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Crom. 'Would you were half so honest; Men's prayers then would seek you, not their fears. Gar. I shall remember this bold language. Crom.

Remember your bold life too.

Chan.

Forbear, for shame, my lords.

Gar.

Crom.

Do.

This is too much;

I have done.

And I. Chan. Then thus for you, my lord,-It stands agreed,

I take it, by all voices, that forthwith
You be convey'd to the Tower a prisoner;
There to remain, till the king's further pleasure
Be known unto us: Are you all agreed, lords?
All. We are,

Cran.
Is there no other way of mercy,
But I must needs to the Tower, my lords?
Gar.

What other Would you expect? You are strangely troublesome! Let some of the guard be ready there.

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Must I go like a traitor thither? Gar.

And see him safe i' the Tower. Cran.

Stay, good my lords,

I have a little yet to say. Look there, my lords;
By virtue of that ring, I take my cause
Out of the gripes of cruel men, and give it
To a most noble judge, the king my master.
Chan. This is the king's ring!
Sur.

"Tis no counterfeit.
Suf. "Tis the right ring, by heaven: I told ye all,
When we first put this dangerous stone a rolling,
"Twould fall upon ourselves.
Nor.
Do you think, my lords,
The king will suffer but the little finger
Of this man to be vex'd?

Chan. "Tis now too certain : How much more is his life in value with him?

'Would I were fairly out on't.

Crom.

His royal self in judgment comes to hear
The cause betwixt her and this great offender.
K. Hen. You were ever good at sudden commen-
dations,

Bishop of Winchester. But know, I come not
To hear such flattery now, and in my presence;
They are too thin and bare to hide offences.2
To me you cannot reach, you play the spaniel,
And think with wagging of your tongue to win me;
But, whatsoe'er thou tak'st me for, I am sure,
Thou hast a cruel nature, and a bloody.-
Good man, [To CRANMER,] sit down. Now let
me see the proudest

He, that dares most, but wag his finger at thee:
By all that's holy, he had better starve,
Than but once think his place becomes thee not."
Sur. May it please your grace,-

K. Hen.

No, sir, it does not please me. I had thought, I had had men of some understanding And wisdom of my council; but I find none. Was it discretion, lords, to let this man, This good man (few of you deserve that title,) This honest man, wait like a lousy footboy At chamber door? and one as great as you are? Why, what a shame was this? Did my commission Bid ye so far forget yourselves? I gave ye Not as a groom; There's some of ye, I see, Power as he was a counsellor to try him, More out of malice than integrity, Would try him to the utmost, had ye mean; Which ye shall never have, while I live. Chan.

Thus far, My most dread sovereign, may it like your grace To let my tongue excuse all. What was purpos'd Concerning his imprisonment, was rather (If there be faith in men) meant for his trial, And fair purgation to the world, than malice';

I am sure, in me.

K. Hen. Well, well, my lords, respect him;
Take him, and use him well, he's worthy of it.
I will say thus much for him,-If a prince
May be beholden to a subject, I

My mind gave me, Make me no more ado, but all embrace him:
Am, for his love and service, so to him.

In seeking tales, and informations,
Against this man (whose honesty the devil
And his disciples only envy at,)

Ye blew the fire that burns ye: Now have at ye.
Enter the King, frowning on them; takes his seat.
Gar. Dread sovereign, how much are we bound
to heaven

In daily thanks, that gave us such a prince;
Not only good and wise, but most religious:
One that, in all obedience, makes the church
The chief aim of his honour; and, to strengthen
That holy duty, out of dear respect,

1 It seems to have been a custom, began probably in the dark ages, before literature was generally diffused, and before the regal power experienced the restraints of law, for every monarch to have a ring, the temporary possession of which invested the holder with the same authority as the owner himself could exercise. The production of it was sufficient to suspend the execution of the law; it procured indemnity for offences committed, and imposed acquiescence and submission to whatever was done under its authority. See Procopius de Bell. Vandal. I. i. p. 15. The traditional story of the earl o Essex, Queen Elizabeth, and the countess of Noting. ham, long considered as an incident of a romance, is generally known, and now as generally credited. See Birch's Negotiations, p. 206.

