maffy irons, and cutting the web. After this, the vengeance on the whole camp! or, rather, the bone-ache! for that, methinks, is the curfe dependant on those that war for a placket. I have faid my prayers; and devil, envy, fay Amen. What, ho! my lord Achilles !

Enter PATROCLUS.

PATR. Who's there? Therfites? Good Therfites, come in and rail.

THER. If I could have remember'd a gilt counterfeit, thou would'ft not have flipp'd out of my contemplation: but it is no matter; Thyfelf upon

6 without drawing their may irons,] That is, without drawing their fwords to cut the web. They ufe no means but those of violence. JOHNSON.

Thus the quarto. The folio reads-the maffy irons. In the late editions iron has been fubstituted for irons, the word found in the old copies, and certainly the true reading. So, in King Richard III:

"Put in their hands thy bruifing irons of wrath,
"That they may crush down with a heavy fall

"The ufurping helmets of our adverfaries." MALONE. Bruifing irons in this quotation, as Mr. Henley has well obferved in loco, fignify-maces, weapons formerly ufed by our English cavalry. See Grofe on Ancient Armour, p. 53. STEEVENS.

7 the bone-ache!] In the quarto,-the Neapolitan bone-ache.

8

JOHNSON.

that war for a placket.] On this occafion Horace must be our expofitor:

-fuit ante Helenam ****** teterrima belli

Caufa.

Sat. Lib. I. iii. 107. STEEVENS.

In mine opinion, this remark enlumineth not the English reader. See mine handling of the fame fubject in the play of King Lear, A& III. fc. iv. Vol. XIV. AMNER.

9 If I could have remember'd a gilt counterfeit, thou would'st not bave flipp'd out of my contemplation:] Here is a plain alluffon to the

thyfelf! The common curfe of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in great revenue! heaven blefs thee from a tutor, and difcipline come not near thee! Let thy blood be thy direction till thy death! then if the, that lays thee out, fays-thou art a fair corfe, I'll be fworn and fworn upon't, fhe never shrouded any but lazars. Amen. Where's Achilles? PATR. What, art thou devout? waft thou in prayer?

THER. Ay; The heavens hear me !

Enter ACHILLES.

ACHIL. Who's there?

PATR. Therfites, my lord.

ACHIL. Where, where?-Art thou come? Why, my cheese, my digeftion, why haft thou not ferv'd thyfelf in to my table fo many meals? Come; what's Agamemnon?

THER. Thy commander, Achilles ;-Then tell me, Patroclus, what's Achilles?

Ip

PATR. Thy lord, Therfites; Then tell me, I pray thee, what's thyfelf?

THER. Thy knower, Patroclus; Then tell me, Patroclus, what art thou?

PATR. Thou may'ft tell, that know'ft.

counterfeit piece of money called a flip, which occurs again in Romeo and Juliet, Act II. fc. iv. and which has been happily illuftrated in a note on that paffage. There is the fame allufion in Every Man in his Humour, Act II. fc. v. WHALLEY.

2 Let thy blood be thy direction] Thy blood means, thy paffions; thy natural propenfities. See Vol. VI. p. 162, n. 8. MALONE. So, in The Yorkshire Tragedy: for 'tis our blood to love what we are forbidden." This word has the fame fenfe in Timon

66

of Athens and Cymbeline. STEEVENS.

ACHIL. O, tell, tell.

THER. I'll decline the whole queftion.' Agamemnon commands Achilles; Achilles is my lord; I am Patroclus' knower; and Patroclus is a fool.+ PATR. You rafcal!

THER. Peace, fool; I have not done.

ACHIL. He is a privileg'd man.-Proceed, Therfites.

THER. Agamemnon is a fool; Achilles is a fool; Therfites is a fool; and, as aforefaid, Patroclus is a fool.

ACHIL. Derive this; come.

THER. Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles; Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon; Therfites is a fool, to ferve fuch a fool; and Patroclus is a fool pofitive."

PATR. Why am I a fool?

THER. Make that demand of the prover. It fuffices me, thou art. Look you, who comes here?

3 decline the whole queftion.] Deduce the queftion from the firft cafe to the laft. JOHNSON.

See Vol. X. p. 631, n. 7.

4

MALONE.

-Patroclus is a fool.] The four next fpeeches are not in the quarto. JOHNSON.

S -a fool pofitive.] The poet is ftill thinking of his grammar; the first degree of comparifon being here in his thoughts.

MALONE.

6 of the prover.] So the quarto. JOHNSON. The folio profanely reads,―to thy creator. STEEVENS. There feems to be a profane allufion in the last speech but one fpoken by Therfites. MALONE.

Enter AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and AJAX.

ACHIL. Patroclus, I'll fpeak with nobody:Come in with me, Therfites.

[Exit. THER. Here is fuch patchery, fuch juggling, and fuch knavery! all the argument is, a cuckold, and a whore; A good quarrel, to draw emulous factions,' and bleed to death upon. Now the dry ferpigo on the fubject! and war, and lechery, confound all! [Exit.

8

AGAM. Where is Achilles?

PATR. Within his tent; but ill-difpos'd, my

lord.

AGAM. Let it be known to him, that we are here. He shent our meffengers; and we lay by

1- to draw emulous factions,] i. e. envious, contending factions. See p. 293, n. 3. MALONE.

Why not rival factions, factions jealous of each other?

Now the dry ferpigo &c.] This is added in the folio.

The ferpigo is a kind of tetter.

STEEVENS.

JOHNSON.

The term has already occurred

in Meafure for Meafure. STEEVENS,

9 He fhent our messengers;] i. e. rebuked, rated.

WARBURTON.

This word is used in common by all our ancient writers. So, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, Book IV. ch. vi:

"Yet for no bidding, not for being fhent,
"Would he restrained be from his attendement."

Again, ibid:

"He for fuch baseness shamefully him fhent."

STEEVENS.

The quarto reads-fate; the folio-fent. The correction was made by Mr. Theobald. Sir T. Hanmer reads-He fent us mesjengers. I have great doubts concerning the emendation now

Our appertainments, vifiting of him:
Let him be told fo; left, perchance, he think
We dare not move the queftion of our place,
Or know not what we are.

PATR.

I shall fay fo to him.

[Exit.

ULYSS. We faw him at the opening of his tent; He is not fick.

AJAX. Yes, lion-fick, fick of proud heart: you may call it melancholy, if you will favour the man; but, by my head, 'tis pride: But why, why? let him fhow us a caufe.-A word, my lord.

[Takes AGAMEMNON afide. NEST. What moves Ajax thus to bay at him? ULYSS. Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him. NEST. Who? Therfites?

ULrss. He.

NEST. Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have loft his argument.

ULYSS. No; you fee, he is his argument, that has his argument; Achilles.

NEST. All the better; their fraction is more our wish, than their faction: But it was a strong compofure, a fool could difunite.

ULrss. The amity, that wisdom knits not, folly may easily untie. Here comes Patroclus.

adopted, though I have nothing fatisfactory to propofe. Though fent might eafily have been mifprinted for hent, how could fate (the reading of the original copy) and fhent have been confounded?

2

MALONE.

compofure,] So reads the quarto very properly; but the folio, which the moderns have followed, has, it was a strong counfel. JOHNSON.