So that the ram, that batters down the wall,
For the great fwing and rudeness of his poize,
They place before his hand that made the engine;
Or those that with the fineness of their souls
By reason guide his execution.

Neft. Let this be granted, and Achilles' horfe
Makes many Thetis fons.

Aga. What trumpet? look, Menelaus.

Men. From Troy.

Enter Æneas.

Aga. What would you 'fore our tent?

[Tucket founds.

Ene. Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I pray you?
Aga. Even this.

Ene. May one, that is a Herald and a Prince,
Do a fair meffage to his kingly ears?

Aga. With furety stronger than Achilles' arm, 'Fore all the Greekifh heads, which with one voice Call Agamemnon Head and General.

Ene. Fair leave, and large fecurity. A ftranger to those most imperial looks Know them from eyes of other mortals? Aga. How?

How may

Ene. I ask, that I might waken Reverence,
And bid the cheek be ready with a blush
Modeft as morning, when the coldly eyes
The youthful Phabus:

Which is that God in office, guiding men?
Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon?

Aga. This Trojan scorns us, or the men of Troy
Are ceremonious courtiers.

Ene. Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd, As bending Angels; that's their fame in peace:

might do on his Pillow and in his Closet. If fo, bedwerk must be the Epithet to Mappery, as clofet is to War: and therefore I have expung'd the Comma, which feparated the Firft from its Subftantive. So Guiderius, in Cymbeline, fpeaking of an unactive Life, fays it is

A cell of Ignorance; travelling a-bed.

But

But when they would feem foldiers, they have galls, (14)
Good arms, ftrong joints, true fwords; and, Jove's
Accord,

Nothing fo full of heart. But peace, Æneas;
Peace, Trojan lay thy finger on thy lips;
The worthiness of praife diftains his worth,

If he, that's prais'd, himself bring the praise forth:
What the repining enemy commends,

That breath Fame blows, that praise fole pure tranfcends.
Aga. Sir, you of Troy, call you your self Æneas?
Ene. Ay, Greek, that is my name.

Aga. What's your affair, I pray you a?

Ane. Sir, pardon; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears.

Aga. He hears nought privately that comes from Troy. Ene. Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him;

I bring a trumpet to awake his Ear,

To fet his fenfe on the attentive bent,
And then to speak.

Aga. Speak frankly as the wind,

It is not Agamemnon's fleeping hour;
That thou shalt know, Trojan, he is awake,
He tells thee fo himself.

(14) But when they would feem Soldiers, they have Galls, Good Arms, ftrong Joints, true Swords, and Jove's Accord,

Nothing fo full of heart.] Can the Poet be fuppos'd to mean, that the Trojans had Jove's Accord whenever they would feem Soldiers? No ; certainly, he would intimate that nothing was fo full of Heart as they, when that God did but fhew himself on their Side. This Circumstance, added, brings no Impeachment to their Courage: Valour would become Prefumption and Impiety in them, if they had trusted to it when Jove manifeftly declared himself on the other Side. My Regulation of the Pointing fixes the Poet's Senfe; and 'tis every where his Manner to mention the Concurrence of the Deity suppos'd.

Our Coronation done, we will accite
(As I before remember'd,) all our State,

And (Heav'n configning to my good intents,) &c.
for, God before,

We'll chide this Dauphin at his Father's Door.
Yet, God before, tell him, we will come on.
That by the Help of Thefe, (with Him above
To ratify the Work).

&c. &c. &c.

2 Henry IV.

Henry V.

Ibid.

Macbeth.

Ene.

Ene. Trumpet, blow loud:

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

[The 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 rufty grown; he bad me take a trumpet,
And to this purpose fpeak: Kings, Princes, Lords,
If there be one amongst the fair'it of Greece,
That holds his honour higher than his ease,
That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril,
That knows his valour and knows not his fear,
That loves his miftrefs more than in confeffion,
(With truant vows to her own lips, he loves,)
And dare avow her beauty and her worth
In other arms than hers: to him, this Challenge.
Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks,
Shall make it good, (or do his best to do it)
He hath a lady, wifer, fairer, truer,
Than ever Greek did compass in his arms;
And will to morrow with his trumpet call,
Midway between your tents and walls of Troy,
To rowze a Grecian that is true in love.
If any come, Hector fhall honour him:
If none, he'll fay in Troy when he retires,

The Grecian Dames are fun-burn'd, and not worth
The fplinter of a lance; -even fo much.