21. e. the commendations above mentioned are too thin and bare, the intention of them is too palpably seen through. The old copy reads. 'thin and base; the emendation was suggested by Malone.

3 Who dares to suppose that the place or situation in which he is, is not suitable to thee also? Who supposes that thou art not as fit for the office of a privy coun sellor as he is?

4i e. You must be godfather [to] and answer for her.' Our prelates formerly were often employed on like occasions. Cranmer was godfather to Edward VI. See Hall, fo. 232. Archbishop Warham to Henry's eldest son by Queen Katharine; and the bishop of Winchester to Henry himself See andford, 479, 495.

Be friends, for shame, my lords.-My lord of Can

terbury,

I have a suit which you must not deny me;
That is, a fair young maid that yet wants baptism,
You must be godfather, and answer for her.4

Cran. The greatest monarch now alive may glory
In such an honour; how may I deserve it,
That am a poor and humble subject to you?
K. Hen. Come, come, my lord, you'd spare your
spoons; you shall have

5 It was an ancient custom (which is not yet quite out of use) for the sponsors at christenings to offer silver or silver gilt spoons as a present to the child. The ancient offerings upon such occasions were called Apostlespoons, because the extremity of the handle was formed into the figure of one or other of the apostles. Such as were opulent and generous gave the whole twelve; those who were more moderately rich or liberal, escaped at the expense of the four evangelists; or even some times contented themselves with presenting one spoon only, which exhibited the figure of any saint, in honour of whom the child received its name. Thus, in Middle ton's Chaste Maid of Cheapside :

2 Goss. What has he given her?-what is it, gossip' 3 Goss. A fair high standing cup, and two great 'pos tle spoons, one of them gilt.'

The following story is related of Shakspeare and Ber Jonson in a collection of anecdotes, entitled Merry Pas sages and Jeasts. MSS. Harl. 6395 :—

Shakspeare was godfather to one of Ben Jonson's children; and after the christening, being in deep study, Jouson came to cheer him up, and ask'd him why he was so melancholy? No faith, Ben, says he, not I; but I have been considering a great while what should be the fittest gift for me to bestow upon my godchild, and I have resolved at last. I prythee what? says he, I faith, Ben, I'll give him a douzen good latten [Latin] spoons, and thou shalt translate them.' The collector of these anecdotes appears to have been a nephew of Sir Roger L'Estrange. He names Donne as the relater of this story.

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brand, to mow them down before me: but, if I spared any, that had a head to it, either young or old, he or she, cuckold or cuckold-maker, let me never hope to see a chine again; and that I would not for a cow, God save her.

[Within.] Do you hear, master Porter? Port. I shall be with you presently, good master puppy.-Keep the door close, sirrah.

Man. What would you have me do?

Port. What should you do, but knock them down by the dozens? Is this Moorfields to muster in ? or have we some strange Indian with the great tool come to court, the women so besiege us? Bless me, what a fry of fornication is at door! On my Christian conscience, this one christening will be get a thousand; here will be father, godfather, and all together.

Man. The spoons will be the bigger, sir. There is a fellow somewhat near the door, he should be a of the dog-days now reign in's nose: all that stand brazier by his face, for, o' my conscience, twenty about him are under the line, they need no other penance: That fire-drake' did I hit three times on the head, and three times was his nose discharged against me: he stands there, like a mortar-piece, to blow us. There was a haberdasher's wife of small wit near him, that railed upon me till her pink'd porringers fell off her head, for kindling such a combustion in the state. I miss'd the meonce, and hit that woman, who cried out, clubs ! when I might see from far some forty trun theoneers draw to her succour, which were the hope of the Strand, where she was quartered. They fell on; I made good my place; at length they

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came to the broomstaff with me, I defied them still; can-when suddenly a file of boys behind them, loose shot, delivered such a shower of pebbles, that I was fain to draw mine honour in, and let them win the work.12 The devil was amongst them, I think, surely.

