For which we lose our heads, to gild his horns.
Patr. The first was Menelaus' kiss ;-this, mine:
O, this is trim!
I'll make my match to live, The kiss you take is better than you give; Therefore no kiss.
Men. I 'll give you boot, I'll give you three for one. 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,
Men. You fillip me o’the head.
No, I'll be sworn. Ulyss. It were no match, your nail against his horn.May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you?
Cres. You may.
I do desire it.
Why, beg then. Ulyss. Why then, for Venus' sake, give me a kiss, When Helen is a maid again, and his.
Cres. I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due.
8 In kissing, do you render, or receive ) Thus, Bassanio, in The Merchant of Venice, when he kisses Portia:
Fair lady, by your leave, “I come by note, to give, and to receive." Steevens. 9 Patr. Both take and give.] This speech should rather be given to Menelaus. Tyrwhitt.
1 I'll make my match to live,] I will make such bargains as I may live by, such as may bring me profit, therefore will not take a worse kiss than I give. Johnson.
I believe this only means --I'll lay my life. Tyrwhitt. 2 Why, beg then.] For the sake of a rhyme we should read:
Why beg two. If you think kisses worth begging, beg more than one. Fohnson.
3 Never's my day, and then a kiss of you.] I once gave both these lines to Cressida. She bids Ulysses beg a kiss; he asks that he
may have it,
“When Helen is a maid again,
Dio. Latly, a word;—I 'll bring you to your father.
[Dio. leads out CRES. Nest. A woman of quick sense. Ulyss.
Fy, fy upon her!
She tells him that then he shall have it, - When Helen is a maid again:
“ Cres. I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due,
“Ulyss. Never 's my day, and then a kiss for you." But I rather think that Ulysses means to slight her, and that the present reading is right. Johnson. 4 There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip,
Nay, her foot speaks ; &c.] One would almost think that Shakspeare had, on this occasion, been reading St. Chrysostom, who says "Non loquuta es lingua, sed loquuta es gressu; non loquuta es voce, sed oculis loquuta es clarius quam voce;" i. e. “They say nothing with their mouthes, they speake in their gate, they speake with their eyes, they speake in the carriage of their bodies.” I have borrowed this invective against a wanton, as well as the translation of it, from Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Part III, Sect. ii, Memb. 2, Subs 3. Steevens.
motive of her body.) Motive, for part that contributes to motion. Fohnson.
This word is also employed with some singularity, in All's Well that Ends Well:
" As it hath fated her to be my motive
“ And helper to a husband.” Steevens. 60, these encounterers, so glib of tongue,
That give a coasting welcome ere it comes,] Ere what comes? As this passage stands, the pronoun it has no antecedent. Johnson says, a coasting means an amarous address, courtship, but he has given no example to prove it, or shown how the word can possibly bear that meaning. I have no doubt but we should read:
And give accosting welcome ere it come. M Mason. Mr. M. Mason's conjecture is plausible and ingenious; and yet, without some hesitation, it cannot be admitted into the text.
A coasting welcome may mean a side-long glance of invitation. Ere it comes, may signify, before such an overture has reached her. Perhaps, therefore, the plain sense of the passage may be, that Cressida is one of those females who throw out their lure, before any like signal has been made to them by our sex.
I always advance with reluctance what I cannot prove by esamples; and yet, perhaps, I may be allowed to add, that in some VOL. XII.
And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts
[Trumpet withi. All. The Trojans' trumpet. Agam.
Yonder comes the troop, Enier HECTOR, armed; ÆNEAS, Troilus, and other
Trojans, with Attendants. Æne. Hail, all the state of Greece! what shall be done To him that rictory commands ?8 Or do you purpose, A victor shall be known? will you, the knights Shall to the edge of all extremity? Pursue each other; or shall they be divided By any voice or order of the field? Hector bade ask. Agam.
