Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon? Agam. This Trojan scorns us; or the men of Troy Are ceremonious courtiers. Æne. Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd, As bending angels; that's their fame in peace: But when they would seem foldiers, they have galls", Good arms, strong joints, true swords; and, Jove's accord, Nothing fo full of heart. But peace, Æneas, transcends. Agam. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself Æneas? Troy. Ane. Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him; I bring a trumpet to awake his ear; To fet his sense on the attentive bent, And then to speak. 7 - they have galls, T Good arms, strong joints, true swords; and Jove's accord, As this paffage is printed, I cannot discover any meaning in it. If there be no corruption, the femicolon which is placed after fwords, ought rather to be placed after the word accord; of which however the sense is not very clear. I fufpect that the transcriber's ear deceived him, and would read __ they have galls, Good arms, strong joints, true swords; and Jove's a gad So, in Macbeth : Sleek o'er your rugged looks; be bright and jovłal MALONE. Agam. Agam. Speak frankly as the wind; Ane. Trumpet, blow loud, Send thy brass voice through all these lazy tents; [Trumpets found. We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy 8-long-continued truce] Of this long truce there has been no notice taken; in this very act it is faid, that Ajax coped Hector yesterday in the battle. JOHNSON. 9-rusty-] Quarto, resty. JOHNSON. 1 -more than in confeflion,] Confeffion, for profeffion. WARBURTON. 2-to her own lips be loves)] That is, confeffion made with idle vows to the lips of her whom he loves. JOHNSON. 3 In other arms than hers for the arms of the body, and the armour of a foldier. Arms is here used equivocally MALONE. To To rouse a Grecian that is true in love: Agam. This shall be told our lovers, lord Æneas; Neft. Tell him of Neftor, one that was a man When Hector's grandfire fuck'd: he is old now; But, if there be not in our Grecian hosts One noble man that hath one spark of fire, To answer for his love, Tell him from me, I'll hide my filver beard in a gold beaver, * And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn;. And, meeting him, will tell him, That my lady Was fairer than his grandame, and as chaste As may be in the world: His youth in flood, I'll pawn this truth with my three drops of blood. Ane. Now heavens forbid fuch scarcity of youth! Ulyff. Amen. Agam. Fair lord Æneas, let me touch your hand; and not worth The Splinter of a lance.] This is the language of romance. Such a challenge would better have fuited Palmerin or Amadis, than Hector or Æneas. STEEVENS. * But if there be not in our Grecian beft] The first and second folio read Grecian mould. MALONE. • And in my vantbrace-] An armour for the arm, avantbras. POPE. Milton uses the word in his Sampson Agonistes, and Heywood in his Iron Age, 1632: - peruse his armour, "The dint's still in the vantbrace." STEEVENS. To To our pavilion shall I lead you, fir. So shall each lord of Greece, from tent to tent : Manent Ulyffes, and Neftor. Ulyff. Neftor, Neft. What says Ulyffes? [Exeunt. Ulyff. I have a young conception in my brain, "Be you my time to bring it to fome shape. Neft. What is't? Ulyff. This 'tis ; Blunt wedges rive hard knots: The feeded pride That hath to its maturity blown up In rank Achilles, must or now be cropt, Or, shedding, breed a' nursery of like evil, Nest. Well, and how? Ulyff. This challenge that the gallant Hector sends, However it is spread in general name, 2 Neft. The purposeis perfpicuous even as substance, Whofe Be you my time, &c.] i. e. be you to my present purpose what time is in respect of all other schemes, viz. a ripener and bringer of them to maturity. the feeded pride, &c.] Shakspeare might have taken this idea from Lyte's Herbal, 1578 and 1579. The Oleander tree or Nerium " hath scarce one good propertie. It may be compared to a Pharifee, who maketh a glorious and beautiful show, but inwardly is of a corrupt and poisoned nature." "It is high time &c. to fupplant it (i. e. pharafaifm) for it hath already floured, so that I feare it will shortly feede, and fill this wholesome foyle full of wicked Nerium." TOLLET. 9 its maturity] folio-this maturity. MALONE. -nursery-] Alluding to a plantation called a nursery. JOHNSON. 2 The purpose is perfpicuous even as fubstance, Whose groffness little characters fum up :) That is, the purpose is Whose grossness little characters fum up: Ulyff. And wake him to the answer, think you ? oppofe, That can from Hector bring 4 those honours off, is as plain as body or substance; and though I have collected this purpose from many minute particulars, as a gross body is made up of small insensible parts, yet the result is as clear and certain as a body thus made up is palpable and visible, This is the thought, though a little obfcured in the conciseness of the expreffion. WARBURTON. Substance is eftate, the value of which is afcertained by the ufe of small characters, i. e. numerals. So in the prologue to K. Henry V: -a crooked figure may Attest, in little place, a million. The gross fum is a term used in the Merchant of Venice. Groffness has the fame meaning in this instance. STEEVENS. 3 And, in the publication, make no strain,] Nestor goes on to say, make no difficulty, no doubt, when this duel comes to be proclaim'd, but that Achilles, dull as he is, will discover the drift of it. This is the meaning of the line. So afterwards, in this play, Ulyffes says: I do not strain at the pofition. i. e. I do not hesitate at, I make no difficulty of it. THEOBALD. + those honours) Folio-his honour. MALONE. $-fcantling] That is, a measure, proportion. The carpen ter cuts his wood to a certain fcantling. JOHNSON. And |