Aga. This fhall be told our lovers, lord Æneas.
If none of them have foul in fuch a kind,

We've left them all at home: but we are foldiers;
And may that foldier a meer 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 elfe, I'm he.

Neft. Tell him of Neftor; one, that was a man
When Hector's Grandfire fuckt; he is old now,
But if there be not in our Grecian Hoft

One Nobleman that hath one spark of fire,

To

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 grandam, and as chafte
As may be in the world: his youth in flood,
I'll pawn this truth with my three drops of blood.
Ene. Now heav'ns forbid fuch fcarcity of youth!
Ulyff. Amen.

Aga. Fair lord Eneas, let me touch
your hand:
To our Pavillion fhall I lead you firft:
Achilles fhall have word of this intent,

So fhall each lord of Greece from tent to tent:
Your felf fhall feaft with us before you go,

And find the welcome of a noble foe.

Ulyff. Neftor,

Manent Ulyffes and Neftor.

Neft. What fays Ulysses?

Uly. 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 this maturity blown up

In rank Achilles, muft or now be cropt,

Or, fhedding, breed a nursery of like evil,
To over-bulk us all.

Neft. Well, and how now?

[Exeunt.

Uly. This Challenge that the gallant Hector fends, However it is fpread in general name,

Relates in purpose only to Achilles.

Neft. The purpose is perfpicuous even as Substance, (15) Whose groffness little characters fum up.

(15) The Purpofe is perfpicuous ev'n as Subftance, Whofe Groffness little Characters fum up,

And

And in the Publication make no Strain:] The modern Editors, 'tis plain, have lent each other very little Information upon this Paffage: Tugnòs Tupa ódnyds, as the Proverb fays; the Blind have led the Blind. As they have pointed the Paffage, 'tis ftrange Stuff'; and how they folv'd

~

it

And, in the publication, make no strain,
But that Achilles, were his brain as barren
As banks of Libya, (tho', Apollo knows,
'Tis dry enough,) will with great fpeed of judgment,
Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose

Pointing on him.

Uly. And wake him to the answer, think you?
Neft. Yes, 'tis moft meet; whom may you elfe oppose,
That can from Hector bring his honour off,

If not Achilles? though a sportful combat,
Yet in this tryal much opinion dwells.
For here the Trojans tafte our dear'st Repute
With their fin'ft palate: and truft to me, Ulyffes,
Our imputation shall be odly pois'd

In this wild action. For the fuccefs,
Although particular, fhall give a scantling
Of good or bad unto the general:

And in fuch indexes, although fmall pricks
To their fubfequent volumes, there is feen
The baby figure of the giant-mafs

Of things to come, at large. It is fuppos'd,
He, that meets Hector, iffues from our Choice;
And Choice, being mutual act of all our fouls,
Makes merit her election; and doth boil,
As 'twere, from forth us all, a man diftill'd
Out of our virtues; who mifcarrying,

What heart from hence receives the conqu'ring part,
To steel a strong opinion to themselves!
Which entertain'd, limbs are his inftruments,

it to themselves, is paft my Discovery. That little Characters, or Particles, fum up the Groffnefs of any Substance, I conceive: but how thofe Characters, or Particles, make no Strain in the Publication, feems a little harder than Algebra. My Regulation of the Pointing brings us to clear Senfe; "The Aim and Purpose of this Duel is as vifible as any grofs "Substance can be, compounded of many little Particles:" And having faid thus, Ulyffes goes on to another Obfervation; " And make no Diffi"culty, no Doubt, when this Duel comes to be proclaim'd, but that "Achilles, dull as he is, will difcover the Drift of it." This is the Meaning of the laft Line. So afterwards, in this Play, Ulysses says,

I do not strain at the Pofition,

i.e. I do not hesitate at, I make no Difficulty of it.