Which we disdain fhould tetter us, yet fought
The very way to catch them.

Bru. You fpeak o' the people,
As if you were a god to punish, not
A man of their infirmity.

Sic. 'Twere well,

We let the people know't.

Men. What, what? his choler?

Cor. Choler!

Were I as patient as the midnight sleep,
By Jove, 'twould be my mind."

Sic. It is a mind,

That fhall remain a poison where it is,
Not poifon any further.

Cor. Shall remain !—

Hear you this Triton of the minnows?? mark you
His abfolute ball?

Com. 'Twas from the canon 3.

Cor. Shall!

O good, but most unwife patricans*, why,

2 minnows?] i. e. fmall fry. WARBURTON.

A minnow is one of the fmallest river fifh, called in fome counties a pink. JOHNSON.

3 'Twas from the canon.] Was contrary to the established rule; it was a form of speech to which he has no right. JOHNSON.

4 O good, but most unwife patricians,] The old copy has-O God, but &c. Mr. Theobald made the correction. Mr. Steevens afks, "when the only authentick ancient copy makes fenfe, why should we depart from it?"-No one can be more thoroughly convinced of the general propriety of adhering to the old copy than I am; and I truft I have given abundant proofs of my attention to it in the prefent edition, by restoring and establishing many ancient readings in every one of thefe plays, which had been difplaced for modern innovations: and if in the paffage before us the ancient copy had afforded fenfe, I should have been very unwilling to difturb it. But it does not; for it reads, not "O Gods," as Mr. Steevens fuppofed, but O God, an adjuration furely not proper in the mouth of a heathen. Add to this, that the word but is exhibited with a small initial letter, in the only authentick copy; and the words "good but unwife" here appear to be the counterpart of grave and reckless in the fubfequent line. On a re-confideration of this paffage therefore, I am confident that even my learned pre deceflor will approve of the emendation now adopted. MALONE.

You

You grave, but reckless fenators, have you thus
Given Hydra here to choose an officer,
That with his peremptory hall, being but

The horn and noife' o'the monsters, wants not fpirit
To fay, he'll turn your current in a ditch,
And make your channel his? If he have power,
Then vail your ignorance: if none, awake
Your dangerous lenity. If you are learned,
Be not as common fools; if you are not,

Let them have cufhions by you. You are plebeians,
If they be fenators: and they are no less,

When, both your voices blended, the greatest tafte
Moft palates theirs?. They choose their magiftrate;
And fuch a one as he, who puts his fall,

His popular all, against a graver bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece! By Jove himself,
It makes the confuls bafe: and my foul akes',
To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither fupreme, how foon confufion

May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take
The one by the other.

Com. Well,-on to the market-place.

5 The born and noise-] Alluding to his having called him Triton before. WARBURTON.

Then wail your ignorance;-] If this man has power, let the ignorance that gave it him vail or bow down before him. JOHNSON.

See Vol. II. p. 109, n. 2; and p. 410, n. 4. MALONE.

7- You are plebeians,

If they be fenators; and they are no less,

When, both your voices blended, the greatest tafte

Meft palates theirs.] I think the meaning is, the plebeians are no less than fenators, when, the voices of the fenate and the people being blended together the predominant taste of the compound fmacks more of the populace than the fenate.

Dr. Johnson would read-Muft palate theirs. "When the taste of, the great, the patricians, muft palate, must please [or must try] that of the plebeians." MALONE.

The plain meaning is, that fenators and plebeians are equal, when the bigbeft taste is best pleased with that which pleases the loweft. STEEV. 8 and my foul akes, &c.] The mifchief and abfurdity of what is called Imperium in imperio, is here finely expreffed. WARBURTON.

Cor.

Cor. Whoever gave that counfel, to give forth The corn o'the storehouse gratis, as 'twas us'd Sometime in Greece,

Men. Well, well, no more of that.

Cor. (Though there the people had more abfolute
power,)

I fay, they nourish'd difobedience, fed
The ruin of the state.

Bru. Why, fhall the people give
One, that speaks thus, their voice?

Cor. I'll give my reasons,

More worthier than their voices. They know, the corn Was not our recompence; refting well affur'd

They ne'er did fervice for't: Being prefs'd to the war, Even when the navel of the state was touch'd,

They would not thread the gates': this kind of service Did not deferve corn gratis: being i' the war,

