But pardon, father Neftor; were your days
As green as Ajax, and your brain fo temper'd,
You should not have the eminence of him,
But be as Ajax.

Ajax. Shall I call you father?.
Úlyf. Av, my good fon.

Dio. Be rel'd by him, lord Ajax.

Uly. There is notarrying here; the hart Achilles Keeps thicket; please it our great general To call together all his ftate of war; Fresh kings are come to Troy: to-morrow, friends, We muit with all our main of row'r itend fast, And here's a lord-come knights from caft to weft, And cull their flow'r, Ajax thall cope the best. Aga. Go we to council. Let Achilles fleep: Light boats fail fwift, tho' greater hulks draw deep. [Exeunt.

An expecting Lover.

No, Pandarus: I ftalk about her door,
Like a firange foul upon the Stygian banks
Staying for waftage. O, be thou my Charon,
And give me fwift tranfportance to thofe fields,
Where I may wallow in the lily beds
Propos'd for the deferver! O gentle Pandarus,
From Cupid's thoulders pluck his painted wings,
And fly with me to Creild!

I am giddy; expectation whirls me round.
The imaginary relifa is fo fweet,

That it enchants my fente; what will it be,
When that the wat'ry palate tastes indeed
Love's thrice reputed ectar? death, I fear me;
Swooning deftruction; or fome joy too fine,
Too fubtie-potent, and too fharp in fweetnefs,
For the capacity of my ruder powers;
I fear it much; and I do fear befides
That I fhall lofe diftinétion in my joys;
As doth a battle, when they charge on heaps
The enemy flying.

My heart beats thicker than a feverous pulfe;
And all my powers do their beftowing lofe,
Like vassalage at unawares encounting
The eye of majesty.

to come

Conftancy in Love protefied. Troilus. True fwains in love fhall in the world [rhimes, Approve their truths by Troilus: when their Full of proteft, of oath, and big compare, Want fimiles: truth tried with iterationAs true as fteel, as plantage to the moon, As fun to day, as turtle to her mate, As iron to adamant, as earth to the centreYet, after all comparifons of truth, As truth's authentic author to be cited, As true as Troilus, thall crown up the verfe, And fanctify the numbers.

Cref. Prophet may you be !

If I be falfe, or fwerve a hair from truth,
When time is old and hath forgot itfelf,
When water-drops have worn the ftones of Troy,
And blind oblivion fwallow'd cities up,
And mighty ftates characterlefs are grated
To dufty nothing; yet let memory,
From falfe to falie, among falfe maids in love,

Upbraid myfaliehood!whentheyhave Cid—as falfe
As air, as water, wind, or fandy carti,

As fox to lan b, as wolf to heifer's calf,
Pard to the hind, or step-dame to her fon-
Yea, let them fay, to flick the heart of falfchood,
As falfe as Creid.

Fride cures Pride.
Pride hath no other glafs

To fhow itfeif, but pride; for fupple knees
Feed arrogance, and are the proud man's fees.
Greafs contemptible when it declines.

'Tis certain, great efs, once fallen out with for

tune,

Must fall out with men too: what the declin'd is,
He fhrall as foou read in the eyes of others,
As feel in his own fall: for men, like butterflies,
Shew not their mealy wings but to the fummer:
And not a man, for being fimply man,

Hath any honour; but honour for thofe honcurs
That are without im, as place, riches, and favour,
Prizes of accident as oft as merit;
Which, when they fall, as being flippery ftanders,
The love that lean'd on them as flippery too,
Do one pluck down another, and together
Die in the fall.

Honour, continued Ats neceffary to preferve its Lufire.

Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

A great fiz'd monfter of ingratitudes:

[vour'd

hofe fcraps are good deeds paft; which are deAs faft as they are made, forgot as foon As done: perfeverance, dear

my lord, Keeps honour bright: to have done, is to hang Quite out of fashion, like a rufty mail

In monumental mockery. Take the inftant way;
For honour travels in a ftrait fo narrow,
Where one but goes abreaft: keep then the path;
For emulation hath a thoufand fons,

That one by one purfue; if you give way,
Or hedge afide from the direct forthright,
Like to an enter'd tide they all rufh by,
And leave
you hindmoft-

Or, like a gallant horfe fall'n in first rank,
Lie there for pavement to the abject rear,
O'er-run and trampled on: then what they do in
prefent,

