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Thou art their soldier, and being bred in broils, Hast not the soft way, which, thou dost confess,

hoping by killing of him to purchase the friendship of Cæsar.Who now being come unto the shoare, and entering Alexandria, had sodainly presented unto him the head of Pompey the Great," &c.

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Again, in the Continuation of Hardyng's Chronicle, 1543, Signat. M mij : And now was the kyng within twoo daies journey of Salisbury, when the duke attempted to mete him, whiche duke beyng accompaignied with great strength 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 forsoke him. Wherefore he," &c.

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Mr. M. Mason says, that there is no verb in the sentence, and therefore it must be corrupt. The verb is go, and the sentence, not more abrupt than many others in these plays. Go to the people, says Volumnia, and appear before them in a supplicating attitude,with thy bonnet in thy hand, thy knees on the ground, (for in such cases action is eloquence, &c.) waving thy head; it, by its frequent bendings, (such as those that I now make,) subduing thy stout heart, which now should be as humble as the ripest mulberry: or, if these silent gestures of supplication do not move them, add words, and say to them, &c.

Whoever has seen a player supplicating to be heard by the audience, when a tumult, for whatever cause, has arisen in a theatre, will perfectly feel the force of the words" waving thy head."

No emendation whatever appears to me to be necessary in these lines. MALONE.

All I shall observe respecting the validity of the instances adduced by Mr. Malone in support of his position, is, that as ancient press-work seldom received any correction, the errors of one printer may frequently serve to countenance those of another, without affording any legitimate decision in matters of phraseology. STEEVENS.

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humble, as the ripest mulberry,] This fruit, when thoroughly ripe, drops from the tree. STEEVENS.

Eschylus (as appears from a fragment of his PTTEΣ й EKTOPOZ ATTPA, preserved by Athenæus, lib. ii.) says of Hector that he was softer than mulberries:

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̓Ανὴρ δ ̓ ἐκεῖνος ἦν πεπαίτερος μόρων. MUSGRAVE.

and being bred in broils,

Hast not the SOFT way,] So, in Othello (folio 1623) ;

Were fit for thee to use, as they to claim,
In asking their good-loves; but thou wilt frame
Thyself, forsooth, hereafter theirs, so far

As thou hast power, and person.

This but done,

MEN. Even as she speaks, why, their hearts were yours3; 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 firy gulf,

Than flatter him in a bower". Here is Cominius.

Enter COMINIUS.

COM. I have been i' the market-place; and, sir,
'tis fit

You make strong party, or defend yourself
By calmness, or by absence; all's in anger.
MEN. Only fair speech.

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Rude am I in my speech,

"And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace;
"And little of this great world can I speak,

"More than pertains to feats of broils and battles."

MALONE.

5 Even as she speaks, why ALL, their hearts were yours:] The word all was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer to remedy the apparent defect in this line. I am not sure, however, that we might not better read, as Mr. Ritson proposes :

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"Even as she speaks it, why their hearts were yours.”
STEEVENS.

IN a firy gulf,] i. e. into. So, in King Richard III. :
"But first, I'll turn yon fellow in his grave." STEEVENS.

7 Than flatter him in a BOWER.] A bower is the ancient term for a chamber. So Spenser, Prothalam. st. 8. speaking of The Temple :

"Where now the studious lawyer's have their bowers.” See also, Chaucer, &c. passim. STEEVENS.

Сом.

I think, 'twill serve, if he

Can thereto frame his spirit.
VOL.

He must, and will:-
Pr'ythee, now, say, you will, and go about it.
COR. Must I go show them my unbarb'd sconceR?
Must I

With my base tongue, give to my noble heart
A lie, that it must bear? Well, I will do't:
Yet were there but this single plot to lose,
This mould of Marcius, they to dust should grind
it,

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my UNBARB'D Sconce ?] The suppliants of the people used to present themselves to them in sordid and neglected dresses. STEEVENS.

