1. Sol. "Twill be deliver'd back on good condition. I would, I were a Roman; for I cannot, I' the part that is at mercy? Five times, Marcius If e'er again I meet him beard to beard, He is mine, or I am his: Mine emulation Hath not that honour in't, it had; for where? (True fword to fword,) I'll potch at him fome way3; 1. Sol. He's the devil. Auf. Bolder, though not fo fubtle: My valour's poifon'd+, 1 Being a Volce, &c.] It may be juft obferved, that Shakspeare calls the Volci, Volces, which the modern editors have changed to the modern termination [Volcian]. I mention it here, because here the change has fpoiled the measure: Being a Volce, be that I am. Condition! JOHNSON. The Volci are called Volces in fir Tho. North's Plutarch, See Vol. VI. P. 195. n. 4. STEEVENS. 2 for where-] Where is ufed here, as in many other places, for Tubereas. MALONE. 3 - I'll potch at bim some way;] The Revifal reads poach; but potch, to which the objection is made as no English word, is used in the midland counties for a rough, violent pub. STEEVENS. Cole in his DICTIONARY, 1679, renders "to pocbe," fundum explo rare. The modern word poke is only a hard pronunciation of this word. So to eke was formerly written to ech. MALONE. In Carew's Survey of Cornwall, the word potch is ufed in almost the fame fenfe, p. 31: "They ufe alfo to pocbe them (fish) with an inftrument fomewhat like a falmon-fpeare." TOLLET. + My valour's poison'd,] The construction of this paffage would be clearer, if it were written thus: my valour, paifon'd With only juffering ftain by bim, for him Shall flie out of ttfelf. TYRWHITT. With With only fuffering ftain by him; for him 5 Wash my fierce hand in his heart. Go you to the city; 1. Sol. Will not you go? Auf. I am attended at the cypress grove: I pray you, 'Tis fouth the city mills,) bring me word thither for bim How Shall fly out of itfelf:] To mifchief him, my valour fhould deviate from its own native generofity. JOHNSON. 6 -nor Jeep, nor fanctuary, &c. Embarquements all of fury,] The word in the old copy is fpelt embarquements, and as Cotgrave fays, meant not only an embarkation, but an embargoing. The rotten privilege and cuftom that follow, feem to favour this explanation; and therefore the old reading may well enough stand, as an embargo is undoubtedly an impediment. STEEVENS. In Sherwood's English and French Dictionary at the end of Cotgraves, we find "To imbark, to imbargue. Embarquer. "An imbarking, an imbarguing. Embarquement. Cole in his Latin Dictionary, 1679, has " to imbargue, or lay an imbargo upon." There can be no doubt therefore that the old copy is right. If we derive the word from the Spanish, embargar, perhaps we ought to write embargements; but Shakspeare's word certainly came to us from the French, and therefore is more properly written embarque. ments, or embarkments. MALONE. 7 At home, upon my brother's guard,-] In my own houfe, with my brother pofted to protect him. JOHNSON. 8 ('Tis fouth the city mills,)] But where could Shakspeare have heard of thefe mills at Antium? I believe we fhould read: ('Tis fouth the city a mile.) The old edition reads mils. TYRWHITT. Shakspeare is feldom careful about fuch little improprieties. Coriolanus speaks of our divines, and Menenius of graves in the holy N 4 church How the world goes; that to the pace of it I may fpur on my journey. 1. Sol. I fhall, fir. ACT II. SCENE I. Rome. A publick Place. Enter MENENIUS, SICINIUS, and BRUTUS. Men. The augurer tells me, we shall have news to-night. Bru. Good, or bad? Men. Not according to the prayer of the people, for they love not Marcius. Šic. Nature teaches beafts to know their friends. Men. Pray you, who does the wolf love? Sic. The lamb. Men. Ay, to devour him; as the hungry plebeians would the noble Marcius. Bru. He's a lamb indeed, that baes like a bear. Men. He's a bear, indeed, that lives like a lamb. You two are old men; tell me one thing that I fhall ask you. Both. Trib. Well, fir. Men. In what enormity is Marcius poor in ', that you two have not in abundance? Bru. churchyard. It is faid afterwards, that Coriolanus talks like a knell; and drums, and Hob and Dick, are with as little attention to time or place, introduced in this tragedy. STEEVENS. Shakspeare frequently introduces these minute local defcriptions, probably to give an air of truth to his pieces. So, in Romeo and Juliet underneath the grove of fycamore, Again: "That weftward rooteth from the city's fide." "It was the nightingale, and not the lark,- MALONE. Pray you, &c.] When the tribune, in