But forrow, that is couch'd in feeming gladness, Pan. An her hair were not fomewhat darker than Helen's-well, go to, there were no more comparison between the women.- -But, for my part, fhe is my kinfwoman; I would not, as they term it, praise her. But I would, fomebody had heard her talk yefterday, as I did. I will not difpraise your fifter Caffandra's wit, but, Troi. O Pandarus! I tell thee, Pandarus! They lye indrench'd. I tell thee, I am mad Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice; Writing their own reproach, to whofe foft feizure Thou lay'ft, in every gafh that love hath given me, (4)—and SPIRIT of fenfe Hard as the palm of ploughman.-] Read, and (SPITE of sense) in a parenthesis. The meaning is, though our fenfes contradict it never fo much, yet the cignet's down is not only harsh, when compar'd to the foftness of Creffid's hand, but hard as the band of ploughman. Spite, I fuppofe, was first corrupted to Sprite, and from thence arofe fpirit. WARBURTON. I think this paffage more forcible and elegant without an alteration. In comparison with Creffid's hand, fays he, the fpirit of fenfe, the utmost degree, the most exquifite power of fenfibi lity, which implies a foft hand, fince the fenfe of touching, as Scaliger fays in his Exercitations, refides chiefly in the fingers, is hard as the callous and infenfible palm of the ploughman. Hanmer reads, -to th' spirit of sense. It is not proper to make a lover profefs to praife his mistress ir fpite of fenfe, for tho' he often does it in fpite of the fenfe of others, his own fenfes are fubdued to his defires. VOL. IX. R Pan. Pan. I fpeak no more than truth. Troi. Thou doft not fpeak fo much. Pan. 'Faith, I'll not meddle in't. Let her be as fhe is, if the be fair, 'tis the better for her; an fhe be not, (5) fhe has the mends in her own hands. Troi. Good Pandarus; how now, Pandarus? Pan. I have had my labour for my travel, ill thought on of her, and ill thought on of you; gone between and between, but small thanks for my labour. Troi. What art thou angry, Pandarus? what, with me? Pan. Because fhe is kin to me, therefore fhe's not fo fair as Helen; and the were not kin to me, fhe would be as fair on Friday, as Helen is on Sunday. But what care I? Icare not, an fhe were a black-a-moor; 'tis all one to me. Troi. Say I, fhe is not fair? Pan. I do not care whether you do or no; she's a fool to ftay behind her father. Let her to the Greeks, and fo I'll tell her the next time I fee her. For my part, I'll meddle nor make no more i' th' matter. Troi. Pandarus Pan. Not I. Troi. Sweet Pandarus Pan. Pray you, speak no more to me. all as I found it, and there's an end. I will leave [Exit Pan. [Sound alarm. Troi. Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude founds! Fools on both fides.- -Helen muft needs be fair, It is too ftarv'd a fubject for my fword. But Pandarus me! O Gods! how do you plague I cannot come to Creffid, but by Pandar ; (5) She has the mends.-] She may mend her complexion by the affiftance of cofmeticks.. And And he's as teachy to be woo'd to wooe, SCENE II. [Alarm.] Enter Æneas. Ene. How now, Prince Troilus? wherefore not a field? E Troi. Becaufe not there. This woman's answer forts, For womanifh it is to be from thence. What news, Eneas, from the field to-day? Ene. That Paris is return'd home, and hurt. Ene. Troilus, by Menelaus. Troi. Let Paris bleed, 'tis but a fear to fcorn; Paris is gor'd with Menelaus' horn. [Alarm. Ene. Hark, what good fport is out of town today? Troi. Better at home, if would I might, were mayBut to the sport abroad-are you bound thither? Ene. In all swift hafte. Troi. Come, go we then together. [Exeunt. SCENE III. Changes to a publick Street, near the Walls of Troy. Cre. Enter Creffida, and Alexander, her Servant. WHO were thofe went by? Serv. Queen Hecuba and Helen. Cre. And whither go they? Serv. Up to th' eastern tower, Whofe height commands as fubject all the vale, (6) Hector, whose patience And Is as A VIRTUE fix'd,-] Patience fure was a virtue, and therefore cannot, in propriety of expreffion, be faid to be like We should read, one. Is as THE VIRTUE fix'd i.e. his patience is as fixed as the Goddess Patience itself. So we find Troilus a little before faying, Patience herself what Goddefs ere fhe be, Doth leffer blench at fufferance than I do. It is remarkable that Dryden, when he alter'd this play, and found this falfe reading, alter'd it with judgment to, whofe patience Is fix'd like that of Heav'n. Which he would not have done had he feen the right reading here given, where his thought is fo much better and nobler expreffed. WARB. I think the prefent text may ftand. Hector's patience was as a virtue not variable and accidental, but fixed and conftant. If I would alter it, it fhould be thus, Hector, whofe patience Is all a virtue fix3d, All, in old English, is the intensive or enforcing particle. (7) Before the Sun rofe, he was harneft light,] Why harnest light? Does the poet mean, that Hector had put on light armour? Or that he was fprightly in his arms, even before fun-rife? Or is a conundrum aim'd at, in Sun rofe, and harnest light? A ve ry And to the field goes he; where ev'ry flower In Hector's wrath. Cre. What was his caufe of anger? Serv. The noife goes thus; There is among the A Lord of Trojan blood, nephew to Hector, They call him Ajax. Cre. Good; and what of him? Serv. They fay, he is a very man per se, and stands alone. Cre. So do all men, unless they are drunk, sick, or have no legs. Serv. This man, lady, hath robb'd many beasts of their particular additions; he is as valiant as the lion, churlish as the bear, flow as the elephant; a man into ry flight alteration makes all these conftructions unneceffary, and gives us the poet's meaning in the propereft terms imaginable. Before the Sun rofe, he was harnefs-dight, i. e. compleatly dreft, accoutred, in arms, It is frequent with our poet, from his mafters Chaucer and Spenfer, to say dight for deck'd, pight for pitch'd; &c. and from them too he uses bar nefs for armour. THEOBALD. Before the Sun rofe, he was harneft light,] Does the poet mean (fays Mr. Theobald) that Hector had put on light armour ? mean! what else could he mean? He goes to fight on foot; and was not that the armour for his purpose. So Fairfax in Taffo's Jerufalem, The other Princes put on harnefs LIGHT As footmen ufe Yet, as if this had been the higheft abfurdity, he goes on, Of does be mean that Hector was sprightly in his arms even before fun-rife? or is a conundrum aim'd at, in Sun rofe and barnest light? Was any thing like it? but to get out of this perplexity, he tells us that a very flight alteration makes all thefe conftructions unnecessary, and fo changes it to harness-dight. Yet indeed the very flightest alteration will at any time let the poet's fense thro' the critic's fingers : And the Oxford Editor very contentedly takes up with what is left behind, and reads barnefs-dight too, in order, as Mr. Theobald well expreffes it, to make all conftruc tion unnecessary. WARB. How does it appear that Hector was to fight on foot rather today than on any other day? It is to be remembered that the antient heroes never fought on horfeback; nor does their manner af fighting in chariots feem to require less activity than on foot. R 3 whom |