MEN. Noble lady!- Come, go with us; speak fair: you may falve fo, VOL. I pr'ythee now, my fon, Go to them, with this bonnet in thy hand;" And thus far having ftretch'd it, (here be with them,) Thy knee buffing the ftones, (for in fuch business Action is eloquence, and the eyes of the ignorant More learned than the ears,) waving thy head, Which often, thus, correcting thy ftout heart,s Not what -] In this place not seems to fignify not only. 7 - with this bonnet in thy hand;] Surely our author wrotewith thy bonnet in thy hand; for I cannot fuppofe that he intended that Volumnia fhould either touch or take off the bonnet which he has given to Coriolanus. MALONE. When Volumnia fays-" this bonnet," the may be fuppofed to point at it, without any attempt to touch it, or take it off. -waving thy head, STEEVENS. Which often, thus, correcting thy flout heart,] But do any of the ancient or modern mafters of elocution prefcribe the waving the head, when they treat of action? Or how does the waving the head correct the ftoutnefs of the heart, or evidence humility? Or, aftly, where is the fenfe or grammar of these words, Which often, thus, &c? Thefe queftions are fufficient to fhow that the lines are corrupt. I would read therefore: waving thy hand, Which foften thus, correcting thy fout heart. This is a very proper precept of action fuiting the occafion; Wave thy hand, fays fhe, and foften the action of it thus,-then ftrike upon thy breaft, and by that action fhow the people thou haft corrected thy ftout heart. All here is fine and proper. WARBURTON. The correction is ingenious, yet I think it not right. Head or band is indifferent. The band is waved to gain attention; the head is fhaken in token of forrow. The word wave fuits better to the hand, but in confidering the author's language, too much ftrefs Now humble, as the ripeft mulberry,' That will not hold the handling: Or, fay to them, muft not be laid on propriety, against the copies. I would read thus: waving thy head, With often, thus, correcting thy flout heart. That is, baking thy head, and ftriking thy breaft. The alteration is flight, and the gefture recommended not improper. Shakspeare ufes the fame expreffion in Hamlet: JOHNSON. "And thrice his head waving thus, up and down.” STEEVENS. I have fometimes thought that this paffage might originally have ftood thus: waving thy head, (Which humble thus ;) correcting thy ftout heart, Now foften'd as the ripeft mulberry. TYRWHITT. As there is no verb in this paffage as it ftands, fome amendment must be made, to make it intelligible; and that which I now propofe, is to read bow instead of now, which is clearly the right reading. M. MASON. I am perfuaded thefe lines are printed exactly as the author wrote them, a fimilar kind of phrafeology being found in his other plays. Which, &c. is the abfolute cafe, and is to be understood as if he had written-It often, &c. So, in The Winter's Tale: - This your fon-in-law, "And fon unto the king, (whom heavens directing,) Again, in King John: he that wins of all, "Of kings, and beggars, old men, young men, maids,— "Who having no external thing to lofe "But the word maid,-cheats the poor maid of that." In the former of thefe paffages," whom heavens directing," is to be understood as if Shakspeare had written, him heavens directing; (illum deo ducente;) and in the latter, "who having" has the import of They having. Nihil quod amittere poffint, præter nomen virginis, poffidentibus. See Vol. VIII. p. 66, n. 4. This mode of fpeech, though not fuch as we should now ufe, having been used by Shakspeare, any emendation of this contested paffage becomes unneceffary. Nor is this kind of phraseology peculiar to our author: for in R. Raignold's Lives of all the Emperours, 1571, fol. 5. b. I find the fame conftruction: "as Pom Thou art their foldier, and being bred in broils, Haft not the foft way, which, thou doft confess, pey was paffing in a small boate toward the fhoare, to fynde the kynge Ptolemey, he was by his commaundement flayne, before he came to land, of Septimius and Achilla, who hoping by killing of him to purchase the friendship of Cæfar.