SCENE X. The Camp of the Volces. A Flourish. Cornets. Cornets. Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS, bloody, with Two or Three Soldiers. AUF. The town is ta'en! 1 SOL. "Twill be deliver'd back on good condition. AUF. Condition ? I would, I were a Roman; for I cannot, I' the part that is at mercy? Five times, Marcius, me; And would'ft do fo, I think, fhould we encounter If e'er again I meet him beard to beard, 7 Being a Volce, &c.] It may be juft obferved, that Shakfpeare calls the Volci, Volces, which the modern editors have changed to the modern termination [Volcian.] I mention it here, because here the change has spoiled the measure : Being a Volce, be that I am.-Condition! JOHNSON. The Volci are called Volces in Sir Thomas North's Plutarch, and fo I have printed the word throughout this tragedy. 9 STEEVENS. - meet him beard to beard,] So, in Macbeth : "We might have met them dareful, beard to beard—.” STEEVENS. -for where-] Where is used here, as in many other places, for whereas. MALONE. I thought to crush him in an equal force, (True fword to fword,) I'll potch at him fome way; ' Or wrath, or craft, may get him. 1 SOL. He's the devil. AUF. Bolder, though not so subtle: My valour's poifon'd,2 With only fuffering ftain by him; for him I -I'll potch at him fome way;] Mr. Heath readspoach; but potch, to which the objection is made as no English word, is used in the midland counties for a rough, violent push. STEEVENS. Cole, in his DICTIONARY, 1679, renders " to poche," fundum explorare. The modern word poke is only a hard pronunciation of this word. So to eke was formerly written to ech. 66 MALONE. In Carew's Survey of Cornwall, the word potch is used in almost the same sense, p. 31: They use alfo to poche them (fifh) with an inftrument fomewhat like a falmon-speare." TOLLET. 2 My valour's poifon'd, &c.] The construction of this paffage would be clearer, if it were written thus: my valour, poifon'd With only fuffering ftain by him, for him Shall fly out of itself. TYRWHITT. The amendment propofed by Tyrwhitt would make the conftruction clear; but I think the paffage will run better thus, and with as little deviation from the text : my valour's poifon'd; Which only fuffering ftain by him, for him -for him Shall fly out of itself:] To mischief him, my valour should deviate from its own native generofity. JOHNSON. nor fleep, nor fanctuary, &c. Embarquements all of fury, &c.] The word, in the old Their rotten privilege and custom 'gainst Wafh my fierce hand in his heart. city; Go you to the Learn, how 'tis held; and what they are, that must Be hostages for Rome. 1 SOL. Will not you go? AUF. I am attended at the cypress grove : I pray you, ("Tis fouth the city mills,") bring me word thither copy, is fpelt embarquements, and, as Cotgrave fays, meant not only an embarkation, but an embargoing. The rotten privilege and custom that follow, feem to favour this explanation, and therefore the old reading may well enough stand, as an embargo is undoubtedly an impediment. STEEVENS. In Sherwood's English and French Dictionary at the end of Cotgrave's, we find "To imbark, to imbargue. Embarquer. "An imbarking, an imbarguing. Embarquement." Cole, in his Latin Dictionary, 1679, has" to imbargue, or lay an imbargo upon." There can be no doubt therefore that the old copy is right.-If we derive the word from the Spanish, embargar, perhaps we ought to write embargement; but Shakfpeare's word certainly came to us from the French, and therefore is more properly written embarquements, or embarkments. MALONE. 5 At home, upon my brother's guard,] In my own houfe, with my brother posted to protect him. JOHNSON. 66 So, in Othello: 66 and on the court of guard,-." STEEVENS. 6 attended-] i. e. waited for. So, in Twelfth-Night: -thy intercepter-attends thee at the orchard end." STEEVENS. 7 ('Tis fouth the city mills,)] But where could Shakspeare have heard of these mills at Antium? I believe we ought to read: (Tis fouth the city a mile.) The old edition reads mils, TYRWHITT. How the world goes; that to the pace of it 1 SOL. I fhall, fir. [Exeunt. Shakspeare is feldom careful about fuch little improprieties. Coriolanus fpeaks of our divines, and Menenius of graves in the holy churchyard. It is faid afterwards, that Coriolanus talks like a knell; and drums, and Hob, and Dick, are with as little attention to time or place, introduced in this tragedy. STEEVENS. Shakspeare frequently introduces those minute local descriptions, probably to give an air of truth to his pieces. So, in Romeo and Juliet: Again: 66 underneath the grove of Sycamore, "It was the nightingale and not the lark Nightly the fings on yon pomegranate tree." Mr. Tyrwhitt's queftion," where could Shakspeare have heard of thefe mills at Antium?" may be answered by another queftion: Where could Lydgate hear of the mills near Troy? "And as I ride upon this flode, "On eche fyde many a mylle stode, "When nede was their graine and corne to grinde," &c. Auncyent Hiftorie, &c. 1555. MALONE. ACT II. SCENE I. Rome. A publick Place. Enter MENENIUS, SICINIUS, and BRUTUS. MEN. The augurer tells me, we fhall have news to-night. BRU. Good, or bad? MEN. Not according to the prayer of the people, for they love not Marcius. SIC. Nature teaches beasts to know their friends. MEN. Ay, to devour him; as the hungry plebeians would the noble Marcius. BRU. He's a lamb indeed, that baes like a bear. MEN. He's a bear, indeed, that lives like a lamb. You two are old men; tell me one thing that I fhall ask you. BOTH TRIB. Well, fir. MEN. In what enormity is Marcius poor, that you two have not in abundance ? Pray you, &c.] When the tribune, in reply to Menenius's remark, on the people's hate of Coriolanus, had obferved that even beafts know their friends, Menenius afks, whom does the wolf love? implying that there are beafts which love nobody, and that among those beasts are the people. JOHNSON. 9 In what enormity is Marcius poor,] [Old copy-poor in.] Here we have another of our author's peculiar modes of phrafeology; which, however, the modern editors have not suffered |