Tho' lefs than yours in paft, muft o'er-top yours.
For time is like a fashionable hoft,

That flightly shakes his parting gueft by the hand;
And with his arms outstretch'd, as he would fly,
Grafps in the comer: welcome ever smiles,
And farewel goes out fighing. O, let not virtue feek
Remuneration for the thing it was; for beauty, wit,
High birth, vigour of bone, defert in service,
Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all
To envious and calumniating time.
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin-
That all, with one confent, praise new-born gawds,
Tho' they are made and moulded of things paft,
And give to duft, that is a little gilt,
More laud than gilt o'er-dufted.
The prefent eye p. aifes the prefent object.

Love hook off by a Soldier.
Sweet, roufe yourfer; and the weak, wanton
Cupid

Shall from your neck unloofe his am'rous fold
And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane,
Be fhook to air.

Lovers parting in the Morning.

Troil. O Creffida! but that the busy day, Wak'd by the lark, has rous'd the ribald crows, And dreaming night will hide our joys no longer, I would not from thee

Cref. Night hath been too brief. Trail. Befhrew the witch! with venomouswights she stays,

As tediously as hell; but flies the grafps of love With wings more momentary fwift than thought.

Lovers Farewel.

Injurious time now, with a robber's hafte, Crams his rich thievery up, he knows not how: As many farewels as be ftars in heaven, With diftinct breath and confign'd kiffes to them, He fumbles up into a loofe adieu; And fcants us with a fing'e famifh'd kifs, Diftafted with the falt of broken tears.

Troilus's Character of the Grecian Youths The Grecial youths are full of quality, They're loving, well compos'd, with gifts of nature flowing,

And fwelling o'er with arts and exercise;
How novelty may move, and parts with perfon,
Alas! a kind of godly jealoufy

(Which, I beseech you, call a virtuous fin)
Makes me afcard.

Το

every ticklish reader! fet them down For fluttish fpoils of opportunity, And daughters of the game.

The Character of Troilus.

The youngest fon 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 caim'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, fubfcribes To tender objects; but he, in heat of action, Is more vindicative than jealous love.

Hector in Battle.

I have, thou gallant Trojan, feen thee oft,
Labouring for destiny, make cruel way,
Thro' ranks of Greckish youths: and Í have seen
thee,

As hot as Perfeus, fpur thy Phrygian fteed,
Defpifing many forfeits and fubduements,
When thou haft hung thy advanced fword i'the air,
Not letting it decline on the declin'd;
That I have faid to fome my ftanders-by,

Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!""
And I have feen thee paufe, and take thy breath,
When that a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in,
Like an Olympian wrestling.

Achilles furveying Hector.

Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body Shall I deftroy him? whether there, there, there; That I may give the local wound a name; And make diftinct the very breach, whereout Hector's great fpirit flew. Aufwer me, heavens!

Honour more dear than Life.

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 the love of all the gods

Let's leave the hermit pity with our mother;
And when we have our armours buckled on,

The venom'd vengeance ride upon our fwords!

Seb. As in a dream

I fee thee here, and fcarce believe mine eyes.
Dor. Is it foftrange to find me where my wrongs,
And your inhuman tyranny, have fent me?
Think not you dream: or, if you did, my injuries
Shall call fo loud, that lethargy should wake;
And death fhould give you back to answer me.
A thoufand nights have brufh'd their balmy wings
Over these eyes; but ever when they clos'd,
Your tyrant image forc'd them ope again,
And dried the dews they brought.
The long-expected hour is come at length,
By manly vengeance to redeem my fame:
And, that once clear'd, eternal fleep is welcome.
Seb. I have not yet forgot I am a king,
Whofe royal office is redrefs of wrongs:
If I have wrong'd thee, charge me face to face;
I have not yet forgot I am a foldier.

Dor. 'Tis the first juftice thou haft ever done me; Then, tho' I loathe this woman's war of tongue, Yet fhall my caufe of vengeance first be clear: And, Honour, be thou judge.

Seb. Honour befriend us both. Beware, I warn thee yet to tell thy griefs In terms becoming majefty to hear: I warn thee thus, becaufe I know thy temper Is infolent and haughty to fuperiors: How often haft thou brav'd my peaceful court, Fill'd it with noify brawls, and windy boafts; And with paft fervice, naufcoufly repeated, Reproach'd even me, thy prince!

