II.iii. 63-64. 'virtues Which our divines lose by 'em,' i.e. which our divines preach to men in vain'; but the line is possibly corrupt.

II. iii. 120. 'wolvish toge'; Steevens' conj., adopted by Malone: Folio I reads 'Wooluish tongue; Folios 2, 3, 4, 'Woolvish gowne'; Capell, 'wolfish gown'; Mason conj. 'woollen gown,' or 'foolish gown'; Beckett conj. 'woolish gown'; Steevens' conj. 'woolvish tongue'; Grant White conj. 'foolish togue'; Clarke (?) wool'nish,' i.e. 'woolenish.'

II. iii. 249-251. vide Preface.

III. i. 93. 'Hydra here'; i.e. 'the many-headed multitude'; so Folio 2.

III. i. 98-101. i.e. "let your admitted ignorance take a lower tone and defer to their admitted superiority" (Clarke).

III. i. 230. 'your '; Rowe's emendation of Folios, 'our.' III. ii. 21. 'thwartings of'; Theobald's reading; Folios,' things of '; Rowe,' things that thwart'; Wright conj. ́things that cross. III. ii. 32. to the herd'; Warburton's suggestion, adopted by Theobald; Folios, 'to the heart'; Collier MS., 'o' th' heart'; etc. III. ii. 56. ‘though but bastards and syllables'; Capell, ‘but bastards'; Seymour conj. ' although but bastards, syllables'; Badham conj. 'thought's bastards, and but syllables.'

III. ii. 64. 'I am in this'; Warburton, 'In this advice I speak as your wife, your son,' etc.

III. ii. 69. that want,' i.e. the want of that inheritance.

III. ii. 78. Which often, thus, correcting thy stout heart'; Johnson, 'With often,' etc.; Capell, 'And often'; Staunton conj. While often'; Nicholson conj. 'Whiles-often'; Warburton, 'Which soften.

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III. iii. 35. ‘among's,' i.e. among us; Folio 1, ' amongs'; Folios 2, 3, 4, amongst you'; Pope, ' amongst you'; Capell, ' among us.' III. iii. 36. throng, Theobald's and Warburton's emendation of Folios, Through.'

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III. iii. 55. accents, Theobald's correction of Folios, 'actions.' III. iii. 130. 'not'; Capell's correction of Folios, 'but.'

IV. i. 7-9. 'fortune's blows, When most struck home, being gentle wounded, craves A noble cunning'; i.e. "When Fortune's blows are most struck home, to be gentle, although wounded, demands a noble philosophy" (Clarke). Pope, 'gently warded'; Hanmer, 'greatly warded'; Collier MS., 'gentle-minded.'

IV. iv. 23. 'My birth-place hate I, and my love's upon '; Capell's emendation. Folio I reads, 'My Birth-place have I, and my loues upon'; Folios 2, 3, 'My Birth-lace have I, and my lover upon';

Folio 4, 'My Birth-place have I, and my Lover left; upon '; Pope, 'My birth-place have I and my lovers left'; Beckett conj. 'My country have I and my lovers lost,' etc.

IV. v. 63. appearance'; Folio 1, 'apparance' (probably the recognised form of the word, representing the pronunciation at the time.

IV. vii. 51-53. The sense of the lines should be to this effect:"Power is in itself most commendable, but the orator's chair, from which a man's past actions are extolled, is the inevitable tomb of his power." The passage is crude, and many suggestions have been advanced.

IV. vii. 55. falter, Dyce's ingenious reading; the Camb. ed. following Folios 'fouler.'

V. i. 69. Many emendations have been proposed to clear up the obscurity of the line. It appears to mean either (i.) that Coriolanus bound Cominius by an oath to yield to his conditions; or (ii.) that Coriolanus was bound by an oath as to what he would not, unless the Romans should yield to his conditions. Johnson proposed to read

"What he would not,

Bound by an oath. To yield to his conditions,"—

the rest being omitted. Many attempts have been made to improve the passage, but no proposal carries conviction with it.

V. ii. 77. 'your'; so Folios 1, 2, 3; Folio 4, 'our.'

V. ii. 86-88. though I owe My revenge properly,' i.e. 'though revenge is my own, remission belongs to the Volscians.'

V. vi. 152. Trail your steel pikes'; a mode of showing honour pertaining to the Shakespearian rather than to the classic era. The subjoined illustration is copied from a plate in a volume descriptive of the funeral ceremony of the Prince of Orange at Delft, 1647.

Explanatory Notes.

The Explanatory Notes in this edition have been specially selected and adapted, with emendations after the latest and best authorities, from the most eminent Shakespearian scholars and commentators, including Johnson, Malone, Steevens, Singer, Dyce, Hudson, White, Furness, Dowden, and others. This method, here introduced for the first time, provides the best annotation of Shakespeare ever embraced in a single edition.

