Is not here paffable.

Men. I tell thee, fellow,

Thy general is my lover: I have been

The book of his good acts, whence men have read His fame unparallel'd, hapily, amplified;

* For I have ever verify'd my friends,

4 For I have ever verified my friends,
with all the fize that verity, &c.]

(Of

Shakspeare's mighty talent in painting the manners is especially remarkable in this place. Menenius here, and Polonius in Hamlet, have much of the fame natural character. The difference is only accidental. The one was a fenator in a free state; and the other a courtier and minister to a king; which two circumftances afforded matter for that inimitable ridicule thrown over the character of Polonius. For the reft, there is an equal complaifance for thofe they follow; the fame difpofition to be a creature; the fame love of prate; the fame affectation of wifdom, and forwardness to be in bufinefs. But we muft never believe Shakspeare could make either of them fay, I bave veri fied my friends with all the fize of verity; nay, what is more extraordinary, verified them beyond verity. Without doubt he

wrote:

For I have ever narrified my friends :

i.e. made their encomium. This too agrees with the foregoing metaphors of book, read, and conftitutes an uniformity amongst them. From whence the Oxford editor took occafion to read magnified: which makes the abfurdity much worse than he found it: for, to magnify fignifies to exceed the truth; fo that this critic makes him fay, he magnified his friend within the size of verity: i. e. he exceeded truth, even while he kept within it.

WARBURTON.

If the commentator had given any example of the word narrify, the correction would have been not only received, but applauded. Now, fince the new word ftands without authority, we must try what sense the old one will afford. To verify, is to eftablish by teftimony. One may fay with propriety, be brought falfe witneffes to verify his title. Shakspeare confidered the word with his ufual laxity, as importing rather teftimony than truth, and only meant to fay, I bore witness to my friends with all the fize that verity would fuffer.

I muft remark, that to magnify, fignifies to exalt or enlarge, but not neceffarily to enlarge beyond the truth, JOHNSON.

(Of whom he's chief) with all the size that verity Would without lapfing fuffer: nay, sometimes, Like to a bowl upon a fubtle ground',

I have tumbled paft the throw; and in his praise Have, almost, ftamp'd the leafing: Therefore, fellow, must have leave to pafs.

1 Watch. 'Faith, fir, if you had told as many lies in his behalf, as you have utter'd words in your own, you should not pafs here: no, though it were as virtuous to lie, as to live chaftly. Therefore go back.

Men. Pr'ythee, fellow, remember my name is Menenius, always factionary on the party of your general.

2 Watch. Howfoever you have been his liar, (as you fay, you have) I am one that, telling true under him, must say, you cannot pafs. Therefore, go

back.

Men. Has he din'd, can't thou tell? for I would not speak with him 'till after dinner.

I Watch. You are a Roman, are you?

Men. I am as thy general is.

1 Watch. Then you fhould hate Rome, as he does, Can you, when you have pufh'd out of your gates the very defender of them, and, in a violent popular ignorance, given your enemy your fhield, think to

Mr. Edwards would read varnished; but Dr. Johnson's explanation of the old word renders all change unneceffary.

To verify may, however, fignify to display. Thus in an ancient metrical pedigree in poffeffion of the late duchefs of Northumberland, and quoted by Dr. Percy in the Reliques of ancient English Poetry, Vol. I. p. 279. 3d edit.

In hys fcheld did fchyne a mone veryfying her light." STEEVENS. upon a fubtle ground,] Subtle means fmooth, level. So, Jonfon, in one of his mafques:

Tityus's breaft is counted the fubtleft bowling ground in all Tartarus."

Subtle, however, may mean artificially unlevel, as many bowling-greens are.

STEEVENS,

front

front his revenges with the eafy groans of old women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with the

the virginal palms of your daughters,] By virginal palms may be indeed understood the holding up the hands in fupplication. Therefore I have altered nothing. But as this fenfe is cold, and gives us even a ridiculous idea; and as the paffions of the feveral Interceffors feem intended to be here reprefented, I fufpe&t Shakfpeare might write pafmes or pames, i. e. fwooning fits, from the French pafmer or pâmer. I have frequently used the liberty to give fenfe to an unmeaning paffage, by the introduction of a French word of the fame found, which I fuppofe to be of Shakfpeare's own coining. And am certainly to be juftified in fo doing, by the great number of fuch forts of words to be found in the common text. But for a further juftification of this liberty, take the following inftance; where all muft agree, that the common reading is corrupt by the editors inferting an English word they understood, instead of one coined by Shakspeare out of the French, which they understood not. It is in his Tarquin and Lucrece, where he is fpeaking of the office and empire of Time, and the effects it produces in the world;

Time's glory is

To fill with worm- -holes ftately monuments,
To feed oblivion with decay of things;
To blot old books and alter their contents;

To pluck the quills from ancient ravens wings;
To dry the old oak's fap, and cherith Springs.

