Alone I did it.—Boy! AUF. Why, noble lords, Will you be put in mind of his blind fortune, 'Fore your own eyes and ears? CON. Let him die for 't. [Several speak at once. CITIZENS. [Speaking promiscuously.] Tear him to pieces, do it presently. He killed my son ;-my daughter;—He killed my cousin Marcus;-He killed my father. 2 LORD. Peace, ho!-no outrage ;-peace! The man is noble, and his fame folds in This orb o' the earth. His last offences to us O, that I had him, COR. To use my lawful sword! CON. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill him! [AUFIDIUS and the Conspirators draw, and kill CORIOLANUS, who falls, and AUFIDIUS stands on him. Hold, hold, hold, hold! LORDS. AUF. My noble masters, hear me speak. O Tullus, 2 LORD. Thou hast done a deed whereat valour will weep. 3 LORD. Tread not upon him.-Masters all, be quiet; Put up your swords. AUF. My lords, when you shall know (as in this rage, Myself your loyal servant, or endure Your heaviest censure. 1 LORD. Bear from hence his body, And mourn you for him: let him be regarded Did follow to his urn. 2 LORD. His own impatience Takes from Aufidius a great part of blame. Let's make the best of it. AUF. My rage is gone, And I am struck with sorrow.-Take him up :- Assist [Exeunt, bearing the body of CORIOLANUS, A dead march sounded. VARIOUS READINGS. "I am known to be a humorous patrician, and one that loves a cup of hot wine without a drop of allaying Tiber in 't; said to be somewhat imperfect, in favouring the thirst complaint: hasty," &c. ACT II., Sc. 1. Mr. R. G. White says, " Mr. Collier's folio suggests, with reason, that we should read 'without a drop of allaying Tiber,' and 'the thirst complaint.' Common sense will not set the latter word aside, because Mr. Singer has discovered that 'thirst' was sometimes provincially pronounced and spelt first,' and 'furst.'” The original has "with not a drop." So in Lovelace's beautiful 'Verses to Althea'"When flowing cups run swiftly round, With no allaying Thames." Would either passage be improved by substituting without? In the second part of the sentence, the original has "first complaint." We believe the expression has nothing to do with the hot wine that Menenius loved. He acknowledges to be jovial; he confesses to the imperfection of listening with favour to him who first complains of a grievance; he is hasty, &c. Complaint " is invariably used be Shakspere, in this sense. The se 66 condary meaning of "complaint" -a malady—is modern. "Why in this woolless togue should I stand here?" ACT II., Sc. 3. COLLIER'S Folio. "Why in this foolish togue should I stand here?" R. G. WHITE. explain commentators As "wolfish" as rough; or as an allusion to the wolf in sheep's clothing-playing the hypocrite. the gown was made of wool, it surely cannot be "woolless." Mr. White's suggestion gets rid of a i difficulty; but that is all. plied." "How shall this bisson multitude digest The original has "bosom multi- ACT III., Sc. 1. Why not reprinted? It is easy to change words, by changing an idea. Coriolanus is indignant at the temper of the people. In North's Plutarch he is made to say "their disobedience will grow worse and worse." The "bosom multiplied" is this disposition increased by lenity. Shakspere constantly uses "bosom" in the sense of temper disposition, inclination. "Pray be counsell'd: I have a heart as little apt as yours, This is one of eight new lines, which Mr. Collier considers to have been recovered, as the genuine writing of Shakspere. The sense is held to be incomplete without it. ACT III., Sc. 2. The incompleteness of the sense depends, in some degree, upon our interpretation of the word " apt." In Ben Jonson ('Cynthia's Revels') we have, "I confess you to be of an apted and docible humour." Assuming "apt " to mean "ready," the new line is scarcely required; for Volumnia may refer to the aptitude to be "counselled;" for which her heart is as little apt as that of her son. There are many minor changes in Mr. Collier's corrected folio which we pass over; for their discussion would lead to a minuteness of criticism, which is beyond the purpose of this edition. But we would add a word or two with reference to the new line just noticed. As we have said, there are eight new lines, Mr. Collier says nine; but we cannot find more than eight, of which one, a prose line, is held by Mr. Collier to be" of no great value." How are future editors of Shakspere to decide as to the admission of these lines into the text? We think that, upon the merits, four new lines ought to be rejected, and three submitted to the reader as possible" Emendations." Others demand the admission of all the lines, in the belief that they assist the sense, and are in Shakspere's style. Who shall decide? Upon their merits alone they have no claim to be introduced into the text; for other commen tators than the corrector of the folio of 1632 have proposed new lines, to supply apparent deficiencies in the text, and have not, upon their merits, ventured to introduce them. For example, there is a passage in 'Antony and Cleopatra' (Act V., Sc. 2), which seems defective: "CLEO. Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, sir; I'll not sleep, neither. This mortal house I'll ruin," &c Johnson paraphrases this:-"I will not eat, and if it will be necessary now for once to waste a moment in idle talk of my purpose, I will not sleep neither." The corrector alters "necessary" into ". accessary," which does not mend the matter. But suppose he had introduced a new line, thus: "Sir, I will eat no meat, I'll not drink, sir; If idle talk will once be necessary, I'll not so much as syllable a word; I'll not sleep neither; this mortal house I'll ruin," &c. What a shout should we then have heard of the "restored" Shakspere, and the "New Text." The line is Malone's, and nobody has heeded it. There is no safety in such cases but some undeniable authority. GLOSSARY. ATONE. Act IV., Sc. 6. "He and Aufidius can no more atone." Atone is to agree, to be reconciled, to be at one. BALE. Act I., Sc. 1. "The one side must have bale." Bale is ruin; it is the only instance in which Shakspere has used the word as a noun, though he has frequently baleful. Malone says the word was obsolete in Shakspere's time, but it was one of his merits to use our fine old language with a full knowledge of its powers, though without ostentation. BISSON. Act II., Sc. 1. 66 'What harm can your bisson conspectuities glean out of this character?" Bisson, from the Anglo-Saxon bisen, is blind. Conspectuities is from the Latin, and means sight, penetration. |