9 Whoever gave that counsel, &c.] So, in the old tranflation of Pixtarch: "Therefore, fayed he, they that gaue counfell, and perfuaded that the Corne should be giuen out to the common people gratis, as they vied to doe in citties of Græce, where the people had more abfolute power, dyd but only nourishe their difobedience, which would breake out in the ende, to the vtter ruine and ouerthrow of the whole ftate. For they will not thincke it is done in recompente of their fervice paft, fithence they know well enough they haue fo ofte refufed to go to the warres, when they were commaunded: neither for their mutinies when they went with vs, whereby they haue rebelled and forfaken their countrie: neither for their accufations which their flatterers haue preferred vnto them, and they haue recevued, and made good against the fenate: but they will rather judge we geue and graunt them this, as abafing our felues, and ftanding in feare of them, and glad to flatter them euery way. By this meanes, their difobedience will ftill growe worfe and worfe; and they will neuer leave to practife newe fedition, and vprores. Therefore it were a great follie for vs, me thinckes, to do it: yea, fhall I faye more? we should if we were wife, take from them their tribunehippe, which moft manifeftly is the embafing of the confulfhippe, and the cause of the diuifion of the cittie. The state whereof as it ftandeth, is not now as it was wont to be, but becommeth difmembered in two factions, which mainteines allwaye s ciuill diffention and difcorde beewene vs, and will neuer fuffer vs againe to be vnited into one bodie." STEEVENS.

They would not thread the gates:] That is, pass them.

yet lay, to thread an alley. JOHNSON.

We

Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they fhew'd
Moft valour, spoke not for them: The accufation
Which they have often made against the senate,
All caufe unborn, could never be the native2
Of our fo frank donation. Well, what then?
How fhall this bofom multiplied3 digeft
The fenate's courtefy? Let deeds exprefs
What's like to be their words :-We did request it;
We are the greater poll, and in true fear
They gave us our demands:-Thus we debafe
The nature of our seats, and make the rabble
Call our cares, fears: which will in time break ope
The locks o' the fenate, and bring in the crows
To peck the eagles.-

Men. Come, enough.

Bru. Enough, with over-measure.
Cor. No, take more+ :

What may be fworn by, both divine and human,
Seal what I end withal!-This double worship,-
Where one part does difdain with cause, the other
Infult without all reason; where gentry, title, wisdom
Cannot conclude, but by the yea and no

Of general ignorance,-it muft omit

Real neceffities, and give way the while

To unftable flightnefs: purpose fo barr'd, it follows,
Nothing is done to purpose: Therefore, befeech you,-

2 could never be the native-] Native is natural parent, or cause of birth. JOHNSON.

So, in a kindred fenfe, in K. Henry V.

"A many of our bodies thall no doubt

"Find native graves.' MALONE.

3- this bofom multiplied-] This multitudinous bofom; the bofom of that great monfter, the people. MALONE.

4 No, take more: &c.] The fenfe is, No, let me add this further; and may every thing divine and human which can give force to an oath, bear witness to the truth of what I fhall conclude with.

The Romans fwore by what was human as well as divine; by theis head, by their eyes, by the dead bones and ashes of their parents, &c. See Briffon de formulis, p. 808-817. HEATH.

5 Where one part-] In the old copy we have here, as in many other places, on inftead of one. The correction was made by Mr. Rowe. See Vol. IV. p. 511, n. 7,

MALONE.

VOL. VII.

You

You that will be lefs fearful than difcreet;
That love the fundamental part of state,
More than you doubt the change of't; that prefer
A noble life before a long, and wish

To jump a body with a dangerous phyfick?
That's fure of death without it,-at once pluck out
The multitudinous tongue, let them not lick
The sweet which is their poison: your dishonour
Mangles true judgment, and bereaves the ftate
Of that integrity which should become it;
Not having the power to do the good it would,
For the ill which doth control it.

Bru. He has faid enough.

Sic. He has fpoken like a traitor, and shall anfwer As traitors do.

Cor. Thou wretch ! defpight o'erwhelm thee!What should the people do with these bald tribunes? On whom depending, their obedience fails

To the greater bench: In a rebellion,

When what's not meet, but what muft be, was law,
Then were they chofen; in a better hour,

6 That love the fundamental part of ftate,

More than you doubt the change of 't;] To doubt is to fear. The meaning is, You whofe zeal predominates over your terrours; you wro do not fo much fear the danger of violent measures, as wifh the good to which they are neceffary, the prefervation of the original conftitution of our government. JOHNSON.

7 To jump a body-] Thus the old copy. Modern editors read: To vamp-To jump anciently fignified to jolt, to give a rude concuffion to any thing. To jump a body may therefore mean, to put it into a violent agitation or commotion. So, in Phil. Holland's tranflation of Pliny's Nat. Hift. B. XXV. ch. v. p. 219: "If we looke for good fuccefle in our cure by miniftring ellebore, &c. for certainly it putteth the patient to a jumpe, or great hazard." STEEVENS.

From this paffage in Pliny, it fhould feem that "to jump a body," meant to risk a body; and fuch an explication feems to me to be fupported by the context in the paffage before us. MALONE. 8 Mangles true judgraent,] Judgment is the faculty by which right is diftinguished from wrong. JOHNSON.

9 Of that integrity which frould become it;] Integrity is in this place foundnefs, uniformity, confiftency, in the fame fenfe as Dr. Warburton often ufes it, when he mentions the integrity of a metaphor. To become, is to fuit, to befit. JOHNSON.

Let