reply to Menenius's remark, on the people's hate of Coriolanus, had obferved that even beafts knoCU their friends, Menenius afks, whom does the wolf love? implying that there are beafts which love nobody, and that among thofe beafts are the people. JOHNSON. Alu what enormity is Marcius poor in,] Here we have another of our author's Bru. He's poor in no one fault, but ftor'd with all. Bru. And topping all others in boasting. Men. This is ftrange now: Do you two know how you are cenfured here in the city, I mean of us o' the righthand file? Do you? Both. Trib. Why, how are we cenfured? Men. Because you talk of pride now,-Will you not be angry? Both. Trib. Well, well, fir, well. Men. Why, 'tis no great matter; for a very little thief of occafion will rob you of a great deal of patience; give your difpofitions the reins, and be angry at your pleafures; at the leaft, if you take it as a pleafure to you, in being fo. You blame Marcius for being proud? Bru. We do it not alone, fir. Men. I know, you can do very little alone; for your helps are many; or elfe your actions would grow wondrous fingle: your abilities are too infant-like, for doing much alone. You talk of pride: O, that you could turn your eyes towards the napes of your necks, and make but an interior furvey of your good felves! O, that you could! Bru. What then, fir ? Men. Why, then you should discover a brace of unmeriting, proud, violent, testy magiftrates, (alias, fools,) as any in Rome3. Sic. Menenius, you are known well enough too. author's peculiar modes of phrafeology; which, however, the modern editors have not suffered him to retain, having difmified the redundant in at the end of this part of the fentence. MALONE. 2 towards the napes of your necks,] With allufion to the fable, which fays, that every man has a bag hanging before him, in which he puts his neighbour's faults, and another behind him, in which be ftows his own. JOHNSON. 3 -a brace of unmeriting-magiftrates, as any in Rome.] This was the phrafeology of Shakspeare's age, of which I have met with many inRances in the books of that time. Mr. Pope, as ufual, reduced the paffage to the modern ftandard, by reading-a brace of as unmeriting, &c. as any in Rme; and all the fubfequent editors have adopted his emendation. MALONE. Men. Men. I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that loves a cup of hot wine with not a drop of allaying Tiber in't; faid to be fomething imperfect, in favouring the first complaint; hafty, and tinder-like, upon too trivial motion: one that converfes more with the buttock of the night, than with the forehead of the morning. What I think, I utter; and fpend my malice in my breath: Meeting two fuch weals-men as you are, (I cannot call you Lycurgufes) if the drink you give me, touch my palate adveriely, I make a crooked face at it. I cannot fays, your worships have deliver'd the matter well, when I find the afs in compound with the major part of your fyllables: and though I must be content to bear with thofe that fay you are reverend grave men; yet they lye deadly, that tell, you have good faces. If you fee this in the map of my microcofm, follows it, that I am known well enough too? What harm can your biffon confpectuites glean out of this character, if I be known well enough too? Bru. Come, fir, come, we know you well enough. Men. You know neither me, yourfelves, nor any thing. You are ambitious for poor knaves' caps and legs; you wear out a good wholefome forenoon, in hearing a caufe between 4-one that converfes more with the buttock of the night, &c.] Rather a late lier down than an early rifer. JOHNSON. So, in Love's Labour's Left: "It is the king's most sweet pleasure and affection, to congratulate the princefs at her pavilion, in the pofteriors of this day; which the rude multitude call, the afternoon." Again, in King Henry IV. P. II. 66 -Thou art a fummer bird, "Which ever in the baunch of winter fings "The lifting up of day." MALONE. 5 I cannot foy-] Nor, which appears to have been omitted in the old copy, by negligence, was inferted by Mr. Theobald. MALONE. billon confpectuities,] Biffon (blind,) in the old copies, is beefome : reftored by Mr. Theobald. JOHNSON. 6 -- So, in Hamlet: "Ran barefootup and down, threat'ning the flames, 7- for poor knaves' caps, and legs-] That is, for their obeisance fhewed by bowing to you. To make a leg was the phrafe of our author's time for a bow. See Vol. V. p. 180, n. 4. 8 MALONE. -you wear out a good, &c.] It appears from this whole fpeech that Shakspeare |