SCENE III. 156. "Insisting on the old prerogative, "And power i' the truth o' the cause.” I believe the meaning is, insisting on the right and power you have to proceed in taking vengeance on him whose crimes are fairly and truly prov'd before you. 159. "First hear me speak. 66 Well say; peace, ho! The deficient measure might be made up thus: "First hear me speak. 66 160. " Well say; peace, ho! say on." Such as become a soldier, "Rather than envy you." Envy, I believe, is not accurately defined, here, either by Dr. Johnson, Mr. Monk Mason, or Mr. Malone. It is, I think, in the present instance, neither put to express malignity, injury, nor ill will; but merely blame, censure, reproach; in which sense the noun was, in our poet's time, very commonly applied; as, by Bacon: "This tax (called beneuolence) was deuised by Edward the Fourth, for which he sustained much enuie." Hist. of K. Henry VII. Again, speaking of Bishop Morton, "He was willing also to take envy from the king more than the king was willing to put upon him; for the king cared not for subterfuges, but would stand enuie, and appeare in any thing that was to his mind." say, "Thou liest unto thee," &c. The force of the climax, here, is defeated by anticipation if it was notorious that the tribune had a lying tongue, there was nothing very forcible in telling him "he lied:" the word, I am persuaded, has been introduced by the carelessness of the printer or transcriber, instead of some other; possibly "brutal," or, perhaps, more likely, tribune tongue. -I would say, "Thou liest, unto thee, with a voice as free "As I do pray the gods." This is imperfect construction; the preposition with is wanting, in the comparison, to the implied pronouns which and that: "As I do pray the gods with, i. e. as (that with which) I do pray," &c. We might read, with less inaccuracy, As when I pray the gods." I say with less inaccuracy, for, in the emended reading, the ellipsis assumes more than can be strictly demanded : 66 As (it is) when I pray," &c. But this has at least the sanction of our author's example in another passage of this play : "In arms as sound as when I woo'd, in heart "As merry as when our nuptial day was done "And tapers burn'd to bedward." The measure is defective; but might easily be repaired : Cry," says Mr. Malone, "signifies troop or pack;" ;" but it implies something more: it means a collection of mongrels, or unbred dogs, such as are not fit for the chace, but only interrupt it. Thus, in Othello, Roderigo says, "I do follow here in the chace, not like a hound that hunts, but one that fills-up the cry." ACT IV. SCENE I. 168. "Resume that spirit, when you were wont to say." This is an ellipsis too violent :-" That spirit, (which you possess'd) when," &c. 174. "In anger, Juno-like. Come, come, come." Men. "Fye, fye, fye!" We might exclaim, once more, fye! upon the transcriber, here, who, instead of adding the word a third time, should rather have removed the third "come," which would have furnished the mea "'Tis I that made thy widows." Dr. Young appears to have had this soliloquy in his mind, when he wrote that of Zanga: Proud, haughty Spain, that thirst'st for Moorish blood, "Dost thou not feel thy deadly foe within thee? "Shake not thy tow'rs, where'er I pass along, "Conscious of ruin, and thy great destroyer!" SCENE V. 184. "My name is Caius Marcius.". An incident much resembling this submission of Coriolanus, and his reconcilement with Aufidius, is described by Tacitus, Lib. 12 Anal. where Mithridates, throwing himself upon the clemency of his old enemy, Eunones, obtains his friendship: Igitur cultu, vultuque quam maxime ad præsentem fortunam comparato, regiam ingreditur, genibusque ejus provolutus, Mithridates, inquit, terra marique Romanis per tot annos quæsitus, sponte adsum; utere ut voles prole magni Achemenis, quod mihi solum hostes non abstulerunt. At Eunones, claritudine viri, mutatione rerum, & prece haud degenere permotus, allevat supplicem, laudatque quod gentem Adorsorum quòd, suam dexteram petenda veniæ delegerit. Of all the under fiends. Mr. Steevens is very diverting here, about subordination among fiends, predominance of inveteracy, and Jack Cade; while, I suppose, it is pretty evident that the word "under" has no other meaning than a reference to the nether position of hell. 186. "It be to do thee service." 66 O Marcius, Marcius." The "O" should not be suffered to oppress the metre, here, but might be carried usefully into the next line: "A root of ancient envy. O! if Jupiter." Yet this is not necessary; for the latter syllable of envy may be sunk in the succeeding vowel : "A root of ancient envy. If Jupiter." 188. "We have been down together, "And wak'd.". The parenthesis, which Mr. Malone suggests, would indeed be necessary to reconcile the construction; but I think the poet had, manifestly, forgot the order in which the sentence ought to proceed. 189. "To fright them, ere destroy. But come in." This is lame. We might supply a word: But come we in.' 191. "Sanctifies himself with's hand. I am inclined to think that "sanctifies" is used here, howsoever improperly, to signify only, gives him sanction, currency, authenticity, in the honour of shaking hands with him. SCENE VI. 195. "Of late. Hail, sir!" 66 Hail to you both." A foot is wanting here. I would read: Again 197. "Without assistance.' Make them look pale, " blanches their cheeks." |