That, 'twixt his mental and his active parts,
Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages,
And batters 'gainst itself: what should I say ?
He is so plaguy-proud, that the death-tokens(3) of it
Cry-No recovery.

AGAM.

Let Ajax go to him.—

Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent : 'Tis said he holds you well; and will be led, At your request, a little from himself.

ULYSS. O, Agamemnon, let it not be so!
We'll consecrate the steps that Ajax makes
When they go from Achilles: shall the proud lord,
That bastes his arrogance with his own seam,
And never suffers matter of the world
Enter his thoughts,-save such as do revolve
And ruminate himself,-shall he be worshipp'd
Of that we hold an idol more than he?

No, this thrice-worthy and right-valiant lord
Must not so stale his palm, nobly acquir'd;
Nor, by my will, assubjugate his merit,
As amply titled as Achilles is,

By going to Achilles :

That were to enlard his fat-already pride;

And add more coals to Cancer when he burns

With entertaining great Hyperion.
This lord go to him! Jupiter forbid ;
And say in thunder-Achilles go to him!
NEST. [Aside.] O, this is well; he rubs the vein
of him.

Dro. [Aside.] And how his silence drinks up this applause!

AJAX. If I go to him, with my armed fist I'll pash him o'er the face.

AGAM. O, no, you shall not go.

AJAX. An 'a be proud with me, I'll pheeze" his pride:

Let me go to him.

ULYSS. Not for the worth that hangs upon our quarrel.

AJAX. A paltry, insolent fellow,—

NEST. [Aside.] How he describes himself!

AJAX. Can he not be sociable?

ULYSS. [Aside.] The raven chides blackness. AJAX. I'll let his humours' blood.

AGAM. [Aside.] He will be the physician that should be the patient.

AJAX. An all men were o' my mind,

ULYSS. [Aside.] Wit would be out of fashion. AJAX. 'A should not bear it so, 'a should eat swords first: shall pride carry it?

NEST. [Aside.] An 't would, you'd carry half. ULYSS. [Aside.] 'A would have ten shares. AJAX. I will knead him, I'll make him supple.

I'll pheeze his pride:] I'll tickle his pride. See note (b), p. 227, Vol. I.

b He's not yet through warm:] In the old copies these words are inadvertently ascribed to Ajax.

NEST. [Aside.] He's not yet through warm: force him with praises: pour in, pour in; his ambition is dry.

ULYSS. [TO AGAMEMNON.] My lord, you feed

too much on this dislike.

NEST. Our noble general, do not do so.
Dro. You must prepare to fight without Achilles.
ULYSS. Why, 'tis this naming of him doth him
harm.

Here is a man-but 'tis before his face ;-
I will be silent.

NEST.

Wherefore should you SO ? He is not emulous, as Achilles is.

ULYSS. Know the whole world, he is as valiant. AJAX. A whoreson dog, that shall palter thus with us! Would he were a Trojan !

NEST. What a vice were it in Ajax now-
ULYSS. If he were proud,—

Dio. Or covetous of praise,-
ULYSS. Ay, or surly borne,-

Dio. Or strange, or self-affected!

ULYSS. Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of

sweet composure;

Praise him that got thee, she that gave thee suck :
Fam'd* be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature
Thrice-fam'd, beyond † all erudition :
But he that disciplin'd thy arms to fight,
Let Mars divide eternity in twain,
And give him half: and, for thy vigour,
Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield

To sinewy Ajax. I'll not praise thy wisdom,
Which, like a bourn, a pale, a shore, confines
Thy spacious and dilated parts: here's Nestor,-
Instructed by the antiquary times,

He must, he is, he cannot but be wise ;-
But pardon, father Nestor, were your days
As green as Ajax', and your brain so temper'd,
You should not have the eminence of him,
But be as Ajax.

AJAX.

Shall I call you father?
NEST. Ay, my good son.

Dro.
Be rul'd by him, lord Ajax.
ULYSS. There is no tarrying here; the hart

PAN. Friend, know me better; I am the lord Pandarus.

SERV. I hope I shall know your honour better. PAN. I do desire it.

SERV. You are in the state of grace.

[Music within. PAN. Grace! not so, friend; honour and lordship are my titles.*-What music is this?

SERV. I do but partly know, sir; it is music in parts.

PAN. Know you the musicians?

SERV. Wholly, sir.

PAN. Who play they to?

SERV. To the hearers, sir.

PAN. At whose pleasure, friend?

SERV. At mine, sir, and theirs that love music.

PAN. Command, I mean, friend.

SERV. Who shall I command, sir?

PAN. Friend, we understand not one another; I am too courtly, and thou art too cunning. At whose request do these men play?

