How many shallow bauble boats dare sail Upon her patient breast,9 making their way But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage The gentle Thetis,2 and, anon, behold The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut, Bounding between the two moist elements, Like Perseus' horse :3 Where 's then the saucy boat, 9 patient breast,] The quarto, not so well-ancient breast. Johnson. 1 With those of nobler bulk?] Statius has the same thought, though more diffusively expressed: "Sic ubi magna novum Phario de littore puppis "Invasitque vias; it eodem angusta phaselus "Aquore, et immensi partem sibi vendicat austri." Again, in The Sylva of the same author, Lib. I, iv, 120: - immensæ veluti connexa carine "Cymba minor, cum sævit hyems et eodem volvitur austro." Mr. Pope has imitated the passage. Steevens. 2 But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage The gentle Thetis,] So, in Lord Cromwell, 1602: "When I have seen Boreas begin to play the ruffian with us, then would I down on my knees." Malone. 3 Bounding between the two moist elements, Like Perseus' horse:] Mercury, according to the fable, presented Perseus with talaria, but we no where hear of his horse. The only flying horse of antiquity was Pegasus; and he was the property, not of Perseus, but Bellerophon. But our poet followed a more modern fabulist, the author of The Destruction of Troy, a book which furnished him with some other circumstances of this play. Of the horse alluded to in the text he found in that book the following account: "Of the blood that issued out [from Medusa's head] there engendered Pegasus, or the flying horse By the flying horse that was engendered of the blood issued from her head, is understood, that of her riches issuing of that realme he [Perseus] founded and made a ship named Pegase,—and this ship was likened unto an horse flying," &c. Again: "By this fashion Perseus conquered the head of Medusa, and did make Pegase, the most swift ship that was in all the world." In another place the same writer assures us, that this ship, which he always calls Perseus' flying horse, "flew on the sea like unto a bird." Dest. of Troy, 4to. 1617, p. 155-164. Malone. Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now 5 And flies fled under shade, Why, then, the thing of As rous'd with rage, with rage doth sympathize, The foregoing note is a very curious one; and yet our author perhaps would not have contented himself with merely compar ing one ship to another. Unallegorized Pegasus might be fairly styled Perseus' horse, because the heroism of Perseus had given him existence. So, in the fable of The Hors, the Shepe, and the Ghoos, printed by Caxton: "The stede of perseus was cleped pigase "With swifte wynges" &c. Whereas, ibid. a ship is called " -an hors of tre." See University Library, Cambridge, D. 5, 42. Steevens. 4 -by the brize,] The brize is the gad or horse-fly. So, in Monsieur Thomas, 1639: Have ye got the brize there? "Give me the holy sprinkle." Again, in Vittoria Corombona, or The White Devil, 1612: "I will but brize in his tail, set him a gadding presently." See note on Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, sc. viii. Steevens. 5 And flies fled under shade,] i. e. And flies are fled under shade. I have observed similar omissions in the works of many of our author's contemporaries. Malone. 6 the thing of courage,] It is said of the tiger, that in storms and high winds he rages and roars most furiously. Hanmer. 7 Returns to chiding fortune.] For returns, Hanmer reads replies, unnecessarily, the sense being the same. The folio-and quarto have retires, corruptly. Johnson. So, in King Richard II: "Northumberland, say--thus the king returns ; -----. Steevens. The emendation was made by Mr. Pope. Chiding is noisy, cla morous. So, in King Henry VIII: "As doth a rock against the chiding flood.” See Vol. XI, p. 288, n. 4. Malone. See also Vol. II, p. 344, n. 4. Steevens. Ulyss. Agamemnon, Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Greece, In whom the tempers and the minds of all The which, most mighty for thy place and sway, [TO AGAM And thou most reverend for thy stretch'd-out life,— [TO NEST. I give to both your speeches,-which were such, Should with a bond of air (strong as the axletree" 8 axletree-] This word was anciently contracted into a dissyllable. Thus in Beaumont and Fletcher's Bonduca: 9 66 when the mountain "Melts under their hot wheels, and from their ax'trees Huge claps of thunder plough the ground before them." Steevens. · speeches,—which were such, As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece Should hold up high in brass; and such again, As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver, Should with a bond of air knit all the Greekish ears To his experienc'd tongue,] Ulysses begins his oration with praising those who had spoken before him, and marks the characteristick excellencies of their