Sc. 5.

when she comes!-when is she thence?] So Rowe; the old editions having,— then she comes when she is thence."

PAN. Well, she looked yesternight fairer than ever I saw her look, or any woman else.

TRO. I was about to tell thee,-when my heart,
As wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain;
Lest Hector or my father should perceive me,
I have (as when the sun doth light a storm*)
Buried this sigh in wrinkle of a smile:

But sorrow, that is couch'd in seeming gladness,
Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness.

PAN. An her hair were not somewhat darker than Helen's,-well, go to,-there were no more comparison between the women,—but, for my part, she is my kinswoman; I would not, as they term it, praise her,t-but I would somebody had heard her talk yesterday, as I did. I will not dispraise your sister Cassandra's wit; but― TRO. O Pandarus! I tell thee, Pandarus,

When I do tell thee, there my hopes lie drown'd,
Reply not in how many fathoms deep

They lie indrench'd. I tell thee, I am mad
In Cressid's love: thou answer'st, she is fair;
Pour'st in the open ulcer of my heart

Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice:
Handlest in thy discourse,-0, that her hand,a
In whose comparison all whites are ink,

Writing their own reproach; to whose soft seizure
The cygnet's down is harsh, and spirit of sense

Hard as the palm of ploughman!-this thou tell'st me,
As true thou tell'st me, when I say I love her;

But, saying thus, instead of oil and balm,

Thou lay'st in every gash that love hath given me

The knife that made it.

PAN. I speak no more than truth.

TRO. Thou dost not speak so much.

PAN. Faith, I'll not meddle in 't. Let her be as she is: if she be fair, 't is the better for her; an she be not, she has the mends in her own hands.b

TRO. Good Pandarus,-how now, Pandarus?

PAN. I have had my labour for my travail; ill-thought on of her,

(†) First folio, it.

(*) Old text, a-scorne, corrected by Rowe. Handlest in thy discourse,-0, that her hand, &c.] This line, we surmise, has suffered from a compositor's transposition: the genuine reading, apparently, being,"Handlest in thy discourse her hand,-0, that, In whose comparison," &c.

Unless, indeed, the words, "her hand," were intended to be repeated,

"Handlest in thy discourse her hand―0, that her hand," &c.

In any case, it is evident from what follows,-"this thou tell'st me," &c.-that Troilus is repeating, or pretending to repeat, what Pandarus had said in praise of Cressida's hand; and the lines should be marked as a quotation.

bshe has the mends in her own hands.] This was a proverbial expression; the meaning,-She must make the best of it. So Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," "-and if men will be jealous in such cases, the mends is in their own hands-they

must thank themselves."

and ill-thought on of you: gone between and between, but small thanks for my labour.

TRO. What, art thou angry, Pandarus? what, with me?

PAN. Because she's kin to me, therefore she's not so fair as Helen: an she were not kin to me, she would be as fair on Friday as Helen is on Sunday. But what care I? I care not an she were a blackamoor ; 't is all one to me.

TRO. Say I she is not fair?

PAN. I do not care whether you do or no. She's a fool to stay behind her father; let her to the Greeks; and so I'll tell her the next time I see her: for my part, I'll meddle nor make no more in the matter.

TRO. Pandarus,—

PAN. Not I.

TRO. Sweet Pandarus,

PAN. Pray you, speak no more to me; I will leave all as I found it, and there an end.

[Exit. An alarum. TRO. Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude sounds!

Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair,

When with your blood you daily paint her thus.
I cannot fight upon this argument;

It is too starv'd a subject for my sword.

But Pandarus,-O gods, how do you plague me!
I cannot come to Cressid but by Pandar;
And he's as tetchy to be woo'd to woo,
As she is stubborn-chaste against all suit.
Tell me, Apollo, for thy Daphne's love,
What Cressid is, what Pandar, and what we?
Her bed is India; there she lies, a pearl:
Between our Ilium and where she resides,
Let it be call'd the wild and wandering flood;
Ourself, the merchant; and this sailing Pandar,
Our doubtful hope, our convoy, and our bark.

Alarum. Enter ENEAS.

ENE. How now, prince Troilus! wherefore not afield? TRO. Because not there: this woman's answer sorts,b For womanish it is to be from thence.

What news, Æneas, from the field to-day?

ENE. That Paris is returned home, and hurt.

TRO. By whom, Æneas?

ENE.

Troilus, by Menelaus.

TRO. Let Paris bleed: 't is but a scar to scorn;

Paris is gor'd with Menelaus' horn.

ÆNE. Hark, what good sport is out of town to-day!

[Alarum.

- she would be as fair on Friday as Helen is on Sunday.] We are not sure we understand this; it perhaps means,-She would be considered as fair in ordinary apparel as Helen in holiday finery.

b- sorts,-] That is, suits, fits, is appropriate. As in "Henry V." Act IV. Sc. 1,

"It sorts well with thy fierceness."