To scatter them, as 'tis to make them sleep
On May-day morning; which will never be:
We may as well push against Paul's, as stir them.
Port. How got they in, and be hang'd?
Man. Alas, I know not; how gets the tide in?
As much as one sound cudgel of four foot
(You see the poor remainder) could distribute,
I made no spare, sir.

Port.
You did nothing, sir.
Man, I am not Samson, nor Sir Guy, nor Col-

1 This celebrated bear garden, on the Bankside, was so called from Robert de Paris, who had a house and garden there in the time of King Richard II. The Globe Theatre, in which Shakspeare was a performer, stood on the southern side of the river Thames, and was con. tiguous to this noted place of tumult and disorder. St. Mary Overy's church is not far from London Bridge, and almost opposite to Fishmongers' Hall; Winchester House was over against Cole Harbour; Paris Garden was in a line with Bridewell; and the Globe playhouse faced Blackfriars, Fleet Ditch, or St. Paul's. It was an hexagonal building of stone or brick. Its roof was of rushes, with a flag on the top. In the preliminary remarks is a representation of it, from an old View of London, as it appeared in 1599.

2 i. e. shouting or roaring; a sense the word has now lost. Littleton, in his Dictionary, has To gape or bawl: vociferor.' So in Roscommon's Essay on Translation :

That noisy, nauseous gaping fool was he.' 3 Our ancestors, young and old, rich and poor, all concurred, as Shakspeare in another place says:"To do observance to a morn of May.' Stowe says that 'in the month of May, namely on Mayday in the morning, every man would walk into the sweet meadows and green woods; there to rejoice their spirits with the beauty and savour of sweet flowers, and with the noise [i. e. music] of birds, praising God in their kind. It is upon record that King Henry VIII. and Queen Katharine partook of this diversion. See Brand's Popular Antiquities, by Ellis.

Port These are the youths that thunder at a play-house, and fight for bitten apples; that no audience, but the tribulation of Tower-hill, or the limbs of Limehouse, their dear brothers, are able to endure. I have some of them in Limbo Patrum,14 and there they are like to dance these three days;

7 Fire-dra e; a fire sometimes seen flying in the night like a dragon. Common people think it a spirit that keepeth some treasure hid; but philosophers af firme it to be a great unequal exhalation inflamed betweene two clouds, the one hot, the other cold, which is the reason that it also smoketh; the middle part where of, according to the proportion of the hot cloud, being greater than the rest, maketh it seeme like a bellie, and both ends like unto a head and taile.'-Bullokar's Expositor, 1616. A fire-drake appears to have been also an artificial firework. Thus in Your Five Gallants, by Middleton:

-but like fire-drakes

Mounted a little, gave a crack, and fell.'

8 Her pink'd cap, which looked as if it had been moulded on a porringer. So in The Taming of the Shrew :

Hab. Here is the cap your worship did bespeak. Pet. Why, this was moulded on a porringer. 9 The brazier.

10 See note on the First Part of King Henry V1. Acti. Sc. 3; and As You Like It, Act v. Sc. 2

11 i. e. loose or random shooters. See King Henry IV. Part ii. Act iii. Sc. 2.

12 i. e. the fortress: it is a term in fortification. 13 By the fribulation of Tower-hill and the limbs of Limehouse it is evident that Shakspeare meant noisy rabble frequenting the theatres, supposed to come from those places. It appears from Stowe that the inhabitants of Tower-hill were remarkably turbulent. The word limb, in the sense of a turbulent person, is not uncommon in London even at this day. A mischievous unruly boy is called 'a limb of the devil.' That the pu4 Guy of Warwick, nor Colbrand the Danish giant,ritans were aimed at under these appellations seems to whom Guy subdued at Winchester. me doubtful.

5 The trained bands of the city were exercised in Moorfields.

6 A brazier signifies a man that manufactures brass, and a reservoir for charcoal occasionally heated to convey warmth. Both these senses are understood.

