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Speed how it will. I fhall ere long have knowledge

Of my fuccefs.

Com. He'll never hear him.

Sic. Not?

[Exit.

Com. I tell you, he does fit in gold; his eye Red as 'twould burn Rome; and his Injury The Gaoler to his Pity. I kneel'd before him, 'Twas very faintly he faid, rife; difmifs'd me Thus, with his fpeechlefs hand. What he would do, He fent in writing after; what he would not,

5. Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions:
• So that all hope is vain,

Unless his noble mother and his wife,
Who, as I hear, mean to follicit him
For mercy to his Country.
And with our fair intreaties

4 I tell you, be does fit in gold: He is inthroned in all the pomp and pride of imperial splendour.

Χρυζόθρονο Ἥρη-Hom.

5 Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions:] This is apparently wrong. Sir T. Han mer, and Dr. Warburton after him, read,

Bound with an oath not to yield

to new conditions.. They might have read more fmoothly,

to yield no new conditions. But the whole fpeech is in confufion, and I fufpect fomething. left out. I fhould read,

-What he would do,

Therefore let's hence, hafte them on. [Exeunt.

He fent in writing after, what he would not,

Bound with an oath... To yield to his conditions.

Here is I think a chafm. The fpeaker's purpofe feems to be this: To yield to his conditions is ruin, and better cannot be ob tained, fo that all hope is vain.

Sa that all hope is vain, un lefs his mother

And wife, who (as I hear) mean to follicit him

For mercy to his country.] Un lefs his mother and wifedo what? the fentence is imperfect. We should read,

FORCE mercy to his Country, and then all is right., WARB

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SCENE II.

Changes to the Volfcian Camp.

. Enter Menenius to the Watch or Guard.

1 Watch.

TAY. Whence are you?

STA

2 Watch. Stand and go back.

Men. You guard like men. 'Tis well. But, by your leave,

I am an officer of State, and come
To speak with Coriolanus.

1 Watch. Whence?

Men. From Rome.

I Watch. You may not pass, you must return; our General

Will no more hear from thence.

2 Watch. You'll fee your Rome embrac'd with fire, before

You'll fpeak with Coriolanus.

Men. Good my friends,

If you have heard your General talk of Rome,
And of his friends there, it is 7 Lots to Blanks,
My name hath touch'd your ears; it is Menenius.
Watch. Be it fo, go back; the virtue of your
Name

Is not here paffable.

Men. I tell thee, fellow,

Thy General is my lover, I have been

The book of his good acts, whence men have read
His fame unparallel'd, haply amplifted;

For I have ever verified my friends,

7--Lots to Blanks,] A Lot here is a prize.

8 For I bave ever VERIFIED my friends,

Of

with all the fize that verity, .] Shakespear's mighty talent in painting the manners, is especially remarkable in

this

Of whom he's chief, with all the size that verity
Would without lapfing fuffer; nay, fometimes,
Like to a bowl upon a fubtle ground,

I've tumbled paft the throw; and in his praise
Have, almost, stamp'd the leafing. Therefore, fellow,
I must have leave to pass.

I Watch. Faith, Sir, if you had told as many lies in his behalf, as you have utter'd words in your own, you should not pafs here; no, though it were as virtuous to lie, as to live chaftly. Therefore, Therefore, go back.

Men. Pr'ythee, fellow, remember, my name is Menenius; always factionary of the Party of your General.

this place. Menenius here, and Polonius in Hamlet, have much of the fame natural character. The difference is only accidental. The one was a fenator in a free ftate; and the other a courtier, and a minifter to a King; which two circumftances afforded matter for that inimitable ridicule thrown over the character of Polonius. For the rest, there is an equal complaifance for thofe they follow; the fame difpofition to be a creature; the fame love of prate; the fame affectation of wifdom, and forwardnefs to be in bufinefs. But we must never

believe Shakespeare could make either of them fay, I bave verified my friends with all the fize of verity; nay what is more extraordinary, verified them beyond verity. Without doubt he wrote, For I have ever NARRIFIED my friends,

i.e. made their encomium. This too agrees with the foregoing metaphors of book, read, and conftitutes an uniformity amongst them. From whence the Oxford Editor took occafion to read mag2

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If the commentator had given any example of the word narrify, the correction would have been not only received but applauded. Now, fince the new word ftands without authority, we must try what fenfe the old one will afford. To verify is to establish by teftimony. One may fay with propriety, he brought falfe witnesses to verify his title. Shakespeare confidered the word with his ufual laxity, as importing rather teftimony than truth, and only meant to fay, I bore witness to my friends with all the fize that verity would suffer.

