"Hec. Brother, fhe is not worth what the doth coft "The holding.

"Tro. What is aught, but as 'tis valu'd.?

"Hec. But value dwells not in particular will; "It holds his eftimate and dignity

"As well wherein 'tis precious of itself,
"As in the prizer: 'tis mad idolatry,
"To make the service greater than the god;
"And the will doats, that is inclinable
"To what infectiously itself affects,

"Without fome image of the affected's merit.
"Tro. I take to-day a wife, and my election
"Is led on in the conduct of my will;
"My will enkindled by mine eyes and ears,
"Two traded pilots 'twixt the dangerous fhores
"Of will and judgment; how may I avoid,

Although my will distaste what it elected,

"The wife I chofe? there can be no evafion

"To blench from this, and to ftand firm by honour:
"We turn not back the filks upon the merchant,
"When we have foil'd them; nor the remainder viands
"We do not throw in unrefpective place,

"Because we now are full." It was thought meet,
Paris fhould do fome vengeance on the Greeks:
Your breath of full confent belly'd his fails;
'The feas and winds (old wranglers) took a truce,
And did him fervice: he touch'd the ports defir'd;
And, for an old aunt, whom the Greeks held captive,
He brought a Grecian queen, whofe youth and freshness
Wrinkles Apollo's, and makes pale the morning.
Why keep we her? the Grecians keep our aunt:
Is the worth keeping? why, fhe is a pearl,
Whofe price hath launch'd above a thoufand fhips,
And turn'd crown'd kings to merchants.

If you'll avouch, 'twas wisdom Paris went,
(As you must needs, for you all cry'd-Go, go)
If you'll confefs, he brought home noble prize,
(As you must needs, for you all clapp'd your hands,
And cry'd-Ineftimable !) why do you now
The iffue of your proper wifdoms rate;
And do a deed that fortune never did,

Beggar

Beggar the estimation which you priz'd
Richer than fea and land? O theft most base
That we have ftoln what we do fear to keep!
Bafe thieves, unworthy of a thing fo ftoln;
That in their country did them that disgrace,
We fear to warrant in our native place!
Caf. [within.] Cry, Trojans, cry!
Pri. What noife, what thriek is this?
Tro. 'Tis our mad fifter, I do know her voice
Caf. [within.] Cry, Trojans !

Hec. Tis Caffandra.

Enter Caffandra wildly.

Caf. Cry, Trojans, cry! lend me ten thousand eyes, And I will fill them with prophetic tears.

Hec. Peace, fifter, peace.

Caf. Virgins and boys, mid-age and wrinkl'd old,
Soft infancy, that nothing can't but cry,
Add to my clamours! let us pay betimes
A moiety of that mafs of moan to come.
Cry, Trojans, cry, practise your eyes with tears!
Troy must not be, nor goodly Ilion stand
Our fire-brand brother Paris burns us all.
Cry, Trojans, cry! a Helen and a woe:
Cry, cry! Troy burns, or elfe let Helen go.

[Exit Caffandra ti Hec. Now, youthful Troilus, do not thefe high ftrains

Of divination in our fifter work

Some touches of remorfe? or is your blood

So madly hot, that no discourse of reason,
Nor fear of bad fuccefs in a bad cause,
Can qualify the fame ?

Tro. Why, brother Hector,

We may not think the juftness of each aft

Such, and no other, than event doth form it ;

Nor once deject the courage of our minds,

Because Caffandra's mad; her brain-fick raptures

Though we doubt whether this frenzied prophetess would have a ferious effect in reprefentation, yet we think he is not unaptly introduced here; had there been more fancy, more enthufiafm of idea thrown in, it must have enlivened the scene much

Cannot

Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel,
Which hath our feveral honours all engag'd
To make it gracious. For my private part,
I am no more touch'd than all Priam's fons :
And Jove forbid, there fhould be done amongst us
Such things as might offend the weakest spleen
To fight for and maintain !

Par. Elfe might the world convince of levity
As well my undertakings, as your counsels :
But I attest the gods, your full confent
Gave wings to my propenfion, and cut off
All fears attending on fo dire a project.
For what, alas, can thefe my fingle arms?
What propugnation is in one man's valour,
To ftand the pufh and enmity of those
This quarrel would excite? Yet, I proteft,
Were I alone to pafs the difficulties,
And had as ample power as I have will,
Paris fhould ne'er retract what he hath done,
Nor faint in the purfuit,

Pri. Paris, you speak

Like one befotted on your sweet delights:
You have the honey ftill, but thefe the gall;
So to be valiant, is no praife at all.

