A transposition of sentences seems necessary here. Antony, indeed, might naturally be entitled to an office in the commonwealth, but Brutus could never mean to promise offices" to all the rout," though he might flatter them by saying, their condition should be mended. should read: "Who, though he had no hand in his death, shall receive a place in the commonwealth, and the benefit of his dying, as which of you shall not?"

We

354. "The evil that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones."

This sentiment, a little varied, occurs in K, Henry VIII.

"Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues "We write in water."

358. "As rushing out of doors," &c.

I wish this quaint conceit had been omitted, here.

361. "Were I Brutus,

"And Brutus Antony."

i. e. Were I Brutus, and, with his power of eloquence, had the zeal and affection for Cæsar which belongs to Antony, then there would be, indeed, an Antony, or "a friend of Cæsar's effectual in his cause."

And, with the brands, fire the traitors' houses."

Mr. Steevens, in telling us that fire, here, is a dissyllable, is requiring of us, an acceptance of a mode of pronunciation which he, himself, is always rejecting with vehemence, when offered

by Mr. Malone: "fire," unquestionably, is often a dissyllable; and when so, should be spelled accordingly; but, here, it must be a monosyllable, and leave the line defective, unless we accentuate in this strange way, fi-er'. We might read: "And with the brands then fire the traitors' houses."

SCENE III.

365. "You'll bear me a bang for that, I fear." A bang that I shall give you; I intend to beat you.

ACT IV. SCENE I.

368. "In some taste, is Lepidus but so."

He has some smack or relish even of the beast I have described.

66

- One that feeds

"On objects, arts, and imitations.”

One whose mind is amused and occupied by trite and obvious things, and is unsusceptible of an inbred or noble ambition.

SCENE III.

375. "You have condemn'd and noted Lucius

Pella

"Wherein my letters were slighted off."

I believe we should read, whereon.

You yourself

"Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm."

Condemn'd for having, i. e. censured for having; it is a very harsh expression.

381. "O, Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb, "That carries anger, as the flint bears fire, "Who, much enforced, shews a hasty spark."

I once thought that the antecedent to "who" was "the flint," and that, of course, we ought to have, instead of the personal pronoun, the neuter, which; but I now believe" the lamb" is the devoted antecedent.

382. "Makes me forgetful."

We might remove the terminating syllable of forgetful, and so obtain metre:

Some words are missing; perhaps these:

"Ha! Portia? brother, said you?
She is dead.”

"That tidings," though it now seems uncouth, is proper: "tidings," like news, riches, manners, &c. is the singular number, as will be evident if we try to detach from it the seeming plural termination: "tiding" is no word at all, at least not in the sense here required. On this subject Dr. Lowth appears to be mistaken, in his excellent Essay of Grammar, Ed. 1787, page 34, where, quoting a passage from Atterbury, and another from Addison:

"A good character should not be rested in, as an end, but employed as a means of doing still further good." Atterbury. "I have read an author of this taste that compares a ragged coin to a tattered colours."

Addison, Upon which Dr. Lowth asks, ought it not to be a mean?" &c. "Means" is not the plural of the noun, 66 mean," but, notwithstanding etymological alliance, a different word, "mean," is simply "medium" "means" is the instrument or agency for a particular purpose. In like manner, if we withdraw the s from colours, we leave the word incapable of expressing the sense; for "colours" (ensign) was never called colour. 386." Portia, art thou gone?"

A syllable is wanting to the metre: perhaps,

This I take to be interpolated; it encumbers the verse, and is wholly superfluous to the sense.

The words "it is," which encumber the verse, should be omitted.

The disorder of the metre, here, might be corrected thus:

Or lose our ventures

Then, with your good will "We will along, and meet them at Philippi.”

Nature must obey necessity, "Which we will niggard with a little rest.”

i. e. Nature, which we will stint to a niggardly allowance of rest, must obey necessity. "Which" is not sufficiently connected with its antecedent. 391. "Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so."

This is among the many of those charming touches of nature that abound in Shakspeare, and which, I believe, we shall in vain seek for in the works of any other poet, where an incident is introduced wholly immaterial to the plot or conduct of the scene, yet perfectly congenial to the character of the agent, and illustrative of it: thus, the impetuous Hotspur forgets the map, though no inconvenience is proposed from the want of it; and here, the sedate and philosophic Brutus, discomposed a little by the stupendous cares upon his mind, forgets where he had left his book of recreation.

Calls my lord?"

The metre requires something more: perhaps,