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ENE. [Within.] My lord! is the lady ready? TRO. Hark! you are call'd: Some say, the Ge

nius so

Cries, Come! to him that instantly must die. Bid them have patience; she shall come anon. PAN. Where are my tears? rain, to lay this wind,5 or my heart will be blown up by the root!" [Exit PANDARus.

CRES. I must then to the Greeks?

TRO.

No remedy.

Broken tears is sufficiently explained by-interrupted tears. So, in King Henry VIII: “You have now a broken banquet ;” i. e. an interrupted one. STEEVENs.

Hark! you are call'd: Some say, the Genius so

Cries, Come! to him that instantly must die.] An obscure poet (Flatman) has borrowed this thought:

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My soul just now about to take her flight,

"Into the regions of eternal night,

"Methinks I hear some gentle spirit say,
"Be not fearful, come away!"

After whom, Pope:

"Hark! they whisper; angels say,
"Sister spirit, come away." Malone.

Again, in Eloisa to Abelard:

"Come, sister, come! (it said, or seem'd to say,)
"Thy place is here, sad sister, come away!

יין

STEEVENS.

Where are my tears? rain, to lay this wind,] So, in Macbeth:

"That tears will drown the wind."

Perhaps, rain, to lay this wind! is an optative, and as if he had said-O for tears &c.! and so I have pointed it.

So, in The Rape of Lucrece:

STEEVENS.

"This windy tempest, till it blow up rain,
"Holds back his sorrow's tide, to make it more;
"At last it rains, and busy winds give o'er." MALONE.
by the root!] So the folio. Quarto by my throat.

MALONE.

CRES. A woeful Cressid 'mongst the merry Greeks!"

When shall we see again?

TRO. Hear me, my love: Be thou but true of

heart,

CRES. I true! how now? what wicked deem is this? 8

TRO. Nay, we must use expostulation kindly, For it is parting from us:

I speak not, be thou true, as fearing thee;
For I will throw my glove to death' himself,
That there's no maculation in thy heart:
But, be thou true, say I, to fashion in
My sequent protestation; be thou true,
And I will see thee.

CRES. O, you shall be expos'd, my lord, to dan

gers

As infinite as imminent! but, I'll be true.

TRO. And I'll grow friend with danger. Wear this sleeve.

CRES. And you this glove. When shall I see you? TRO. I will corrupt the Grecian sentinels, To give thee nightly visitation.

But yet, be true.

CRES.

O heavens!-be true, again?

7 A woeful Cressid 'mongst the merry Greeks!] So, in A mad World my Masters, 1608, a man gives the watchmen some money, and when they have received it he says: Greeks understand me." STEEVENS.

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"the merry

Deem (a word now

obsolete) signifies, opinion, surmise. STEEVENS.

9 For I will throw my glove to death-] That is, I will challenge death himself in defence of thy fidelity. JOHNSON.

TRO. Hear why I speak it, love;
The Grecian youths are full of quality;
They're loving, well compos'd, with gifts of nature
flowing,1

And swelling o'er with arts and exercise;
How novelty may move, and parts with person,
Alas, a kind of godly jealousy

(Which, I beseech you, call a virtuous sin,)
Makes me afeard.

CRES.

O heavens! you love me not.

TRO. Die I a villain then!

In this I do not call your faith in question,
So mainly as my merit: I cannot sing,
Nor heel the high lavolt,3 nor sweeten talk,
Nor play at subtle games; fair virtues all,

1

They're loving, &c.] This line is not in the quarto. The folio reads-Their loving. This slight correction I proposed some time ago, and I have lately perceived it was made by Mr. Pope. It also has gift of nature. That emendation is Sir T. Hanmer's. In the preceding line "full of quality," means, I think, absolute, perfect, in their dispositions. So, in Pericles, Prince of Tyre:

So buxom, blithe, and full of face,

“As heaven had lent her all his grace." MALONE.

The irregularity of metre in this speech, (unless the epithetloving be considered as an interpolation,) together with the obscure phrase-full of quality, induce me to suspect the loss of some words which are now irretrievable. Full of quality, however, may mean highly accomplished. So, in Chapman's version of the fourteenth Iliad:

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Besides all this, he was well qualitied." The construction, indeed, may be of full quality. Thus, in the same translator's version of the third Iliad, "full of size" is apparently used for-of full size. STEEVENS.

*—with person,] Thus the folio. The quarto reads→→→ with portion. STEEVENS.

3

the high lavolt,] The lavolta was a dance. See Vol. XII. p. 387, n. 9. STEEVens.

To which the Grecians are most prompt and preg

nant:

But I can tell, that in each grace of these
There lurks a still and dumb-discoursive devil,
That tempts most cunningly: but be not tempted.
CRES. Do you think, I will?

TRO. NO.

But something may be done, that we will not:
And sometimes we are devils to ourselves,
When we will tempt the frailty of our powers,
Presuming on their changeful potency.

ENE. [Within.] Nay, good my lord,

TRO.

Come, kiss; and let us part.

PAR. [Within.] Brother Troilus!

TRO.

Good brother, come you hither; And bring Æneas, and the Grecian, with you. CRES. My lord, will you be true?

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TRO. Who, I? alas, it is my vice, my fault: While others fish with craft for great opinion, I with great truth catch mere simplicity;5 Whilst some with cunning gild their copper crowns, With truth and plainness I do wear mine bare. Fear not my truth; the moral of my wit Is-plain, and true,-there's all the reach of it.

+ There lurks a still and dumb-discoursive devil,

That tempts most cunningly:] This passage may chance to remind the reader of another in Othello:

5

"For here's a young and sweating devil here,

"That commonly rebels."

STEEVENS.

catch mere simplicity;]

The meaning, I think, is, while others, by their art, gain high estimation, I, by honesty, obtain a plain simple approbation. JOHNSON.

6 the moral of my

wit

Is-plain, and true,] Moral, in this instance, has the same meaning as in Much Ado about Nothing, Act III. sc. iv:

Enter ENEAS, PARIS, ANTENOR, DEIPHOBUS, and DIOMEDES.

Welcome, sir Diomed! here is the lady,
Which for Antenor we deliver you:

At the port, lord, I'll give her to thy hand;
And, by the way, possess thee what she is.
Entreat her fair; and, by my soul, fair Greek,
If e'er thou stand at mercy of my sword,
Name Cressid, and thy life shall be as safe
As Priam is in Ilion.

DIO.

Fair lady Cressid,

So please you, save the thanks this prince expects: The lustre in your eye, your eye, heaven in your cheek, your fair usage; and to Diomed You shall be mistress, and command him wholly.

Pleads

TRO. Grecian, thou dost not use me courteously, To shame the zeal of my petition to thee,

"Benedictus ! why Benedictus? you have some moral in this Benedictus."

Again, in The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV. sc. iv:

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he has left me here behind to expound the meaning or moral of his signs and tokens." TOLLET.

7 At the port,] The port is the gate. So, in King Henry IV. Part II:

8

"That keeps the ports of slumber

open wide."

STEEVENS

possess thee what she is.] I will make thee fully understand. This sense of the word possess is frequent in our author.

JOHNSON.

So, in The Merchant of Venice:

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Is he yet possess'd "How much you would?"

STEEVENS.

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