(7) There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip, Nay her foot fpeaks; her wanton spirits look out At every joint, and motive of her body: Oh, thefe encounterers! fo glib of tongue, They give a coafting welcome ere it comes; And wide unclafp the tables of their thoughts To every ticklish reader; fet them down For fluttish fpoils of opportunity, And daughters of the game."
The Character of Troilus.
The youngest son of Priam, a true knight; Not yet mature, yet matchlefs; firm of word; Speaking in deeds, and deedlefs in his tongue; Not foon provok'd, nor being provok'd, foon calm'd. His heart and hand both open, and both free; For what he has, he gives; what thinks, he fhews: Yet gives he not 'till judgment guide his bounty; Nor dignifies an impair thought with breath: Manly as Hector, but more dangerous; For Hector in his blaze of wrath subscribes To tender objects: but he in heat of action Is more vindicative than jealous love.
(7) There's, &c.] Nothing can exceed this defcription of a wanton woman. Richard (in the beginning of Richard the third) fpeaking of Jane Shore, fays,
We fay that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot,
A cherry lip, a paffing pleasant tongue..
But in Ifaiah there is a defcription of the wanton daughters of Zion, which is peculiarly beautiful. "Becaufe the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with ftretch'd-forth necks, and wanton eyes walking, and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet," &c. See chap. iii. ver. 16.
SCENE IX. Hector in Battle.
I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft, Labouring for destiny, make cruel way
Thro' ranks of Greekish youth; and I have seen thee As hot as Perfeus, fpur thy Phrygian steed, Bravely defpifing forfeits and fubduements, When thou has hung thy advanced sword in th' air, Not letting it decline on the declin'd: That I have faid unto my standers by,
Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!
And I have seen thee pause and take thy breath, When that a ring of Greeks hath hem'd thee in, Like an Olympian wrestling.
Achilles furveying Hector.
Tell me, ye heav'ns, in which part of his body Shall I destroy him? whether there, or there; That I may give the local wound a name, And make diitinct the very breach, where out Hector's great spirit flew. Anfwer me, heavens!
SCENE VI.
Honour more dear than Life.
(8) Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate; Life every man holds dear, but the brave man Holds honour far more precious dear than life.
Pity to be difcarded in War.
For love of all the gods,
Let's leave the hermit pity with our mothers; And when we have our armour buckled on, The venom'd vengeance ride upon our swords!
(8) Mine honour, &c.] See the firft paffage in Julius Caefar,
The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows; They are polluted offerings, more abhorr'd Than fpotted livers in the facrifice.
THIS play (fays Johnson) is more correctly written than most of Shakespear's compofitions, but it is not one of thofe in which either the extent of his views, or elevation of his fancy is fully difplayed. As the frory abounded with materials, he has exert- ed little invention; but he has diverfified his characters with great variety, and preferved them with great exactnefs. His vicious characters fometimes difguft, but cannot corrupt, for both Creffida and Pandarus are detefted and contemned. The comic characters feem to have been the favourites of the writer; they are of the fuperficial kind, and exhibit more of manners than nature; but they are copioufly filled and power- fully impreffed. Shakespear has in his ftory followed, for the greater part, the old book of Caxton, which was then very popu lar; but the character of Therfites, of which it makes no men- tion, is a proof that this play was written after Chapman had published his verhon of Homer.
CHILLES furveying Hector, 311 Achilles defcribed by Ulyffes, 298 Action requires refolution, 78 Adverfity, the trial of man, 297
Advice against cruelty, 121 Age, an old one defpifed, 185, n. ibid
Ajax, his ftupidity, 300 Allegiance, firm, defcribed,83, n. ibid
Ambition, how covered, 118 Anger defcribed, 78, its exter- nal effects, 83, n. ibid Antony, to the corps of Cefar, 124, his addrefs to the con- fpirators, ibid, his funeral oration, 125, and character of Brutus, 137 Apoftrophe to death, 103 Appearances, false, defcribed, 38
Applaufe, defcription of, 87 Army, English, the state of, 96, Defcription of, 96, n. ibid VOL. III.
Calpburnia's speech on prodigies feen, 122
Caffus, his contempt of Cæfar, 115, n. ibid. his difcourfe and parting with Brutus, 130 Catharine, queen, speech of, to her husband, 80, and to car- dinal Wolfey, and upon her own merit, 81, 82, to what compared, ibid Ceremony infincere, 129 Cefar, his diflike of Caffius, 117, and fpeech on the fear of death, 123, n. ibid Child, an alienated one de- fcribed, 140, n. ibid Child, ingratitude of one, 144 Churchman, description of a, ༡༠
Clarence's dream in the tower, 236
Conduct, when fuperior to ac-
tion, 297 Confpiracy, the horrors of one, 102, how dreadful, 119, n. ibid, defcription of, 121 Confcience, a good one de- scrib'd, 57, n.ibid, the ftrug- gles of, 107, what it is, 244 Confideration, 34 Confiance to Auftria, 101 Confolation under banishment, 224 Conftancy in love protested, 303 Contemplation, a zealous one defcribed, 240 Content, when perfect, 208, n. ibid Contention, comparison of, 19 Cordelia's fpeech-upon the in- gratitude of her fifters, 157 Countenance, a guilty one, 56
Country, an oppreffed one de- fcribed, 181 Courage defcribed, 97 Courtezans, reflections upon them, 279 to 281, n. ibid Courtship, a beautiful one, 251 to 257
Courtier, a finical one, descrip- - tion of, 3
Cowardice defcribed, 224 Cranmer, archbishop, his pro- phecy, 90, n. ibid
Creffida, defcription of, 310, n. ibid Crown, reflections upon it, 29, n. ibid, the tranfports of, 65, n. ibid
Cruelty, against it, 121 Cynic, (philofopher) his grace,
Customs, why followed, 79
Danger defcribed, 5, its fup- port, 105, and comparison with Caefar, 123, n. ibid Day-break, a defcription of, 243
Deceit in a fine woman, 239 Death, the approach of, 110, the fear of it, 123 Death-bed, horrors of a guilty confcience, 60
Degree, a defcription of, 296, n. ibid
Delay, beautifully described, 241, n. ibid
Delights, when not lasting, 258 Dependants not to be trufted too much, 79
Desdemona, her faithfulness, 218 difcovered in bed asleep, 219 Defpondency, 105 Defpair defcribed, 109
« ÎnapoiContinuă » |