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TRO. Come, to the port.-I'll tell thee, Diomed, This brave fhall oft make thee to hide thy head.Lady, give me your hand; and, as we walk, To our own felves bend we our needful talk.

[Exeunt TROILUS, CRESSIDA, and DIOMED. [Trumpet beard.

PAR. Hark! Hector's trumpet.

ENE.

How have we spent this morning! The prince must think me tardy and remiss, That swore to ride before him to the field.

2

PAR. 'Tis Troilus' fault: Come, come, to field with him.

DEI. Let us make ready straight.3

I'll tell thee,] This phrafeology (inftead of" I tell thee") occurs almoft too frequently in our author, to need exemplification. One inftance of it, however, fhall be given from King John, A& V. fc. vi:

"I'll tell thee, Hubert, half my power this night
Paffing thefe flats are taken by the tide."

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Again, in the first line of King Henry V:

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My lord, I'll tell you, that felf bill is urg'd

Mr. Malone, conceiving this mode of fpeech to be merely a printer's error, reads, in the former inftance,-" I tell thee," though, in the two paffages juft cited, he retains the ancient and perhaps the true reading. STEEVENS,

3 Dei. Let us make ready ftraight. &c.] Thefe five lines are not in the quarto, being probably added at the revision. JOHNSON. But why fhould Diomed fay,-Let us make ready ftraight? Was he to tend with them on Hector's heels? Certainly not. Dio. has therefore crept in by miftake; the line either is part of Paris's fpeech, or belongs to Deiphobus, who is in company. As to Diomed, he neither goes along with them, nor has any thing to get ready-he is now walking with Troilus and Creffida, towards the gate, on his way to the Grecian camp. RITSON.

This laft fpeech cannot poffibly belong to Diomede, who was a Grecian, and could not have addreffed Paris and Æneas, as if they were going on the fame party. This is in truth a continuation of the fpeech of Paris, and the preceding ftage direction fhould run thus: "Exeunt Troilus, Creffida, and Diomed who had the charge of Creffida." M. MASON.

ENE. Yea, with a bridegroom's fresh alacrity, Let us addrefs to tend on Hector's heels: The glory of our Troy doth this day lie On his fair worth, and single chivalry. [Exeunt.

SCENE V.

The Grecian Camp. Lifts fet out.

Enter Ajax, arm'd; AGAMEMNON, ACHILLES, PATROCLUS, MENELAUS, ULYSSES, NESTOR, and Others.

AGAM. Here art thou in appointment fresh and fair,*

Anticipating time with starting courage.

To the first of thefe lines," Let us make ready ftraight," is prefixed in the folio, where alone the paffage is found, Dio.

1 fufpect thefe five lines were an injudicious addition by the actors for the fake of concluding the fcene with a couplet; to which (if there be no corruption) they were more attentive than to the country of Diomed, or the particular commiffion he was entrusted with by the Greeks. The line in queftion, however, as has been fuggefted, may belong to Deiphobus. From Eneas's firft fpeech in p. 364, and the ftage-direction in the quarto and folio prefixed to the third fcene of this act, Deiphobus appears to be now on the ftage; and Dio. and Dei. might have been easily confounded. As this flight change removes the abfurdity, I have adopted it. It was undoubtedly intended by Shakspeare that Diomed thould make his exit with Troilus and Creffida. MALONE.

4-in appointment fresh and fair,] Appointment is preparation. So, in Meafure for Measure:

Therefore your best appointment make with speed." Again, in King Henry IV. Part I:

"What well-appointed leader fronts us here?" i. e. what leader well prepared with arms and accoutrements?

On the other hand, in Hamlet:

STEEVENS.

"Unhoufell'd, disappointed, unanneal'd." MALONE.

Give with thy trumpet a loud note to Troy,
Thou dreadful Ajax; that the appalled air
May pierce the head of the great combatant,
And hale him hither.

AJAX.

