ANNOTATIONS ON TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. ACT I. SCENE I. LINE 11. foolish. Line 13. And skill-less &c.] Mr. Dryden, in his alteration of this play, has taken this speech as it stands, except that he has changed skill-less to artless, not for the better, because skill-less refers to skill and skilful. JOHNSON. fonder than ignorance;] i.e. more weak or MALONE. Line 31. Doth lesser blench-] To blench, to shrink or start. 59. Handlest in thy discourse, 0, that her hand, &c.] Handlest is here used metaphorically, with an allusion, at the same time, to its literal meaning; and the jingle between hand MALONE. and handlest is perfectly in our author's manner. Line 62. and spirit of sense Hard as the palm of ploughman!] Warburton reads, -spite of sense: It is not proper to make a lover profess to praise his mistress in spite of sense; for though he often does it in spite of the sense of others, his own senses are subdued to his desires. Line 72. JOHNSON she has the mends-] She may mend her comJOHNSON. plexion by the assistance of cosmeticks. I believe it rather means-She may make the best of a bad bargain. Line 109. Ilium,] Was the palace of Troy. STEEVENS. JOHNSON. Line 139. mical prudence. Line 150. Cresseide: Line 155. ACT I. SCENE II. -husbandry in war,] Husbandry means econoMALONE. -per se,-] So in Chaucer's Testament of "Of faire Cresseide the floure and a per se STEEVENS. their particular additions;] Their peculiar and characteristick qualities or denominations; the term in this sense is originally forensick. MALONE. Line 158. —that his valour is crushed into folly,] To be crushed into folly, is to be confused and mingled with folly, so as that they make one mass together. Line 252. JOHNSON. compassed window,] The compassed window is the same as the bow window. JOHNSON. Line 260. -so old a lifter?] The word lifter is used for a thief, by Green, in his Art of Coney-catching, printed 1591: on this the humour of the passage may be supposed to turn. We still call a person who robs the shops a shop-lifter. STEEVENS. Line 343. the rich shall have more.] The allusion is to the word noddy, which, as now, did, in our author's time, and long before, signify, a silly fellow, and may, by its etymology, signify likewise full of nods. Cressid means, that a noddy shall have more nods. JOHNSON. Line 412. —upon my wit, to defend my wiles:] So read both the copies: yet perhaps the author wrote, Upon my wit to defend my will. The terms wit and will were, in the language of that time, put often in opposition. JOHNSON. Line 439.joy's soul lies in the doing:] So read both the old editions; for which the later editions have poorly given, the soul's joy lies in doing. Line 440. 447. JOHNSON. That she-] Means, that woman. JOHNSON. my heart's content-] Content, for capacity. WARBURTON. ACT I. SCENE III. Line 476. affin'd-] i. e. affianced. 483. other instance. Line 500. 503. under shade. Nestor shall apply Thy latest words.] Nestor applies the words to an JOHNSON. by the brize,] The brize is the gadfly. And flies fled under shade,] i.e. And flies are fled MALONE. Line 503. the thing of courage,] It is said of the tiger, that in storms and high winds he rages and roars most furiously. HANMER. Line 507. Returns to chiding fortune.] For returns, Hanmer reads replies unnecessarily, the sense being the same. The folio and quarto have retires, corruptly. JOHNSON. Line 516. -speeches,-which were such, As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece Should with a bond of air (strong as the axle-tree On which heaven rides) knit all the Greekish cars To his experienc'd tongue,] Ulysses begins his oration with praising those who had spoken before him, and marks the characteristick excellencies of their different eloquence, strength, and sweetness, which he expresses by the different metals on which he recommends them to be engraven for the instruction of posterity. The speech of Agamemnon is such that it ought to be engraven in brass, and the tablet held up by him on the one side, and Greece on the other, to shew the union of their opinion. And Nestor ought to be exhibited in silver, uniting all his audience in one mind by his soft and gentle elocution. Brass is the common emblem of strength, and silver of gentleness. We call a soft voice a silver voice, and a persuasive tongue a silver tongue.- -I once read for hand, the band of Greece, but I think the text right. To hatch is a term of art for a particular method of engraving. Hatcher, to cut, Fr. JOHNSON. Line 533. The specialty of rule-] The particular rights of supreme authority. Line 530. JOHNSON. When that the general is not like the hive,] The meaning is When the general is not to the army like the hive to the bees, the repository of the stock of every individual, that to which each particular resorts with whatever he has collected for the good of the whole, what honey is expected? what hope of advantage? The sense is clear, the expression is confused. JOHNSON. Line 540. The heavens themselves,] This illustration was probably derived from a passage in Hooker: "If celestial spheres "should forget their wonted motion; if the prince of the lights "of heaven should begin to stand; if the moon should wander "from her beaten way; and the seasons of the year blend themselves; what would become of man?" The heavens themselves, the planets, and this center,] i. e. the center of the earth; which, according to the Ptolemaic system then in vogue, is the center of the solar system. WARBURTON. Mr. Mason is of opinion that Ulysses meant the earth itself; for according to the Ptolemaic system, the earth is the center round which the planets move. In evil mixture, to disorder wander, &c.] I believe the poet, according to astrological opinions, means, when the planets form malignant configurations, when their aspects are evil towards one another. This he terms evil mixture. JOHNSON. The apparent irregular motions of the planets were supposed to portend some disasters to mankind; indeed the planets themselves were not thought formerly to be confined in any fixed orbits of their own, but to wander about ad libitum, as the etymology of their names demonstrates. ANONYMOUS, Line 555. —deracinate—] i. e. pluck up by the roots. 557. -So, when degree is shak'd. Then enterprize is sick! JOHNSON. JOHNSON. Line 559. The enterprize-] Perhaps we should read, Line 560. -brotherhoods in cities,] Corporations, com panies, confraternities. JOHNSON. Line 569. And make a sop of all this solid globe:] Thus in K. Lear, "I'll make a sop o' the moonshine of you!" Line 584. That by a pace-] That goes backward step by step. -with a purpose It hath to climb.] With a design in each man to aggrandize himself, by slighting his immediate superior. Line 590. JOHNSON. -bloodless emulation:] An emulation not vigor ous and active, but malignant and sluggish. Line 601. JOHNSON. -his airy fame,] Verbal eulogium; what our MALONE. author, in Macbeth, has called mouth honour. Line 609. Thy topless deputation-] Topless is that has nothing topping or overtopping it; supreme; sovereign. JOHNSON. Line 613. 'Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage,] The galleries of the theatre, in the time of our author, were sometimes termed the scaffolds. (See the account of the ancient Theatres, Vol. IX.) Line 624. MALONE. -as near as the extremest ends Of parallels;] The parallels to which the allusion seems to be made are the parallels on a map. As like as East to West. Line 634. All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes, JOHNSON. Achievements, plots, &c.] The meaning is this, all our good grace exact, means of excellence irreprehensible. JOHNS. Line 641. -to make paradoxes.] Paradoxes may have a meaning, but it is not clear and distinct. I wish the copies had given, Line 645. -to make parodies. JOHNSON. In such a rein,] That is, holds up his head as haughti ly. We still say of a girl, she bridles. JOHNSON. Line 653. How rank soever rounded in with danger.] A rank weed is a high weed. JOHNSON. |