Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan',
Puffing at all, winnows the light away;

And what hath mass, or matter, by itself
Lies rich in virtue, and unmingled.

Nest. With due observance of thy godlike seat',
Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply

Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance
Lies the true proof of men: the sea being smooth,
How many shallow bauble boats dare sail

Upon her patient breast', making their way
With those of nobler bulk ?

But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage

The gentle Thetis, and, anon, behold,

The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut,
Bounding between the two moist elements,

Like Perseus' horse: where's then the saucy boat,
Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now
Co-rival'd greatness? either to harbour fled,
Or made a toast for Neptune. Even so
Doth valour's show, and valour's worth, divide
In storms of fortune; for, in her ray and brightness,
The herd hath more annoyance by the brize3,
Than by the tiger; but when the splitting wind

Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks,

And flies fled under shade, why then, the thing of courage,

As rous'd with rage, with rage doth sympathize,

And with an accent tun'd in self-same key,

Replies to chiding fortune'.

9 - with a BROAD and powerful fan,] This is the better reading of the 4tos; but that of the folio, "loud and powerful fan," is not inconsistent with "tempest" in the preceding line. Unmingled," just below, was a quadrisyllable.

66

1 thy godlike seat,] The 4tos. read, "the godlike seat," and the folio, 1623, "thy godly seat" (not "goodly seat," as Theobald asserted), and the true reading, "thy godlike seat," is contained in the corr. fo. 1632, where "godlike" is substituted for godly.

2 Upon her PATIENT breast,] The 4tos. have ancient for "patient" of the folio: "patient" certainly is an improvement with reference to the rest of the passage; and " patient," was probably misheard ancient.

3

by the BRIZE,] The "brize" is the gad or horse-fly. See also "Antony and Cleopatra," A. iii. sc. 8.

4 REPLIES to chiding fortune.] The 4tos. and folios have "retires to chiding fortune," and Pope altered retires to returns, which might on some accounts seem preferable to Sir T. Hanmer's "replies to chiding fortune," if the latter were not the emendation in the corr. fo. 1632, which we feel bound to accept. The Rev. Mr. Dyce ("Few Notes," p. 107) suggests that Shakespeare may have written retorts-not a very happy conjecture.

Ulyss.

Agamemnon,

Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Greece,
Heart of our numbers, soul and only spirit,

In whom the tempers and the minds of all
Should be shut up, hear what Ulysses speaks.
Besides the applause and approbation

The which, most mighty for thy place and sway,

[To AGAMEMNON.

And thou most reverend for thy stretch'd-out life,—

[TO NESTOR.

I give to both your speeches, which were such,
As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece
Should hold up high in brass; and such again,
As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver,
Should with a bond of air (strong as the axletree
On which heaven rides) knit all the Greekish ears
To his experienc'd tongue,—yet let it please both,—
Thou great,—and wise,—to hear Ulysses speak.

Agam. Speak, prince of Ithaca; and be't of less expect", That matter needless, of importless burden,

Divide thy lips, than we are confident,

When rank Thersites opes his mastiff jaws',

We shall hear music, wit, and oracle.

Ulyss. Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down,
And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a master,
But for these instances.

The specialty of rule hath been neglected:
And look, how many Grecian tents do stand
Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.
When that the general is not like the hive",

5 To his experienc'd tongue,] This is the better reading of the 4tos: the folio

gives the passage thus:

"Should with a bond of air, strong as the axletree

In which the heavens ride knit all Greek's ears

To his experienc'd tongue."

Speak, prince of Ithaca; and be't of less expect,] " Expect" is here used for expectation. This and the four lines following are only in the folio.

7

- his MASTIFF jaws,] In the folio it is printed "masticke jaws,” but it is probably an error of the press. Malone changes mastick to "mastiff," without observation. Mastic may be an adjective, from masticate.

8 When that the general is NOT LIKE the hive,] "The meaning," says Johnson, “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?"

To whom the foragers shall all repair,

What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded,
Th' unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask.

The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre,
Observe degree, priority, and place,

Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office, and custom, in all line of order:
And therefore is the glorious planet, Sol,
In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd
Amidst the other; whose med'cinable eye
Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil,

And posts, like the commandment of a king,
Sans check, to good and bad. But when the planets,
In evil mixture, to disorder wander,

What plagues, and what portents! what mutiny!
What raging of the sea, shaking of earth,
Commotion in the winds, frights, changes, horrors,
Divert and crack, rend and deracinate

The unity and married calm of states

Quite from their fixure'! Oh! when degree is shak'd,
Which is the ladder to all high designs,

