To undercrest your good addition, Сом. So, to our tent: LART. I shall, my lord. COR. The gods begin to mock me. I that now Refus'd most princely gifts, am bound to beg Of my lord general. Сом. Take it 'tis yours.-What is't? COR. I sometime lay, here in Corioli, 2 TO UNDERCREST your good ADDITION, To the fairness of my power.] A phrase from heraldry, signifying, that he would endeavour to support his good opinion of him. WARBURTON. I understand the meaning to be, to illustrate this honourable distinction you have conferred on me by fresh deservings to the extent of my power. To undercrest, I should guess, signifies properly, to wear beneath the crest as a part of a coat of arms. The name or title now given seems to be considered as the crest; the promised future achievements as the future additions to that HEATH. coat. When two engage on equal terms, we say it is fair; fairness may therefore be equality; in proportion equal to my power. JOHNSON. "To the fairness of my power,"-is, as fairly as I can. M. MASON. 3 The best,] The chief men of Corioli. JOHNSON. 4-with whom we may ARTICULATE,] i. e. enter into articles. This word occurs again in King Henry IV. Act V. Sc. I.: "Indeed these things you have articulated." i. e. set down article by article. So, in Holinshed's Chronicles of Ireland, p. 163: "The earl of Desmond's treason's articulated." STEEVENS. 5 At a poor man's house ;] So, in the old translation of Plutarch: " Only this grace (said he) I craue, and beseeche you to grant me. Among the Volces there is an old friende and hoste of mine, an honest wealthie man, and now a prisoner, who liuing ber He cried to me; I saw him prisoner; And wrath o'erwhelm'd my pity: I request you Сом. O, well begg'd! Were he the butcher of my son, he should COR. By Jupiter, forgot: I am weary; yea, my memory is tir'd.-. Сом. Go we to our tent: [Exeunt. The blood upon your visage dries: 'tis time SCENE X. The Camp of the Volces. A Flourish. Cornets. Enter TULLUS AUFIDIUS, bloody, with Two or Three Soldiers. AUF. The town is ta'en! 1 Soz. Twill be deliver'd back on good condition. AUF. Condition! I would, I were a Roman; for I cannot, fore in great wealthe in his owne countrie, liueth now a poore prisoner in the handes of his enemies: and yet notwithstanding all this his miserie and misfortune, it would doe me great pleasure if I could saue him from this one daunger: to keepe him from being solde as a slaue." STEEVENS. 6 - free, as is the wind.] So, in As You Like It: I must have liberty, "Withal, as large a charter as the wind." MALOne. 7 Being a VOLCE, &c.] It may be just observed, that Shakspeare calls the Volci, Volces, which the modern editors have What good condition can a treaty find I' the part that is at mercy? Five times, Marcius, me; And would'st do so, I think, should we encounter As often as we eat.-By the elements, 9 If e'er again I meet him beard to beard, way; Or wrath, or craft, may get him. 1 SOL. He's the devil. AUF. Bolder, though not so subtle: My valour's poison'd2, 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 so I have printed the word throughout this tragedy. 8 9 STEEVENS. meet him BEARD TO BEARD,] So, in Macbeth : 66 for WHERE - Where is used here, as in many other places, for whereas. MALONE. I I'll POTCH at him some way;] Mr. Heath reads-poach; 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. MALONE. In Carew's Survey of Cornwall, the word potch is used in almost the same sense, p. 31: "They use also to poche them (fish) with an instrument somewhat like a salmon-speare." TOLLET. 2- My valour's poison'd, &c.] The construction of this passage would be clearer, if it were written thus: "With only suffering stain by him, for him With only suffering stain by him; for him Wash 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. The amendment proposed by Tyrwhitt would make the construction clear; but I think the passage will run better thus, and with as little deviation from the text : 3 66 my valour's poison'd; "Which only suffering stain by him, for him for him Shall fly out of itself:] To mischief him, my valour should deviate from its own native generosity. JOHNSON. nor sleep, nor sanctuary, &c. EMBARQUEMENTS all of fury, &c.] The word, in the old copy, is spelt embarquements, and, as Cotgrave says, meant not only an embarkation, but an embargoing. The rotten privilege and custom that follow, seem 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 Shakspeare'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 house, with my brother posted to protect him. JOHNSON. So, in Othello : 66 and on the court of guard - -." STEEVENS. 1 SOL. Will not you go? AUF. I am attended at the cypress grove: I pray you, ('Tis south the city mills ",) bring me word thither How the world goes; that to the pace of it I may spur on my journey. 1 SOL. I shall, sir. [Exeunt. 66 6-attended-] i. e. waited for. So, in Twelfth-Night: - thy intercepter-attends thee at the orchard end." STEEVENS. " ('Tis south the city MILLS,)] But where could Shakspeare have heard of these mills at Antium? I believe we ought to read: ('Tis south the city a mile.)" The old edition reads mils. TYRWHITT. Shakspeare is seldom careful about such little improprieties. Coriolanus speaks of our divines, and Menenius of graves in the holy churchyard. It is said 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: 66 underneath the grove of sycamore, "That westward rooteth from the city's side." Again: "It was the nightingale and not the lark Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree." Mr. Tyrwhitt's question, "where could Shakspeare have heard of these mills at Antium ?" may be answered by another question: Where could Lydgate hear of the mills near Troy? 66 And as I ride upon this flode, "On eche syde many a mylle stode, "When nede was their graine and corne to grinde," &c. Auncyent Historie, &c. 1555. MALONE. |