What things again most dear in the esteem,
And poor in worth! Now shall we see to-morrow-
An act that very chance doth throw upon him—
Ajax renown'd. O heavens, what some men do,
While some men leave to do!

How some men creep in skittish Fortune's hall,
Whiles others play the idiots in her eyes!
How one man eats into another's pride,
While pride is fasting in his wantonness!
To see these Grecian lords !-why, even already
They clap the lubber Ajax on the shoulder,
As if his foot were on brave Hector's breast,
And great Troy shrieking.

Achil. I do believe it; for they pass'd by me
As misers do by beggars,-neither gave to (94) me
Good word nor look: what, are my deeds forgot?

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

A great-siz'd monster of ingratitudes :(95)

Those scraps are good deeds past; which are devour'd
As fast as they are made, forgot as soon

As they are done: (96) perséverance, dear my lord,
Keeps honour bright: to have done, is to hang
Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail

In monumental mockery. Take th' instant way;
For honour travels in a strait so narrow,

Where one but (97) goes abreast: keep, then, the path;

(94) to] Ought probably to be omitted.

(95) A great-siz'd monster of ingratitudes:] Walker (Crit. Exam., &c., vol. i. p. 238) quotes this line as containing a misprint, "ingratitudes for "ingratitude" (which Hanmer gives); and perhaps such is the case but it may be mentioned that in Timon of Athens, act v. sc. 4, Walker approves of the emendation, "ingratitudes" for "ingratitude."

Mr. Singer (some time after the publication of his Shakespeare,—Notes and Queries for March 13th, 1858, p. 202, Sec. Series) proposed "A greatsiz'd muster of ingratitudes.”- -a very ingenious conjecture; with which, however, Mr. Arrowsmith makes himself merry in The Editor of Notes and Queries,' &c., p. 11.

(96) As they are done :] The old eds. have “As done." (Compare, in the preceding line, as they are made.")

() one but] Walker, quoting this passage (Crit. Exam., &c., vol. ii. p. 348), has "but one."

For emulation hath a thousand sons,
That one by one pursue: if you give way,
Or hedge aside from the direct forth-right,
Like to an enter'd tide, they all rush by,
And leave you hindmost; (98)

Or, like a gallant horse fall'n in first rank,

Lie there for pavement to the abject rear, (99)

O'er-run and trampled on: then what they do in present Though less than yours in past, must o'ertop yours;

For time is like a fashionable host,

That slightly shakes his parting guest by th' hand,
And with his arms outstretch'd, as he would fly,
Grasps-in the comer: welcome (100) ever smiles,
And farewell goes out sighing. O, let not virtue seek
Remuneration for the thing it was;

For beauty, wit,

High birth, vigour of bone, desert 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 consent, praise new-born gauds,
Though they are made and moulded of things past,
And give to dust, that is a little gilt,

More laud than gilt o'er-dusted.

The present eye praises the present object :(101)

(99) And leave you hindmost;] "The quarto wholly omits the simile of the horse, and reads thus ;

'And leave you hindmost [him, most], then what they do at [in] present-'

The folio seems to have some omission, for the simile begins,

'Or, like a gallant horse-.'" JOHNSON.

"The construction is, 'Or, like a gallant horse, &c., you lie there for pavement;' the personal pronoun of a preceding line being understood here." MALONE.

(99) to the abject rear,] Hanmer's correction.-The folio has "to the abiect, neere."-This simile is not in the quarto.

(100) welcome] The old eds. have "the welcome.”

(101) And give to dust, that is a little gilt,
More laud than gilt o'er-dusted.

The present eye praises the present object:]

The old eds. have "And goe to dust," &c.-Theobald printed

Then marvel not, thou great and cómplete man,
That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax;
Since things in motion sooner catch the eye
Than what not stirs. The cry went once on thee,
And still it might, and yet it may again,

If thou wouldst not entomb thyself alive,
And case thy reputation in thy tent;

Whose glorious deeds, but in these fields of late,
Made emulous missions 'mongst the gods themselves,
And drave great Mars to faction.

Achil.

I have strong reasons.

Ulyss.

Of this my privacy

But 'gainst your privacy

The reasons are more potent and heroical: 'Tis known, Achilles, that you are in love With one of Priam's daughters.(102)

Achil.

Ulyss. Is that a wonder?

Ha! known!

