_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_: