Bru. Now, good Metellus, go along by him": He loves me well, and I have given him reafons; Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him.

Caf. The morning comes upon us: We'll leave you,
Brutus:-

And, friends, difperfe yourselves: but all remember
What you have faid, and fhew yourselves true Romans,
Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily;
Let not our looks put on our purposes";
But bear it as our Roman actors do,

With untir'd fpirits, and formal conftancy:

And fo, good-morrow to you every one.

[Exeunt all but Brutas.

Boy! Lucius! Faft afleep? It is no matter;
Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of flumber:

Thou haft no figures, nor no fantafies,

Which bufy care draws in the brains of men ;
Therefore thou fleep'ft fo found.

Enter PORTIA.

Por. Brutus, my lord!

Bru. Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now? It is not for your health, thus to commit

Your weak condition to the raw cold morning.

Por. Nor for yours neither. You have ungently, Brutus, Stole from my bed: And yefternight, at fupper,

You fuddenly arofe, and walk'd about,

Mufing, and fighing, with your arms across:
And when I afk'd you what the matter was,
You ftar'd upon me with ungentle looks:

I urg'd you further; then you fcratch'd your head,
And too impatiently ftamp'd with your foot:
Yet I infifted, yet you answer'd not ;
But, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave fign for me to leave you: So I did;

5 by bim:] That is, by his houfe. Make that your way home. Mr. Pope fubftituted to for by, and all the fubfequent editors have adopted this unneceflary change. MALONE.

Let not our locks, Sec.] Let not our faces put on, that is, wear or fhow our defigns, JOHNSON.

Fearing

Fearing to ftrengthen that impatience,
Which feem'd too much enkindled; and, withal,
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,

Which fometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor fleep;
And, could it work fo much upon your shape,
As it hath much prevail'd on your
condition',
I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your caufe of grief.

Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all.
Por. Brutus is wife, and, were he not in health,
He would embrace the means to come by it.
Bru. Why, fo I do :-Good Portia, go to bed.
Por. Is Brutus fick ? and is it phyfical
To walk unbraced, and fuck up
the humours
Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus fick ;
And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,
To dare the vile contagion of the night?
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air
To add unto his ficknefs? No, my Brutus;
You have fome fick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know. of: And, upon my knees,
I charm you, by my once commended beauty,
By all your vows of love, and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy: and what men to-night
Have had refort to you: for here have been
Some fix or seven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.

7

Bru. Kneel not, gentle Portia.

- on your condition,-] On your temper; the difpofition of your mind. See Vol. V. p. 600, n. 3. MALONE.

I charm you-] Thus the old copy. Pope and Hanmer read charge, but unneceffarily. So, in Cymbeline:

66 -'tis your graces,

"That from my muteft confcience to my tongue

"Charms this report out." STEEVINS.

24

Por.

Por. I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.
Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,
Is it excepted, I should know no fecrets
That appertain to you? Am I yourself,
But, as it were, in fort, or limitation;

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed',

And

9 To keep with you at meals, &c.] “ I being, O Brutus, (fayed she) the daughter of Cato, was maried vnto thee, not to be thy beddefellowe and companion in bedde and at borde onelie, like a harlot; but to be partaker alío with thee, of thy good and euill fortune. Nowe for thyfelfe, I can finde no cause of faulte in thee touchinge our matche: but for my parte, how may I fhowe my duetie towards thee, and how muche I woulde doe for thy fake, if I can not conftantlie beare a fecrete mifchaunce or griefe with thee, which requireth fecrecy and fidelitie? I confeffe, that a woman's wit commonly is too weake to keepe a fecret fafely but yet, Brutus, good education, and the companie of vertuous men, haue fome power to reforme the defect of nature. And for my felfe, I haue this benefit moreouer: that I am the daughter of Cato, and wife of Brutus. This notwithstanding, I did not truft to any of these things before: vntil that now I have found by experience, that no paine nor grife whatfoeuer can ouercome me. With thofe wordes the fhewed him her wounde on her thigh, and tolde him what the had done to proue her felfe." Sir Tho. North's Tranflat. of Plutarch. STEEVENS. Here also we find our authour and lord Sterline walking over the fame ground:

"I was not, Brutus, match'd with thee, to be

"A partner only of thy board and bed;
"Each fervile whore in thofe might equal me,
"That did herself to nought but pleasure wed.
"No;-Portia fpous'd thee with a mind t' abide
"Thy fellow in all fortunes, good or ill;
"With chains of mutual love togetherty'd,

"As thofe that have two breafts, one heart, two fouls, one
will." Julius Cæfar, 1607. MALONE.

comfort your bed,] is but an odd phrase, and gives as odd an idea," fays Mr. Theobald. He therefore fubftitutes, confort. But this good old word, however difused through modern refinement, was not fo difcarded by Shakspeare. Henry VIII. as we read in Cavendish's Life of Wolfey, in commendation of queen Katharine, in public faid, "She hath beene to me a true obedient wife, and as comfortable as I could

with." UPTON.