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14 i. e. in confinement. In limbo continues to be a cant phrase in the same sense to this day. The Limbus Patrum is, properly, the place where the old fathers and patriarchs are supposed to be waiting for the resur rection. See Titus Andronicus, Act iii Sc 1.

besides the running banquet of two beadles,' that| is to come.

Enter the Lord Chamberlain.

Cham. Mercy o' me, what a multitude are here! They grow still too, from all parts they are coming, As if we kept a fair here! Where are these porters, These lazy knaves?--Ye have made a fine hand,

fellows.

There's a trim rabble let in: Are all these
Your faithful friends o' the suburbs? We shall have
Great store of room, no doubt, left for the ladies,
When they pass back from the christening.
Port.
An't please your honour,
We are but men; and what so many may do,
Not being torn a pieces, we have done:
An army cannot rule them.
Cham.

As I live,
If the king blame me for't, I'll lay ye all
By the heels, and suddenly; and on your heads
Clap round fines, for neglect: You are lazy knaves;
And here ye lie baiting of bumbards, 2 when
Ye should do service. Hark, the trumpets sound;
They are come already from the christening:
Go, break among the press, and find a way out
To let the troop pass fairly; or I'll find
A Marshalsea, shall hold you play these two months.
Port. Make way there for the princess.
Man. You great fellow, stand close up, or I'll
make your head ake.

.

Cran. Let me speak, sir,

For heaven now bids me; and the words I utter
Let none think flattery, for they'll find them truth
Though in her cradle, yet now promises
This royal infant (heaven still move about her!)
Upon this land a thousand thousand blessings,
Which time shall bring to ripeness: She shall be
(But few now living can behold that goodness,)
A pattern to all princes living with her,
More covetous of wisdom, and fair virtue,
And all that shall succeed: Sheba was never
Than this pure soul shall be: all princely graces,
That mould up such a mighty piece as this is,
With all the virtues that attend the good,
Shall still be doubled on her: truth shall nurse her,
Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her:
She shall be lov'd, and fear'd; Her own shall bless
her:

Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn,
And hang their heads with sorrow: Good grows
with her :

Under his own vine, what he plants; and sing
In her days, every man shall eat in safety
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours:
God shall be truly known; and those about her
And by those claim their greatness, not by blood,
From her shall read the perfect ways of honour,
The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
[Nor shall this peace sleep with her: But as when
Her ashes new create anothenheir,

As great in admiration as herself:
So shall she leave her blessedness to one,
(When heaven shall call her from this cloud of
darkness,)

Port. You i' the camblet, get up o' the rail; I'll pick you o'er the pales else. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. The Palace. Enter Trumpets, sounding; then two Aldermen, Lord Mayor, Garter, CRANMER, DUKE of NORFOLK, with his Mar- Who, from the sacred ashes of her honour, shal's staff, DUKE of SUFFOLK, two Noblemen Shall star-like rise, as great in fame as she was, bearing great standing-bowls for the christening And so stand fix'd: Peace, plenty, love, truth, gifts; then four Noblemen bearing a canopy, under which the DUCHESS of NORFOLK, godmother, bearing the Child richly habited in a mantle, &c. Train borne by a Lady; then follows the MARCHIONESS of DORSET, the other godmother, and Ladies. The troop pass once about the stage, and Garter speaks.

Gart. Heaven, from thy endless goodness, send prosperous life, long, and ever happy, to the high and mighty princess of England, Elizabeth.

Flourish. Enter King and Train.
Cran. [Kneeling. And to your royal grace, and
the good queen,

My noble partners, and myself, thus pray ;-
All comfort, joy, in this most gracious lady,
Heaven ever laid up to make parents happy,
May hourly fall upon ye!

Thank you, good lord archbishop;

K. Hen,
What is her name?
Cran.

K. Hen.

Elizabeth.

Stand up, lord.-[The King kisses the Child. With this kiss take my blessing: God protect thee! Into whose hands I give thy life.

Cran.

