6,- "Enter one in sumptuous armour." &c. Compare the incident by which Camilla's death is occasioned in Virgil, En. xi. 768-804, and which was, perhaps, the original of that before us, whether Shakespeare or some former writer on the modern Trojan story was the borrower. 8,-"I am a bastard too;" &c. Perhaps Shakespeare meant to remind us that Thersites was a human being, and not a mere monster of spleen, by hinting that the unfortunate circumstances of his life, operating on an evil will (as in the case of the bastard Edmund,-see Coleridge on King Lear, in the Literary Remains, vol. ii.), had first set him against the world; and that a long indulgence of the malignant passions had at length made him a confirmed misanthrope, and disbeliever in goodness. Or is this too refined? Note, too, "bastard-instructed.” ii., "Let him that will a screech-owl aye be call'd, Go in to Troy, and say there, 'Hector's dead.' Why not into ?12 12 And so, indeed, the quarto reads, and is followed by Theobald, Warburton, and Johnson. The majority of the editors follow the folios in reading in to; why, is more than I can say.Ed. CORIOLANUS. Note in Coriolanus and Titus Andronicus, fol., graunt, enchaunt, and the like, frequently. i. 1. Write and arrange, Ib., Ib., and affection common Of the whole body. The belly answer'd,— What answer made the belly ?" -"The former agents, Well, sir, "the weal o' th' common;" compare koιvóv. "Hang ye! Trust ye?" Coleridge, Literary Remains, proposes, "Trust ye? "But these fond fortune-tellers, that know nothing, Yet, trust 'em! hang 'em. Wizards! old blind buzzards! 1 From the doubt expressed here, Walker was, perhaps, hesitating about the meaning of former. We might, perhaps, compare "former ensign" in Julius Cæsar, v. 1; but there, I should say, Shakespeare wrote foremost ensigns, after North's Plutarch. The attempts to defend former appear to me failures.-Ed. Ib., "Five tribunes to defend their vulgar wisdoms, Perhaps we should write and point,— Ib. Should we not print (and so Warburton),"The present wars devour him!" 4, "If you'll stand fast, we'll beat them" &c. The structure of the verse shows that something is wrong: the lines must have run somewhat on this wise, — we'll beat them to their wives, as they Us to our trenches follow'd." 2 As to the rest of the arrangement, non liquet. 2 I cannot agree with Walker here. The received reading (followed) is a sophistication by the editor of the second folio. The first gives followes, which I suspect to be a mere misprint for follow me. I would, therefore, read and point,— "As they us to our trenches: follow me." For the accentuation, compare Romeo and Juliet, iv. 3,-"No, nó! thís shall forbid it." The old stage direction (Another Alarum, and Martius followes them to the gates and is shut in) probably caused the error. The four words, and is shut in, belong to the next direction, Enter the Gati. What a cluster of blunders in the authentic edition!-Since writing the above, I have found that Mr. Collier proposes "Follow us," but the singular is requisite: see the context.-Ed. 7, ad fin. Arrange, aurium judicio,— And shut your gates upon's. Our guider, come; The folio, too, has vpon's. Qu., When steel grows Soft as the parasite's silk, let him be made An overture for the wars!" When steel grows Soft as the parasite's silks, let them be made Knight, too, has made the latter change, but with a different meaning and punctuation; Collier also reads them, as I learn from Dyce, Remarks, p. 64, where Dyce notices, and proves by examples, the frequency of the erratum him for 'em or them. Overture refers to the parasite's silks; let them, in lieu of mail, be made an overture (clothing, covering; compare coverture) for the wars! Silk for silks is the converse error of that which is noticed above (Art. xxxviii.), as so frequent in the folio. The omission of the final s, though not so common as the other, is not unfrequent in that edition. For instances, see the latter part of Art. xxxviii. Another instance of him for them occurs, I suspect, Hamlet, iv. 7, Who brought them [the letters]? Messenger. Sailors, my lord, they say: I saw them not; Vice versa, Coriolanus, iv. 5, 9, If Jupiter Should from yon cloud speak divine things, and say call him, With all th' applause and clamour of the host, Bear the addition nobly ever!" A catalectic line is a discord in Shakespeare. Arrange,— "Caïus Marcius Coriolanus.-Bear Th' addition nobly ever!" I, that now Refus'd most princely gifts, am bound to beg Take it; 'tis yours.-What is 't? Cor. I sometime lay, here in Corioli, At a poor man's house: he us'd me kindly : Arrange, metri gratia, 3 In this arrangement I have followed Walker's MS., though I doubt that it was intentional. The arrangement of the old copies is probably right, but has not a word, perhaps cleaving, dropped out before cloud?-Ed. VOL. III. 14 |