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Defcription of Creffida.

(7) There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip, Nay her foot fpeaks; her wanton spirits look out At every joint, and motive of her body: Oh, thefe encounterers! fo glib of tongue, They give a coafting welcome ere it comes; And wide unclafp the tables of their thoughts To every ticklish reader; fet them down For fluttish fpoils of opportunity, And daughters of the game."

The Character of Troilus.

The youngest son 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 calm'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 subscribes
To tender objects: but he in heat of action
Is more vindicative than jealous love.

SCENE

(7) There's, &c.] Nothing can exceed this defcription of a wanton woman. Richard (in the beginning of Richard the third) fpeaking of Jane Shore, fays,

We fay that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot,

A cherry lip, a paffing pleasant tongue..

But in Ifaiah there is a defcription of the wanton daughters of Zion, which is peculiarly beautiful. "Becaufe the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with ftretch'd-forth necks, and wanton eyes walking, and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet," &c. See chap. iii. ver. 16.

SCENE IX. Hector in Battle.

I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft, Labouring for destiny, make cruel way

Thro' ranks of Greekish youth; and I have seen thee
As hot as Perfeus, fpur thy Phrygian steed,
Bravely defpifing forfeits and fubduements,
When thou has hung thy advanced sword in th' air,
Not letting it decline on the declin'd:
That I have faid unto my standers by,

Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!

And I have seen thee pause and take thy breath,
When that a ring of Greeks hath hem'd thee in,
Like an Olympian wrestling.

Achilles furveying Hector.

Tell me, ye heav'ns, in which part of his body
Shall I destroy him? whether there, or there;
That I may give the local wound a name,
And make diitinct the very breach, where out
Hector's great spirit flew. Anfwer me, heavens!

ACT V.

SCENE VI.

Honour more dear than Life.

(8) 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 love of all the gods,

Let's leave the hermit pity with our mothers;
And when we have our armour buckled on,
The venom'd vengeance ride upon our swords!

Raf

(8) Mine honour, &c.] See the firft paffage in Julius Caefar,

and the note.

Rafh Vows.

The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows;
They are polluted offerings, more abhorr'd
Than fpotted livers in the facrifice.

General Obfervation.

THIS play (fays Johnson) is more correctly written than most
of Shakespear's compofitions, but it is not one of thofe in which
either the extent of his views, or elevation of his fancy is fully
difplayed. As the frory abounded with materials, he has exert-
ed little invention; but he has diverfified his characters with
great variety, and preferved them with great exactnefs. His
vicious characters fometimes difguft, but cannot corrupt, for
both Creffida and Pandarus are detefted and contemned. The
comic characters feem to have been the favourites of the
writer; they are of the fuperficial kind, and exhibit more of
manners than nature; but they are copioufly filled and power-
fully impreffed. Shakespear has in his ftory followed, for the
greater part, the old book of Caxton, which was then very popu
lar; but the character of Therfites, of which it makes no men-
tion, is a proof that this play was written after Chapman had
published his verhon of Homer.

INDEX.

INDE X.

A

A

CHILLES furveying
Hector, 311
Achilles defcribed by Ulyffes, 298
Action requires refolution, 78
Adverfity, the trial of man,
297

Advice against cruelty, 121
Age, an old one defpifed, 185,
n. ibid

Ajax, his ftupidity, 300
Allegiance, firm, defcribed,83,
n. ibid

Ambition, how covered, 118
Anger defcribed, 78, its exter-
nal effects, 83, n. ibid
Antony, to the corps of Cefar,
124, his addrefs to the con-
fpirators, ibid, his funeral
oration, 125, and character
of Brutus, 137
Apoftrophe to death, 103
Appearances, false, defcribed,
38

Applaufe, defcription of, 87
Army, English, the state of, 96,
Defcription of, 96, n. ibid
VOL. III.

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Calpburnia's speech on prodigies
feen, 122

Caffus, his contempt of Cæfar,
115, n. ibid. his difcourfe
and parting with Brutus, 130
Catharine, queen, speech of, to
her husband, 80, and to car-
dinal Wolfey, and upon her
own merit, 81, 82, to what
compared, ibid
Ceremony infincere, 129
Cefar, his diflike of Caffius,
117, and fpeech on the fear
of death, 123, n. ibid
Child, an alienated one de-
fcribed, 140, n. ibid
Child, ingratitude of one, 144
Churchman, description of a,
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Clarence's dream in the tower,
236

Conduct, when fuperior to ac-

tion, 297
Confpiracy, the horrors of one,
102, how dreadful, 119, n.
ibid, defcription of, 121
Confcience, a good one de-
scrib'd, 57, n.ibid, the ftrug-
gles of, 107, what it is, 244
Confideration, 34
Confiance to Auftria, 101
Confolation under banishment,
224
Conftancy in love protested,
303
Contemplation, a zealous one
defcribed, 240
Content, when perfect, 208, n.
ibid
Contention, comparison of, 19
Cordelia's fpeech-upon the in-
gratitude of her fifters, 157
Countenance, a guilty one, 56

Country, an oppreffed one de-
fcribed, 181
Courage defcribed, 97
Courtezans, reflections upon
them, 279 to 281, n. ibid
Courtship, a beautiful one, 251
to 257

Courtier, a finical one, descrip- -
tion of, 3

Cowardice defcribed, 224
Cranmer, archbishop, his pro-
phecy, 90, n. ibid

Creffida, defcription of, 310, n.
ibid
Crown, reflections upon it, 29,
n. ibid, the tranfports of, 65,
n. ibid

Cruelty, against it, 121
Cynic, (philofopher) his grace,

273

Customs, why followed, 79

D

Danger defcribed, 5, its fup-
port, 105, and comparison
with Caefar, 123, n. ibid
Day-break, a defcription of,
243

Deceit in a fine woman, 239
Death, the approach of, 110,
the fear of it, 123
Death-bed, horrors of a guilty
confcience, 60

Degree, a defcription of, 296,
n. ibid

Delay, beautifully described,
241, n. ibid

Delights, when not lasting, 258
Dependants not to be trufted
too much, 79

Desdemona, her faithfulness, 218
difcovered in bed asleep, 219
Defpondency, 105
Defpair defcribed, 109

Dialogue

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