you shall fight your hearts out, ere I part you. The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks i' the river: 1* go to, go to.

Tro. You have bereft me of all words, lady.

Pan. Words pay no debts, give her deeds: but she 'll bereave you of the deeds too, if she call your activity in question. What, billing again? Here 's-In witness whereof the parties interchangeably 2-Come in, come in; I'll go get a fire. [Exit PAN.

How much more poetically is the same idea expressed in Co. riolanus, when the jargon of law was absent from our author's thoughts!

9

O, a kiss,

"Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge!" Steevens. build there, carpenter; the air is sweet.] So, in Macbeth: does approve

66

"By his lov'd mansionry, that heaven's breath

"Smells wooingly here." Steevens.

1 The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks the river:] Pandarus means, that he 'll match his niece against her lover for any bett. The tercel is the male hawk; by the falcon we generally understand the female. Theobald.

I think we should rather read—at the tercel - Tyrwhitt. Mr. M. Mason observes, that the meaning of this difficult passage is, "I will back the falcon against the tiercel, I will wager that the falcon is equal to the tiercel." Steevens.

* The explanation of M. Mason is ingenious; and did I place confidence in the text, I would concur with him in opinion; but, in passing through the hands of transcribers, proof readers, and printers, the current of Shakspeare, could not be expected to flow onward without being contaminated: In the present instance if an error exists, it may be chargeable to the carelessness of the corrector of the press, or to the ignorance of his assistant (generally the most useless apprentice), who, if a cockney, would have read the passage, did it stand thus in the original;—" The falcon has the tercel, for all the ducks i' the river:" exactly as it is given in the text:-i e. without aspirating the consonant h in has, it would probably pass the proof-reader, as: From this defect in the person whose duty it is to read the copy to the corrector, numerous errors have crept into many of the best works in the English language; thus we meet with, wether, for whether; wich, for which; arm, for harm; air, for hair; &c. and, as frequently as, for has. I would therefore read, and because I think it restores the true meaning:

"The falcon has the tercel, for all the ducks i' the river.". i. e. The falcon has caught the tercel;-the falcon has conquered; the falcon has won; &c. Am. Ed.

Cres. Will you walk in, my lord?

Tro. O Cressida, how often have I wished me thus? Cres. Wished my lord?-The gods grant!-O my

lord!

Tro. What should they grant? what makes this pretty abruption? What too curious dreg espies my sweet lady in the fountain of our love?

Cres. More dregs than water, if my fears have eyes.3 Tro. Fears make devils of cherubims; they never see truly.

Cres. Blind fear, that seeing reason leads, finds safer footing than blind reason stumbling without fear: To fear the worst, oft cures the worst.

Tro. O, let my lady apprehend no fear: in all Cupid's pageant there is presented no monster.4

Cres. Nor nothing monstrous neither?

Tro. Nothing, but our undertakings; when we vow to weep seas, live in fire, eat rocks, tame tigers ;5 thinking it harder for our mistress to devise imposition enough, than for us to undergo any difficulty imposed. This is the monstruosity in love, lady,-that the will is

2

the parties interchangeably-] have set their hands and seals. So, afterwards: "Go to, a bargain made: seal it, seal it.” Shakspeare appears to have had here an idea in his thoughts that he has often expressed. So, in Measure for Measure:

"But my kisses bring again,

"Seals of love but seal'd in vain."

Again, in his Venus and Adonis:

3

"Pure lips, sweet seals in my soft lips imprinted,

"What bargains may I make, still to be sealing?" Malone.

if my fears have eyes.] The old copies have--tears. Corrected by Mr Pope. Malone.

4no fear: in all Cupid's pageant there is presented no monster] From this passage, however, a Fear appears to have been a personage in other pageants; or perhaps in our ancient moralities. To this circumstance Aspatia alludes in The Maid's Tragedy:

"" and then a Fear:

"Do that Fear bravely, wench."

See also Antony and Cleopatra, Act II, sc. ii. Steevens.

5 aveep seas, live in fire, eat rocks, tame tigers;] Here we have, not a Trojan prince talking to his mistress, but Orlando Furioso vowing that he will endure every calamity that can be imagined; boasting that he will achieve more than ever knight performed. Malone.

infinite, and the execution confined; that the desire is boundless, and the act a slave to limit.

Cres. They say, all lovers swear more performance than they are able, and yet reserve an ability that they never perform; vowing more than the perfection of ten, and discharging less than the tenth part of one. They that have the voice of lions, and the act of hares, are they not monsters?

Tro. Are there such? such are not we: Praise us as we are tasted, allow us as we prove; our head shall go bare, till merit crown it: no perfection in reversion shall have a praise in present: we will not name desert, before his birth; and, being born, his addition shall be humble. Few words to fair faith: Troilus shall be such to Cressid, as what envy can say worst, shall be a mock for his truth; and what truth can speak truest, not truer than Troilus.

Cres. Will you walk in, my lord?

Re-enter PANDARUS.

Pan. What, blushing still? have you not done talking yet?

Cres. Well, uncle, what folly I commit, I dedicate to

you.

Pan. I thank you for that; if my lord get a boy of you, you'll give him me: Be true to my lord: if he flinch, chide me for it.

Tro. You know now your hostages; your uncle's word, and my firm faith.

Pan. Nay, I'll give my word for her too; our kindred,

6 our head shall go bare, till merit crown it:] I cannot forbear to observe, that the quarto reads thus: Our head shall go bare, till merit louer part no affection, in reversion, &c. Had there been no other copy, how could this have been corrected? The true reading is in the folio. Johnson.

7 ——— his addition shall be humble.] We will give him no high or pompous titles Johnson.

Addition is still the term used by conveyancers in describing the quality and condition of the parties to deeds, &c. Reed.

8 what envy can say worst, shall be a mock for his truth;] i. e. shall be only a mock for his truth. Even malice (for such is the meaning of the word envy) shall not be able to impeach his truth, or attack him in any other way, except by ridiculing him for his constancy. See Vol. XI, p. 240, n. 7. Malone.

470112

La. Cap. A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword? Cap. My sword, I say!-Old Montague is come, And flourishes his blade in spite of me.

Enter MONTAGUE and Lady MONTAGUE.

Mon. Thou villain, Capulet,-Hold me not, let me go. La. Mon. Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe. Enter Prince, with Attendants.

Prin. Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,—
Will they not hear?-what ho! you men, you beasts,—
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mis-temper'd weapons3 to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.—
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets;
And made Verona's ancient citizens

Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partizans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate;
If ever you disturb our streets again,

Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.

2 Give me my long sword,] The long sword was the sword used in war, which was sometimes wielded with both hands. Johnson. See Vol. III, p. 60, n. 6. Malone.

This long sword is mentioned in The Coxcomb, a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher, where the justice says:

"Take their confessions, and my long sword;

"I cannot tell what danger we may meet with." Chapman, without authority from Homer, has equipped Neptune with this weapon:

"King Neptune, with his long sword, "Iliad XV. It appears that it was once the fashion to wear two swords of different sizes at the same time.

So, in Decker's Satiromastix, 1602: "Peter Salamander, tie up your great and your little sword."

The little sword was the weapon commonly worn, the dress sword. Steevens.

The little sword was probably nothing more than a dagger.

3

John:

Malone.

mis-temper'd weapons -] are angry weapons. So, in King

"This inundation of mis-temper'd humour," &c. Steevens.

For this time, all the rest depart away:
You, Capulet, shall go along with me;
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our further pleasure in this case,
To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.

[Exeunt Prince, and Attendants; CAP. Lady CAP.
TYB. Citizens, and Servants.

Mon. Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?
Speak, nephew, were you by, when it began?
Ben. Here were the servants of your adversary,
And yours, close fighting ere I did approach:
I drew to part them; in the instant came
The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepar'd;
Which, as he breath'd defiance to my ears,
He swung about his head, and cut the winds,
Who, nothing hurt withal, hiss'd him in scorn:
While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,
Came more and more, and fought on part and part,
Till the prince came, who parted either part.

La. Mon. O, where is Romeo!-saw you him to-day? Right glad I am, he was not at this fray.

Ben. Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun
Peer'd forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
Where, underneath the grove of sycamore,
That westward rooteth from the city's side,—
So carly walking did I see your son:

Towards him I made; but he was 'ware of me,
And stole into the covert of the wood:

I, measuring his affections by my own,—
That most are busied when they are most alone,3—
Pursu'd my humour, not pursuing his,

4 To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.] This name the poet found in the Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet, 1562. It is there said to be the castle of the Capulets. Malone.

5 That most are busied &c.] edition 1597. Instead of which it is in the other editions thus:

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by my own,

"Which then most sought, where most might not be found,

"Being one too many by my weary self,

"Pursu'd my humour," &c. Pope.