different eloquence,-strength, and sweetness, which he expresses by the different metals on which he recommends them to be engraven for the instruction of posterity. The speech of Agamemnon is such that it ought to be engraven in brass, and the tablet held up by him on the one side, and Greece on the other, to show the union of their opinion. And Nestor ought to be exhibited in silver, uniting all bis audience in one mind by his soft and gentle elocution. Brass is the common emblem of strength, and silver of gentleness. We call a soft voice a silver voice, and a persuasive tongue a silver tongue. I once read for hand, the band of Greece, but I think the text right. The hatch is a term of art for a particular method of engraving. Hacher, to cut, Fr. Johnson. In the description of Agamemnon's speech, there is a plain allusion to the old custom of engraving laws and public records Thou great, and wise,1-to hear Ulysses speak. in brass, and hanging up the tables in temples, and other places of general resort Our author has the same allusion in Measure for Measure, Act V, sc. i. The Duke, speaking of the merit of Angelo and Escalus, says, that 66 -it deserves with characters of brass "A forted residence, 'gainst the tooth of time So far therefore is clear. Why Nestor is said to be hatch'd in silver, is much more obscure. I once thought that we ought to read,-thatch'd in silver, alluding to his silver hair; the same me taphor being used by Timon, Act IV, sc. iv, to Phryne and Timandra: But I know not whether the present reading may not be understood to convey the same allusion; as I find, that the species of engraving, called hatching, was particularly used in the hilts of swords. See Cotgrave in v. Haché; hacked, &c. also, Hatched, as the hilt of a sword; and in v. Hacher; to hacke, &c. also, to hatch a hilt. Beaumont and Fletcher's Custom of the Country, Vol. II, p. 90: "When thine own bloody sword cried out against thee, "Hutch'd in the life of him As to what follows, if the reader should have no more concep tion than I have, of 66 -a bond of air, strong as the axle-tree "On which heaven rides; he will perhaps excuse me for hazarding a conjecture, that the true reading may possibly be: -a bond of awe, The expression is used by Fairfax, in his 4th Eclogue, Muses Library, p. 368: "Unto these bonds of awe and cords of duty.” After all, the construction of this passage is very harsh and irregular; but with that I meddle not, believing it was left so by the author. Tyrwhitt. Perhaps no alteration is necessary: hatch'd in silver, may mean, whose white hair and beard make him look like a figure engraved on silver. The word is metaphorically used by Heywood, in The Iron Age, 1632: "Is hatch'd with impudency three-fold thick." And again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Humorous Lieutenannt: "His weapon hatch'd in blood." Again, literally, in The Two Merry Milkmaids, 1620: "Double and treble gilt, "Hatch'd and inlaid, not to be worn with time." 2 Agam. Speak, prince of Ithaca; and be 't of less ex pect3 Again, more appositely, in Love in a Maze, 1652: Thy hair is fine as goid, thy chin is hatch'd "With silver دو Again, in Chapman's version of the 23d Iliad: "Shall win this sword, silver & and hatch'd; —.” The voice of Nestor, which on ali occasions enforced attention, might be, I think, not unpoetically called, a bond of air, because its operations were visible, though his voice, like the wind, was unseen. Steevens In a newspaper of the day, intitled The Newes published for Satisfaction and Information of the People, Nov 12, 1663, No. XI, p. 86, is advertized, "Lost, in Scotland Yard, a broad sword hatcht with silver." Reed. In the following verses in our author's Rape of Lucrece, nearly the same picture of Nestor is given. The fifth line of the first stanza may lead us to the true interpretation of the words hatch'd in silver. In a subsequent passage the colour of the old man's beard is again mentioned: "I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver." Dr. Johnson therefore is undoubtedly mistaken in supposing that there is any allusion to the soft voice or silver tongue of Nestor. The poet, however, might mean not merely that Nestor looked like a figure engraved in silver (as Mr. Steevens supposes); but that he should actually be so engraved. With respect to the breath or speech of Nestor, here called a bond of air, it is so truly Shakspearian, that I have not the smallest doubt of the genuineness of the expression. Shakspeare frequently calls words wind, and air. So, in one of his poems: sorrow ebbs, being blown with wind of words." Again, in Romeo and Juliet: "Three civil broils, bred of an airy word.” Again, more appositely, in Much Ado about Nothing: "Charm ache with air, and agony with words." The verses above alluded to are these: "There pleading you might see grave Nestor stand, "To jump up higher seem'd, to mock the mind." |