own chronicle; and whatever praises itself but in the deed, devours the deed in the praise.

AJAX. I do hate a proud man, as I hate the engendering of toads."

NEST. And yet he loves himself: Isit not strange? [Aside.

Re-enter Ulysses.

ULYSS. Achilles will not to the field to-morrow. AGAM. What's his excuse?

ULYSS. He doth rely on none; But carries on the stream of his dispose, Without observance or respect of any, In will peculiar and in self-admission.

AGAM. Why will he not, upon our fair request, Untent his person, and share the air with us?

ULYSS. Things small as nothing, for request's

sake only,

He makes important: Possess'd he is with greatness;
And speaks not to himself, but with a pride
That quarrels at self-breath: imagin'd worth
Holds in his blood such swoln and hot discourse,
That, 'twixt his mental and his active parts,

6

whatever praises itself but in the deed, devours the deed

in the praise.] So, in Coriolanus:

7

66

power, unto itself most commendable, "Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair

"To extol what it hath done." MALOne.

the engendering of toads.] Whoever wishes to comprehend the whole force of this allusion, may consult the late Dr. Goldsmith's History of the Earth, and animated Nature, Vol. VII. p. 92-93. STEEVENS.

8

Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages,
And batters down himself: What should I say?
He is so plaguy proud," that the death-tokens of it'
Cry-No recovery.

AGAM.

Let Ajax go to him.Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent: 'Tis said, he holds you well; and will be led, At your request, a little from himself.

ULYSS. O Agamemnon, let it not bè so! We'll consecrate the steps that Ajax makes When they go from Achilles : Shall the proud lord, That bastes his arrogance with his own seam ;2

8

Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages,] So, in Julius

Cæsar:

"The genius and the mortal instruments

"Are then in council; and the state of man,
"Like to a little kingdom, suffers then

"The nature of an insurrection." MALONE.

He is so plaguy proud, &c.] I cannot help regarding the vulgar epithet-plaguy, which extends the verse beyond its proper length, as the wretched interpolation of some foolish player. STEEVens.

1the death-tokens of it-] Alluding to the decisive spots appearing on those infected by the plague. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Valentinian :

"Now, like the fearful tokens of the plague,

"Are mere fore-runners of their ends." STEEVENS.

Dr. Hodges, in his Treatise on the Plague, says: "Spots of a dark complexion, usually called tokens, and looked on as the pledges or forewarnings of death, are minute and distinct blasts, which have their original from within, and rise up with a little pyramidal protuberance, the pestilential poison chiefly collected at their bases, tainting the neighbouring parts, and reaching to the surface." REED.

2

with his own seam;] Swine-seam, in the North, is hog's-lard. RITSON.

See Sherwood's English and French Dictionary, folio, 1650. MALONE.

And never suffers matter of the world · ·
Enter his thoughts,-save such as do revolve
And ruminate himself,-shall he be worshipp'd
Of that we hold an idol more than he?
No, this thrice worthy and right valiant lord
Must not so stale his palm, nobly acquir'd;
Nor, by my will, assubjugate his merit,
As amply titled as Achilles is,

By going to Achilles :

That were to enlard his fat-already pride;3
And add more coals to Cancer, when he burns
With entertaining great Hyperion.

This lord go to him! Jupiter forbid ;
And say in thunder-Achilles, go to him.

NEST. O, this is well; he rubs the vein of him.

[Aside. DIO. And how his silence drinks up this applause!

[Aside. AJAX. If I go to him, with my arm'd fist I'll pash him

Over the face.5

3 That were to enlard &c.] This is only the well-known proverb-Grease a fat sow &c. in a more stately dress.

to Cancer, when he burns

STEEVENS.

With entertaining great Hyperion.] Cancer is the Crab, a sign in the zodiack.

The same thought is more clearly expressed by Thomson, whose words, on this occasion, are a sufficient illustration of our author's:

5

"And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze.”.

-I'll pash him

STEEVENS.

Over the face.] i. e. strike him with violence. So, in The Virgin Martyr, by Massinger, 1623:

66 when the batt'ring ram

"Were fetching his career backward, to pash
"Me with his horns to pieces."

AGAM.

O, no, you shall not go.

AJAX. An he be proud with me, I'll pheeze his

ULYSS. Not for the worth" that hangs upon our quarrel.

AJAX. A paltry, insolent fellow,

-the pot

Chides blackness.

Again, in Churchyard's Challenge, 1596, p. 91: which goeth often to the water comes home with a knock, or at length is pashed all to pieces." REED.

6

·pheeze his pride :] To pheeze is to comb or curry.

JOHNSON.

Mr. Steevens has explained the word feaze, as Dr. Johnson does, to mean the untwisting or unravelling a knotted skain of silk or thread. I recollect no authority for this use of it. To feize is to drive away; and the expression-I'll feize his pride, may signify, I'll humble or lower his pride." See Vol. IX. p. 11, n. 1. WHALLEY.

To comb or curry, undoubtedly, is the meaning of the word here. Kersey, in his Dictionary, 1708, says that it is a seaterm, and that it signifies, to separate a cable by untwisting the ends; and Dr. Johnson gives a similar account of its original meaning. [See the reference at the end of the foregoing note.] But whatever may have been the origin of the expression, it undoubtedly signified, in our author's time, to beat, knock, strike, or whip. Cole, in his Latin Dictionary, 1679, renders it, flagellare, virgis cædere, as he does to feage, of which the modern school-boy term, to fag, is a corruption. MALONE.

Not for the worth-] Not for the value of all for which we are fighting. JOHNSON.

АЈАХ.

I will let his humours blood,

AGAM. He'll be physician, that should be the

AJAX. He should not bear it so,

He should eat swords first: Shall pride carry it? NEST. An 'twould, you'd carry half.

ULYSS.

[Aside.

He'd have ten shares.

[Aside.

AJAX, I'll knead him, I will make him sup

ple:

NEST. He's not yet thorough warm: force him with praises:1

Pour in, pour in; his ambition is dry.

[Aside.

I will let his humours blood.] In the year 1600 a collection of Epigrams and Satires was published with this quaint title: The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-vaine.

9 He'll be physician,] Old copies-the physician.

1 I'll knead him, &c.] Old copy:

JOHNSON.

STEEVENS.

Ajax. I'll knead him, I'll make him supple, he's not yet thorough warm.

Nest.force him with praises: &c.

The latter part of Ajax's speech is certainly got out of place, and ought to be assigned to Nestor, as I have ventured to transpose. it. Ajax is feeding on his vanity, and boasting what he will do to Achilles; he'll pash him o'er the face, he'll make him eat swords, he'll knead him, he'll supple him, &c. Nestor and Ulysses slily labour to keep him up in this vein; and to this end Nestor craftily hints that Ajax is not warm yet, but must be crammed with more flattery. THEOBALD.

Nestor was of the same opinion with Dr. Johnson, who, speaking of a metaphysical Scotch writer, said, that he thought