Dor. And well I might, whenyou forgot reward, The part of Heaven in kings: for punishment Is hangman's work, and drudgery for devils. I must and will reproach thee with my fervice, Tyrant (it irks me fo to call my prince), But just refentment and hard ufage coin'd Th'unwilling word; and, grating as it is, Take it, for 'tis thy due.

PIECE S.

And hurried me from hopes of heaven to hell:
All thefe, and all my yet unfinish'd crimes,
When I fhall rife to plead before the faints,
I charge on thee to make thy damning fure.

Seb. Thy old prefumptuous arrogance again,
That bred my firft diflike, and then my loathing.
Once more be warn'd, and know me for thy king.
Dor. Too well I know thee, but for king no more:
This is not Lisbon, nor the circle this
Where like a ftatue thou haft ftood befieg'd
By fycophants, and fools, the growth of courts;
Where thy gull'd eyes in all the gaudy round
Met nothing but a lye in every face;
And the grofs flattery of a gaping crowd,
Envious who first should catch and first applaud
The stuff or royal nonfenfe: when I fpoke,
My honeft homely words were carp'd and cenfur'd,
For want of courtly ftyle: related actions,
Though modeftly reported, pafs'd for boasts:
Secure of merit, if I atk'd reward,

Thy hungry minions thought their rights invaded, And the bread fnatch'd from pimps and parafites. Henriquez anfwered, with a ready lye,

To fave his king's, the boon was begg'd before. Seb. What fay't thou of Henriquez? Now by

Heaven

Thou mov'ft me more by barely naming him,
Than all thy foul unmanner'd fcurril taunts.

Dor. And therefore 'twas to gall thee, that I

nam'd him,

That thing, that nothing but a cringe and fmile; That woman, but more daub'd; or, if a man, Corrupted to a woman; thy man-mistress.

Seb. All falfe as hell, or thou.

Dor. Yes; full as falfe

As that I ferv'd thee fifteen hard campaigns, And pitch'd thy ftandard in those foreign fields: By me thy greatnefs grew, thy years grew with it. But the ingratitude outgrew them both.

Seb. I fee to what thou tend'ft; but tell me firft, If thofe great acts were done alone for me; If love produc'd not fome, and pride the reft?

Dor. Why, love does all that's noble here below: But all th' advantage of that love was thine: For, coming fraughted back, in either hand With palm and olive, victory and peace, I was indeed prepar'd to ask my own (For Violante's vows were mine before): Thy malice had prevention, ere I spoke; And afk'd me Violante for Henriquez.

Seb. I meant thee a reward of greater worth. Dor. Where juftice wanted, could reward be hop'd?

Could the robb'd på Tenger expect a bounty From thofe rapacious hands whoftripp'dhim firft? Seb. He had my promife, ere I knew thy love. Der. My fervices deferv'd thou thouldft revoke it.

Seb.

To violate my laws, even in my court,

Sacred to peace, and fafe from all affronts;
Even to my face, and done in my despite,
Under the wing of awful majefty,

To ftrike the man I lov'd!

Dor. Ev'n in the face of heaven, a place more facred,

Would I have ftruck the man, who, prompt by pow'r,

Would feize my right, and rob me of my love:
But, for a blow provok'd by thy injuftice,
The hafty product of a just despair,
When he refus'd to meet me in the field,
That thou thouldft make a coward's caufe thy own!
Seb. He durft: nay, more, defir'd and begg'd

with tears

To meet thy challenge fairly: 'twas thy fault
To make it public; but my duty then
To interpofe, on pain of my difpleafure,
Betwixt your fwords.

Dor. On pain of infamy,
He fhould have difobey'd.

Seb. The indignity thou didft was meant to me: Thy gloomy eyes were cait on me with fcorn, As who fhould fay, the blow was there intended; But that thou didst not dare to lift thy hands Against anointed power: fo was I fore'd To do a fovereign juftice to myfelf, And fpurn thee from my prefence. Dor. Thou haft dar'd

age:

To tell me, what I durft not tell myself:
I durft not think that I was fpurn'd, and live;
And live to hear it boafted to my face;
All my long avarice of honour loft,
Heap'd up in youth, and hoarded up for
Has Honour's fountain then fuck'd back the ftream?
He has; and hooting boys may dryfhod pafs,
And gather pebbles from the naked ford.
Give me my love, my honour; give them back :
Give me revenge while I have breath to afk it.

