is hardly credible that the Poet should here have written such a mutilated verse. Pope printed "Should from yon cloud speak to me things divine." The reading in the text was proposed by Dyce. - In the third line, also, the old text has them instead of him, which is Walker's correction.

-The original prints

P. 289. And scarr'd the Moon with splinters. scarr'd, which Collier's second folio alters to scar'd.

As the two words

scarr'd and scared were often spelt alike, it is something doubtful which of them the Poet intended here. See foot-note 8.

P. 290. Had we no quarrel else to Rome, but that
Thou art thence banish'd, &c.

So the third folio. The earlier

editions read "Had we no other quarrell else."

P. 291. To fright them, ere destroy. But come thou in:

Let me commend thee first, &c.—The original reads "But come in." As there ought, evidently, to be no halting in the metre here, the usual reading has been "But come, come in." Lettsom proposed "But now come in." It seems to me that thou is the simplest way of completing the verse.

P. 292. But a greater soldier than he you wot on.-The original has "you wot one." Dyce's correction.

P. 292. An he had been cannibally given, he might have broil'd and eaten him too. The original has boyld instead of broil'd. Corrected by Pope.

P. 292. This peace is nothing but to rust iron, &c. Capell reads "This peace is good for nothing," &c. Rightly, I suspect. Some have printed "is worth nothing."

P. 293. It's sprightly, waking, audible, and full of vent.- The original has walking, instead of waking. Pope's correction.

P. 293. Peace is a very apoplexy, a lethargy; mute, deaf, sleepy, insensible; &c.· So Walker. The old text lacks a before lethargy, and has mull'd instead of mute. The common explanation of mull'd is “softened and dispirited, as wine is when burnt and sweetened." But what has that sense to do along with deaf? The third folio has sleepy, the older text being sleepe.

ACT IV., SCENE 6.

P. 294. We hear not of him, neither need we fear him;
His remedies are tame: the present peace

And quietness of the people, which before

Were in wild hurry, here do make his friends

Blush that the world goes well; &c.

Here I am induced, by

clear reasons both of logic and of metre, to adopt the reading of Hanmer. In the original the passage is printed thus:

We heare not of him, neither need we fear him,

His remedies are tame, the present peace,

And quietnesse of the people, which before

Were in wilde hurry. Heere do we make his Friends

Blush, that the world goes well.

Some change is evidently required in order to make any sense at all of the passage: and Theobald's change, which some adopt, "His remedies are tame the present peace," &c., saves neither the metre nor the logic. In the fourth line, we is palpably redundant in verse and paralogical in sense; the speaker's drift being, not that we, the Tribunes, but that the continued peace and quietness of the people, make the patricians ashamed of having predicted popular commotions as the consequence of the hero's banishment.

P. 295. Bru.

Men.

Hail, sir!

Hail to you both!

Sic. Your Coriolanus, sir, is not much miss'd

But with his friends. - The words, Hail, sir! together with the prefix "Bru.", are wanting in the original, doubtless by accidental omission, as both the metre and the reply of Menenius require them. Supplied by Capell. — In the speech of Sicinius, also, sir, wanting in the old text, was inserted by Capell.

P. 295. Ourselves, our wives, and children, on our knees,

Are bound to pray for both you. — The original reads “to pray for you both."

P. 296.

And affecting one sole throne,

Without assistance.

Men.

Nay, I think not so. The original lacks

Nay, thus leaving a gap in the verse, which Walker thought it so important to have filled, that he proposed to read assistancy. Pope inserted Nay.

P. 296. We should by this, to all our lamentation,

If he had gone forth Consul, so have found it.—The original reads "found it so"; thus giving us the construction, “should found it so," which is not English, and, I think, never was.

P. 297. The nobles in great earnestness are going

All to the Senate-house: some news is come

That turns their countenances.

The original has comming

instead of come; doubtless an accidental repetition from the ending of the line before. Rowe's correction.

P. 297. He and Aufidius can no more atone

Than violentest contrarieties. —So Hanmer. The original has Contrariety.

P. 299. Are mock'd for valiant ignorance.—I suspect we ought to read, with Hanmer, “Are only mock'd.”

Lie in th' interpretation of the time. - So the second folio. The original has "Vertue Lie." Collier's second folio substitutes Live for Lie. Mr. A. E. Brae is for reading "So doth virtue Lie"; and I am apt to think that the right text.

