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Re-enter Gentlewoman, with VALERIA and her Uber.

VAL. My ladies both, good day to you.
VOL. Sweet madam,—

VIR. I am glad to fee your lady fhip.

VAL. How do you both? you are manifeft housekeepers. What, are you fewing here? A fine spot," in good faith.-How does your little fon?

VIR. I thank your ladyfhip; well, good madam.

VOL. He had rather fee the fwords, and hear a drum, than look upon his fchool-master.

VAL. O' my word, the father's fon: I'll fwear, 'tis a very pretty boy. O' my troth, I look'd upon him o' Wednesday half an hour together: he has fuch a confirm'd countenance. I faw him run after a gilded butterfly; and when he caught it, he let it go again; and after it again; and over and over he comes, and up again; catch'd it again: or whether his fall enrag'd him, or how 'twas, he did fo fet his teeth, and tear it; O, I warrant, how he mammock'd it !9

VOL. One of his father's moods.
VAL. Indeed la, 'tis a noble child.
VIR. A crack, madam.2

A fine fpot,] This expreffion (whatever may the be precife meaning of it) is ftill in ufe among the vulgar; "You have made a fine Spot of work of it," being a common phrafe of reproach to those who have brought themfelves into a fcrape. STEEVENS.

9

-mammock'd it!] To mammock is to cut in pieces, or to tear. So, in The Devil's Charter, 1607:

"That he were chopt in mammocks, I could eat him.” STEEVENS.

2 A crack, madam.] Thus in Cynthia's Revels by Ben Jonfon:

VAL. Come, lay afide your stitchery; I must have you play the idle hufwife with me this afternoon. VIR. No, good madam; I will not out of doors. VAL. Not out of doors!

VOL. She fhall, she shall.

VIR. Indeed, no, by your patience: I will not over the threshold, till my lord return from the

wars.

VAL. Fie, you confine yourself moft unreasonably: Come, you must go vifit the good lady that lies in. VIR. I will with her fpeedy ftrength, and vifit her with my prayers; but I cannot go thither. VOL. Why, I pray you?

VIR. 'Tis not to fave labour, nor that I want love.

VAL. You would be another Penelope : yet, they fay, all the yarn, fhe fpun in Ulyffes' abfence, did but fill Ithaca full of moths. Come; I would, your cambrick were fenfible as your finger, that you might leave pricking it for pity. Come, you shall go with us.

VIR. No, good madam, pardon me; indeed, I will not forth.

VAL. In truth la, go with me; and I'll tell you excellent news of your hufband.

VIR. O, good madam, there can be none yet. VAL. Verily, I do not jeft with you; there came news from him last night.

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Since we are turn'd cracks, let's ftudy to be like cracks, act freely, carelefly, and capriciously."

Again, in The Four Prentices of London, 1615:

"A notable, diffembling lad, a crack."

Crack fignifies a boy child. See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note on the fecond part of King Henry IV. Vol. IX. p. 127, n. 9. STEEVANS.

VIR. Indeed, madam?

VAL. In earnest, it's true; I heard a fenator speak it. Thus it is :-The Volces have an army forth; against whom Cominius the general is gone, with one part of our Roman power: your lord, and Titus Lartius, are fet down before their city Corioli; they nothing doubt prevailing, and to make it brief wars. This is true, on mine honour; and fo, I pray, go with us.

VIR. Give me excufe, good madam; I will obey you in every thing hereafter.

VOL. Let her alone, lady; as fhe is now, fhe will but disease our better mirth.

VAL. In troth, I think, fhe would:-Fare you well then.-Come, good fweet lady.-Pr'ythee, Virgilia, turn thy folemness out o'door, and go along with us.

VIR. No: at a word, madam; indeed, I must not. I wish you much mirth.

VAL. Well, then farewell.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Before Corioli.

Enter, with Drum and Colours, MARCIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, Officers, and Soldiers. To them a Mcffenger.

MAR. Yonder comes news:-A wager, they have

met.

LART. My horfe to yours, no.

MAR.

LART.

'Tis done.

Agreed.

MAR. Say, has our general met the enemy?
MES. They lie in view; but have not spoke as

yet.

LART. So, the good horfe is mine.

MAR.

I'll buy him of you.

LART. No, I'll nor fell, nor give him: lend you him, I will,

For half a hundred years.-Summon the town.
MAR. How far off lie thefe armies?

MES.

Within this mile and half."

MAR. Then fhall we hear their 'larum, and they

ours.

Now, Mars, I pr'ythee, make us quick in work; That we with fmoking fwords may march from

hence,

To help our fielded friends! +-Come, blow thy blaft.

They found a parley. Enter, on the walls, fome Senators and Others.

Tullus Aufidius, is he within your walls?

1. SEN. No, nor a man that fears you lefs than

he,

That's leffer than a little. Hark, our drums

[Alarums afar off.

3 Within this mile and half.] The two laft words, which disturb the measure, fhould be omitted; as we are told in p. 41, that"'Tis not a mile" between the two armies. STEEVENS.

fielded friends!] i. e. our friends who are in the field of battle. STEEVENS.

nor a man that fears you less than he,

That's leffer than a little.] The fenfe requires it to be read:
nor a man that fears you more than he ;
D

VOL. XII.

Are bringing forth our youth: We'll break our walls,

Rather than they fhall pound us up: our gates, Which yet seem fhut, we have but pinn'd with

rufhes;

They'll open of themselves. Hark you, far off;
[Other Alarums.
There is Aufidius: lift, what work he makes
Amongst your cloven army.

MAR.

O, they are at it!

LART. Their noise be our inftruction. - Ladders, ho!

The Volces enter and pass over the Stage.

MAR. They fear us not, but iffue forth their city. Now put your shields before your hearts, and fight With hearts more proof than fhields.-Advance, brave Titus :

They do difdain us much beyond our thoughts, Which makes me fweat with wrath.-Come, on my fellows;

He that retires, I'll take him for a Volce,
And he shall feel mine edge.

Or, more probably:

nor a man but fears you less than he,

That's leffer than a little.- -JOHNSON.

The text, I am confident, is right, our author almoft always entangling himself when he ufes lefs and more. See Vol. VII. p. 84, n. 5. Leer in the next line fhows that lefs in that preceding was the author's word, and it is extremely improbable that he should have written-but fears you lefs, &c. MALONE.

Dr. Johnfon's note appears to me unneceffary, nor do I think with Mr. Malone that Shakspeare has here entangled himself; but on the contrary that he could not have exprefled himself better. The fenfe is however little Tullus Aufidius fears you, there is not a man within the walls that fears you ." DOUCE.

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