Unbarbed, bare, uncovered. In the times of chivalry, when a horse was fully armed and accoutered for the encounter, he was said to be barbed; probably from the old word barbe which Chaucer uses for a veil or covering. HAWKINS.

Unbarbed sconce is untrimmed or unshaven head. To barb a man, was to shave him. So, in Promos and Cassandra, 1578: you are so clean a young man.

"Grim.
"Row. And who barbes you, Grimball?

"Grim. A dapper knave, one Rosco.

“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 stooping scytheman that doth barbe the field."

But (says Dean Milles, in his comment on The Pseudo-Rowley, p. 215 :) "would that appearance [of being unshaved] 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 signification which the late Mr. Hawkins would affix to it. So, in Magnificence, an interlude by Skelton, Fancy speaking of a hooded hawk, says: Barbyd like a nonne, for burnynge of the sonne." STEEVENS.

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9 single PLOT] i. e. piece, portion; applied to a piece of earth, and here elegantly transferred to the body, carcase.

WARBURTON.

And throw it against the wind.-To the market

place:

You have put me now to such a part, which never I shall discharge to the life.

Сом.

Come, come, we'll prompt you. VOL. I pr'ythee now, sweet son; as thou hast

said,

My praises made thee first a soldier, so,

To have my praise for this, perform a part
Thou hast not done before 2.

COR.

Well, I must do't:

Away, my disposition, and possess me

Some harlot's spirit! My throat of war be turn'd, Which quired with my drum3, into a pipe

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SUCH a part, WHICH never, &c.] So, in King Henry VI, Part III. Act I. Sc. VI. :

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he would avoid such bitter taunts

"Which in the time of death he gave our father," Again, in the present scene:

"But with such words that are but roted," &c. Again, in Act V. Sc. IV. :

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"Which thou shalt thereby reap, is such a name,
"Whose repetition will be dogg'd with curses."

i. e. the repetition of which-.

Again in Act V. Sc. III. :

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no, not with such friends,

"That thought them sure of you,"

This phraseology was introduced by Shakspeare in the first of these passages, for the old play on which The Third Part of King Henry VI. was founded, reads-" As in the time of death." The word as has been substituted for which by the modern editors in the passage before us. MALONE.

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perform a part

Thou hast not done before.] Our author is still thinking of his theatre. Cominius has just said, Come, come, we'll prompt you. MALONE.

3 Which quired with my drum,] Which played in concert with my drum. JOHNSON.

So, in The Merchant of Venice :

"Still quiring to the young-ey'd cherubins." STEEVENS,

Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice

That babies lulls asleep! The smiles of knaves Tent in my cheeks*; and school-boys' tears take up The glasses of my sight! A beggar's tongue

Make motion through my lips; and my arm'd

knees,

Who bow'd but in my stirrop, bend like his
That hath receiv'd an alms !-I will not do't:
Lest I surcease to honour mine own truth
And, by my body's action, teach my mind
A most inherent baseness.

At thy choice then :

VOL.
To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour,
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin; let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride, than fear
Thy dangerous stoutness: for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou. Do as thou list.
Thy valiantness was mine,

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thou suck'dst it from

Pray, be content;

Mother, I am going to the market-place;

Chide me no more. I'll mountebank their loves, Cog their hearts from them, and come home be

lov'd

4 Tent in my cheeks ;] To tent is to take up residence.

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5 to honour mine own truth,]

JOHNSON.

Πάντων δὲ μάλις' αἰσχύνεο σαύτον. Pythag. JOHNSON,

let

Thy mother rather feel thy pride, than fear

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Thy dangerous stoutness:] This is obscure. Perhaps she means:- Go, do thy worst; let me rather feel the utmost extremity that thy pride can bring upon us, than live thus in fear of thy dangerous obstinacy.' JOHNSON.

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owe] i. e. own. REED.

So, in Macbeth:

"To throw away the dearest thing he owed,
"As 'twere a careless trifle." STEEVENS.

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