Seb. Now by this honour'd order which I wear,
More gladly would I give than thou dar'st ask it :
Nor thall the facred character of king
Be urg'd to fhield me from thy bold appeal.
If I have injur'd thee, that makes us equal :
The wrong, if done, debas'd ine down to thee.
But thou fraft charg'd me with ingratitude;
Haft thou not charg'd me? Speak.

Dor. Thou know'ft I have:
If thoa difown'it that imputation, draw,
And prove my charge a lyc.

Seb. No; to difprove that lye I must not draw:
Be confcious to thy worth, and tell thy foul
What thou haft done this day in my defence:
To fight thee after this, what were it elfe
Than owning that ingratitude thou urg'ft?
That ifthmus ftands between two rushing feas;
Which mounting view each other from afar,
And strive in vain to meet.

Dor. I'll cut that ifthmus:

Thou know'ft I meant not to preferve thy life,
But to reprieve it, for my own revenge.
I fav'd thee out of honourable malice:

Beware of fuch another vile excufe.

Seb O, patience, Heaven!

Dor. Beware of patience too; That's a fufpicious word: it had been proper, Before thy foot had fpurn'd me; now 'tis bafe: Yet, to difarm thee of thy laft defence, I have thy oath for my fecurity: The only boon I begg'd was this fair combat: Fight or be perjur'd now; that's all thy choice. Seb. Now can I thank thee as thou wouldft be thank'd: [Drawing. Never was vow of honour better paid, If my true fiord but hold, than this fhall be. The fprightly bridegroom on his wedding-night More gladly enters not the lifts of love. Why 'tis enjoyment to be fummon'd thus. Go; bear my meffage to Henriquez' ghoft, And fay his mafter and his friend reveng'd him.

Dor. His ghoft! then is my hated rival dead? Seb. The question is befide our prefent purpose. Thou feeft me ready; we delay too long.

Dor. A minute is not much in either's life, When there's but one betwixt us; throw it in, And give it him of us who is to fall.

Seb. He's dead: make hafte, and thou mayft yet o'ertake him.

Dor. When I was hafty, thou delay'ft me longer. I pr'ythee let me hedge one moment more Into thy promife: for thy life preferv'd, Be kind; and tell me how that rival died, Whofe death next thine I with'd.

[know:

Seb. If it would please thee, thou shouldst never But thou, like jealoufy, enquir'ft a truth, Which found will torture thee: he died in fight; Fought next iny perfon, as in concert fought; Kept pace for pace, and blow for every blow; Save when he heav'd his fhield in my defence, And on his naked fide receiv'd my wound: Then, when he could no more, he fell at once, But roll'd his falling body crofs their way, And made a bulwark of it for his prince.

Dor. I never can forgive him fuch a death' Seb. I prophefied thy proud foul could not bear it.

Now judge thyfelf who beft deferv'd my love.
I know you both; and (durft I say?) as Heaven
Forcknew among the fhining angel host
Who fhould ftand firm, who fall.

Dor. Had he been tempted fo, fo had he fall'n; And fo, had I been favour'd, had I ftood.

Seb. What had been, is unknown; what is, apConfefs he justly was preferr'd to thee. [pears:

Dor. Had I been born with his indulgent ftars, My fortune had been his, and his been mine. O, worse than hell! what glory have I lost, And what has he acquir'd by fuch a death! I fhould have fallen by Sebaftian's fide, My corpfe had been the bulwark of my king: His glorious end was a patch'd work of fate, Ill forted with a foft cffeminate life: It fuited better with my life than his So to have died: mine had been of a picce, Spent in your fervice, dying at your fect.

Seb. The more effeminate and foft his life, The more his fame, to ftruggle to the field, And meet his glorious fate: confeis, proud fpirit, (For I will have it from thy very mouth) That better he deferv'd my love than thou. Dor. O, whither wouldst thou drive me? I must grant,

Yes, I muft grant, but with a fwelling foul,
Henriquez had your love with more defert:
For you he fought and died, I fought against you;
Through all the mazes of the bloody field
Hunted your facred life; which that I miss'd
Was the propitious error of my fate,
Not of my foul; my foul's a regicide.