ACT FIRST.
Scene I.

[Citizens.] Gervinus thinks that if we observe closely we shall not find the people here represented as so very bad. We must distinguish between the way in which they really act and the way in which the mockers and despisers of the people represent them; we may then soon find that the populace in Julius Cæsar appear much worse than in Coriolanus. In Antony and Cleopatra, where the people had ceased to be of any importance, they no longer appear; in Julius Cæsar, where their degeneracy ruined the republic, they are shown in all their weakness; in Coriolanus, where they can oppose but not stop the progress of Rome's political career, they appear equally endowed with good and bad qualities.

40. Thus in North's Plutarch: "But touching Martius, the only thing that made him to love honour was the joy he saw his mother did take of him. For he thought nothing made him so happy and honourable, as that his mother might hear every body praise and commend him, that she might always see him return with a crown upon his head, and that she might still embrace him with tears running down her cheeks for joy."

99 et seq. The fable of The Belly and the Members has been traced far back in antiquity. It is found in several ancient collections of Æsopian fables so that there is as much reason for making Æsop the author of this as of many others that go in his name. Shakespeare was acquainted with a very spirited

version of it in Camden's Remains; but he was chiefly indebted for the matter to North's Plutarch, where it is very interestingly given.

139. the seat o' the brain:-According to the old philosophy, the heart was the seat of the understanding; hence it is here called the court. So in a previous speech (line 119): The counsellor heart.

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162. Thou rascal, etc. :-The meaning seems to be, thou worthless scoundrel, though thou art in the worst plight for running of all this herd of plebeians, like a deer not in blood, thou takest the lead in this tumult in order to obtain some private advantage to thyself."

208. proverbs:-Trench, speaking of proverbs, says that “in a fastidious age, indeed, and one of false refinement, they may go nearly or quite out of use among the so-called upper classes. No gentleman, says Lord Chesterfield, or 'no man of fashion,' as I think is his exact phrase, 'ever uses a proverb.' And with how fine a touch of nature Shakespeare makes Coriolanus, the man who, with all his greatness, is entirely devoid of all sympathy for the people, to utter his scorn of them in scorn of their proverbs, and of their frequent employment of these."

Scene II,

9. press'd:-The use of press'd in this place is well explained by a passage in North's Plutarch: "The common people, being set on a broile and bravery with these words, would not appeare when the consuls called their names by a bill, to presse them for the warres. Martius then, who was now growne to great credit, and a stout man besides, rose up and openly spake against these flattering tribunes: but to the warres the people by no means would be brought or constrained."

14. Titus Lartius:-North's Plutarch has been closely followed in this Scene: “In the country of the Volsces, against whom the Romans made war at that time, there was a principal city and of most fame, that was called Corioles, before the which the Consul Cominius did lay siege. Wherefore all the other Volsces, fearing lest that city should be taken by assault, they came from all parts of the country to save it, intending to give the Romans battle before the city, and to give an onset on them in two several places. The Consul Cominius, understanding this, divided his army also into two parts; and taking the one part with himself,

he marched towards them that were drawing to the city out of the country: and the other part of his army he left in the camp with Titus Lartius (one of the valiantest men the Romans had at that time) to resist those that would make any sally out of the city upon them."

Scene III.

[Volumnia and Virgilia.] Of this " very graceful scene, in which the two Roman ladies, the wife and mother of Coriolanus, are discovered at their needle-work, conversing on his absence and danger," Mrs. Jameson says that over it "Shakespeare, without any display of learning, has breathed the very spirit of classical antiquity. The haughty temper of Volumnia, her admiration of the valour and high bearing of her son, and her proud but unselfish love for him, are finely contrasted with the modest sweetness, the conjugal tenderness, and the fond solicitude of his wife Virgilia."

16. bound with oak:-This incident is related with much spirit in North's Plutarch: "The first time he went to the wars, being but a stripling, was when Tarquine surnamed the Proud did come to Rome with all the aid of the Latines, and many other people of Italy; even as it were to set up his whole rest upon a battel by them, who with a great and mighty army had undertaken to put him into his kingdome againe; not so much to pleasure him, as to overthrow the power of the Romaines, whose greatnesse they both feared and envied. In this battel, wherein are many hote and sharpe encounters of either party, Martius valiantly fought in the sight of the Dictator; and, a Romaine soldier being throwne to the ground even hard by him, Martius straight bestrid him, and slue the enemie with his owne hands, that had before overthrowne the Romaine. Hereupon, after the battell was won, the Dictator did not forget so noble an act, and therefore first of all he crowned Martius with a garland of oaken boughes. For whosoever saveth the life of a Romaine, it is a manner among them to honour him with such a garland."

Scene IV.

53. Who sensibly outdares, etc. :-Hudson reads "sensible, outdares." Whitelaw interprets: "The endurance of the man is more wonderful than that of the sword, because he can feel and