Which way would Hector have it? Æne. He cares not, he ’ll obey conditions. Achil. 'Tis done like Hector; but securely done,
old book of voyages which I have formerly read, I remember that the phrase, a coasting salute, was used to express a salute of guns from a ship passing by a fortified place at which the navigator did not design to stop, though the salute was instantly returned. So, in Othello:
“They do discharge their shot of courtesy;
“Our friends, at least.” Again:
“They give this greeting to the citadel:
" This likewise is a friend.” Cressida may therefore resemble a fortress which salutes before it has been saluted. Steevens.
A coasting welcome is a conciliatory welcome; that makes silent advances before the tongue has uttered a word. So, in our author's Venus and Adonis:
“ Anon she hears them chaunt it lustily,
sluttish spoils of opportunity,] Corrupt wenches of whose chastity every opportunity may make a prey. Johnson.
what shall be done To him that victory commands?? This phrase is scriptural, and signifies--what honour shall he receive? So, in Samuel I, xvii, 26: What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine?"
A little proudly, and great deal misprizing
If not Achilles, sir,
1 'Tis done like Hector, but securely done,] This speech, in the old copies, is given to Agamemnon. Malone.
It seems absurd to me, that Agamemnon should make a remark to the disparagement of Hector for pride, and that Æneas should immediately say
“If not Achilles, sir, what is your name?” To Achilles I have ventured to place it; and consulting Mr. Dry. den's alteration of this play, I was not a little pleased to find, that I bad but seconded the opinion of that great man in this point.
Theobald. Though all the old copies agree in giving this speech to Agamemnon, I have no doubt but Theobald is right in restoring it to Achilles. It is this very speech, so much in character, that makes Æneas immediately recognize Achilles, and say in reply
“ If not Achilles, sir, what is your name?” And it is to Achilles he afterwards addresses bimself in reply to this speech; on which he answers the observation it contains on Hector's conduct, by giving his just character, and clearing himself from the charge of pride. I have already observed that the copies of this play are uncommonly faulty with respect to the distribution of the speeches to the proper persons. M. Mason.
securely done,] In the sense of the Latin, securus-securus admodum de bello, animi securi homo. A negligent security arising from a contempt of the object opposed. Warburton
Dr. Warburton truly observes, that the word securely is here used in the Latin sense: and Mr. Warner, in his ingenious letter to Mr. Garrick, thinks the sense peculiar to Shakspeare; “ for (says he) I have not been able to trace it elsewhere.” This genileman has treated me with so much civility, that I am bound in honour to remove his difficulty. It is to be found in the last act of The Spanish Tragedy:
“O damned devil, how secure he is.” In my Lord Bacon's Essay on Tumults, “ – neither let any prince or state be secure concerning discontents.” And besides these, in Drayton, Fletcher, and the vulgar translation of the Bible.
Mr. Warner had as little success in his researches for the word religion in its Latin acceptation. I meet with it however in Ho. by's translation of Castilio, 1561: “Some be so scrupulous, as it were, with a religion of this their Tuscane tung."
Ben Jonson more than once uses both the substantive and the adjective in this sense.
As to the word Cavalero, with the Spanish termination, it is to be found in Heywood, Withers, Davies, Taylor, and many other writers. Farmer.
If not Achilles, nothing.
(AJAX and Hect. enter the lists. Ulyss. They are oppos’d already. Agam. What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy?
Ulyss. The youngest son of Priam, a true knight; Not yet mature, yet matchless; firm of word; Speaking in deeds, and deediess in his tongue;? Not soon provok'd, nor, being provok’d, soon calm’d:
2 Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector ;] Shakspeare's thought is not exactly deduced Nicety of expression is not his character. The meaning is plain: “Valour (says Æneas) is in Hector greater than valour in other men, and pride in Hector is less than pride in other men. So that Hector is distinguished by the excellence of having pride less than other pride, and valour more than other valour.” Johnson.
3 This Ajax is half made of Hector's blood: ] Ajax and Hector were cousin-germans. Malone.
5 — a breath :) i. e. a breathing, a slight exercise of arms. See p. 79, n. 6. Steevens.
stints -] 1. e. stops. So, in Timon of Athens: