Line 660. and know, by measure

Of their observant toil, the enemies' weight,] I think

it were better to read,

-and know the measure,

By their observant toil, of th' enemies' weight. JOHNS. Line 683. A stranger to those most imperial looks-] And yet this was the seventh year of the war. Shakspeare, who so wonderfully preserves character, usually confounds the customs of all nations, and probably supposed that the ancients (like the heroes of chivalry) fought with beavers to their helmets. STEEVENS. Line 731. -long continu'd truce-] Of this long truce there has been no notice taken; in this very act it is said, that Ajar coped Hector yesterday in the battle. JOHNSON.

Line 738.

fession.

Line 739.

-more than in confession,] Confession, for proWARBURTON.

РОРЕ.

-to her own lips he loves,] That is, confession made with idle vows to the lips of her whom he loves. JOHNSON. Line 766. And in my vantbrace-] An armour for the arm, avantbras. Line 784. Be you my time &c.] i. e. be you to my present purpose what time is in respect of all other schemes, viz. a ripener and bringer of them to maturity.

Line 790.

nursery.

STEEVENS.

nursery-] Alluding to a plantation called a

JOHNSON.

Line 797. The purpose is perspicuous even as substance, Whose grossness little characters sum up:] That is, the purpose is as plain as body or substance; and though I have collected this purpose from many minute particulars, as a gross body is made up of small insensible parts, yet the result is as clear and certain as a body thus made up is palpable and visible. This is the thought, though a little obscured in the conciseness of the expression. WARBURTON.

Line 800. And, in the publication, make no strain,] Nestor goes on to say, make no difficulty, no doubt, when this duel comes to be proclaimed, but that Achilles, dull as he is, will discover the drift of it. THEOBALD.

Line 817. scantling-] That is, a measure, proportion. The carpenter cuts his wood to a certain scantling.

JOHNSON.

Line 819.

the volumes.

small pricks-] Small points compared with

Indexes were in Shakspeare's time often prefixed to books.

Line 854. The sort--] i.e. the lot.

JOHNSON.

MALONE.

STEEVENS.

870. Must tarre the mastiffs on,] Tarre an old English word signifying to provoke or urge on. See King John, Act 4.

Scene 1.

-like a dog

Snatch at his master that doth tar him on.

ACT II. SCENE I.

POPE.

Line 13. The plague of Greece-] Alluding perhaps to the plague sent by Apollo on the Grecian army. JOHNSON.

Line 15. Speak then, thou unsalted leaven, speak:] Unsalted leaven means sour without salt, malignity without wit. Shakspeare wrote first unsalted; but recollecting that want of salt was no fault in leaven, changed it to vinew'd. JOHNSON.

The want of salt is no fault in leaven; but leaven without the addition of salt will not make good bread: hence Shakspeare used it as a term of reproach. MALONE.

Line 31. —in Greece.] The quarto adds these words, when thou art forth in the incursions, thou strikest as slow as another.

JOHNSON.

JOHNSON.

Line 37. -ay, that thou barkest at him.] I read, O that thou barkedst at him. Line 41. Cobloaf!] A Cob-loaf, says Minshieu, " is a bunne."

42.

MALONE.

-pun thee into shivers] Pun is in the midland counties the vulgar and colloquial word for pound. JOHNSON. Line 46. Thou stool for a witch!] In one way of trying a witch they used to place her on a chair or stool, with her legs tied across, that all the weight of her body might rest upon her seat; and by that means, after some time, the circulation of the blood would be much stopped, and her sitting would be as painful as the wooden horse. Dr. GREY. -an assinego-] It is difficult to ascertain the

Line 48.

precise meaning of this word. Mr. Steevens thinks it is an assdriver; Mr. Henley that it means an ass; Dr. Musgrave, a little ass; and Mr. Ritson says it is a he-ass.

Line 104. —is beaten voluntary:] i. e. voluntarily..

MALONE.

Line 112. -Nestor,—whose wit was mouldy ere your grandsires had nails-] [Old copies-their grandsires.] This is one of these editors wise riddles. What! was Nestor's wit mouldy before his grandsire's toes had any nails? Preposterous nonsense! and yet so easy a change, as one poor pronoun for another, sets all right and clear. THEOBALD.

Line 123. when Achilles' brach bids me,] The folio and quarto read, Achilles' brooch. Brooch is an appendant ornament. The meaning may be, equivalent to one of Achilles' hangcrs on. JOHNSON.

ACT II. SCENE II.

Line 161.

-many thousand dismes,] Disme, Fr. is the

STEEVENS.

tithe, the tenth. Line 172. The past-proportion of his infinite?] Thus read both the copies. The meaning is, that greatness to which no measure bears any proportion. JOHNSON. Line 208. And the will dotes, that is attributive-] The will dotes that attributes or gives the qualities which it affects; that first causes excellence, and then admires it.

Line 210.

JOHNSON.

Without some image of the affected merit:] The will affects an object for some supposed merit, which Hector says is censurable, unless the merit so affected be really there. JOHNS. Line 222. -unrespective sieve,] That is, into a common voider. JOHNSON.

Line 243. And do a deed that fortune never did,] If I understand this passage, the meaning is, "Why do you, by censuring "the determination of your own wisdoms, degrade Helen, whom "fortune has not yet deprived of her value, or against whom, as "the wife of Paris, fortune has not in this war so declared, as to "make us value her less?" This is very harsh, and much strained. JOHNSON.

Line 247. But, thieves,] Hanmer reads, Base thieves,-.

281.

.307.

JOHNSON.

distaste-] Corrupt; change to a worse state.

JOHNSON.

-her fair rape—] Rape, in our author's time, MALONE. commonly signified the carrying away of a female.

Line 339.

-benumbed wills,] That is, inflexible, immove

JOHNSON.

able, no longer obedient to superior direction. Line 340. There is a law-] What the law does in every nation between individuals, justice ought to do between nations. JOHNSON,

Line 349. Is this, in way of truth:] Though considering truth and justice in this question, this is my opinion; yet as a question of honour, I think on it as you.

JOHNSON.

Line 357. the performance of our heaving spleens,] The execution of spite and resentment.

Line 374.

JOHNSON.

-emulation-] That is, envy, factious conten

tion.

JOHNSON.

Line 392.

ACT II. SCENE III.

without drawing their massy irons,] That is,

without drawing their swords to cut the web. They use no means

JOHNSON.

but those of violence. Line 407. Let thy blood be thy direction-] Thy blood means, thy passions; thy unnatural propensities.

Line 429. decline the whole question.-] question from the first case to the last.

Line 451. tending factions.

MALONE. Deduce the JOHNSON.

MALONE.

-to draw emulous factions,] i. e. envious, con

Line 457. He shent our messengers;] i. e. rebuked, rated.

WARBURTON.

·488. noble state,] Person of high dignity; spoken

Noble state rather means the stately train of attending nobles

whom you bring with you.

Line 508.

distant behaviour.

STEEVENS.

tend the savage strangeness-] i. e. shyness,

MALONE.

Line 510. underwrite-] To subscribe, in Shakspeare, is

to obey.

Line 570.

587.

Line 591.

curry.

JOHNSON.

with his own seam ;] Seam is grease. STEEV. I'll pash him

Over the face.] To pash is to strike.

-pheeze his pride:] To phecze is to comb or

JOHNSON.

JOHNSON.

Line 594. Not for the worth-] Not for the value of all for which we are fighting. Line 612. Ajax. I'll knead him, I'll make him supple, he's not yet thorough warm.

Nest.force him with praises: &c.] The latter part of Ajax's speech is certainly got out of place, and ought to be assigned to Nestor, as I have ventured to transpose it. Ajax is feeding on his vanity, and boasting what he will do to Achilles; he'll pash him o'er the face, he'll make him eat swords, he'll knead him, he'll supple him, &c. Nestor and Ulysses slily labour to keep him up in this vein; and to this end Nestor craftily hints, that Ajax is not warm yet, but must be crammed with more flattery. THEOBALD. -force him-] i. e. stuff him. Farcir, Fr.

STEEVENS.

MALONE.

Line 626. He is not emulous,] i. e. envious. -645. Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield-] i. e. yield

his titles, his celebrity for strength.

MALONE.

Line 647. —like a bourn,] A bourn is a boundary or limit. 656. Nest. Ay, my good son.] In the folio and in the modern editions Ajax desires to give the title of father to Ulysses; in the quarto, more naturally, to Nestor.

Line 35. invisible every

ACT III. SCENE I.

JOHNSON.

love's invisible soul,] May mean the soul of love where else.

JOHNSON.

STEEV.

Line 59. -in fits.] i. e. now and then, by fits. 78. And, my lord, he desires you,] Here I think the speech of Pandarus should begin, and the rest of it should be added to that of Helen; but I have followed the copies. JOHNS. Line 140. -sweet lord,] In the quarto sweet lad.

JOHNSON.