SERV. That's to 't, indeed, sir: marry, sir, at the request of Paris my lord, who's there in person; with him, the mortal Venus, the heartblood of beauty, love's invisible soul,

PAN. Who, my cousin Cressida ?

SERV. No, sir, Helen; could you not find out that by her attributes?

PAN. It should seem, fellow, that thou hast not seen the lady Cressida. I come to speak with Paris from the prince Troilus: I will make a complimental assault upon him, for my business seeths.

SERV. Sodden business! there's a stewed phrase, indeed!

Enter PARIS and HELEN, attended.

PAN. Fair be to you, my lord, and to all this fair company ! fair desires, in all fair measure, fairly guide them!-especially to you, fair queen! fair thoughts be your fair pillow!

HELEN. Dear lord, you are full of fair words.

(*) First folio, title.

good broken music.] Broken music signified the music of stringed instruments. See note (1), p. 120, Vol. II.

bwell you say so, in fits.] Paris means you speak in music, alluding to the "Rude, in sooth; in good sooth, very rude." "Fits" was sometimes used to denote the divisions of a song; at others, the song itself; and, occasionally, a strain of harmony.

e You must not know where he sups.] Both the quarto and folio give these words to Helen; indeed, we suspect the distribution of the speeches in this scene is in several instances

erroneous.

d with my disposer Cressida.] No scholiast has been fortunate enough to discover why Paris terms Cressida his "disposer"; and some editors transfer the speeches in which she is so called to Helen, who, it is thought, might apply the epithet in the sense of "handmaid." It seems, however, more suitable to Paris; and possibly in Shakespeare's day may have been a colloquial term for a wild, forward damsel, since we know that "dispos'd," among other meanings, bore that of-inclined to wantonness. Thus, in Peele's "Edward I."

"Longsh. Say any thing but so. Once, Nell, thou gav'st me this.

PAN. Rude, in sooth; in good sooth, very rude. PAR. Well said, my lord! well you say so, in fits.b

PAN. I have business to my lord, dear queen. -My lord, will you vouchsafe me a word?

HELEN. Nay, this shall not hedge us out: we'll hear you sing, certainly.

PAN. Well, sweet queen, you are pleasant with me.-But, marry, thus, my lord, my dear lord, and most esteemed friend, your brother TroilusHELEN. My lord Pandarus; honey-sweet lord,

PAN. Go to, sweet queen, go to :-commends himself most affectionately to you,- [melody; HELEN. You shall not bob us out of our If you do, our melancholy upon your head!

PAN. Sweet queen, sweet queen; that's a sweet queen, i' faith,—

HELEN. And to make a sweet lady sad is a sour offence.

PAN. Nay, that shall not serve your turn, that shall it not, in truth, la. Nay, I care not for such words; no, no.-And, my lord, he desires you, that if the king call for him at supper, you will make his excuse.

HELEN. My lord Pandarus,—

PAN. What says my sweet queen ?—my veryvery sweet queen?

PAR. What exploit's in hand? where sups he to-night?

HELEN. Nay, but my lord,

PAN. What says my sweet queen ?-My cousin will fall out with you. You must not know where [sida.d

he sups.

PAR. I'll lay my life, with my disposer Cres

(*) First folio omits, I'll lay my life.

Q. Elinor. I pray, let

Ye are dispos'd, I think."

go:

In Beaumont and Fletcher's "Custom of the Country," Act I. Sc. 1,

"Rut. You love a gentlewoman, a young handsome woman; I have lov'd a thousand, not so few.

Arn. You are dispos'd."

And in the same author's "Valentinian," Act II. Sc. 4,

"Chi. No:

I'll make you no such promise.

Clau. If you do, sir,

Take heed you stand to't.

Chi. Wondrous merry ladies!

Lucina. The wenches are dispos'd."

Mr. Dyce, who has furnished the above and other examples of this peculiar employment of the word, is probably right in supposing the Princess, in "Love's Labour's Lost," Act II. Sc. 1, so uses it, and in that case there should be no break after "dispos'd,-"

"Prin. Come, to our pavilion: Boyet is dispos'd."

PAN. Walk here i' the orchard, I'll bring her straight. [Exit.

TROIL. I am giddy; expectation whirls me round.

The imaginary relish is so sweet

That it enchants my sense; what will it be,
When that the wat'ry palate tastes* indeed
Love's thrice-repured† nectar? death, I fear me;
Swooning destruction; or some joy too fine,
Too subtle-potent, tun'd‡ too sharp in sweetness,
For the capacity of my ruder powers:

I fear it much; and I do fear besides,
That I shall lose distinction in my joys;
As doth a battle, when they charge on heaps
The enemy flying.

U