OCT. Do fo, Meffala.1 MES. How died my mafter, Strato? STRA. I held the fword, and he did run on it. MES. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest fervice to my master. ANT. This was the nobleft Roman of them all: All the confpirators, fave only he,2 Did that they did in envy of great Cæfar; To prefer is to recommend in its general fenfe. Thus, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, edit. 1632, p. 261: "Beffardus Bifantinus preferres the fmoake of Juniper to melancholy perfons, which is in great request with us at Oxford to sweeten our chambers." The fame word is used by Chapman in his version of the 23d Iliad; and fignifies to advance : Now every way I erre "About this broad-door'd houfe of Dis. O helpe then to preferre "My foule yet further." In the eighteenth Iliad, to prefer, apparently means, to patronize: fhe did fo ftill prefer "Their quarrel." STEEVENS. 1 Do fo, Meffala.] Old copy, neglecting the metre-Do fo, good Meffala. STEEVENS. 2 -Save only he, &c.] So, in the old translation of Plutarch: "For it was fayd that Antonius fpake it openly diuers tymes, that he thought, that of all them that had flayne Cæfar, there was none but Brutus only that was moued to do it, as thinking the acte commendable of it felfe: but that all the other confpirators did confpire his death, for fome priuate malice or enuy, that they otherwise did beare vnto him." STEEVENS. So mix'd in him, that Nature might ftand up, So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up, And fay to all the world, This was a man!] So, in The Barons' Wars, by Drayton, Canto III : "He was a man (then boldly dare to fay) "In whofe rich foul the virtues well did fuit; "He of a temper was fo abfolute, "As that it seem'd, when nature him began, "She meant to fhow all that might be in man." This poem was published in the year 1598. The play of our author did not appear before 1623. STEEVENS. Drayton originally published his poem on the fubject of The Barons' Wars, under the title of MORTIMERIADOS, the lamentable Civil Warres of Edward the Second and the Barrons: Printed by J. R. for Humphrey Lownes, and are to be folde at his fhop at the weft end of Paules Church. It is in feven-line ftanzas, and was, I believe, published before 1598. The quarto copy before me has no date. But he afterwards new-modelled the piece entirely, and threw it into ftanzas of eight lines, making some retrenchments and many additions and alterations throughout. An edition of his poems was published in 8vo. in 1602; but it did not contain The Barons' Wars in any form. They first appeared with that name in the edition of 1608, in the preface to which he speaks of the change of his title, and of his having new-modelled his poem. There, the stanza quoted by Mr. Steevens appears thus: "Such one he was, (of him we boldly fay,) "In whofe rich foule all foveraigne powres did fute, "So mixt, as none could foveraigntie impute; "As all did govern, yet all did obey; "His lively temper was fo abfolute, "That 't feem'd, when heaven his modell first began, "In him it show'd perfection in a man." In the fame form is this ftanza exhibited in an edition of Drayton's pieces, printed in 8vo. 1610, and in that of 1613. The lines quoted by Mr. Steevens are from the edition in folio OCT. According to his virtue let us ufe him, [Exeunt.4 printed in 1619, after Shakspeare's death. In the original poem, entitled Mortimeriados, there is no trace of this ftanza; so that I am inclined to think that Drayton was the 'copyift, as his verses originally flood. In the altered ftanza he certainly was. He probably had feen this play when it was firft exhibited, and perhaps between 1613 and 1619 had perufed the MS. MALONE. * Of this tragedy many particular paffages deferve regard, and the contention and reconcilement of Brutus and Caffius is univerfally celebrated; but I have never been ftrongly agitated in perufing it, and think it somewhat cold and unaffecting, compared with fome other of Shakspeare's plays: his adherence to the real ftory, and to Roman manners, feem to have impeded 'the natural vigour of his genius. JOHNSON. Gildon has justly obferved, that this tragedy ought to have been called Marcus Brutus, Cæfar being a very inconfiderable personage in the scene, and being killed in the third A&t. MALONE. * *The fubftance of Dr. Warburton's long and erroneous comment on a paffage in the fecond A&t of this play: "The genius and the mortal inftruments," &c. (fee p. 291, n. 7,) is contained in a letter written by him in the year 1726-7, of which the first notice was given to the publick in the following note on Dr. Akenfide's Ode to Mr. Edwards, which has, I know not why, been omitted in the late editions of that poet's works: "During Mr. Pope's war with Theobald, Concanen, and the reft of their tribe, Mr. Warburton, the prefent lord bishop of Gloucefter, did with great zeal cultivate their friendship; having been introduced, forfooth, at the meetings of that refpectable confederacy: a favour which he afterwards spoke of in very high terms of complacency and thankfulness. At the fame time, in his intercourfe with them he treated Mr. Pope in a moft contemptuous manner, and as a writer without genius. Of the truth of these affertions his lordship can have no doubt, if he recollects his own correfpondence with Concanen; a part of which is ftill in being, and will probably be remembered as long as any of this prelate's writings." If the letter here alluded to, contained any thing that might affect the moral character of the writer, tenderness for the dead would forbid its publication. But that not being the cafe, and the learned prelate being now beyond the reach of criticism, there is no reafon why this literary curiofity should be longer withheld from the publick: 66 Duncan is in his grave; "After life's fitful fever he fleeps well; "Treafon has done his worst: nor fteel, nor poifon, "Can touch him further." LETTER FROM MR. W. WARBURTON TO MR. M. CONCANEN. "Dear Sir, "having had no more regard for thofe papers which I fpoke of and promis'd to Mr. Theobald, than just what they deferv'd I in vain fought for them thro' a number of loose papers that had the fame kind of abortive birth. I used to make it one good part of my amufement in reading the English poets, those of them I mean whofe vein flows regularly and conftantly, as well as clearly, to trace them to their fources; and obferve what oar, as well as what flime and gravel they brought down with them. Dryden I obferve borrows for want of leifure, and Pope for want of genius: Milton out of pride, and Addison out of modefty. And now I speak of this latter, that you and Mr. Theobald may fee of what kind these idle collections are, and likewife to give "you my notion of what we may fafely pronounce an imitation, for it is not I presume the fame train of ideas that follow in the fame defcription of an ancient and a modern, where nature when attended to, always fupplys the fame ftores, which will autorife us to pronounce the latter an imitation, for the moft judicious of all poets, Terence, has obferved of his own fcience Nihil eft dictum, quod non fit dictum prius: For thefe reafons I fay I give myfelfe the pleasure of fetting down fome imitations I obferved in the Cato of Addison : Addifon. A day, an hour of virtuous liberty Tully. Is worth a whole eternity in bondage. Act 2. Sc. 1. Quod fi immortalitas confequeretur præfentis periculi, fugam, tamen eo magis ea fugienda effe videretur, quo diuturnior effet fervitus. Philipp. Or. 10a Addifon. Bid him difband his legions. Tully. Addifon. Reftore the commonwealth to liberty And ftand the judgement of a Roman fenate, Pacem vult? arma deponat, roget, deprecetur. But what is life? "Tis not to ftalk about and draw fresh air From time to time 'Tis to be free. When liberty is gone, Life grows infipid and haft loft its relifh. Sc. 3. Tully. Non enim in fpiritu vita eft: sed ea nulla eft omnino fervienti. Philipp. 10a Addifon. Remember O my friends the laws the rights 1 |