I must remark, that to magnify fignifies to exalt or enlarge, but not neceffarily to enlarge beyond the truth.

2 Watch.

2 Watch. Howfoever you have been his liar, as you fay, you have; I am one that, telling true under him, muft fay, you cannot pafs. Therefore, go back. Men. Has he din'd, can't thou tell? for I would not speak with him till after dinner.

1 Watch. Are you a Roman, are you?

Men. I am as thy General is.

I Watch. Then you should hate Rome, as he does. Can you, when you have pufh'd out of your gates the very Defender of them, and, in a violent popular ignorance, given your enemy your fhield, think to front his revenges with the eafy groans of old women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with

9 the virginal PALMS of your daughters,] By virginal palms may be indeed underfood the holding up the hands in fupplication. Therefore I have altered nothing. But as this fenfe is cold, and gives us even a ridiculous idea; and as the paffions of the feveral interceffors feem intended to be here reprefented, I fufpe Shakespear might write PASMES OF PAMES, i. e. fwooning fits, from the French pafmer, or pamer. I have frequently ufed the liberty to give fenfe to an unmeaning paffage by the introduction of a French word of the fame found, which I fuppofe to be of Shakespear's own coining. And I am certainly juftified in fo doing, by the great number of fuch forts of words to be found in the common text. But for a further juftification of this liberty, take the following inftance; where all muft agree that the common reading is corrupt by the Editors inferting an Englibh word they understood, instead of

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the pallied interceffion of fuch a decay'd Dotard as you feem to be? Can you think to blow out the intended fire your city is ready to flame in, with fuch weak breath as this? No, you are deceiv'd, therefore back to Rome, and prepare for your execution. You are condemn'd, our General has fworn you out of reprieve and pardon.

Men. Sirrah, if thy Captain knew I were here, he would use me with eftimation.

1 Watch. Come. My Captain knows you not. Men. I mean, thy General.

I Watch. My General cares not for you. * Back, I fay, go; left I let forth your half pint of blood;back, that's the utmoft of your having. having. Back.

Men. Nay, but fellow, fellow,

arefacere, exficcatio: Thefe words being peculiarly applied to fprings or rivers. WARBURTON.

I have inferted this note, because it contains an apology for many others. It is not denied that many French words were mingled in the time of Elizabeth with our language, which have fince been ejected, and that any which are known to have been then in ufe may be properly recalled when they will help the fenfe. But when a word is to be admitted, the first question fhould be, by whom was it ever received? in what book can it be fhewn? If it cannot be proved to have been in ufe, the reafons which can justify its reception must be ftronger than any critick will often have to bring. Even in this certain emendation the new word is very liable to conteft. I fhould read,

and perish prings. The verb perish is commonly

VOL. VI.

neutral, but in converfation is often ufed actively, and why not in the works of a writer negligent beyond all others of grammatical niceties?

Back, I fay, go; left I let forth your half-pint of blood. Back, that's the utmost of your having, back. As thefe words are read and pointed, the fentence [that's the utmost of your having] fignifies, you are like to get no further. Whereas the author evidently intended it to refer to the half pint of blood he fpeaks of, and to mean, that that was all he had in his veins. The thought is humourous; and to difembarras it from the corrupt expreffion, we should read and point it thus, Left I let ferils your half pint of blood: that's the utmost of your having.

back.

Back,'

WARBURTON I believe the meaning never was miftaken, and therefore do not change the reading.

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