Sacer in the year of Rome 262, and ending with the death of Coriolanus, A. U. C. 266.

'This tragedy,' says Dr. Johnson, 'is one of the most amusing of our author's performances. The old man's merriment in Menenius; the lofty lady's dignity in Volumnia; the bridal modesty in Virgilia; the patrician and military haughtiness in Coriolanus; the plebeian malignity and tribunitian insolence in Brutus and Sicinius, make a very pleasing and interesting variety; and the various revolutions of the hero's fortune fill the mind with anxious curiosity. There is perhaps too much bustle in the first act, and too little in the last.'

The word Coriolánus was always pronounced as a quadrisyllable, until the late Mr. Kemble pronounced it Coriolánus, in five syllables. It is true that the name of the town is pronounced Corioli; but it is well. known that the addition of a syllable in composition frequently alters the position of the accent. But in the present case we must regulate our pronunciation by the metre in Shakspeare. In one line, indeed, of the tragedy of Coriolanus-

'Coriolanus of Corioli,'

the word may be pronounced either Coriolánus, or Córiolánus; for although it is here evidently a word of five syllables, the first foot may be a trochee or an iamb, by a common license, in iambic poetry. In another line

'Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Bear-'

it is likewise of five syllables; but Cori may be a

trochee as well as Marcius; and Shakspeare is by no means strict in avoiding trochees, even in the middle of a verse. There is a line which, were it the only one in which the name occurred, would justify the modern fashionable pronunciation :—

• Becomes not Rome; nor has Coriolanus-'

but the use of the trochee will settle the metre; ana Steevens reads Romans, because he says that 'Coriolanus is accented on the first, and not the second syllable.'

But to prove beyond the possibility of a doubt the legitimate quantity of the word, the lines in which it occurs shall be here inserted :

In honor follows, Coriolanus-'

Welcome to Rome, renowned Coriolanus.'
By Caius Marcius Coriolanus, whom-'

I shall lack voice: the deeds of Coriolanus-'
'Let him be call'd for. Call for Coriolanus.'

Here, indeed, Steevens supplies the preposition, in which he is followed by subsequent editors.

'Where, at the senate house? There, Coriolanus.'
To the people. Coriolanus, patience.'

'The consul Coriolanus. He a consul!'

My surname Coriolanus. The painful service-' 'That we have bled together. Coriolanus-'

If these quotations do not satisfy the reader, who is of opinion that Shakspeare is often irregular in his

1 This is one of many instances in which Shakspeare introduces a supernumerary syllable at the end of a clause, as wel as at the end of a verse. So in the Tempest :

And he's composed of harshness. I must remove'Expell'd remorse and nature; who with Sebastian

metre, he will be convinced by the authority of another poet, who is always correct and consistent. The Coriolanus of Thomson will furnish instances, which shall be here brought together:

'Of Coriolanus; that alone is left me.'
The gods by thee-I see it, Coriolanus.'
Why, Tullus, this delay? May Coriolanus—'
Is your demand? O Coriolanus, Rome-'
Stop, Coriolanus, ere beyond retreat—'
This answer, Coriolanus, is the dictate-'
'Your pardon, Volsci, but this Coriolanus-'
'We thank thee, Coriolanus, but a Roman-'
In which they were prescribed by Coriolanus-'
That Coriolanus in the Volscian army-'
'O Coriolanus, when with hostile arms-'
'Oft hast thou justly triumph'd, Coriolanus.'
To boast that Coriolanus was my son-'
Since, Coriolanus, thou dost still retain-'
'Be firm and persevere. Ah! Coriolanus-'
What shall I say? Nay, tell me, Coriolanus-'
Of broken faith. O swear not, Coriolanus-'
Nay, if thou yieldest, yield like Coriolanus.'

• With safety! Heavens! And think'st thou Coriolanus-'

The actor, to whom allusion has been made, has been reprehended, publicly and privately, for pronouncing aches as a dissyllable in the line

Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar—

He was perfectly correct in his conception of the metre. The word ach-es, like moon-es, in Shakspeare, and many other monosyllables in our ancient poets, was pronounced as a dissyllable. His fault was in sounding ch as it is in chaff, and not as it is in chorus. He ought to have said ak-es, unless he modernised the verse into

Fill all thy bones with aches, and make thee roar.'

ARGUMENT.

The expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome is succeeded by a famine, during which the plebeians extort from the weakness of the nobility a gratuitous distribution of corn, together with the appointment of two popular officers called tribunes to protect their interests from the alleged oppression of the patricians. The haughty Coriolanus, by his opposition to these concessions, renders himself highly unpopular: his civil defects are however soon after effaced by the splendor of his military achievements, which are rewarded by his appointment to the consulate by the senate, whose choice is about to be ratified by the suffrages of the people, when the powerful influence of the two tribunes procures his rejection. The violence of temper displayed by Coriolanus at this disappointment affords matter of triumph to his crafty adversaries, who condemn him to perpetual banishment, by a decree of the people. Exasperated at this insult, the illustrious exile repairs to the capital of the Volscians, who gladly aid him in his schemes of revenge by investing him and their own general Aufidius with a joint command, which speedily overcomes all opposition; and the hostile occupation of Rome is expected with terror by its affrighted citizens. The conqueror, in the mean time, refuses to listen to the most solemn embassies of his countrymen, until his mother and wife, accompanied by a deputation of eminent Roman matrons, at length prevail on him to raise the siege. The Volscian army soon after returns home, where Coriolanus, while justifying his conduct to the senate, is assassinated by a band of conspirators in the interest of his colleague Aufidius.

TULLUS AUFIDIUS, general of the Volscians.

LIEUTENANT to Aufidius.

CONSPIRATORS with Aufidius.

CITIZEN of Antium.

Two VOLSCIAN GUARDS.

VOLUMNIA, mother to Coriolanus.

VIRGILIA, wife to Coriolanus.

VALERIA, friend to Virgilia.

GENTLEWOMAN, attending Virgilia.

Roman and Volscian Senators, Patricians, Ediles, Lictors, Soldiers, Citizens, Messengers, Servants to Aufidius, and other Attendants.

SCENE, partly in Rome, and partly in the territories of the Volscians and Antiates.