Amen.

terror,

That were the servants to this chosen infant,
Shall then be his, and like a vine grow to him;
Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine,
His honour and the greatness of his name
Shall be, and make new nations: He shall flourish,
And, like a mountain cedar, reach his branches
To all the plains about him;Our children's
Shall see this, and bless heaven,

children

K. Hen.

Thou speakest wonders.]
Cran. She shall be, to the happiness of England,
An aged princess; many days shall see her,
And yet no day without a deed to crown it.
'Would I had known no more! but she must die,
She must, the saints must have her; yet a virgin,
A most unspotted lily shall she pass

To the ground, and all the world shall mourn her,
Thou hast made ine now a man; never, before
K. Hen. O lord archbishop,
This happy child, did I get any thing?
This oracle of comfort has so pleas'd me,
That, when I am in heaven, I shall desire
To see what this child does, and praise my
I thank ye all. To you, my good lord mayor,
And your good brethren, I am much beholden;

Maker.

K. Hen. My poble gossips, ye have been too I have received much honour by your presence, ye shall find me thankful. Lead the way, lords;

prodigal :

I thank ye heartily; so shall this lady,
When she has so much English.

1 A public whipping. A banquet here is used figu. ratively, for a dessert. To the confinement of these rioters a whipping was to be the dessert.

2 It has already been observed that a bumbard was a large black jack of leather (Tempest, Act ii. Sc. 2,) used to carry beer to soldiers upon duty, or upon any occasion where a quantity was required. See note on King Henry IV. Part 1. Act ii. Sc. 4.

3 To pick is to pitch, cast, or throw. 4 At Greenwich, where this procession was made from the church of the Friars.-Hall, fo. 217.

And

Ye must all see the queen, and she must thank ye,

Beaumont and Fletcher; where Orator Higgin is mak ing his congratulatory speech to the new king of the beggars;

Each man shall eat his stolen eggs and butter In his own shade, or sunshine,' &c.

7 Some of the commentators think that this and the following seventeen lines were probably written by Ben Jonson, after the accession of King James. We have before observed Mr. Gifford is of opinion that Ben Jon son had no hand in the additions to this play.

8 On a picture of King James, which formerly belong

5 Standing-bowls were bowls elevated on feet or pe-ed to the great Bacon, and is now in the possession of destals. Lord Grimston, he is styled imperii Atlantici conditor.

6 The thought is borrowed from Scripture. See Mi- The year before the revival of this play there was a lot cah, iv. 4. 1 Kings, c. iv. The first part of the prophe-tery for the plantation of Virginia. The lines probably cy is apparently burlesqued in the Beggar's Bush of allude to the seulement of that colony.

U

She will be sick else. This day, no man think
He has business at his house; for all shall stay,
This little one shall make it holiday. [Exeunt.

EPILOGUE.

"Tis ten to one, this play can never please
All that are here: Some come to take their ease,
And sleep an act or two; but those, we fear,
We have frighted with our trumpets; so, 'tis clear,
"They'll say, 'tis naught: others, to hear the city
Abus'd extremely, and to cry,-that's witty!
Which we have not done neither: that, I fear,
All the expected good we are like to hear
For this play at this time, is only in
The merciful construction of good women;"
For such a one we show'd them; If they smile,
And say, 'twill do, I know, within a while
All the best men are ours; for 'tis ill hap,
If they hold, when their ladies bid them clap.

THE play of Henry VIII. is one of those which still
keeps possession of the stage by the splendour of its
pageantry. The coronation, about forty years ago,
drew the people together in multitudes for a great part
1 A verse with as unmusical a close may be found in
Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Part III. sect. ii.:-
'Rose the pleasure of fine women,`

In Ben Jonson's Alchemist there is also a line in which
the word woman is accented on the last syllable:-
And then your red man, and your white woman.'

of the winter. Yet pomp is not the only merit of this play. The meek sorrows and virtuous distress of Ka tharine have furnished some scenes which may be just. ly numbered among the greatest efforts of tragedy. But the genius of Shakspeare comes in and goes out with Katharine. Every other part inay be easily con ceived and easily written.

