hem! O, brave Troilus! the prince of chivalry, and flower of fidelity!

Cres. Peace, for shame, peace!

Pand. Nay, but mark him then! O brave Troilus! there's a man of men, niece! look you how his sword is bloody, and his helmet more hacked than Hector's, and how he looks, and how he goes! O admirable youth! he never saw two-and-twenty. Go thy way, Troilus, go thy way! had I a sister were a grace, and a daughter a goddess, he should take his choice of them. O admirable man! Paris, Paris is dirt to him, and I warrant, Helen, to change, would give all the shoes in her shop to boot.

Enter common Soldiers passing over.

Cres. Here come more.

Pand. Asses, fools, dolts, dirt, and dung, stuff, and lumber, porridge after meat; but I could live and die with Troilus. Ne'er look, niece, ne'er look, the lions are gone: apes and monkeys, the fag end of the creation. I had rather be such a man as Troilus, than Agamemnon and all Greece.

Cres. There's Achilles among the Greeks, he's a brave man.'

Pand. Achilles! a carman, a beast of burden; a very camel: have you any eyes, niece? do you know a man? is he to be compared with Troilus? Enter Page.

Page. Sir, my lord Troilus would instantly speak with you.

Pand. Where boy, where?

Page. At his own house, if you think convenient. Pand. Good boy, tell him I come instantly: 1 doubt he's wounded. Farewell, good niece. But I'll be with you by and by.

Cres. To bring me, uncle!

Pand. Ay, a token from prince Troilus.

[Exit PANDAR. Cres. By the same token, you are a procurer, uncle.

CRESSIDA alone..

A strange dissembling sex we women are:
Well may we men, when we ourselves deceive.
Long has my secret soul loved Troilus;

I drunk his praises from my uncles mouth,
As if my ears could ne'er be satisfied:

Why then, why said I not, I love this prince?
How could my tongue conspire against my heart,
I loved him not? O childish love!

Το

say

'Tis like an infant, froward in his play,

And what he most desires, he throws away. [Eit.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-Troy.

Enter PRIAM, HECTOR, TROILUS, and ENEAS. Priam. After the expence of so much time and blood,

Thus once again the Grecians send to Troy;-
Deliver Helen, and all other loss

Shall be forgotten.-Hector, what say you to it? Hect. Though no man less can fear the Greeks than I,

Yet there's no virgin of more tender heart,

More ready to cry out,-who knows the consequence?
Than Hector is; for modest doubt is mixed
With manly courage best: let Helen

go.

If we have lost so many lives of ours,
To keep a thing not ours, not worth to us
The value of a man, what reason is there
Still to retain the cause of so much ill?

Troil. Fye, fye, my noble brother!
Weigh you the worth and honour of a king,
So great as Asia's monarch, in a scale

Of common ounces thus?

Are fears and reasons fit to be considered,
When a king's fame is questioned?

Hect. Brother, she's not worth
What her defence has cost us.

Troil. What's aught, but as 'tis valued?
Hect. But value dwells not in opinion only:

It holds the dignity and estimation,
As well, wherein 'tis precious of itself,
As in the prizer: 'tis idolatry,

To make the service greater than the god.
Troil. We turn not back the silks

chant,

upon

the mer

When we have worn them; the remaining food
Throw not away, because we now are full.
If you confess, 'twas wisdom Paris went;-
As you must needs, for you all cried, Go, go:-
If you'll confess, he brought home noble prize;—
As you must needs, for you all clapped your hands,
And cried, Inestimable!-Why do you now
So under-rate the value of your purchase?
For, let me tell you, 'tis unmanly theft,
When we have taken what we fear to keep.
Ene. There's not the meanest spirit in our party,
Without a heart to dare, or sword to draw,
When Helen is defended: None so noble,
Whose life were ill bestowed, or death unfamed,
When Helen is the subject.

Priam. So says Paris,

Like one besotted on effeminate joys;
He has the honey still, but these the gall.
Ene. He not proposes merely to himself
The pleasures such a beauty brings with it;
But he would have the stain of Helen's rape

Wiped off, in honourable keeping her.
Hect. Troilus and Æneas, you have said;
If saying superficial things be reason.
But if this Helen be another's wife,

The moral laws of nature and of nations
Speak loud she be restored. Thus to persist
In doing wrong, extenuates not wrong,
But makes it much more so. Hector's opinion
Is this, in way of truth: yet, ne'ertheless,
My sprightly brother, I incline to you
In resolution to defend her still:

For 'tis a cause on which our Trojan honour
And common reputation will depend.

Troil. Why there you touched the life of our design: Were it not glory that we covet more

Than war and vengeance, (beasts' and women's pleasure)

I would not wish a drop of Trojan blood
Spent more in her defence; but oh! my brother,
She is a subject of renown and honour;

And I presume brave Hector would not lose
The rich advantage of his future fame

For the wide world's revenue:-I have business;
But glad I am to leave you thus resolved.

When such arms strike, ne'er doubt of the success.
En. May we not guess?

Troil. You may, and be deceived. [Exit TROIL. Hect. A woman, on my life: even so it happens, Religion, state-affairs, whate'er's the theme, It ends in woman still.

Enter ANDROMACHE.

Priam. See, here's your wife,

To make that maxim good.

Hect. Welcome, Andromache: your looks are chearful,

You bring some pleasing news.

Andro. Nothing that's serious.

Your little son Astyanax has employed me
As his ambassadress.

Hect. Upon what errand?

Andro. No less than that his grandfather this day Would make him knight: he longs to kill a Grecian: For should he stay to be a man, he thinks

You'll kill them all; and leave no work for him.
Priam. Your own blood, Hector.

Andro. And therefore he designs to send a challenge To Agamemnon, Ajax, or Achilles,

To prove they do not well to burn our fields,
And keep us cooped like prisoners in a town,
To lead this lazy life.

Hect. What sparks of honour

Fly from this child! the gods speak in him sure: It shall be so I'll do't.

Priam. What means my son?

Hect. To send a challenge to the boldest Greek. Is not that country ours? those fruitful fields Washed by yon silver flood, are they not ours? Those teeming vines that tempt our longing eyes, Shall we behold them? shall we call them ours, And dare not make them so? by heavens I'll know Which of these haughty Grecians dares to think He can keep Hector prisoner here in Troy.

Priam. If Hector only were a private man,
This would be courage ; but in him 'tis madness.
The general safety on your life depends;
And, should you perish in this rash attempt,
Troy with a groan would feel her soul go out,
And breathe her last in you.

En. The task you undertake is hazardous:
Suppose you win, what would the profit be?
If Ajax or Achilles fell beneath

Your thundering arm, would all the rest depart?
Would Agamemnon, or his injured brother,
Set sail for this? then it were worth your danger.
But, as it is, we throw our utmost stake