Peace, Trojan; lay thy finger on thy lips!
The worthiness of praise diftains his worth,
If that the prais'd himself bring the praise forth:
But what the repining enemy commends,

That breath fame blows; that praife, fole pure, tranfcends..

Aga. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself Æneas?

Ene. Ay, Greek, that is my name.

Aga. What's your affair, I pray you?

Ene. Sir, pardon; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears.

Aga. He hears nought privately, that comes from Troy. Ene. Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him:

I bring a trumpet to awake his ear;

To fet his fenfe on the attentive bent,
And then to speak.

Aga. Speak frankly as the wind;

It is not Agamemnon's fleeping hour:
That thou shalt know, Trojan, he is awake,
He tells thee fo himself.

Ene. Trumpet, blow loud,

Send thy brass voice through all these lazy tents ;→→→
And every Greek of mettle, let him know,
What Troy means fairly, fhall be spoke aloud.

[Trumpets found.

We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy
A prince call'd Hector, Priam is his father,
Who in this dull and long-continued truce
Is rufty grown; he bade me take a trumpet,
And to this purpose fpeak. Kings, princes, lords!
If there be one, among the fair'ft of Greece,
That holds his honour higher than his ease;
That feeks his praise more than he fears his peril;
That knows his valour, and knows not his fear;

That

That loves his mistress more than 'in confeffion,
(With truant vows to her own lips he loves)
And dare avow her beauty, and her worth,
In other arms than hers,-to him this challenge,
Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks,
Shall make it good, or do his best to do it,
He hath a lady, wifer, fairer, truer,

Than ever Greek did compass in his arms;
And will to-morrow with his trumpet call,
Mid-way between your tents and walls of Troy,
To roufe a Grecian that is true in love:

If

any come, Hector fhall honour him;

If none, he'll say in Troy, when he retires,

The Grecian dames are fun-burn'd, and not worth
The splinter of a lance. Even fo much.

Aga. This fhall be told our lovers, lord Æneas,
If none of them have foul in fuch a kind,
We left them all at home: But we are foldiers;
And may that foldier a mere recreant prove,
That means not, hath not, or is not in love!
If then one is, or hath, or means to be,
That one meets Hector; if none elfe, I am he.

Neft. Tell him of Neftor, one that was a man
When Hector's grandfire fuck'd: he is old now;
But, if there be not in our Grecian hoft

One noble man that hath one spark of fire,
To answer for his love, Tell him from me,—
I'll hide my filver beard in a gold beaver,

And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn;
And, meeting him, will tell him, That my lady
Was fairer than his grandame, and as chafte

fin confeffion,]-empty proteftations of his paffion, made in her own prefence, and fealed upon her lips.

beaver,1-helmet.

vantbrace]-a defence for the arm.

As

As may be in the world: His youth in flood,
I'll k
pawn this truth with my three drops of blood.
Ane. Now heavens forbid such scarcity of youth!
Ulyff. Amen.

Aga. Fair lord Æneas, let me touch your hand;
To our pavilion fhall I lead you, fir.

Achilles fhall have word of this intent;

So fhall each lord of Greece, from tent to tent:
Yourself shall feast with us before you go,

1

And find the welcome of a noble foe.

Ulyff. Neftor,

Manent Ulyffes, and Neftor.

Neft. What fays Ulyffes?

Uly. I have a young conception in my brain,

1 Be you my time to bring it to some shape.

Neft. What is't?

Uly. This 'tis :

[Exeunt.

Blunt wedges rive hard knots: The " feeded pride
That hath to its maturity blown up

In rank Achilles, muft or now be cropt,

n

Or, fhedding, breed a " nursery of like evil,

To over-bulk us all.

Neft. Well, and how?

Uly. This challenge that the gallant Hector fends, However it is spread in general name,

Relates in purpofe only to Achilles.

Neft. The purpose is perfpicuous even ° as substance, Whofe groffness little characters fum up:

1 His youth in flood,]-Though he be in the flufh, or prime of youth. R pawn]-maintain. Be you my time]-Do you fupply time's place, and bring it to maturity. feeded]-full blown and ready to feed. nursery]-a whole plantation, and over-run us with his growth. as fubftance,]-as a large body, or quantity, made up of many minute particles, or afcertained by small characters, i. c. numerals.

n

And,

And, in the publication, make no strain,
But that Achilles, were his brain as barren
As banks of Libya,-though, Apollo knows,
'Tis dry enough,—will with great speed of judgment,
Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose
Pointing on him.

Uly. And wake him to the answer, think you ?
Neft. Yes, 'tis most meet; Whom may you elfe oppose,

That can from Hector bring those honours off,
If not Achilles? Though't be a sportful combat,
Yet in this trial much opinion dwells;

For here the Trojans tafte our dear'st repute
With their fin'ft palate: And truft to me, Ulyffes,
Our imputation fhall be oddly pois'd

In this wild action: for the fuccefs,

Although particular, fhall give a scantling
Of good or bad unto the general;

t

And in fuch indexes, although small pricks
To their fubfequent volumes, there is seen
The baby figure of the giant mafs

Of things to come at large. It is fuppos'd,
He, that meets Hector, iffues from our choice:
And choice, being mutual act of all our fouls,
Makes merit her election; and doth " boil,
As 'twere from forth us all, a man diftill'd
Out of our virtues; Who mifcarrying,

What heart receives from hence a conquering part,

And, in the publication, make no ftrain, &c.]-And doubtless, when the circumstances of this challenge come to be proclaimed, Achilles, dull as he is, will inftantly difcover the drift of it.

Our imputation]-Our reputation will be ftrangely fifted.

a fcantling]-a fpecimen of our national character.

indexes] The index was formerly placed immediately after the title-page.

t

Small pricks]-fmall points in refpect of, compared with the yolumes. boil,]-extract, feparate as by fire.

To

To steel a strong opinion to themselves?
Which entertain'd, * limbs are in his inftruments,
In no less working, than are swords and bows
Directive by the limbs.

Ulyff. Give pardon to my speech ;

Therefore 'tis meet, Achilles meet not Hector.
Let us, like merchants, fhew our fouleft wares,
And think, perchance, they'll fell; if not,
The luftre of the better fhall exceed,

By fhewing the worst first. Do not confent,
That ever Hector and Achilles meet;
For both our honour and our shame, in this,
Are dogg'd with two ftrange followers.

Neft. I fee them not with my old eyes; What are they?
Ulyff. What glory our Achilles fhares from Hector,
Were he not proud, we all should share with him:
But he already is too infolent;

And we were better parch in Africk fun,
Than in the pride and salt scorn of his eyes,
Should he 'scape Hector fair: If he were foil'd,
Why, then we did our main opinion crush

In taint of our beft man. No, make a lottery;
And, by device, let blockish Ajax draw

* The fort to fight with Hector: Among ourselves,
Give him allowance as the better man,

a

For that will phyfick the great Myrmidon,

Who broils in loud applause; and make him fall
His creft, that prouder than blue Iris bends.

b

To feel a ftrong opinion to themselves ?-To confirm his favourable opinion of his own prowefs.

* limbs are in his inftruments,]—his valour, and the weapons that it wields, are reciprocally efficacious.

In taint]-To the prejudice.

the great Myrmidon,]-Achilles.

The fort]-The lot.

that prouder than blue Iris bends.]-higher than the rainbow's arch.