The historical dramas are now concluded, of which the two parts of Henry IV. and Henry V. are among the happiest of our author's compositions; and King John, second class. Those whose curiosity would refer the Richard III. and Henry VIII. deservedly stand in the historical scenes to their original, may consult Holinshed, and sometimes Hall. From Holinshed, Shakspeare has often inserted whole speeches with no more alteration than was necessary to the numbers of his verse. To transcribe them into the margin was unnecessary, because the original is easily examined, and they are seldom less perspicuous in the poet than in the historian. To play histories, or to exhibit a succession of events by action and dialogue, was a common entertainment among our rude ancestors upon great festivities. The parish clerks once performed at Clerkenwell a play which lasted three days, containing the History of the World. JOHNSON.

* It appears that the tradesmen of Chester were three Whitsun plays or mysteries. See Mr. Markland's Disdays employed in the representation of twenty-four quisition, prefixed to his very elegant and interesting selection from the Chester Mysteries, printed for private distribution; which may be consulted in the third volume of the late edition of Malone's Shakspeare, by Ms. Boswell. The Coventry Mysteries must have taken up a longer time, as they were no less than forty in number.

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

MR. Steevens informs us that Shakspeare received the greater part of the materials that were used In the construction of this play from the Troy Book of Lydgate. It is presumed that the learned commentator would have been nearer the fact had he substituted the Troy Book, or Recueyl, translated by Carton from Ra. oul Le Fevre which together with a translation of Homer, supplied the incidents of the Trojan war. Lydgate's work was becoming obsolete, whilst the other was at this time in the prime of its vigour. From its first publication, to the year 1619, it had passed through six editions, and continued to be popular even in the eighteenth century. Mr. Steevens is still less accurate in stating Le Fevre's work to be a translation from Guido of Colonna; for it is only in the latter part that he has made any use of him. Yet Guido actually had a French translation before the time of Raoul; which translation, though never printed, is remaining in MS. under the whimsical title of "La Vie de la pitieuse Destruction de la noble et superlative Cite de Troye le grant. Translatee en Francois l'an MCCCLXXX." Such part of the present play as relates to the loves of Troilus and Cressida was most probably taken from Chaucer, as no other work, accessible to Shakspeare, could have supplied him with what was necessary." This account is by Mr. Douce, from whom also what follows on this subject is abstracted.

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Phrygius, and Dicty's Cretensis, neither of whom men tion the name of Cressida. Mr. Tyrwhitt conjectured, and Mr. Douce confirmed the conjecture, that Guido's Dares was in reality an old Norman poet, named Benoit de Saint More, who wrote in the reign of our Henry the Second, and who himself made use of Dares. Guido is said to have come into England, where he found the Metrical Romance of Benoit, and translated it into Latin prose; and, following a practice too prevalens in the middle ages, he dishonestly suppressed the mention of his real original. Benoit's work exists also in a prose French version. And there is a compilation also in French prose, by Pierre de Beauvau, from the Filostrato.

Lydgate professedly followed Guido of Colonna, occasionally making use of and citing other authorities. In a short time after Raoul le Fevre compiled from various materials his Recueil des Histoires de Troye, which was translated into English and published by Caxton: but neither of these authors have given any more of the story of Troilus and Cressida than any of the other ro mances on the war of Troy; Lydgate contenting himself with referring to Chaucer.