In the books of entries at Stationers' Hall, I meet with the following: 1598. "A conversation betweene a careful Wyfe and ber comfortable Hufband." STEEVENS.

And talk to you fometimes? Dwell I but in the fuburbs
Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,

Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

Bru. You are my true and honourable wife;

As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops

That vifit my fad heart.

Por. If this were true, then fhould I know this fecret.
Igrant, I am a woman 3; but, withal,

A woman that lord Brutus, took to wife :
I grant, I am a woman; but, withal,
A woman well-reputed; Cato's daughter.
Think you, I am no stronger than my sex,
Being fo father'd, and fo hufbanded?

Tell me your counfels, I will not disclose them:
1 have made ftrong proof of my conflancy,

Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here, in the thigh: Can I bear that with patience,
And not my husband's fecrets?

Bru. O ye gods,

Render me worthy of this noble wife! [Knocking within. Hark, hark! one knocks: Portia, go in a while;

And by and by thy bofom fhall partake

The fecrets of my heart.

All my engagements I will conftrue to thee,

In our marriage ceremony, the hufband promises to comfort his wife ; and Barrett's Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580, fays, that to comfort is, "ro recreate, to folace, to make paftime." COLLINS.

2

- in the fuburbs-] Perhaps here is an allufion to the place in which the harlots of Shakspeare's age refided. So, in B. and Fletcher's Monfieur Thomas:

"Get a new mistress,

"Some fuburb faint, that fixpence, and fome oaths
"Will draw to parley." STEEVENS.

3 Igrant, I am a woman, &c.] So, lord Sterline:

"And though our fex too talkative be deem'd,

"As those whofe tongues import our greatest pow'rs,
For fecrets still bad treasurers efteem'd,

"Of others' greedy, prodigal of ours;

"Good education may reform defects,

"And I this vantage have to a vertuous life,

Which others' minds do want and mine refpects,

I'm Cate's daughter, and I'm Brutus' wife." MALONE.

All

4

[Exit PORTIA.

All the charactery + of my fad brows:

Leave me with hafte.

Enter LUCIUS, and LIGARIUS.

Lucius, who is that, knocks"?

Luc. Here is a fick man, that would speak with you. Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus fpake of.Boy, ftand afide.-Caius Ligarius! how?

Lig. Vouchfafe good morrow from a feeble tongue. Bru. O, what a time have you chofe out, brave Caius, To wear a kerchief? 'Would you were not fick ! Lig. I am not fick, if Brutus have in hand Any exploit worthy the name of honour.

Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,

Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.

Lig. By all the gods that Romans bow before, I here difcard my ficknefs. Soul of Rome! Brave fon, deriv'd from honourable loins!

4 — all the charactery —] i. e. all that is character'd on, &c. The word has already occurr'd in the Merry Wives of Windsor. STEEVENS. See Vol. II. p. 110, n. 5. MALONE.

5

- who is that, knocks] i. e. who is that, who knocks? Our poet always prefers the familiar language of converfation to grammatical nicety. Four of his editors, however, have endeavoured to deftroy this peculiarity, by reading-who's there that knocks? and a fifth has, who's that, that knocks? MALONE.

60, what a time bave you chofe out, brave Caius,

To wear a kerchief] So, in Plutarch's Life of Brutus, translated by North: "Brutus went to fee him being ficke in his bedde, and fayed unto him, O Ligarius, in what a time art thou ficke? Ligarius rifing up in his bedde, and taking him by the right hande, fayed unto him, Brutus, (fayed he,) if thou haft any great enterprife in hande worthie of thy felfe, I am whole." Lord Sterline alfo has introduced this paffage into his Julius Cæfar:

"By ficknets being imprifon'd in his bed

"Whilft I Ligarius fpied, whom pains did prick,
"When I had faid with words that anguish bred,
"In what a time Ligarius art thou fick?

"He answer'd ftraight, as I had phyfick brought,
"Or that he had imagin'd my defign,
"If worthy of thyself thou would't do aught,

Then Brutus I am whole, and wholly bine."

MALONE.
Thou