It is evident that large portions of this play are not by Shakspeare's hand. It was first attributed to him and published in 1608. But there is an entry in Henslowe's Diary, April 7, 1599, of a sum money lent to "Mr. Dickers and Harey Cheatell, in earneste of their boocke called Troyeles and Creassedaye." This play of Dekker and Chettle was probably the original which Shakspeare adopted in order to improve. Mr. Fleay, however, attributes to Shakspeare a first form of this play as early as 1597. The improvements are as palpable as the original defects. The play did not receive the benefit of a thorough recasting, and was published under Shakspeare's name with large portions of the crude, absurd, and indecent original matter unchanged.
"Helen must needs be fair, When with your blood you daily paint her thus;"
and when Ulysses replies to the complaint of Achilles that his deeds are forgotten,--
"Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion; A great-sized monster of ingratitudes: Those scraps are good deeds past, which are devour'd As fast as they are made, forgot as soon As done. Perseverance, dear my lord, Keeps honor bright: to have done, is to hang Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail In monumental mockery. Take the instant way; For honor travels in a strait so narrow, Where one but goes abreast; keep then the path, For emulation hath a thousand sons, That one by one pursue. If you give way, Or hedge aside from the direct forthright, Like to an enter'd tide, they all rush by, And leave you hindmost. For time is like a fashionable host, That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand, And with his arms outstretch'd, as he would fly, Grasps in the comer: welcome ever smiles, And farewell goes out sighing,"--
we need no help in recognizing the pen of Shakspeare. This is the speech that holds embedded the world's household line,
"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."
But we should need sore helping to discover a touch of nature's style in the lines of Troilus replying to the question, "Why stay we, then?"--
"To make a recordation to my soul Of every syllable that here was spoke. But if I tell how these two did co-act, Shall I not lie in publishing a truth? Sith yet there is a credence in my heart, An esperance so obstinately strong, That doth invert th' attest of eyes and ears; As if those organs had deceptious functions, Created only to calumniate."