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ACT III

SCENE I.-Troy. PRIAM's Palace.

Enter PANDARUS and a Servant.

Pan. Friend! you! pray you, a word: do not you
follow the young Lord Paris?

Serv. Ay, sir, when he goes before me.

Pan. You depend upon him? I mean.

Serv. Sir, I do depend upon the Lord.

Pan. You depend upon a noble gentleman;

I must needs praise him.

Serv. The Lord be praised!

Pan. You know me, do you not?

Serv. Faith, sir, superficially.

Pan. Friend, know me better. I am the Lord

Pandarus.

Serv. I hope I shall know your honour better.

Pan. I do desire it.

Serv. You are in the state of grace.

Pan. Grace! not so, friend; honour and lordship are

my titles.

What music is this?

6. noble] Ff; notable Q.

12. I hope . . . better] "The servant means to quibble. He hopes that Pandarus will become a better man than he is at present. In his next speech he chooses to understand

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[Music within.

Pandarus as if he had said he wished to grow better, and hence the servant affirms that he is in a state of grace ..." (Malone). Pandarus deprecates the word grace as a title above him.

Serv. I do but partly know, sir: it is music in parts.
Pan. Know you the musicians?

Serv. Wholly, sir.

Pan. Who play they to?

too courtly, and thou art too cunning. At
whose request do these men play?

Serv. That's to't, indeed, sir. Marry, sir, at the
request of Paris my lord, who's there in
person; with him the mortal Venus, the
heart-blood of beauty, love's invisible soul.

Pan. Who, my cousin Cressida ?

Serv. No, sir, Helen: could you not find out that

by her attributes ?

Pan. It should seem, fellow, that thou hast not
seen the Lady Cressida. I come to speak
with Paris from the Prince Troilus: I will

make a complimental assault upon him, for
my business seethes.

Serv. Sodden business: there's a stewed phrase, in

deed.

34. love's invisible soul] may mean jectures invisible love's "the soul of love invisible every- indivisible. where else" (Johnson), or "the ethereal spirit of love as impersonated by her" (Clarke). Hanmer and Capell give "visible"; Daniel con

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or love's 43. stewed phrase] probably with a quibble on the word stews, a brothel, and in sodden an allusion to the "tubfast," Timon of Athens, IV. iii. 87, the

Enter PARIS and HELEN, attended.

Pan. Fair be to you, my lord, and to all this fair 45 company! fair desires, in all fair measure,

fairly guide them! especially to you, fair
queen! fair thoughts be your fair pillow!

Helen. Dear lord, you are full of fair words.
Pan. You speak your fair pleasure, sweet queen. 50
Fair prince, here is good broken music.

Par. You have broke it, cousin; and, by my life,
you shall make it whole again: you shall
piece it out with a piece of your perform-
ance. Nell, he is full of harmony.

Pan. Truly, lady, no.

Helen. O, sir!

Pan. Rude, in sooth; in good sooth, very rude.
Par. Well said, my lord! Well, you say so in fits.
Pan. I have business to my lord, dear queen. My
lord, will you vouchsafe me a word?

Helen. Nay, this shall not hedge us out: we'll hear
you sing, certainly.

Pan. Well, sweet queen, you are pleasant with me.

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60

the pun on the phrase in As You Like It, 1. ii. 150.

59. in fits] Steevens supposes a quibble upon "by fits," i.e. now and then, and "fits," parts or divisions of a song. This seems very unsatisfactory. Nares conjectures "it fits". Possibly "i' fecks"; we have in this scene many such exclamations, "i' faith," "la," "in good troth". Compare The Winter's Tale, 1. ii. 120.

us.

62. hedge us out] shut us out, debar

J..

But, marry, thus, my lord: my dear lord 65
and most esteemed friend, your brother
Troilus,-

Helen. My Lord Pandarus; honey-sweet lord,-
Pan. Go to, sweet queen, go to: commends himself
most affectionately to you.

Helen. You shall not bob us out of our melody: if

you do, our melancholy upon your head! Pan. Sweet queen, sweet queen! that's a sweet

queen, i' faith.

70

Helen. And to make a sweet lady sad is a sour 75

Pan.

offence.

Nay, that shall not serve your turn; that shall
it not, in truth, la! Nay, I care not for such
words; no, no. And, my lord, he desires
you, that if the king call for him at supper, 80
you will make his excuse.

Helen. My Lord Pandarus,

Pan. What says my sweet queen, my very very

sweet queen?

Par. What exploit's in hand? where sups he to- 85

night?

Helen. Nay, but, my lord,

Pan. What says my sweet queen? My cousin will

68. honey-sweet lord] Compare Henry V. II. iii. 1.

71. bob] See note on II. i. 75, above. 88, 89. My cousin. . . you] What have these words to do here? "Paris's last question was: "Where sups he [sc. Troilus] to-night?" Before Pandarus can answer, Helen breaks in with: "Nay, but, my lord- upon which Pandarus somewhat impatiently

turns to her with: "What says my sweet queen?" He then goes on to warn Paris that if Priam should ask for Troilus at supper he (Paris) is not supposed to know anything of his brother's doings. Nothing has as yet been said of Cressida, and the words "My cousin will fall out with you" are altogether irrelevant. For this reason, as I suppose, Capell

fall out with you. You must not know where
he sups.

Par. I'll lay my life, with my disposer Cressida.
Pan. No, no, no such matter; you are wide. Come,
your disposer is sick.

Par. Well, I'll make excuse.

90

Why should you say 95

Cressida ? no, your poor disposer's sick.

Par. I spy.

Pan. You spy! what do you spy? Come, give me an instrument. Now, sweet queen.

Helen. Why, this is kindly done.

Pan. My niece is horribly in love with a thing you

have, sweet queen.

Helen. She shall have it, my lord, if it be not my

Lord Paris.

100

Pan. He! no, she'll none of him; they two are 105

twain.

Helen. Falling in, after falling out, may make them

three.

and "my dispraiser," Dyce may well say that it is doubtful which is the most foolish.

91. I'll lay my life] Q; omitted in Ff. transferred them to follow "twain" (line 106). There, if printed with a break after "with you," i.e. as the beginning of a caution addressed to Paris and interrupted by Helen, they will not only have relevance, but will lead up to Helen's joke about "Falling in" and "falling out".

91. my disposer] "i.e. she who disposes or inclines me to mirth by her pleasant (and rather free) talk" (Dyce), who refers to many instances of the verb so used quoted in his note on Love's Labour's Lost, II. i. 249. Of the alterations here made or proposed," my dispouser," "my deposer"

105, 106. are twain] are at variance. 107, 108. Falling . . . three] Taking up Pandarus's equivoque, Helen says if falling out has made them two, then falling in may make them three. Compare Marston, The Dutch Courtezan, iv. i. 93 (Tysefew kissing) :—

"Then thus and thus, so Hymen

should begin;

Sometimes a falling out proves falling in".

Tollet's coarse interpretation is impossible.