The providence that's in a watchful state
Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold;(103)

"And give to dust, that is a little gilt,

More laud than they will give to gold, o'er-dusted;"

"the foundation of which amendment," he says, "he owes to Dr. Thirlby."-But with "gilt o'er-dusted" compare a line in King Richard II. act ii. sc. I,

"Wipe off the dust that hides our sceptre's gilt:”

which seems to forbid the alteration of "gilt" to "gold" in the present passage, though the alteration is approved by Walker, who (Shakespeare's Versification, &c., p. 102) also recommends the following arrangement;

"And give to dust, that is a little gilt,

More laud than gold o'er-dusted.
Praises the present object;'

The present eye

an arrangement which is perhaps the preferable one.

(102) daughters.] A trisyllable here: see Walker's Shakespeare's Versification, &c., p. 207.

(103) Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold;] The quarto has only

"Knowes almost every thing."

The folio has ". every graine of Plutoes gold," as it again has in Julius Caesar, act iv. sc. 3, "Deerer then Pluto's Mine;" and in both places "Pluto's" might stand; for even the ancients themselves frequently confounded Πλούτων, the god of the lower world, with Πλοῦτος,

Finds bottom in th' uncomprehensive deeps;
Keeps pace with thought, and almost, like the gods,
Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles, (104)
There is a mystery-with whom (105 relation
Durst never meddle-in the soul of state;
Which hath an operation more divine
Than breath or pen can give expressure to:
All the commérce that you have had with Troy
As perfectly is ours as yours, my lord;
And better would it fit Achilles much

To throw down Hector than Polyxena:

But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home,
When fame shall in cur islands sound her trump,
And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing,

Great Hector's sister did Achilles win;

But our great Ajax bravely beat down him."(106)

the god of riches. But since the folio has in Timon of Athens, act i. sc. 1, "Plutus the God of Gold," and in All's well that ends well, act v. sc. 3, "Platus [a mistake for Plutus] himselfe,

That knowes the tinct and multiplying med'cine," &c.,

the variation of the name in the present passage and in that of Julius Casar may surely be attributed, not to Shakespeare, but to transcribers or printers.

(104) Keeps pace with thought, and almost, like the gods,

Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles, &c.]

The old eds. have "Keepes place with thought," &c.-Various attempts have been made to amend the second line.-Walker (Shakespeare's Versification, &c., p. 29) says, "My ear seems to dictate the arrangement,

'Keeps pace with thought;

And almost, like the gods, does thoughts unveil

In their dumb cradles.

There is a mystery,' &c."

Mr. W. N. Lettsom proposes

"Keeps pace with th' brain (or mind), and almost, like the gods, Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles. There's

A mystery (with whom relation

Durst never meddle)," &c.

(105) whom] See note 93.

Walker (Crit. Exam., &c., vol. i. p. 135) cites an instance of "win" used as a rhyme to "him" from some verses addressed to W. Browne. I

Farewell, my lord: I as your lover speak;
The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break.
Patr. To this effect, Achilles, have I mov'd you:
A woman impudent and mannish grown

Is not more loath'd than an effeminate man
In time of action. I stand condemn'd for this;
They think my little stomach to the war,

And your great love to me, restrains you thus:
Sweet, rouse yourself; (107) and the weak wanton Cupid
Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold,
And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane,
Be shook to air.

Achil.

Shall Ajax fight with Hector ?(108)

[Exit.

Patr. Ay, and perhaps receive much honour by him.
Achil. I see my reputation is at stake;

My fame is shrewdly gor❜d.

Patr.

O, then, beware;

Those wounds heal ill that men do give themselves:
Omission to do what is necessary

Seals a commission to a blank of danger;
And danger, like an ague, subtly taints
Even then when we sit idly in the sun.

Achil. Go call Thersites hither, sweet Patroclus :
I'll send the fool to Ajax, and desire him.
T' invite the Trojan lords after the combat

To see us here unarm'd: I have a woman's longing,
An appetite that I am sick withal,

To see great Hector in his weeds of peace;
To talk with him, and to behold his visage,

Even to my full of view.-A labour sav'd!

may add that, in the introductory lines to the second act of Pericles, sin" rhymes to "him."

(107) Sweet, rouse yourself;] Mr. Collier now rashly adopts the reading of his Ms. Corrector, "Swift, rouse yourself." See note 71 on The Comedy of Errors.

(108) Be shook to air.

Achil. Shall Ajax fight with Hector?]

So the quarto. The folio has "Be shooke to ayric ayre," which Mr. Knight deliberately adopts. "The quarto," he says, "has air, without the Shaksperian superlative"!