The enterprize is sick. How could communities,

Degrees in schools, and brotherhoods in cities,
Peaceful commerce from dividable shores,
The primogenitive' and due of birth,
Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels,
But by degree, stand in authentic place?
Take but degree away, untune that string,
And, hark, what discord follows! each thing meets
In mere oppugnancy: the bounded waters
Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores,
And make a sop of all this solid globe :
Strength should be lord of imbecility,

And the rude son should strike his father dead:

Force should be right; or, rather, right and wrong,
(Between whose endless jar justice resides)
Should lose their names, and so should justice too.
Then every thing includes itself in power,

9 Quite from their FIXURE!] The modern reading is fixture; but Shakespeare's word is "fixure," and he uses it also in "The Winter's Tale," A. v. sc. 3, and in "The Merry Wives of Windsor," A. iii. sc. 3, although, in both instances, it has been usual to print fixture.

1 The PRIMOGENITIVE] Might we not read primogeniture ?

VOL. IV.

k k

Power into will, will into appetite;

And appetite, an universal wolf,

So doubly seconded with will and power,
Must make perforce an universal prey,
And last eat up himself. Great Agamemnon,
This chaos, when degree is suffocate,

Follows the choking:

And this neglection of degree it is',

That by a pace goes backward, with a purpose
It hath to climb. The general's disdain'd
By him one step below; he, by the next;
That next, by him beneath: so, every step,
Exampled by the first pace that is sick
Of his superior, grows to an envious fever
Of pale and bloodless emulation:

And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,
Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length,
Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength.
Nest. Most wisely hath Ulysses here discover'd
The fever whereof all our power is sick.

Agam. The nature of the sickness found, Ulysses,
What is the remedy?

Ulyss. The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns The sinew and the forehand of our host,

Having his ear full of his airy fame,

Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent

Lies mocking our designs. With him, Patroclus,

Upon a lazy bed the livelong day

Breaks scurril jests;

And with ridiculous and awkward action' (Which, slanderer, he imitation calls,)

He pageants us: sometime, great Agamemnon,

Thy topless deputation he puts on;

And, like a strutting player,-whose conceit
Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich

2 And this NEGLECTION of degree it is,] "Neglection" seems a word peculiar to Shakespeare. We have already had it in " Henry VI., Part I.," A. iv. sc. 3, Vol. iii. p. 710:

"Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss

The conquest of our scarce-cold conqueror."

It is also in "Pericles," A. iii. sc. 3. We apprehend that it is to be met with in no other author of the time.

3 Troy in our weakness STANDS,]

The 4tos. have "stands," the folio lives.

4 and AWKWARD action] The 4tos. read "and silly action."

To hear the wooden dialogue and sound
"Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage,—
Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrested seeming

He acts thy greatness in: and when he speaks,
'Tis like a chime a mending; with terms unsquar'd,
Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon dropp'd,
Would seem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff,
The large Achilles, on his press'd bed lolling,
From his deep chest laughs out a loud applause;
Cries "Excellent!-'tis Agamemnon right.
Now play me Nestor;-hem, and stroke thy beard
As he, being 'drest to some oration "."

That's done;-as near as the extremest ends
Of parallels-as like as Vulcan and his wife:
Yet god Achilles still cries, "Excellent!
'Tis Nestor right. Now play him me, Patroclus,
Arming to answer in a night alarm.”

And then, forsooth, the faint defects of age
Must be the scene of mirth; to cough, and spit,
And with a palsy, fumbling on his gorget,
Shake in and out the rivet :-and at this sport,

Sir Valour dies; cries, "Oh!-enough, Patroclus ;-
Or give me ribs of steel: I shall split all

In pleasure of my spleen." And in this fashion,
All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,
Severals and generals, all grace extract",
Achievements, plots, orders, preventions,
Excitements to the field, or speech for truce,
Success, or loss, what is, or is not, serves
As stuff for these two to make paradoxes.
Nest. And in the imitation of these twain,
(Whom, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns

51

'tis Agamemnon RIGHT.]

The folio reads, "'tis Agamemnon just." ""Tis Nestor right." which occurs a few lines afterwards both in the 4to. and folio, seems to warrant adherence to the text of the 4tos.

0

- being 'DREST to some oration."] i. e. Being addrest, or prepared to deliver some oration it has, of course, no reference to Nestor's dress.

7 Yet GOD Achilles still cries, "Excellent!] In the same way as, in "Coriolanus," A. iv. sc. 6, the hero is called "god Marcius," always hitherto misprinted good Marcius."

8

ALL grace EXTRACT,] Meaning all grace or beauty being taken away: Patroclus exhibited the characters, as we are before told, "with ridiculous and awkward action," deprived of all elegance. This is the amended reading of the corr. fo. 1632 for "of grace exact" (which must be the very contrary of what the poet intended) of the old copies.