Chaucer having made the loves of Troilus and Cressida famous, Shakspeare was induced to try their fortunes on the stage. Lydgate's Troy Book was printed by Pynson in 1519. In the books of the Stationers Chaucer, in his Troilus and Creseide, asserts that fie Company, anno 159t, is entered, A proper Ballad followed Lollius, and that he translated from the Latin; dialoguewise betwen Troilus and Cressida. Again, but who Lollius was, and when he lived, we have no by J. Roberts, Feb. 7, 1602: The Booke of Troilus and certain indication, though Dryden boldly asserts that he Cressida, as it is acted by my Lord Chamberlain's men.' was an historiographer of Urbino, in Italy, and wrote in And in Jan. 23, 1608, entered by Richard Bonian and Latin verse. Nothing can be more apparent than that Hen. Whalley: A Booke called the History of Troilus the Filostrato of Boccaccio afforded Chaucer the fable and Cressida. This last entry is made by the bookseland characters of his poem, and even numerous passa-lers, who published this play in 4to. in 1609. To this ges appear to be mere literal translations; but there are edition is prefixed a preface, showing that the play was large additions in Chaucer's work, so that it is possible printed before it had been acted; and that it was pub he may have followed a free Latin version, which may lished, without the author's knowledge, from a copy that had fallen into the booksellers' hands. This preface, as bestowing just praise on Shakspeare, and showing that the original proprietors of his plays thought it their interest to keep them unprinted, is prefixed to the play in the present edition. It appears from some entries in the accounts of Henslowe the player, that a drama on this subject, by Decker and Cheule, at first called Troyelles and Cressida, but, before its produc

have had for its author Lollius.

Boccaccio does not give his poem as a translation, and we must therefore suppose him to have been the inventor of the fable, until we have more certain indications respecting Lollius. So much of it as relates to the departure "of Cressida from Troy, and her subsequent amour with Diomed, is to be found in the Troy Book of Guido of CoDonna, composed in 1297, and, as he states, from Dares

that no man ever was, or ever can be always dignified. He knew that those subtler traits of character which identify a man are familiar and relaxed, pervaded with passion, and not played off with an eye to external decorum. In this respect the peculiarities of Shakspeare's genius are no where more forcibly illustrated than in the play we are here considering,'

tion, altered in its title to The Tragedy of Agamemnon,| 'Shakspeare possessed, no man in a higher perfecwas in existence anterior to Shakspeare's play, and tion, the true diguity and loftiness of the poetical afflatus, that it was licensed by the Master of the Revels on the which he had displayed in many of the finest passages 3d of June, 1599. Malone places the date of the com-of his works with miraculous success. But he knew position of Shakspeare's play in 1602; Mr. Chalmers in 1600; and Dr. Drake in 1601. They have been led to this conclusion by the supposed ridicule of the circumstance of Cressid receiving the sleeve of Troilus and giving him her glove in the comedy of Histriomastix, 1610. I think that the satire was pointed at the older drama of Decker and Chettle; and should certainly give a later date to the play of Shakspeare than that which has been assigned to it. If we may credit the preface to the 4to, of 1609. this play had not then appeared on the stage, and could not therefore have been ridiculed in a piece written previous to the death of Queen Elizabeth (see note on Act iv. Sc. 4.) Malone says, Were it not for the entry in the Stationers' books of which there is no proof that it relates to this play;] I should have been led, both by the colour of the style, and from this preface, to class it in the year 1608.'

The champions of Greece and Troy, from the hour in which their names were first recorded, had always worn a certain formality of attire, and marched with a slow and measured step. No poet, till this time, had ever ventured to force them out of the manner which their epic creator had given them. Shakspeare first supplied their limbs, took from them the classic stiffness of their gait, and enriched them with an entire set of those attributes which might render them completely beings of the same species with ourselves.'‡

PREFACE

There is no reason for concluding with Schlegel that Shakspeare intended his drama as one continued irony of the crown of all heroic tales-the tale of Troy.' The poet abandoned the classic and followed the gothic or TO THE QUARTO EDITION OF THIS PLAY, 1609. romantic authorities; and this influenced the colour of his performance. The fact probably is, that he pursued the manner in which parts of the story had been before dramatised. There is an interlude on the subject of Thersites, resembling the Old Mysteries in its structure, but full of the lowest buffoonery. If the drama of Decker and Chettle were now to be found, I doubt not we should see that the present play was at least founded on it, if not a mere rifaccimento.f

