Ha! 'would I could see Troilus now!-you shall

see Troilus anon.

CRES. Who's that?

HELENUS passes over.

PAN. That's Helenus,-I marvel, where Troilus is:-That's Helenus;-I think he went not forth to-day :-That's Helenus.

CRES. 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.

CRES. What sneaking fellow comes yonder?

TROILUS passes over.

PAN. Where? yonder? that's Deiphobus: 'Tis Troilus! there's a man, niece!-Hem !-Brave Troilus! the prince of chivalry!

CRES. Peace, for shame, peace!

PAN. Mark him; note him ;-O brave Troilus! -look well upon him, niece; look you how his sword is bloodied 3, and his helm more hack'd than Hector's; And how he looks, and how he goes!O admirable youth! he ne'er saw three and twenty. Go thy way, Troilus, go thy way; had I a sister were a grace, or a daughter a goddess, he should take his choice. O admirable man! Paris ?-Paris is dirt to him; and, I warrant, Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot 3.

3how his swWORD IS BLOODIED,] So, Lydgate, describing Troilus, in a couplet that reminds us of Dryden, or Pope: "He was so ferse they might him not withstand, "When that he helde his blody sworde in hand."

4

I always quote from the original poem, edit. 1555. MALONE. his HELM MORE HACK'D than Hector's ;] So, in Chaucer's Troilus and Cresseide, book iii. 640:

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

Forces pass over the Stage.

CRES. Here come more.

PAN. Asses, 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 such a man as Troilus, than Agamemnon and all Greece.

CRES. There is among the Greeks, Achilles; a better man than Troilus.

PAN. Achilles? a drayman, a porter, a very camel.

CRES. Well, well.

PAN. Well, well?-Why, have you any discretion? have you any eyes? Do you know what a man is? Is not birth, beauty, good shape, discourse, manhood, learning, gentleness, virtue, youth, liberality, and such like, the spice and salt that season a man?

CRES. Ay, a minced man: and then to be baked with no date in the pye 6,-for then the man's date is out.

PAN. You are such a woman! one knows not at what ward you lie7.

CRES. Upon my back, to defend my belly; upon my wit, to defend my wiles; upon my secrecy, to

3

an EYE to boot.] So, the quarto. The folio, with less force,-Give money to boot. JOHNSON.

6

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

66

They call for dates and quinces in the pastry." Again, in All's Well that Ends Well, Act I.:

7

66

your date is better in your pye and porridge, than in your cheek." STEEVENS. at what wARD you LIE.] A metaphor from the art of defence. So, Falstaff, in King Henry IV. Part I.: "Thou know'st my old ward; here I lay," &c. STEEVENS.

defend mine honesty: my mask, to defend my beauty; and you, to defend all these: and at all these wards I lie, at a thousand watches.

PAN. Say one of your watches.

CRES. Nay, I'll watch you for that; and that's one of the chiefest of them too: if I cannot ward what I would not have hit, I can watch you for telling how I took the blow; unless it swell past hiding, and then it is past watching.

PAN. You are such another!

Enter TROILUS' Boy.

Bor. Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you. PAN. Where ?

Boy. At your own house; there he unarms him 9. PAN. Good boy, tell him I come: [Erit Boy.] I doubt, he be hurt.-Fare ye well, good niece. CRES. Adieu, uncle.

PAN. I'll be with you, niece, by and by.
CRES. To bring, uncle,-

PAN. Ay, a token from Troilus.

CRES. By the same token-you are a bawd.—

[Exit PANDARUS.

Words, vows, griefs, tears, and love's full sacrifice,

He offers in another's enterprize :

But more in Troilus thousand fold I see

8

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

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Upon my wit to defend my will."

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

So, in The Rape of Lucrece:

"What wit sets down, is blotted straight with will.”

Again, in King Richard II.:

"Where will doth mutiny with wits regard."

Yet I think the old copy right. MALONE.

9 At your own house; THERE HE UNARMS HIM.] These neces

sary words are added from the quarto edition. POPE.

The words added are only-there he unarms him. JOHNSON.

Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be;
Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing:
Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing':
That she2 belov'd knows nought, that knows not
this,-

Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is:
That she was never yet, that ever knew

Love got so sweet, as when desire did sue:
Therefore this maxim out of love I teach,-
Achievement is command; ungain'd, beseech3:
Then though my heart's content firm love doth

bear,

4

5

Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear.

[Exit.

So read both the old edi

-joy's soul lies in the doing :]
tions, for which the later editions have poorly given:
"The soul's joy lies in doing." JOHNSON.

It is the reading of the second folio. RITSON.
"Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing:

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This is

Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing: the reading of all the editions; yet it must be erroneous; for the last six words of the passage are totally inconsistent with the rest of Cressida's speech, and the very reverse of the doctrine she professes to teach. I have, therefore, no doubt, that we ought to read:

joy's soul dies in the doing: which means, that the fire of passion is extinguished by enjoy

ment.

The following six lines sufficiently confirm the propriety of this amendment, which is obtained by the change of a single letter: That she belov'd, &c. &c. M. MASON. JOHNSON.

2 That she-] Means, that woman. 3 Achievement is command; ungain'd, beseech :] The meaning of this obscure line seems to be-" Men, after possession, become our commanders; before it, they are our suppliants." STEEVENS.

4 THEN though-] The quarto reads-Then; the folio and the other modern editions read improperly-That. JOHNSON -my heart's CONTENT-] Content, for capacity.

WARBURTON.

On considering the context, it appears to me that we ought to read-" my heart's consent," not content. M. MASON.

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my heart's content." Perhaps means, my heart's satis

SCENE III.

The Grecian Camp. Before AGAMEMNON'S Tent.

Trumpets. Enter AGAMEMNON, Nestor, Ulysses, MENELAUS, and Others.

AGAM. Princes,

What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks? The ample proposition, that hope makes

In all designs begun on earth below,

Fails in the promis'd largeness: checks and disasters
Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd;
As knots, by the conflúx of meeting sap,
Infect the sound pine, and divert his grain
Tortive and errant from his course of growth.
Nor, princes, is it matter new to us,

That we come short of our suppose so far,
That, after seven years' siege, yet Troy walls stand;
Sith every action that hath gone before,
Whereof we have record, trial did draw
Bias and thwart, not answering the aim,
And that unbodied figure of the thought
That gav't surmised shape. Why then, you princes,
Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works;
And think them shame *, which are, indeed, nought
else

But the protractive trials of great Jove,
To find persistive constancy in men ?
The fineness of which metal is not found

* Quarto, And call them shames.

faction or joy; my well pleased heart. So, in our author's Dedication of his Venus and Adonis to Lord Southampton: "I leave it to your honourable survey, and your honour to your heart's content." This is the reading of the quarto. The folio hascontents. MALONE.

My heart's content, I believe, signifies-the acquiescence of my heart. STEEVENS.