Par. Sir, I propofe not meerly to myfelf
The pleasures fuch a beauty brings with it;
But I would have the foil of her fair rape
Wip'd off in honourable keeping her.
What treason were it to the ranfack'd queen,
Difgrace to your great worths, and shame to me,
Now to deliver her poffeffion up

On terms of bafe compulfion? can it be,
That fo degenerate a train as this

Should once fet footing in your generous bofoms?
There's not the meaneft fpirit on our party,

Without a heart to dare, or sword to draw,
When Helen is defended; nor none fo noble,
Whofe life were ill bestow'd, or death unfam'd,
Where Helen is the fubject: then, I say,

Well may we fight for her, whom, we know well,
The world's large spaces cannot parallel.

Hec. Paris, and Troilus, you have both faid well;
And on the cause and question now in hand
Have gloz'd, but fuperficially; not much
Unlike young men, whom Ariftotle thought
Unfit to hear moral philofophy:

The reafons, you alledge, do more conduce
To the hot paffion of distemper'd blood,
Than to make up a free determination

"Twixt right and wrong; for pleasure, and revenge,
Have ears more deaf than adders, to the voice
Of any true decifion. Nature. craves,

All dues be render'd to their owners; now
What nearer debt in all humanity,

Than wife is to the hufband? if this law
Of nature be corrupted through affection;
And that great minds, of partial indulgence
To their benummed wills, refift the fame ;
There is a law in each well-order'd nation,
To curb those raging appetites that are
Most disobedient and refractory :
If Helen then be wife to Sparta's king,-
As, it is known, fhe is,-thefe moral laws
Of nature, and of nations, fpeak aloud
To have her back return'd: Thus to perfift
In doing wrong, extenuates not wrong t
But makes it much more heavy. Hedor's opinion
Is this, in way of truth: yet, ne'ertheless,
My fpritely brethren, I propend to you

In refolution to keep Helen ftill;

For 'tis a caufe that hath no mean dependance

Upon our joint and several dignities.

Tro. Why, there you touch'd the life of our defign:

Were it not glory that we more affected

Than the performance of our heaving spleens,

I would not wifh a drop of Trojan blood

The foft moral fenfations, which appear in this fpeech, deferve great approbation and strict attention, as fenfibly appealing to one of the tendereft feelings of life, though seldom properly attended to; we mean, matrimonial chastity.

Spent

Spent more in her defence. But, worthy Hector,
She is a theme of honour and renown ;

A fpur to valiant and magnanimous deeds;
Whofe prefent courage may beat down our foes,
And fame, in time to come, canonize us :
For, I prefume, brave Hector would not lofe
So rich advantage of a promis'd glory,
As fmiles upon the forehead of this action,
For the wide world's revenue.

Hec. I am yours,

You valiant off-fpring of great Priamus.-
I have a roifting challenge fent amongst
The dull and factious nobles of the Greeks,
Will ftrike amazement to their drowsy spirits:
I was advertis'd, their great general slept,
Whilft emulation in the army crept ;
This, I prefume, will wake him †.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. The Greek Camp. Before Achilles's tent Enter Therfites.

The. How now, Therfites? what, loft in the labyrinth of thy fury? Shall the elephant Ajax carry it thus? he beats me, and I rail at him: O worthy fatisfaction! 'would, it were otherwife; that I could beat him, whilst he rail'd at me: 'Sfoot, I'll learn to conjure and raise devils, but I'll fee fome iffue of my fpiteful execrations. Then there's Achilles,- —a rare engineer. If Troy be not taken 'till these two undermine it, the walls will ftand 'till they fall of themselves. O thou great thunderdarter of Olympus, forget that thou art Jove the king of gods; and, Mercury, lofe all the ferpentine craft of thy Caduceus; if ye take not that little little lefs-than-little wit from them that they have! which short-arm'd ignorance itself knows is fo abundant scarce, it will not in circumvention deliver a fly from a spider, without drawing the maffy iron, and cutting the web. After this,

+ All the chiefs, both Trojan and Grecian, require dignified externals, and graceful oratory, for ftage representation.

the