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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,
Peace, Trojan, lay thy finger on thy lips !
The worthiness of praise distains his worth,
If that the prais'd himself bring the praife forth:
But what the repining enemy commends,
That breath fame blows; that praise, sole pure,

transcends.

Agam. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself Æneas?
Æne. Ay, Greek, that is my name.
Agam. What's your affair, I pray you?
Æne. Sir, pardon; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears.
Agam. He hears nought privately, that comes from

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,
Nothing fo full of beart.]

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
Nothing fo full of heart.

So, in Macbeth :

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Sleek o'er your rugged looks; be bright and jovłal
Among your guests to-night."

MALONE.

Agam.

Agam. Speak frankly as the wind;
It is not Agamemnon's fleeping hour :
That thou shalt know, Trojan, he is awake,
He tells thee so himself.

Ane. Trumpet, blow loud,

Send thy brass voice through all these lazy tents;
And every Greek of mettle, let him know,
What Troy means fairly, shall be spoke aloud.

[Trumpets found.

We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy
A prince call'd Hector, Priam is his father,
Who in this dull and long-continu'd truce
Is rusty grown; he bade me take a trumpet,
And to this purpose speak. Kings, princes, lords!
If there be one, amongst the fair'ft of Greece,
That holds his honour higher than his ease;
That feeks his praise more than he fears his peril;
That knows his valour, and knows not his fear;
That loves his mistress' more than in confeffion
(With truant vows to her own lips he loves)
And dare avow her beauty, and her worth,
3 In other arms than hers, to him this challenge,
Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks,
Shall make it good, or do his beft to do it,
He hath a lady, wiser, fairer, truer,
Than ever Greek did compass in his arms;
And will to-morrow with his trumpet call,
Mid-way between your tents and walls of 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:
If any come, Hector shall honour him;
If none, he'll say in Troy, when he retires,
The Grecian dames are fun-burn'd, 4 and not worth
The fplinter of a lance. Even so much.

Agam. This shall be told our lovers, lord Æneas;
If none of them have foul in fuch a kind,
We left them all at home: But we are foldiers;
And may that foldier a mere recreant prove,
That means not, hath not, or is not in love!
If then one is, or hath, or means to be,
That one meets Hector; if none else, I am he.

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:

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- peruse his armour,

"The dint's still in the vantbrace."

STEEVENS.

To

To our pavilion shall I lead you, fir.
Achilles shall have word of this intent:

So shall each lord of Greece, from tent to tent :
Yourself shall feast with us before you go,
And find the welcome of a noble foe.

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,
To over-bulk us all.

Nest. Well, and how?

Ulyff. This challenge that the gallant Hector sends,

However it is spread in general name,
Relates in purpose only to Achilles.

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:
3 And, in the publication, make no ftrain,
But that Achilles, were his brain as barren
As banks of Libya, though, Apollo knows,
'Tis dry enough, will with great speed of judgment,
Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose
Pointing on him.

Ulyff. And wake him to the answer, think you ?
Neft. Yes, 'tis most meet; Whom may you else

oppofe,

That can from Hector bring 4 those honours off,
If not Achilles? Though't be a sportful combat,
Yet in this trial much opinion dwells;
For here the Trojans taste our dear'st repute
With their fin'ft palate: And trust to me, Ulyffes,
Our imputation shall be oddly pois'd
In this wild action: for the fuccefs,
Although particular, shall give a scantling
Of good or bad unto the general;

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

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