Thou, trumpet, there's my purse. Now crack thy lungs, and split thy brazen pipe: Blow, villain, till thy fphered bias cheek' Out-fwell the cholick of puff'd Aquilon:

Come, ftretch thy cheft, and let thy eyes fpout

blood;

Thou blow'st for Hector.

ULYSS. No trumpet anfwers.

ACHIL.

[Trumpet founds.

'Tis but early days.

AGAM. Is not yon Diomed, with Calchas' daughter?

ULYSS. 'Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait; He rifes on the toe: that fpirit of his

In afpiration lifts him from the earth.

Enter DIOMED, with CRESSIDA.

AGAM. Is this the lady Creffid?

DIO.

Even she.

AGAM. Moft dearly welcome to the Greeks, fweet

lady.

NEST. Our general doth falute you with a kiss. ULYSS. Yet is the kindness but particular; 'Twere better, fhe were kifs'd in general.

5 bias cheek-] Swelling out like the bias of a bowl.

So, in Vittoria Corombona, or the White Devil, 1612:

[blocks in formation]

JOHNSON.

The idea is taken from the puffy cheeks of the winds, as reprefented in ancient prints, maps, &c. STEEVENS.

NEST. And very courtly counfel: I'll begin.So much for Neftor.

ACHIL. I'll take that winter from your lips, fair lady:

Achilles bids you welcome.

MEN. I had good argument for kiffing once. PATR. But that's no argument for kiffing now: For thus popp'd Paris in his hardiment; And parted thus you and your argument.

ULYSS. O deadly gall, and theme of all our fcorns! For which we lose our heads, to gild his horns. PATR. The firft was Menelaus' kifs;-this, mine: Patroclus kiffes you.

ΜΕΝ.

O, this is trim!

PATR. Paris, and I, kiss evermore for him. MEN. I'll have my kifs, fir:-Lady, by your

leave.

CRES. In kiffing, do you render, or receive?"
PATR. Both take and give."

CRES.

I'll make my match to live,*

The kifs you take is better than you give;

Therefore no kiss.

MEN. I'll give you boot, I'll give you three for

one.

6 In kiffing, do you render, or receive?] Thus, Baffanio, in The Merchant of Venice, when he kiffes Portia:

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Fair lady, by your leave,

"I come by note, to give, and to receive." STEEVENS.

7 Patr. Both take and give.] This fpeech fhould rather be given to Menelaus. TYRWHITT.

8 I'll make my match to live,] I will make fuch bargains as I may live by, fuch as may bring me profit, therefore will not take a worfe kifs than I give. JOHNSON.

I believe this only means-I'll lay my life. TYRwHITT.

CRES. You're an odd man; give even, or give

none.

MEN. An odd man, lady? every man is odd.

CRES. No, Paris is not; for, you know, 'tis true, That you are odd, and he is even with you.

MEN. You fillip me o'the head.

CRES.

No, I'll be fworn.

ULrss. It were no match, your nail against his

horn.

May I, fweet lady, beg a kifs of you?

CRES. You may.

ULYSS.

I do defire it.

CRES.

Why, beg then.”

ULYSS. Why then, for Venus' fake, give me a

kifs,

When Helen is a maid again, and his.

If

CRES. I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due. ULrss. Never's my day, and then a kifs of you." DIO. Lady, a word;-I'll bring you to your fa[DIOMED leads out CRESSIDA.

ther.

NEST. A woman of quick fenfe.

9 Why, beg then.] For the fake of rhyme we should read; Why beg two.

you think kiffes worth begging, beg more than one.

JOHNSON.

Never's my day, and then a kifs of you.] I once gave both thefe lines to Creffida. She bids Ulyffes beg a kifs; he aíks that he may have it,

"When Helen is a maid again,

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She tells him that then he fhall have it,-When Helen is a maid again :

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"Cref. I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due; Uly. Never's my day, and then a kifs for you.' But I rather think that Ulyffes means to flight her, and that the present reading is right. JOHNSON.

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