Cre. At what was all this laughing?

Pan. Marry, at the white hair that Helen spied on Troilus' chin.

Cre. An't had been a green hair, I should have laugh'd too.

Pan. They laugh'd not so much at the hair, as at his pretty answer.

Cre. What was his answer?

Pan. Quoth she, Here's but one and fifty bairs on

your chin, and one of them is white.

Cre. This is her question.

Pan. That's true; make no question of that. One and fifty hairs, quoth he, and one white : That white hair is my father, and all the rest are bis fons. Jupiter! quoth she, which of these hairs is Paris, my busband? The forked one, quoth he; pluck it out, and give it him. But there was such laughing! and Helen fo blush'd, and Paris so chaf'd, and all the rest so laugh'd, that it pass'd.

Cre. So let it now; for it has been a great while going by.

Pan. Well, coufin, I told you a thing yesterday; think on't.

Cre. So I do.

Pan. I'll be sworn, 'tis true; he will weep you,

an 'twere a man born in April.

[Sound a retreat.

Cre. And I'll fpring up in his tears, an 'twere a nettle against May.

Pan. Hark, they are coming from the field: Shall we stand up here, and fee them, as they pass toward Ilium? good niece, do; fweet niece Cressida.

Cre. At your pleasure.

Pan. Here, here, here's an excellent place; here we may see most bravely: I'll tell you them all by

• Two and fifty hairs, -) I have and fifty, I think with fome certainty. be. make out Priam and his fifty sons?

ventured to substitute one How else can the numTHEOBALD.

their names, as they pass by; but mark Troilus above the rest.

Æneas passes over the stage.

Cre. Speak not fo loud.

Pan. That's Æneas; Is not that a brave man ? he's one of the flowers of Troy, I can tell you; But mark Troilus; you shall fee anon,

Cre. Who's that?

Antenor passes over.

Pan. That's Antenor; he has a shrewd wit, I can tell you; and he's a man good enough: he's one o' the foundest judgment in Troy, whosoever; and a proper man of perfon :-When comes Troilus?I'll shew you Troilus anon; if he see me, you shall fee him nod at me.

Cre. Will he give you the nod?

Pan. You shall fee.

Cre. If he do, the rich shall have more.

$ That's Antenor; be bas a shrewd wit,-] "Anthenor was

"

Hector

Copious in words, and one that much time spent
"To jest, when he was in companie,
"So driely, that no man could it espie;
"And therewith held his countenaunce to well,
"That every man received great content
"To heare him speake, and pretty jests to tell,
" When he was pleasant, and in merriment:
"For tho' that he most commonly was fad,
"Yet in his speech fome jest he always had."

Lidgate, p. 105.
STEEVENS.

the rich shall have more.] To give one the nod, was a
The reply turns

phrase fignifying to give one a mark of folly.
upon this sense, alluding to the expression give, and should be
read thus:

-the mich shall have more.

i. e. much. He that has much folly already shall then have more.

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C4

This

Hector passes over.

Pan. That's Hector, that, that, look you, that; There's a fellow!-Go thy way, Hector;-There's a brave man, niece. O brave Hector! - Look, how he looks!- there's a countenance: Is't not a brave man?

Cre. O, a brave man!

Pan. Is'a not? It does a man's heart good-Look you, what hacks are on his helmet? look you yonder, do you see? look you there! There's no jesting: laying on; take't off who will, as they say: there be hacks!

Cre. Be those with swords?

Paris passes over.

Pan. Swords? any thing, he cares not: an the devil come to him, it's all one: By god's lid, it does one's heart good:-Yonder comes Paris, yonder comes Paris: look ye yonder, nicce; Is't not a gallant man too, is't not?-Why, this is brave now. Who faid, he came home hurt to-day? he's not hurt:why, this will do Helen's heart good now. Ha!

This was a proverbial speech, implying that benefits fall upon the rich. The Oxford editor alters it to :

the rest shall have none. WARBURTON.

I wonder why the commentator should think any emendation necessary, fince his own sense is fully expressed by the present reading. Hanmer appears not to have understood the passage. That to give the nod fignifies to fet a mark of folly, I do not know; the allufion is to the word noddy, which, as now, did in our author's time, and long before, fignify a filly fellow, and may, by its etymology, fignify likewife full of nods. Cressid means, that a noddy shall have more nods. Of such remarks as these is a comment to confift? JOHNSON.

to give the nod, was, I believe, a term in the game at cards called Noddy. This game is perpetually alluded to in the old comedies. See Vol. 1. p. 143. STEEVENS.

'would

'would I could fee Troilus now!-you shall see Troilus anon.

Cre. 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.

Cre. 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.

Cre. What sneaking fellow comes yonder?

Troilus passes over.

Pan. Where? yonder? that's Deiphobus: 'Tis

Troilus! there's a man, niece!
Troilus! the prince of chivalry!

Cre. Peace, for shame, peace!

Hem!-Brave

Pan. Mark him; note him; - O brave Troilus!look well upon him, niece; look you, how his sword is bloody'd, 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.

his helm more back'd than Hector's;-) So in Chaucer's Troilus and Creffeide, b. iii. 640:

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

STEEVENS.

8 - an eye to boot.] So the quarto. The folio, with lefs force, Give money to boot. JOHNSON.

Enter

Enter foldiers, &c.

Cre. 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 fuch a man as Troilus, than Agamemnon and all Greece.

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

Pan. Achilles? a dray-man, a porter, a very camel. Cre. Well, well.

Pan. Well, well? - Why, have you any difcretion? 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 falt that season a man?

Cre. Ay, a minc'd man: and then to be bak'd with no date in the pye, -for then the man's date is out.

Pan. You are such a woman! one knows not at what ward you like.

Cre. Upon my back, to defend my belly; ' upon my wit, to defend my wiles; upon my fecrecy, to

no date in the pye, -) To account for the introduction of this quibble, it should be remembered that dates were an ins gredient in ancient pastry of almost every kind. So, in Romeo and Juliet :

They call for dates and quinces in the pastry." Again, in All's well that ends well, Act I. "-your date is better in your pye and porridge than in your cheek." STEEVENS.

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-upon my wit, to defend my wiles;-) So read both the

copies: yet perhaps the author wrote:

Upon my wit to defend my will.

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