The two laft words, if they make any sense, it is such as is directly contrary to the fentiments here advanced; which is concerning the decays, not the repairs of time. The poet certainly wrote: To dry the old oak's fap, and tarifh Springs.

i. e. to dry up fprings, from the French tarir or tarissement, exarefacere, exficcatio: thefe words being peculiarly applied to fprings or rivers. WARBURTON.

I have inferted 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 fince been ejected, and that any which are known to have been then in ufe may be properly recalled when they will help the fenfe. But when a word is to be admitted, the first question fhould be, by whom was it ever received? In what book can it be fhewn? If it cannot be proved to have been in use, the reafons 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 conteft. I should read: -and perish springs.

The word perish is commonly neutral, but in converfation is of

ten

the palfy'd interceffion of fuch a decay'd dotant 7 as you feem to be? Can you think to blow out the inten ufed actively, and why not in the works of a writer negligent beyond all others of grammatical niceties? JOHNSON.

After all, I believe the former reading of the paffage in Tarquin and Lucrece to be the true one. Shakspeare's meaning is, that Time was varioufly employed, both in deftroying old things, and in raifing up young ones. The next stanza fufficiently proves it: To thew the beldame daughters of her daughter, "To make the child a man, the man a child; "To chear the ploughman with encreaseful crops, "And waste huge ftones with little water-drops. "To dry the old oak's fap, and cherish fprings ;" i. e. to dry up the old oak's fap, and confequently to destroy it; and likewife to cherish springs, i. e. to raise up or nourish the fhoots of coppice-wood, or of young trees, groves, and planta. tions. The word Springs is ufed in this fenfe by Chaucer, Spenfer, Fairfax, Drayton, Donne, and Milton, as well as by the old writers on husbandry, Fitzherbert, Tuffer, Markham, and by Shakspeare himself in the Comedy of Errors:

-fhall, Antiphalus,

"Even in the fpring of love, thy love-Springs rot ?" Again, in Holinfhed's Defcription of England, both the contefted words in the latter part of the verse, occur. "We have manie woods, forrests, and parks which cherish trees abundantlie, befide infinit numbers of hedge rowes, groves, and fprings, that are maintained &c. Thus far Mr. Tollet.

Dr. Warburton is furely unfortunate in the assortment of French words exhibited on the prefent occafion, fince the first never was admitted as a noun into the French language, nor can the latter poffibly be claimed by any language at all. The attempt to introduce pafmes inftead of palms ridicules itself.

The adjective virginal is used in Woman is a Weathercock, 1612: "Lav'd in a bath of contrite virginal tears."

Again, in Spenfer's Faerie Queen, B. II. c. ix:

She to them made with mildness wirginal." STEEVENS, Whether the word perish be right or not in this place, Dr. Johnfon truly obferves, that it is fometimes ufed actively. In the Maid's Tragedy:

66

Let not my fins," fays Evadne to Amintor,
Perish your noble youth."
FARMER.

Again, in the Second Eclogue of Drayton:

"And hath for ever perished my fale."

Again, in the Honeft Man's Fortune, by Beaumont and Fletcher ;

"And miferies have peri'd his good face." STEEVENS. 7 a decay'd dotant] Thus the old copy. Modern editors read -dotard. STEEVENS.

tended

tended fire your city is ready to flame in, with fuch weak breath as this? No, you are deceiv'd; therefore, back to Rome, and prepare for your execution: you are condemn'd, our general has fworn you out of reprieve and pardon.

Men. Sirrah, if thy captain knew I were here, he would ufe me with eftimation.

2 Watch. Come, my captain knows you not. Men. I mean, thy general.

1 Watch. My general cares not for you. Back, I fay, go, left I let forth your half pint of blood; back, that's the utmost of your having :-back. Men. Nay, but fellow, fellow,

Enter Coriolanus, with Aufidius.

Cor. What's the matter?

8

Men. Now, you companion, I'll fay an errand for you; you fhall know now, that I am in estimation ; you fhall perceive that a Jack guardant cannot office me from my fon Coriolanus: guefs, by my entertainment with him, if thou ftand'ft not i' the state of hanging, or of fome death more long in fpectatorship, and crueller in fuffering; behold now prefently, and fwoon for what's to come upon thee.

The glorious gods fit in hourly fynod about thy particular prosperity, and love thee no worfe than thy old father Menenius does! O, my fon, my fon! thou art preparing fire for us; look thee, here's water to quench it. I was hardly moved to come to thee but being affured, none but myself could move thee, I have been blown out of your gates with fighs; and conjure thee to pardon Rome,

8

-guess but my entertainment with him ;] I read, Guess by my entertainment with him, if thou ftandeft not is the fate of banging. JOHNSON! Mr. Edwards had propofed the fame emendation in his MS. notes already mentioned. STEEVENS.

and