Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies

V.i.69 (422,5) Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions] This if apparently wrong. Sir T. Hanmer, and Dr. Warburton after him, read,

Bound with an oath not to yield to new conditions.

They might have read more smoothly,

—to yield no new conditions.

But the whole speech is in confusion, and I suspect something left out. I should read,

—What he would do,
He sent in writing after; what he would not,
Bound with an oath. To yield to his conditions.

Here is, I think, a chasm. The speaker's purpose seems to be this: To yield to his conditions is ruin, and better cannot be obtained, so that all hope is vain.

V.ii.10 (424,7) it is lots to blanks] A lot here is a prize.

V.ii.17 (424,8)

For I have ever verify'd my friends,
(Of whom he's chief) with all the size that verity
Would without lapsing suffer]

[W: narrified] [Hanmer: magnified] If the commentator had given any example of the word narrify, the correction would have been not only received, but applauded. Now, since the new word stands without authority, we must try what sense the old one will afford. To verify is to establish by testimony. One may say with propriety, he brought false witnesses to verify his title. Shakespeare considered the word with his usual laxity, as importing rather testimony than truth, and only meant to say, I bore witness to my friends with all the size that verity would suffer.

V.ii.45 (426,1) the virginal palms of your daughters] [W: pasmes or pames, French for "swooning fits." Warburton also quotes Tarquin and Lucrece, "To dry the old oak's sap, and cherish springs" and emends to "tarnish," from the French, meaning "to dry up," used of springs and rivers.] I have inserted 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 since been ejected, and that any which are known to have been then in use may be properly recalled when they will help the sense. But when a word is to be admitted, the first question should be, by whom was it ever received? in what book can it be shown? If it cannot be proved to have been in use, the reasons which can justify its reception must be stronger than any critick will often have to bring. Even in this certain emendation, the new word is very liable to contest. I should read,

—and perish springs.

The verb perish is commonly neutral, but in conversation is often used actively, and why not in the works of a writer negligent beyond all others of grammatical niceties?

V.ii.60 (427,2) Back, I say, go; lest I let forth your half pint of blood;—back, that's the utmost of your having:—Back] [Warburton emended the punctuation] I believe the meaning never was mistaken, and therefore do not change the reading.

V.ii.69 (428,3) guess by my entertainment with him] I read, Guess by my entertainment with him, if thou standest not i' the state of hanging [in place of guess but my entertainment].

V.ii.80 (428,4) Though I owe/My revenge properly] Though I have a peculiar right in revenge, in the power of forgiveness the Volacians are conjoined.

V.ii.104 (429,5) how we are shent] Shent is brought to destruction.

V.iii.3 (430,6) how plainly/I have born this business] That is, how openly, how remotely from artifice or concealment.

V.iii.39 (431,7) The sorrow, that delivers us thus chang'd,/Makes you think so] Virgilia makes a voluntary misinterpretation of her husband's words. He says, These eyes are not the same, meaning, that he saw things with other eyes, or other dispositions. She lays hold on the word eyes, to turn his attention on their present appearance.

V.iii.46 (431,8) Now by the jealous queen of heaven] That is, by Juno, the guardian of marriage, and consequently the avenger of connubial perfidy.

V.iii.64 (432,1) The noble sister of Poplicola] Valeria, methinks, should not have been brought only to fill up the procession without speaking.

V.iii.68 (432,2) epitome of yours] I read,

—epitome of you.

An epitome of you which, enlarged by the commentaries of time, may equal you in magnitude.

V.iii.74 (433,4) every flaw] That is, every gust, every storm.

V.iii.100 (435,2) Constrains them weep, and shake] That is, constrain the eye to weep, and the heart to shake.

V.iii.149 (436,3) the fine strains] The niceties, the refinements.

V.iii.159 (436,5) he lets me prate,/Like one i' the stocks] Keep me in a state of ignominy talking to no purpose.

V.iii.176 (437,6) Does reason our petition] Does argue for us and our petition.

V.iii.201 (438,7) I'll work/Myself a former fortune] I will take advantage of this concession to restore myself to my former credit and power.

V.iii.206 (438,8) Come, enter with us,—Ladies, you deserve] [Warburton proposed to give the speech beginning "Ladies, you deserve" to Aufidius] The speech suits Aufidius justly enough, if it had been written for him; but it may, without impropriety, be spoken by Coriolanus: and since the copies give it to him, why should we dispossess him?

V.iv.22 (439,1) He sits in state as a thing made for Alexander] In a foregoing note he was said to sit in gold. The phrase, as a thing made for Alexander, means, as one made to resemble Alexander.

V.vi.39 (443,2) He wag'd me with his countenance] This is obscure. The meaning, I think, is, he prescribed to me vith an air of authority, and gave me his countenance for my wages; thought me sufficiently rewarded with good looks.

V.vi.44 (443,3) For which my sinews shall be stretch'd upon him] This is the point on which I will attack him with my utmost abilities.

V.vi.66 (444,4) answering us/With our own charge] That is, rewarding us with our own expences; making the cost of the war its recompence.

V.vi.125 (446,5) his fame folds in/This orbe o' th' earth] His fame overspreads the world.

(447) General Observation. The tragedy of Coriolanus 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.

Vol. VIII

JULIUS CAESAR

I.i.20 (4,2) Mar. What meanest thou by that?] [Theobald gave this speech to Flavius] I have replaced Marullus, who might properly enough reply to a saucy sentence directed to his colleague, and to whom the speech was probably given, that he might not stand too long unemployed upon the stage.

I.ii.25 (7,5) [Sennet. Exeunt Caesar and Train] I have here inserted the word Sennet, from the original edition, that I may have an opportunity of retracting a hasty conjecture in one of the marginal directions in Henry VIII. Sennet appears to be a particular tune or mode of martial musick.

I.ii.35 (8,6) You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand] Strange, is alien, unfamiliar, such as might become a stranger.

I.ii.39 (8,7) Vexed I am,/Of late, with passions of some difference] With a fluctation of discordant opinions and desires.

I.ii.73 (9,9) To stale with ordinary oaths my love/To every new protester] To invite every new protestor to my affection by the stale or allurement of customary oaths.

I.ii.87 (10,1) And I will look on both indifferently] Dr. Warburton has a long note on this occasion, which is very trifling. When Brutus first names honour and death, he calmly declares them indifferent; but as the image kindles in his mind, he sets honour above life. Is not this natural?

I.ii.160 (12,6) eternal devil] I should think that our author wrote rather, infernal devil.

I.ii.171 (13,7) chew upon this] Consider this at leisure; ruminate on this.