I do not find Shakespeare's touches very
discernible, (see 1765, VI, 364) (rev. 1778, VIII, 559)
Vol. IX.
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
Prologue. (4,2)
_And hither am I come
A prologue arm'd; but not in confidence
Of author's pen, or actor's voice; but suited
In like conditions as our argument_]
I come here to speak the prologue, and come in armour; not defying the
audience, in confidence of either the author's or actor's abilities, but
merely in a character suited to the subject, in a dress of war, before a
warlike play.
I.i.12 (8,3) And skill-less as unpractis'd infancy] Mr. Dryden, in his
alteration of this play, has taken this speech as it stands, except that
he has changed _skill-less_ to _artless_, not for the better, because
_skill-less_ refers to _skill_ and _skilful_.
I.i.58 (10,4) The cignet's down is harsh, and spirit of sense/Hard as
the palm of ploughman!] _In comparison with_ Cressid's _hand_, says he,
_the spirit of sense_, the utmost degree, the most exquisite power of
sensibility, which implies a soft hand, since the sense of touching, as
Scaliger says in his _Exercitations_, resides chiefly in the fingers, is
hard as the callous and insensible palm of the ploughman. WARBURTON
reads,
--SPITE _of sense_:
HANMER,
--to th' _spirit of sense_.
It is not proper to make a lover profess to praise his mistress in
_spite of sense_; for though he often does it in _spite of the sense_ of
others, his own senses are subdued to his desires.
Pages:
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164