P. 334.-141.-206.

EPILOGUE.

I think the prologue and epilogue have something of Ben Jonson's manner; but I confess I do not perceive his hand in the dialogue, except perhaps in the scene of the Porter and the Mob. As to the tamperer with this play, supposed by Mr. Malone, I agree with Mr. Steevens, whose conjecture respecting the eulogium on King James appears to me not wholly devoid of probability, though I confess I think (to borrow an expression of Dr. Johnson's) that the atoms of probability are small.

her hand,

In whose comparison all whites are ink,

Writing their own reproach; to whose soft seizure
The cygnet's down is harsh, and spirit of sense
Hard as the palm of ploughman.

Hanmer's emendation appears to me to be

necessary.

Alex.

P. 15.-151.-228.

Hector, whose patience

Is, as a virtue, fix'd, to-day was mov'd;

He chid Andromache, and struck his armourer;
And, like as there were husbandry in war,
Before the sun rose, he was harness'd light,
And to the field goes he.

By this expression the poet means that Hector

was active in his armour. In like manner he describes the Prince of Wales in the first Part of Henry the Fourth.

I saw young Harry with his beaver on,

His cuisses on his thigh, gallantly arm'd,

Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury, &c.

On this passage Dr. Johnson has the following note "The reason why his cuisses are so par"ticularly mention'd, I conceive to be, that his

"horsemanship is here praised, and the cuisses are that part of armour which most hinders a "horseman's activity."

P. 34.-167.251.

Ulyss. The specialty of rule hath been neglected:
And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand
Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.

I incline to agree with Mr. M. Mason.

Ulyss.

P. 38.-171.—257.

Sometime, great Agamemnon,

Thy topless deputation he puts on;

And, like a strutting player,-whose conceit
Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich

To hear the wooden dialogue and sound

"Twixt his stretch'd footing, and the scaffoldage,-
Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrested seeming

He acts thy greatness in.

The scaffoldage seems here to mean the stage. P. 42.-174.-261.

Ene. Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd,

As bending angels; that's their fame in peace :
But when they would seem soldiers, they have galls,
Good arms, strong joints, true swords; and Jove's accord,
Nothing so full of heart.

I incline to think that Theobald is right.

P. 45.-178.-266.

Nest. What says Ulysses?

Ulyss. I have a young conception in my brain,
Be you my time to bring it to some shape.

Nest. What is't?

I believe T. C. is right.

P. 54.-188.-280.

Patr. No more words, Thersites; peace.

Ther. I will hold my peace when Achilles' brach bids
me, shall I

I believe brach is the true reading.

P.-190.-284.

Hel. No marvel, though you bite so sharp at reasons,
You are so empty of them.

I concur with Mr. Steevens.

P. 58.-192.-285.

Hect. And the will dotes, that is attributive
To what infectiously itself affects,

Without some image of the affected merit.

Dr. Johnson is right.

P. 59.-193.-287.

Fro. And, for an old aunt, whom the Greeks held captive,
He brought a Grecian queen, whose youth and freshness,
Wrinkles Apollo's, and makes pale the morning.

I think pale the preferable reading.

Ibid.

why do you now

The issue of your proper wisdoms rate;
And do a deed that fortune never did,
Beggar the estimation which you priz'd
Richer than sea and land?

I incline to Mr. Malone's explanation.

P. 60.-194.-288.

Cas. Virgins and boys, mid-age and wrinkled elders,

Soft infancy, that nothing can'st but cry,

Add to my

clamours.

I strongly incline to think that eld is the true reading.

P.-200.-297.

Ther. Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles;
Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon;
Thersites is a fool, to serve such a fool; and Patroclus
is a fool positive.

Patr. Why am I a fool?

Ther. Make that demand of the provcr.-It suffices
me, thou art.

This I do not understand. Mr. Malone says there seems to be a prophane allusion in the last speech but one spoken by Thersites. What the prophane allusion is I have no guess; the speech referr'd to is this: Agamemnon is a fool, "Achilles is a fool, Thersites is a fool, and, as "aforesaid, Patroclus is a fool."

66

P. 67.-201.-298.

Agam. Where is Achilles ?

Patr. Within his tent; but ill-dispos'd, my lord.
Agam. Let it be known to him, that we are here.
He shent our messengers; and we lay by

Our appertainments, visiting of him.

I see no reason to doubt that shent is the true reading.

P. 68.-201.-299.

Nest. All the better; their fraction is more our wish,
than their faction: but it was a strong composure, a
fool could disunite.

Ulyss. The amity, that wisdom knits not, folly may
easily untie.

I think composure is the right word.

P. 68.-202.-300.

Patr. Achilles bids me say—he is much sorry,
If any thing more than your sport and pleasure
Did move your greatness, and this noble state,
To call upon him.

Mr. Steevens's explanation of noble state is the

true one.

Ibid.-301.

Agam.

And you shall not sin,

If you do say- we think him over-proud,

And under-honest; in self-assumption greater,

Than in the note of judgement; and worthier than himself
Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on.