Bury'd this sigh in wrinkle of a smile: 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,—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 Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice, Writing their own reproach; To whose soft seizure The cygnet's down is harsh, and spirit of sense 5 Handlest is here used metaphorically, with an allusion, at the same time, to its literal meaning. The same play on the words is in Titus Andronicus: 'O handle not the theme, to talk of hands, Lest we remember still that we have none !' Steevens remarks that the beauty of a female hand seems to have a strong impression on the poet's mind. Antony cannot endure that the hand of Cleopatra should be touched. In Romeo and Juliet we have: the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand.' And, in the Winter's Tale, Florizel thus beautifully descants on that of his mistres: I take thy hand; this hand As soft as dove's down, and as white as it; spite of sense.'- Which is consi 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, 'tis the better for her; an she be not, she has the mends in her own hands. Tro. Good Pandarus! How now, Pandarus? Pan. I have had my labour for my travel; illthought on of her, and ill-thought on of you; gone between and between, but small thanks for my bour. la Tro. What, art thou angry, Pandarus? what, with me? Pan. Because she is 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 black-a-moor; 'tis all one to me. Tro. Say I, she is not fair? you 2 do or no. She's dered right and necessary by Mason. Johnson does not rightly understand the passage, and therefore erroneously explains it. It appears to me to mean 'The spirit of sense (i. e. sensation), in touching the cygnet's down, is harsh and hard as the palm of a ploughman, compared to the sensation of softness in pressing Cressid's hand.' 7 She has the mends in her own hands' is a proverbial phrase common in our old writers, which probably signifies 'It is her own fault; or the remedy lies with herself.' And if men will be jealous in such cases, the mends is in their owne hands, they must thank themselves.'-Burton Anat. of Melan. p. 605, ed. 1632. I shall stay here and have my head broke, and then I have the mends in my own hands.'-Woman's a Weathercock, 1612. 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 PANDARUS. An Alarum. Tro. Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude sounds! Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair, It is too starv'd a subject for my sword. But, Pandarus-O gods, how do you plague me! 8 Calchas, according to the Old Troy Book, was a great learned bishop of Troy,' who was sent by Priam to consult the oracle of Delphi concerning the event of the war which threatened Agamemnon. As soon as he had made his oblations and demands for them of Troy, Apollo aunswered unto him saying, Calchas, Calchas, beware thou returne not back againe to Troy, but goe thou with Achylles unto the Greekes, and depart never from them, for the Greekes shall have victorie of the Trojans, by the agreement of the gods.'-Hist. of the Destruction of Troy, translated by Caxton, ed. 1617. The prudent bishop immediately joined the Greeks. 9 Ilium, properly speaking, is the name of the city; Troy that of the country. But Shakspeare, following the Troy Book, gives that name to Priam's palace, said to have been built upon a high rock. Let it be call'd the wild and wandering flood; Ourself, the merchant; and this sailing Pandar 10, Our doubtful hope, our convoy, and our bark. Alarum. Enter ENEAS. Ene. How now, Prince Troilus 11? wherefore not afield? Tro. Because not there; This woman's answer sorts 12, For womanish it is to be from thence. What news, Æneas, from the field to-day? Ene. That Paris is returned home, and hurt. Ene. Troilus, by Menelaus. Tro. Let Paris bleed: 'tis but a scar to scorn; Paris is gor'd with Menelaus' horn. [Alarum. Ene. Hark! what good sport is out of town to-day! Tro. Better at home, if would I might, were may.~ But, to the sport abroad;-Are you bound thither? Ene. In all swift haste. Tro. Come, go we then together. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. A Street. Enter CRESSIDA and ALEXANDER. Cres. Who were those went by? Alex. 10 Queen Hecuba, and Helen. Merry Wives of Windsor. This punk is one of Cupid's carriers ; 11 Troilus was pronounced by Shakspeare and his contemporaries as a dissyllable. Pope has once or twice fallen into the same error. 12 i. e. fits, suits, is congruous. So in King Henry V. :— 'It sorts well with thy fierceness.' Cres. And whither go they? Alex. He chid Andromache, and struck his armourer; Cres. What was his cause of anger? Alex. The noise goes, this: There is among the Greeks A lord of Trojan blood, nephew to Hector; They call him, Ajax. Cres. Good; And what of him? Alex. They say he is a very man per se*, And stands alone. 1 Husbandry is thrift. Thus in King Henry V.:our bad neighbours make us early stirrers, Which is both healthful and good husbandry.' armour. 2 The commentators have all taken light here as referring to Poor Theobald, who seems to have had a suspicion that it did not, falls under the lash of Warburton for his temerity. Light, however, here has no reference to the mode in which Hector was armed, but to the legerity or alacrity with which he armed himself before sunrise. Light and lightly are often used for nimbly, quickly, readily, by our old writers. No expression is more common than light of foot.' And Shakspeare has even used light of ear.' 3 And when she weeps, weeps every little flower, Lamenting,' &c. Midsummer Night's Dream. 4i. e. an extraordinary or incomparable person, like the letter A by itself. The usual mode of this old expression is A per se. Thus in Henrysoun's Testament of Cresseid, wrongly attributed by Steevens to Chaucer : 'Of faire Cresseide, the floure and a per se of Troy and And in Blurt Master Constable, 1602 : That is the a per se and creame of all.' |