P. 304. And power, unto itself most commendable,

Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair,

T'extol what it hath done. — This passage has been a prodigious puzzle to the editors, most of whom have thought it badly corrupted. Various changes have been made or proposed, some in evident, but more in chair; such as cheer, in Collier's second folio; hair, by Singer; claim, by Leo; care, by Mitford; and tear, by myself. White has conjectured the true reading to be "Hath not a tongue so eloquent as a chair." I am now thoroughly satisfied that the old text is right; or that, if any change is wanted, it should be "Hath ne'er a tomb." And

I am indebted for this, in the first instance, to Mr. Joseph Crosby; though I since find that Staunton and Mr. R. Whitelaw have given substantially the same solution of the difficulty. The changes made and proposed have all proceeded upon the supposal that the construction is, "Hath not a tomb to extol"; whereas the construction is, " chair to extol," that is, "a chair that extols." With this key to the meaning, the old text is readily seen to be right. See foot-notes 7 and 8.

a

P. 304. Rights by rights fouler, strengths by strengths, do fail. — Here, again, the text has been generally held corrupt, and divers changes have been made or proposed; such as, "Right's by right fouled,” 'Right's by right failèd," "Rights by rights foul are," "Rights by rights founder," "Rights by rights suffer," "Rights by rights fail'd are," and "Rights by rights falter." Dyce observes, "That a verb lies concealed under the corruption fouler is indubitable." But this is now far from being indubitable to me: I believe the old text to be right. See foot-note 10.

ACT V., SCENE I.

P. 305. A pair of tribunes that have wreck'd fair Rome To make coals cheap,· a noble memory! The original reads "have wrack'd for Rome." Hanmer changed this to "have sack'd fair Rome." Others have turned wrack'd into rack'd. The reading in the text was proposed by Mr. W. W. Williams in The Parthenon for May 3, 1862; with the observation, "We meet elsewhere in Shakespeare with 'fair Athens,' 'fair Milan,' and 'fair Verona': and why not fair Rome, that 'urbs pulcherrima '?"

P. 306. I minded him how royal 'twas to pardon

When it was least expected: he replied,

It was a rare petition of a State

To one whom they had punish'd.

In the second of these lines,

the original has lesse instead of least; also, in the third, bare instead of rare. The latter correction was proposed by Mr. W. W. Williams in The Parthenon, May 3, 1862; who quotes from i. 1: "And a petition granted them, a strange one." instance is strange or extraordinary.

The meaning of rare in this

Singer thinks we should read lesse to least is Pope's.

P. 306. He could not stay to pick them in a pile
Of noisome musty chaff: he said 'twas folly,

For one poor grain or two, to leave't unburnt,

And still to nose th' offence. — The old text reads "to leave unburnt." The slight addition, 't, is proposed by Mr. P. A. Daniel, who fitly observes, "you may 'nose' an offence; but can only burn that which produces it." Of course "leave't unburnt" refers to the pile of chaff.

P. 306. Pray you now, go to him. So Dyce. The original lacks The insertion, besides being wanted for the metre, is sustained from iii. 2: “I pr'ythee now, my son, go to them," &c.

now.

P. 306.

Well, and say that Marcius

Return me, as Cominus is return'd,

Unheard; what then? or not unheard, but as

A discontented friend, grief-shot with his
Unkindness?

Sic.

Say't be so, yet your good will

Must have that thanks from Rome, &c.· -The original has this passage badly mutilated and disordered: the words or not unheard are there wanting altogether; and the words Say't be so are made to close the preceding speech. Both Hanmer and Capell tried their hands at amendment, but without much success. Dr. Badham does better; whose reading I have adopted.

P. 307. Speed how it will, you shall ere long have knowledge

Of my success. So Heath and Collier's second folio. The original has / instead of you; doubtless an accidental repetition from the preceding line. The old reading comes pretty near being absurd; as Menenius could not well remain ignorant of his own success.

P. 307.

What he would do,

He sent in writing after me, what he would not;

Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions. This passage is very troublesome: as commonly pointed, it is quite unintelligible, if not unmeaning. Very likely it is corrupt; but, if so, it is not easy to fix upon the precise point where. Staunton proposes to read "Bound with an oath to yield to no conditions." Leo says, "Professor Solly suggested to me, as a new reading, hold for yield." I more than suspect this latter to be the true reading. See foot-note 9.