Seb. Thou might'ft have given it a more gentle

name:

Thou mean'it to kill a tyrant, not a king. Speak, didft thou not, Alonzo?

Dor. Can I fpeak ?

Alas, I cannot anfwer to Alonzo:
No, Dorax cannot anfwer to Alonzo:
Alonzo was too kind a name for me.
Then,when I fought and conquer'd with your arms,
In that bleft age I was the man you nam'd:
Till rage and pride debas'd me into Dorax;
And loft, like Lucifer, my name above.

Seb. Yet twice this day I ow'd my life to Dorax.
Dor. I fav'd you but to kill you: there's my grief.
Seb. Nay, if thou canst be griev'd, thou canst

repent:

Thou couldft not be a villain, tho' thou wouldft: Thou own't too much, in owning thou haft err'd; And I too little, who provok'd thy crime.

Dor. O, top this headlong torrent of your good-
It comes too faft upon a feeble foul, [nels;
Half-drown'd in tears before; fpare my confufion,
For pity fpare, and fay not, firft you err'd.
For yet I have not dar'd, through guilt and thame,
To throw myfelf beneath your royal feet.
Now fpurn this rebel, this proud renegade;
'Tis juft you fhould, nor will I more complain.
Seb. Indeed thou shouldft not ask forgivenefs
first,

But thou prevent'ft me fill in all that's noble.
Yes, I will raife thee up with better news:
Thy Violante's heart was ever thine;
Compell'd to wed, because fhe was my ward,
Her foul was abfent when the gave her hand:
Nor could my threats, or his purfuing courtship,
Effect the confummation of his love:
So ftill indulging tears, the pines for thee,
A widow and a maid.

[blefs'd me!
Dor. Have I been curfing Heaven, while Heaven
I fhall run mad with ecftafy of joy :
What, in one moment to be reconcil'd
To Heaven, and to my king, and to my love!
But pity is my friend, and ftops me fhort,
For my unhappy rival. Poor Henriquez!

Seb. Art thou fo generous too, to pity him? Nay, then I was unjust to love him better. Here let me ever hold thee in my arms; And all our quarrels be but fuch as thefe, Who fhall love beft, and closeft fhall embrace: Be what Henriquez was-be my Alonzo.

mine.

DRYDEN.

§38. Antony and Ventidius. Ant.THEY tell me 'tis my birth-day; and I'l keep it

With double pomp of sadness.

'Tis what the day deferves which gave me breath. Why was I rais'd the meteor of the world, Hung in the fkies, and blazing as I travell'd, Till all my fires were spent, and then caft downTo be trod out by Cæfar? · [wards my

Vent. [Afide] On foul
'Tis mournful, wondrous mournful!
Ant. Count thy gains;

Now, Antony, wouldst thou be born for this?
Glutton of fortune, thy devouring youth
Has ftarv'd thy wanting age,

Vent. [Afide] How forrow fhakes him!
So now the tempeft tears him up by th' roots,
And on the ground extends the noble ruin.

Ant. [Having thrown himself down.]
Lie there, thou fhadow of an emperor;
The place thou preffeft on thy mother earth
Is all thy empire now: now it contains thee;
Some few days hence, and then 'twill be too large,
When thou'rt contracted in thy narrow urn,
Shrunk to a few cold afhes: then Octavia,
(For Cleopatra will not live to fee it)
Octavia then will have thee all her own,
And bear thee in her widow'd hand to Cæfar.
Cæfar will weep, the crocodile will weep,
To fee his rival of the univerfe

Lie ftill and peaceful there. I'll think no more on't.
Give me fome mufic; look that it be fad,
I'll foothe my melancholy, till I fwell
And burft myself with fighing—————
'Tis fomewhat to my humour. Stay, I fancy
I'm now turn'd wild, a commoner of nature;
Of all forfaken, and forfaking all;
Live in a fhady foreft's fylvan fcene,
Stretch'd at my length heneath fome blafted oak,
I lean my head upon the molly bark,
And look juft of a piece, as I grew from it :
My uncomb'd locks, matted like mifletoe,
Hang o'er my hoary face; a murm'ring brook
Runs at my foot-

Vent. Methinks, I fancy
Myfelf there too.

Ant. The herd come jumping by me,

And fearlefs quench their thirft while I look on, And take me for their fellow-citizen.

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