To stir a mutiny in the mildest thoughts,
And arm the minds of infants to exclaims.
My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;
And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope;
And swear with me,-as with the woful feere
And father, of that chaste dishonour'd dame,
Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece' rape,-
That we will prosecute, by good advice,
Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,
And see their blood, or die with this reproach.

1 And swear with me,-as with the woful FEERE,] The old copies do not only assist us to find the true reading by conjecture. I will give an instance, from the first folio, of a reading (incontes tably the true one) which has escaped the laborious researches of the many most diligent criticks, who have favoured the world with editions of Shakspeare:

this

“My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;
"And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope;
"And swear with me, as with the woeful peer,
"And father of that chaste dishonour'd dame,

"Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece' rape-** What meaning has hitherto been annexed to the word peer, in passage, I know not. The reading of the first folio is feere, which signifies a companion, and here metaphorically a husband. The proceeding of Brutus, which is alluded to, is described at length in our author's Rape of Lucrece, as putting an end to the lamentations of Collatinus and Lucretius, the husband and father of Lucretia. So, in Sir Eglamour of Artoys, sig. A 4:

"Christabell, your daughter free,
"When shall she have a fere?"

i. e. husband.

Sir Thomas More's Lamentation on the Death of Queen Elizabeth, Wife of Henry VII. :

"Was I not a king's fere in marriage?"

And again :

66

Farewell my daughter Katherine, late the fere

"To prince Arthur." TYRWHITT.

The word feere or pheere very frequently occurs among the old dramatick writers and others. So, in Ben Jonson's Silent Woman, Morose says:

her that I mean to choose for my bed-pheere." And many other places. STEEVENS.

TIT. 'Tis sure enough, an you knew how,
But if you hurt these bear-whelps, then beware:
The dam will wake; and, if she wind you once,
She's with the lion deeply still in league,

And lulls him whilst she playeth on her back,
And, when he sleeps, will she do what she list.
You're a young huntsman, Marcus; let it alone2;
And, come, I will go get a leaf of brass,

And with a gad of steel will write these words,
And lay it by the angry northern wind

:

Will blow these sands, like Sybil's leaves, abroad,
And where's your lesson then?-Boy, what say you?
Bor. I say, my lord, that if I were a man,
Their mother's bed-chamber should not be safe
For these bad-bondmen to the yoke of Rome.
MAR. Ay, that's my boy! thy father hath full oft
For this ungrateful country done the like.

Bor. And, uncle, so will I, an if I live.
TIT. Come, go with me into mine armoury;
Lucius, I'll fit thee; and withal, my boy
Shall carry from me to the empress' sons
Presents, that I intend to send them both:

Come, come; thou'lt do thy message, wilt thou not?

2

Bor. Ay, with my dagger in their bosoms, grandsire.

TIT. No, boy, not so; I'll teach thee another

course.

let IT alone;] In edit. 1600, it is wanting. ToDD.

3 And with a GAD of steel-] Agad, from the Saxon zad, i, e. the point of a spear, is used here for some similar pointed instrument. MALone.

the angry northern wind

Will blow these sands, like Sybil's leaves, abroad,]

Foliis tantum ne carmina manda,

Ne turbata volent rapidis ludibria ventis. Æn. vi. 75.

STEEVENS.

Lavinia, come :-Marcus, look to my house;
Lucius and I'll go brave it at the court;

Ay, marry, will we, sir; and we'll be waited on. [Exeunt TITUS, LAVINIA, and Boy. MAR. O heavens, can you hear a good man groan,

And not relent, or not compassion him?

Marcus, attend him in his ecstasy;

That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart,

Than foe-men's marks upon his batter'd shield:
But yet so just, that he will not revenge:-
Revenge the heavens for old Andronicus! [Exit.

SCENE II.

The Same. A Room in the Palace.

Enter AARON, CHIRON, and DEMETRIUS, at one Door; at another Door, young Lucius, and an Attendant, with a Bundle of Weapons, and Verses writ upon them.

CHI. Demetrius, here's the son of Lucius ; He hath some message to deliver to us.

AAR. Ay, some mad message from his mad grandfather.

Bor. My lords, with all the humbleness I may, I greet your honours from Andronicus ;And pray the Roman gods, confound you both.

5 Revenge THE heavens-] We should read:

66

Revenge thee, heavens." WARBURTON.

It should be:

66

Revenge, ye heavens

[Aside.

Ye was by the transcriber taken for y, the. JOHNSON.

I believe the old reading is right, and signifies- may the heavens revenge,' &c. STEEVENS

I believe we should read:

DEM. Gramercy, lovely Lucius: What's the

news?

Bor. That you are both decipher'd, that's the

news,

For villains mark'd with rape. [Aside.] May it please you,

My grandsire, well-advis'd, hath sent by me
The goodliest weapons of his armoury,
To gratify your honourable youth,

The hope of Rome; for so he bade me say;
And so I do, and with his gifts present

Your lordships, that whenever you have need,
You may be armed and appointed well:

And so I leave you both, [Aside.] like bloody villains. [Exeunt Boy and Attendant. DEM. What's here? A scroll; and written round about?

Let's see;

Integer vita, scelerisque purus,

Non eget Mauri jaculis, nec arcu..

CHI. O, 'tis a verse in Horace; I know it well: I read it in the grammar long ago.

AAR. Ay, just!-a verse in Horace ;-right, you have it.

Now, what a thing it is to be an ass!

Here's no sound jest?! the old man hath

found their guilt:

8

And sends the weapons wrapp'd about

with lines,

Aside.

6 Gramercy,] i. e. grand merci, great thanks. STEEVENS. 7 Here's no SOUND jest!] Thus the old copies. This mode of expression was common formerly; so, in King Henry IV. Part I. : "Here's no fine villainy!"-We yet talk of giving a sound drubbing. Mr. Theobald, however, and the modern editors, read— "Here's no fond jest." MALONE.

The old reading is undoubtedly the true one. So, in King Richard III. :

"Good Catesby, go, effect this business soundly." See also Romeo and Juliet, Act IV. Sc. V. STEEVENS.

THE Weapons-] Edit. 1600-them weapons. TODD.

That wound, beyond their feeling, to the
quick.

But were our witty empress well a-foot,
She would applaud Andronicus' conceit.
But let her rest in her unrest awhile.-

Aside.

And now, young lords, was't not a happy star
Led us to Rome, strangers, and more than so,
Captives, to be advanced to this height?
It did me good, before the palace gate
To brave the tribune in his brother's hearing.
DEM. But me more good, to see so great a lord
Basely insinuate, and send us gifts.

AAR. Had he not reason, lord Demetrius?
Did you not use his daughter very friendly?
DEM. I would, we had a thousand Roman dames
At such a bay, by turn to serve our lust.

CHI. A charitable wish, and full of love.

AAR. Here lacks but your mother for to say amen. CHI. And that would she for twenty thousand

more.

?

DEM. Come, let us go; and pray to all the gods For our beloved mother in her pains. AAR. Pray to the devils; the gods have given us [Aside. Flourish. DEM. Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish

o'er.

thus?

CHI. Belike, for joy the emperor hath a son.
DEM. Soft; who comes here?

Enter a Nurse, with a Black-a-moor Child in her

NUR.

Arms.

Good morrow, lords:

O, tell me, did you see Aaron the Moor.

AAR. Well, more, or less, or ne'er a whit at all, Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now?

NUR. O gentle Aaron, we are all undone ! Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!