Divert and crack, rend and "deracinate

The unity and married calm of states

Quite from their fixture? So, when degree is shak'd,
Which is the ladder to all high defigns,

Then enterprize is fick ! How could communities,
Degrees in schools, and brotherhoods in cities,
Peaceful commerce from dividable fhores,
The primogeniture and due of birth,
Prerogative of age, crowns, fcepters, laurels,
But by degree, ftand in " authentic place?
Take but degree away, untune that string,
And, hark, what difcord follows! each thing meets
In mere oppugnancy: The bounded waters
Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores,
And make a fop of all this solid globe:
Strength fhould be lord of imbecility,

And the rude fon fhould ftrike his father dead:
Force should be right; or, rather, right and wrong
(Between whofe endless jar juftice' refides)

Should lose their names, and so should justice too.

k

Then every thing * includes itself in power,
Power into will, will into appetite;

And appetite, 'an universal wolf,

So doubly seconded with will and power,
Muft make perforce an univerfal prey,

And, laft, eat up himself. Great Agamemnon,
This chaos, when degree is fuffocate,

deracinate]-root up.

married]-harmonious-" married lineament."

ROMEO AND JULIET, A&t I. S. 3. La. Cap.

fbrother boods]-companies.

& dividable]-divided, distant.

bauthentic]-proper, juft, appointed.

i refides)]—as an arbitrator.

includes itfelf-is abforbed into power, which, becoming fole agent, foon converts itself into will, &c.

an universal wolf,]-perhaps alluding to the Edda, or eating ulcer.

Follows

Follows the choaking.

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: fo every step,
Exampled by the firft pace that is fick

Of his fuperior, grows to an envious fever
Of pale and " bloodless emulation :
And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,
Not her own finèws. To end a tale of length,
Troy in our weakness ftands, not in her strength.
Neft. Moft wifely hath Ulyffes here difcover'd,
The fever whereof all our power is fick.'

Agam. The nature of the fickness found, Ulyffes,
What is the remedy?

Uly. The great Achilles,-whom opinion crowns The finew and the forehand of our hoft,

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 fcurril jefts;

And with ridiculous and aukward action

(Which, flanderer, he imitation calls)

P

He pageants us. Sometime, great Agamemnon,

૧

Thy topless deputation he puts on;

And, like a ftrutting player,-whofe conceit

Lies in his ham-ftring, and doth think it rich

m

by a pace goes backward,]-gradually depreffes its immediate fuperiour, with a view to advance itself.

n

bloodless]-frigid, fluggish, malignant rivalry.

"worthless emulation." HENRY IV. Part I. A& IV. S. 4. Lucy.

fcurril]-low, mean.

P pageants]-reprefents.

topless deputation]-fovereign character.

To

To hear the wooden dialogue and found
'Twixt his ftretch'd footing and the fcaffoldage,-
Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrefted feeming
He acts thy greatnefs in: and when he speaks,
'Tis like a chime a mending; with terms unfquar'd,
Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon drop'd,
Would feem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff,
The large Achilles, on his prefs'd bed lolling,
From his deep cheft laughs out a loud applaufe;
Cries-Excellent!-'tis Agamemnon just.—

Now play me Neftor ;-hem, and stroke thy beard,
As be, being 'dreft to fome oration.

t

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

And then, forfooth, the faint defects of age
Must be the scene of mirth; to cough, and fpit,
And with a palfy-fumbling on his gorget,
Shake in and out the rivet :--and at this sport,
Sir Valour dies; cries, O!-enough, Patroclus ;-
Or give me ribs of fteel! I fhall split all
And in this fashion,

In pleasure of my spleen.

All our abilities, gifts, natures, fhapes,

* Severals and generals of

grace exact,

Atchievements, plots, orders, preventions,
Excitements to the field, or fpeech for truce,

the wooden dialogue and found]-the echo of his loud ftamp on the ftage returning from the roof of the theatre.

unfquar'd]-irregular, untuneable.

'dreft to]-upon the point of speaking.

as the extremeft ends of parallels ;]-as eaft and weft.

pally-palfy'd, paralytic.

* Severals and generals of grace exact,]-All our perfonal or national accomplishments, however decent and irreprehenfible.

Succefs,

Succefs, or lofs, what is, or is not, ferves
As stuff for these two to make paradoxes.

Neft. And in the imitation of these twain
(Whom, as Ulyffes fays, opinion crowns
With an imperial voice) many are infect.
Ajax is grown felf-will'd; and bears his head
In fuch a rein, in full as proud a place

As broad Achilles: keeps his tent like him;
Makes factious feasts; rails on our state of war,
Bold as an oracle: and fets Therfites

(A flave, whofe gall coins flanders like a mint)
To match us in comparisons with dirt;

a

To weaken and difcredit our exposure,

How rank foever rounded in with danger.

Ulyff. They tax our policy, and call it cowardice; Count wisdom as no member of the war;

Foreftall pre-science, and esteem no act

But that of hand: the ftill and mental parts,-
That do contrive how many hands shall strike,
When fitness calls them on; and know, by measure
Of their obfervant toil, the enemies' weight,-
Why, this hath not a finger's dignity;

They call this-bed-work, mappery, closet war:
So that the ram, that batters down the wall,
For the great fwing and rudeness of his poize,
They place before his hand that made the engine;
Or those, that with the fineness of their fouls
By reafon guide his execution,

As fluff for these two to make paradoxes.]-As a fund for their abfurd mimickry, for them to burlefque: to make parodies.

z bears his head-holds it as high.

a

our exposure, &c.]-regardless of the immenfe danger to which

fuch degrading reprefentations may expofe the common caufe.

bby measure, &c.]-by dint of unwearied obfervation.

fineness of their fouls]-their ingenuity.

Neft.

Neft. Let this be granted, and Achilles' horfe Makes many Thetis' fons.

[Trumpet founds.

Agam. What trumpet ? look, Menelaus.

Men. From Troy.

Enter Eneas.

Aga. What would you 'fore our tent?
Ene. Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I
Aga. Even this.

pray you?

Ene. May one, that is a herald, and a prince, Do a fair meffage to his kingly ears?

Aga. With furety stronger than Achilles' arm
'Fore all the Greek ifh heads, which with one voice
Call Agamemnon head and general.

Ene. Fair leave, and large fecurity. How may
A ftranger to those most imperial looks
Know them from eyes of other mortals ?
Aga. How?

Ene. I afk, that I might waken reverence,
And bid the cheek be ready with a blush
Modeft as morning when the coldly eyes
The youthful Phoebus:

Which is that god in office, guiding men?

Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon?

Aga. This Trojan fcorns us; or the men of Troy
Are ceremonious courtiers.

Ene. Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd,
As bending angels; that's their fame in peace:
But when they would feem foldiers, they have galls,
Good arms, ftrong joints, true fwords, and

accord;

Nothing fo full of heart. But peace, Æneas,

Jove's

With furety, &c.]-You may do it with the utmoft fecurity before. all thofe chiefs. • Jove's accord,]-Jove's Sanction, protection.

Peace,