-Who now being come unto the fhoare, and entering Alexandria, had fodainly presented unto him the head of Pompey the Great," &c. Again, in The Continuation of Hardyng's Chronicle, 1543, Signat. M m. ij. "And now was the kyng within twoo daies journey of Salisbury, when the duke attempted to mete him, whiche duke beyng accompaignied with great ftrength of Welshemen, whom he had enforced thereunto, and coherted more by lordly commaundment than by liberal wages and hire: whiche thyng was in deede the cause that thei fell from hym and forfoke him. Wherefore he," &c. See alfo Vol. VII. p. 204, n. 2. Mr. M. Mafon fays, that there is no verb in the fentence, and therefore it must be corrupt. The verb is go, and the fentence, not more abrupt than many others in thefe plays. Go to the people, fays Volumnia, and appear before them in a fupplicating attitude, with thy bonnet in thy hand, thy knees on the ground, (for in fuch cafes action is eloquence, &c.) waving thy head; it, by its frequent bendings, (fuch as thofe that I now make,) fubduing thy ftout heart, which now fhould be as humble as the ripeft mulberry: or, if these filent geftures of fupplication do not move them, add words, and fay to them, &c. Whoever has feen a player fupplicating to be heard by the audience, when a tumult, for whatever cause, has arifen in a theatre, will perfectly feel the force of the words-" waving thy head." No emendation whatever appears to me to be neceffary in these lines. MALONE. All I shall obferve refpecting the validity of the inftances adduced by Mr. Malone in fupport of his pofition, is, that as ancient prefswork feldom received any correction, the errors of one printer may frequently ferve to countenance thofe of another, without affording any legitimate decifion in matters of phrafeology. STEEVENS. humble, as the ripeft mulberry,] This fruit, when tho roughly ripe, drops from the tree. STEEVENS. 9 Æfchylus (as appears from a fragment of his Pyres * EK. TOPOZ AYTPA, preferved by Athenæus, lib. ii.) fays of Hector that he was fofter than mulberries. ̓Ανὴρ δ' ἐκεῖνΘ ἦν πεπαίτερα μόρων. ΜUSGRAVE. Were fit for thee to use, as they to claim, As thou haft power, and perfon. MEN. This but done, Even as she speaks, why, all their hearts were yours: 3 For they have pardons, being ask'd, as free As words to little purpose. VOL. Pr'ythee now, Go, and be rul❜d: although, I know, thou had'st rather Follow thine enemy in a fiery gulf, Than flatter him in a bower. Here is Cominius. Enter COMINIUS. COM. I have been i' the market-place: and, fir, 'tis fit and being bred in broils, Haft not the foft way,] So, in Othello (folio 1623): Rude am I in my speech, "And little blefs'd with the soft phrafe of peace; MALONE. 3 Even as he fpeaks, why, all their hearts were yours:] The word all was fupplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer to remedy the apparent defect in this line. I am not fure, however, that we might not better read, as Mr. Ritfon proposes: Even as he speaks it, why their hearts were yours. STEEVENS. in a fiery gulf, i. e. into. So, in King Richard III: “But first, I'll turn yon fellow in his grave." STEEVENS. 5 Than flatter him in a bower.] A bower is the ancient term for a chamber. So Spenfer, Prothalam. ft. 8. fpeaking of The Temple: "Where now the ftudious lawyers have their bowers." See alfo Chaucer &c. paffim. STEEVENS. You make strong party, or defend yourself Сом. I think, 'twill serve, if he Can thereto frame his spirit. VOL. He must, and will: Pr'ythee, now, fay, you will, and go about it. COR. Muft I go show them my unbarb'd fconce? Muft I With my base tongue, give to my noble heart my unbarb'd fconce?] The fuppliants of the people used to present themselves to them in fordid and neglected dresses. JOHNSON. Unbarbed, bare, uncover'd. In the times of chivalry, when a horse was fully armed and accoutred for the encounter, he was faid to be barbed; probably from the old word barbe which Chaucer uses for a veil or covering. HAWKINS. Unbarbed Sconce is untrimm'd or unshaven head. To barh a man, was to fhave him. So, in Promos and Caffandre, 1578: "Grim. you are fo clean a young man. "Row. And who barbes you, Grimball? "Grim. A dapper knave, one Rofco. "Row. I know him not, is he a deaft barber ?” To barbe the field was to cut the corn. So, in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song XIII: "The labring hunter tufts the thick unbarbed grounds." Again, in The Malcontent, by Marston: "The ftooping fcytheman that doth barbe the field." But (fays Dean Milles, in his comment on The Pfeudo-Rowley, p. 215.) "would that appearance [of being unfbaved] have been particular at Rome in the time of Coriolanus?" Every one, but the Dean, understands that Shakspeare gives to all countries the fashions of his own. Unbarbed may, however, bear the fignification which the late Mr. Hawkins would affix to it. So, in Magnificence, an interlude by Skelton, Fancy speaking of a hooded hawk, fays: Barbyd like a nonne, for burnynge of the sonne." STEEVENS, |