A never writer, to an ever reader. Newes. ETERNALL reader, you have heere a new play, never stal'd with the stage, never clapper-claw'd with the palmes of the vulger, and yet passing full of the palme comicall; for it is a birth of your braine, that never under-tooke any thing commicall, vainely and were but the vaine names of commedies changde for the titles of commodities, or of playes for pleas; you should The whole catalogue of the Dramatis Persone in see all those grand censors, that now stile them such the play of Troilus and Cressida (says Mr. Godwin,) so vanities, flock to them for the maine grace of their grafar as they depend upon a rich and original vein of hu-vities; especially this authors commedies, that are so mour in the author, are drawn with a felicity which fram'd to the life, that they serve for the most common never was surpassed. The genius of Homer has been commentaries of all the actions of our lives, shewing a topic of admiration to almost every generation of men such a dexteritie and power of witte, that the most dissince the period in which he wrote. But his characters pleased with playes, are pleased with his commedies. will not bear the slightest comparison with the delinea. And all such dull and heavy witted worldlings, as were tion of the same characters as they stand in Shakspeare. never capable of the witte of a commedie, comming by This is a species of honour which ought by no means report of them to his representations, have found that to be forgotten when we are making the eulogium of witte there, that they never found in them-selves, and our immortal bard, a sort of illustration of his greatness have parted better-wittied than they came: feeling an which cannot fail to place it in a very conspicuous light. edge of witte set upon them, more than ever they The dispositions of men, perhaps, had not been suffi-dreamd they had braine to grind it on. So much and ciently unfolded in the very early period of intellectual such savored salt of witte is in his commedies, that they refinement when Homer wrote; the rays of humour seem (for their height of pleasure) to be borne in that had not been dissected by the glass, or rendered per- sea that brought forth Venus. Amongst all there is durable by the rays of the poet. Homer's characters none more witty than this: and had I time I would comare drawn with a laudable portion of variety and con-ment upon it, though I know it needs not (for so much sistency; but his Achilles, his Ajax, and his Nestor are, as will make you think your testern well bestowd,) but each of them, rather a species than an individual, and for so much worth, as even poore I know to be stuft in can boast more of the propriety of abstraction than of it. It deserves such a labour, as well as the best comthe vivacity of the moving scene of absolute life. The medy in Terence or Plautus. And beleeve this, that Achilles, Ajax, and the various Grecian heroes of Shak-when hee is gone, and his commedies out of sale, you speare, on the other hand, are absolutely men deficient will scramble for them, and set up a new English inqui in nothing which can tend to individualise them, and sition. Take this for a warning, and at the perill of already touched with the Promethean fire that might in your pleasures losse, and judgements, refuse not, nor fuse a soul into what, without it, were lifeless form. like this the lesse, for not being sullied with the smoaky From the rest, perhaps, the character of Thersites de- breath of the multitude; but thank fortune for the scape serves to be selected (how cold and schoolboy a sketch it hath made amongst you. Since by the grand posses. in Homer,) as exhibiting an appropriate vein of sarcas-sors wills I believe you should have prayd for them tic humour amidst his cowardice, and a profoundness rather then beene prayd. And so I leave all such to bee and truth in his mode of laying open the foibles of those prayd for (for the states of their wits healths) that will about him, impossible to be excelled.' not praise it.-Vale.

This interlude, together with another not less curious, called Jack Juggler, was reprinted from a unique copy by Mr. Haslewood for the Roxburgh club. I owe to the friendly kindness of that gentleman the marked distinction of possessing one of four additional copies printed for friends not members of that society. These rude dramas are not mere literary curiosities, they form a prominent feature in the history of the progress of the stage, and are otherwise valuable as illustrating the state of manners and language in the reign of Henry

the Eighth. I have found colloquial phrases and words explained by them, of which it would be vain to seek illustrations elsewhere.

Mr. Tyrwhitt has observed that there are more hard bombastical phrases in this play than can be picked out of any other six plays of Shakspeare. Would not this be an additional argument in favour of what I have here advanced, that it may be a mere alteration of the older play above mentioned?

Life of Chaucer, vol. i. p. 509-12, Svo. ed.

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