"Achievement is command; ungain'd beseech." Nothing can be more correct than this; yet some approve of Mr. Harness's correction, _Achieved men_. 'Ungain'd' sc. men, are those who have not gained, achieved. In Corneille's Polyeucte (i. 3), Pauline makes the very same remark. * * * * * "Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear." For 'Then' of the 4tos the folio reads 'That,' another instance of the confusion of these words. (See note on Prol.) The folio also reads 'contents.' * * * * * SC. 3. "Princes * * * * * *" The remainder of the line has evidently been omitted or effaced; for speeches never begin thus abruptly. We might read _and leaders of the Grecian host_. * * * * * "With those of nobler bulk * * *" We might add, _and greater strength_. * * * * * "And flies fled under shade," etc. Here 'flies' is either a verb or a noun; if the former, we have the grotesque image of the wind running and hiding itself after doing mischief; if the latter, as in the folio, alluding to 'the brize,' we have a bathos unworthy of any poet. Something, then, must have been lost between 'flies' and 'fled.' I read thus:-- "And flies _along the sky, while bird and beast are_ Fled under shade;" and I fancy I have made a near approach to what the poet wrote. As he was reading Chaucer at that time, he may have had in his mind:-- "Ne how the _beestes_ and the _briddes_ alle _Fledden_ for feare when the wood was falle." Knt's. Tale. If nothing is lost, we should read '_have_ fled.' * * * * * "Retires to chiding Fortune." For 'Retires' Pope, whom I have followed, read _Returns_, Hanmer _Replies_, Dyce _Retorts_. Yet the text may be right, and 'Retires' be the French _retire_, shoots again, returns the shot. * * * * * "Speak, Prince of Ithaca, and be it of less expect." This is not sense. I read _'we_ it less.' The superfluous insertion of _of_ was not infrequent (see on Meas. for Meas. iv. 4). Here, however, it was manifestly introduced to make some kind of sense. See Introd. p. 67. * * * * * "But for these instances * * *" We might add, _which now I'll show you_. * * * * * "And look! how many Grecian tents [do] stand hollow Upon this plain so many hollow factions. When that the general is not as the hive." 'Do' was evidently introduced to eke out the verse. We should perhaps read 'general'_s_' sc. tent. * * * * * "Degrees being vizarded, The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask." As what? A line seems to be lost. * * * * *