Of Author's pen, or Aitor's voice; but suited
In like conditions as our Argument ;)
To tell you, (fair Beholders) that our Play
Leaps o'er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils,
'Ginning i'th' middle : Starting thence away, (2)
To what may be digested in a Play.
Like, or find fault,do, as your pleasures are ;
Now good, or bad, 'lis but the chance of war.

(2) Beginning in the middle, farting thence away,] Thus all the Editions, before Mr. Pope's. He, in the Purity of his Ear, has calņier'd the last Word, because the Verse was longer than its fellows. I have chose to retain it; (because, I am persuaded, the Poet intended a Rhyme) and reduce the Line to Measure by an Apocope fo frequent in his Writings.

Helen, Wife to Menelaus, in Love with Paris.
Andromache, Wife to Hector.
Cassandra, Daughter to Priam, a Prophetess.
Cressida, Daughter to Calchas, in love wiib Troilus.

Alexander, Cressida's Man.
Boy, Page to Troilus.

Trojan and Greek Soldiers, with other Attendants.

SCENE, Troy; and the Grecian Camp, before it,

TROILUS.
ALL here my varlet; I'll unarm again. (3)

Why should I war without the walls of Troy,
C That find fuch cruel battle here within ?

Each Trojan, that is master of his heart,

Let him to field ; Troilus, alas ! hath none. Pan. Will this geer ne'er be mended ? Troi. The Greeks are strong, and skilful to their

strength, Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant.

But

(5)

TH unarm again. Why should I war without the Walls of Troy, That find such cruel Battle here within ?] I won't venture to affirm, that this Passage is founded on Anacreon, but there is a mighty Consonance both of Thought and Expresfion in both Poets; particularly, in the Close of the Sentence.

Mátlu do tego kociny
Τι δ' βαλω μεθ' έξω,
Μάχης έσω μ' έχέσης και

A 4

115

But I am weaker than a woman's tear,
Tamer than Neep, fonder than ignorance ;
Less valiant than the virgin in the night,
And skill-less as unpractis'd infancy.

Pan. Well, I have told you enough of this: for my part, I'll not meddle nor make any farther. He, that will have a cake out of the wheat, must needs tarry the grinding.

Troi. Have I not tarried? -Pan. Ay, the grinding ; bụt you must tarry the boulting

Troi. Have I not tarried?

Pan. Ay, the boulting ; but you must tarry the leav'ning.

Troi. Still have I tarried.

Pan. Ay, to the leav'ning? but here's yet in the word hereafter, the kneading, the making of the cake, the heating of the oven, and the baking ; nay, you must

'Tis in vain that I have a Shield: for wherefore should I wear that out-
ward Defence, when the Battle rages all within me? I hope, my
Readers will forgive me, if I take Notice on this Occasion that the
Leamed Tanaquil Faber quite mistook Anacreon's Sense in this Line,
TÀ S' Baxwueo kw, He has render'd it; Quid enim extrà, aut
foràs, tela mittamus, cùm intùs pugna fit? This is absolutely foreign

from the Poet's Meaning. Madam Dacier seems to have understood it in
her French Version, but is repugnant to herself, when the gives it us in
Latin. C'est donc en vain que j'ay un bouclier, car à quoi sert de le
défendre au dehors, lorsque l'ennemi eft au dedans ? I am surpriz’d,
after fo just a Tranflation
as to the Meaning, that she could subjoin this

,
duisent, Nàm cur petamur extrà ; & il falloit traduire tout au contraire,
nam cur petamus extrà. - Petere hoftem, is, to attack an Enemy; which
is not Anacreon's Meaning. But Mons. De la Fosse has genteely anim-
adverted upon this Lady's Error. Anacreon ne songeoit qu'au te défen-
dre, & non pas à offenser. Ainsi petamus, qui est une Aktion offensive,
n'estoit pas si juste que petamur.,
In my opinion, the i'affage should be thus render'd ;

Fruftrà gero Clypeum; mis Quid enim [illum] extrinfecùs objiciam,

Cum Pugna iñtus omninò ardeat ? The Translators do not seem to have remember'd, that Carnouai (as its Compounds, αμφιβάλλομαι, επιβάλλομαι, περιβάλλομαι) may 1ometimes fignify actively, induo, injicio, impong. Authorities are so obvicus, that it is unnecessary to alledge any. 3

stay

stay the cooling too, or you may chance to burn your lips.

Troi. Patience her felf, what Goddess e'er she be, Doth lesser blench aţ fufferance, than I do: At Priam's royal table do I fit ; And when fair Cressid comes into my thoughts, So, traitor !—when she comes? when is she thence ?

Pan. Well, she look'd yesternight fairer than ever I faw her look, or any woman else.

Troi. I was about to tell thee, when my heart,
As wedged with a figh, would rive in twain,
Left Hector or my father should perceive me ;
I have (as when the Sun doch light a storm)
Buried this sigh in wrinkle of a smile :
But forrow, that is couch'd in seeming gladness,
Is like that mirth Fate turns to sudden sadness.

Pan. An her hair were not somewhat darker than Helen's well, go to, there were no more comparison between the women. But, for my part, she is my kinswoman; I would not (as they term it) praise her but I would, Somebody had heard her talk yesterday, as I did: I will not difpraise your lister Casandra's wit, but

Troi. O Pandarus ! I tell thee, PandarusWhen I do tell thee, there my hopes lye drown'd, (4) Reply not in how inany fathoms deep They lye indrench’d. I tell thee, I am mad

(4) When I do tell thee, there my Hopes lye drown'd, Reply not in how many Fathoms deep They lye intrench d.). This is only the Reading of the modern Editors : I have restor'd that of the old Books. For besides that, intrench'd in Fathoms, is a Phrase which we have very great Reason to suspect; what Consonance, or Agreement, in Sense is there betwixt drown'd and intrench’d? The first carries the Idea of Destruction, the latter of Security. Indrench'd corresponds exactly with drown'd; and fignifies, immers'd in the Deep, or, as our Poet in another Place calls it, enlieep'd. So in his Venus and Adonis ;

O, where am I, (quoth.she) in Earth, or Heav'n?

Or in the Ocean drench'd ? And in the Two Gentlemen of Verona we again find the Terms coupled. And drench'd me in the Sea, where I am drown'd.