VOL. Indeed, you shall not.

Methinks, I hear hither your husband's drum ;
See him pluck Aufidius down by the hair;

As children from a bear, the Volces shunning him :
Methinks, I see him stamp thus, and call thus,-
Come on, you cowards, you were got in fear,
Though you were born in Rome: His bloody brow
With his mail'd hand then wiping, forth he goes;
Like to a harvest-man, that's task'd to mow
Or all, or lose his hire.

VIR. His bloody brow! O, Jupiter, no blood!
VOL. Away, you fool! it more becomes a man,
Than gilt his trophy: The breasts of Hecuba,
When she did suckle Hector, look'd not lovelier
Than Hector's forehead, when it spit forth blood
At Grecian swords' contending.-Tell Valeria 3,
We are fit to bid her welcome. [Exit Gent,
VIR. Heavens bless my lord from fell Aufidius!
VOL. He'll beat Aufidius' head below his knee,
And tread upon his neck.

8

Re-enter Gentlewoman, with VALERIA and her
Usher.

VAL. My ladies both, good day to you,
VOL. Sweet madam,-

"Retire me to my Milan-."

Again, in Timon of Athens, vol. xiii. p. 306:
"I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock-."

STEEVENS.

6 With his MAIL'D hand then wiping,] i. e. his hand cover'd or arm'd with mail. Douce.

7 Than GILT his trophy:] Gilt means a superficial display of gold, a word now obsolete. So, in King Henry V.:

"Our gayness and our gilt, are all besmirch'd." STEEVENS. 8 At Grecian swords' contending.-Tell Valeria,] The accuracy of the first folio may be ascertained from the manner in which this line is printed :

"At Grecian sword. Contenning, tell Valeria."

STEEVENS,

VIR. I am glad to see your ladyship.

VAL. How do you both? you are manifest housekeepers. What, are you sewing here? A fine spot, in good faith.-How does your little son?

VIR. I thank your ladyship; well, good madam. VOL. He had rather see the swords, and hear a drum, than look upon his school-master.

VAL. O' my word, the father's son: I'll swear, 'tis a very pretty boy. O' my troth, I looked upon him o' Wednesday half an hour together: he has such a confirmed countenance. I saw him run after a gilded butterfly; and when he caught it, he let it go again; and after it again; and over and over he comes, and up again; catched it again: or whether his fall enraged him, or how 'twas, he did so set his teeth, and tear it; O, I warrant, how he mammocked it 1!

VOL. One of his father's moods.

VAL. Indeed la, 'tis a noble child.

VAL. Come, lay aside your stitchery; I must have you play the idle huswife with me this afternoon.

9 A fine spot,] This expression (whatever may be the precise meaning of it,) is still in use among the vulgar : "You have made a fine spot of work of it," being a common phrase of reproach to those who have brought themselves into a scrape. STEEVENS. Surely it means a pretty spot of embroidery. We often hear of spotted muslin. BosWELL.

I

MAMMOCKED it!] To mammock is to cut in pieces, or to tear. So, in The Devil's Charter, 1607:

"That he were chopt in mammocks, I could eat him." STEEVENS.

2 A CRACK, madam.] Thus, in Cynthia's Revels by Ben

Jonson :

- Since we are turn'd cracks, let's study to be like cracks, act freely, carelessly, and capriciously."

Again, in The Four Prentices of London, 1615:

"A notable, dissembling lad, a crack."

Crack signifies a boy-child. See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note on The Second Part of King Henry IV. Act III. Sc. II. STEEVENS.

VIR. No, good madam; I will not out of doors. VAL. Not out of doors!

FUL. She shall, she shall.

VIR. Indeed, no, by your patience: I will not over the threshold, till my lord return from the

wars.

VAL. Fye, you confine yourself most unreasonably; Come, you must go visit the good lady that lies in.

VIR. I will wish her speedy strength, and visit her with my prayers; but I cannot go thither. VOL. Why, I pray you?

VIR. "Tis not to save labour, nor that I want love.

Var. You would be another Penelope : yet, they say, all the yarn she spun, in Ulysses' absence, did but fill Ithaca full of moths. Come; I would, your cambrick were sensible as your finger, that you might leave pricking it for pity. Come, you shall go with us.

VIR. No, good madam, pardon me; indeed, I will not forth.

VAL. In truth, la, go with me; and I'll tell you excellent news of your husband.

VIR. O, good madam, there can be none yet. VAL. Verily, I do not jest with you; there came news from him last night.

VIR. Indeed, madam ?

VAL. In earnest, it's true; I heard a senator speak it. Thus it is :-The Volces have an army forth; against whom Cominius the general is gone, with one part of our Roman power: your lord, and Titus Lartius, are set down before their city Corioli; they nothing doubt prevailing, and to make it brief wars. This is true, on mine honour; and so, I pray, go with us.

VIR. Give me excuse, good madam; I will obey you in every thing hereafter.

VOL. Let her alone, lady; as she is now, she will but disease our better mirth.

VAL. In troth, I think, she would:-Fare you well then.-Come, good sweet lady.-Pr'ythee, Virgilia, turn thy solemness out o' door, and go along with us.

VIR. No: at a word, madam; indeed, I must
I wish you much mirth.
VAL. Well, then farewell.

not.

SCENE IV.

Before Corioli.

[Exeunt.

Enter, with Drum and Colours, MARCIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, Officers, and Soldiers. To them a Messenger.

MAR. Yonder comes news:-A wager, they have

MAR. Say, has our general met the enemy ? MESS. They lie in view; but have not spoke as

yet.

LART. So, the good horse is mine.

MAR.

I'll buy him of you.

LART. No, I'll nor sell, nor give him: lend you
him, I will,

For half a hundred years.-Summon the town.
MAR. How far off lie these armies?

MESS.

Within this mile and half3.

3 Within this mile AND HALF.] The two last words, which disturb the measure, should be omitted; as we are that "Tis not a mile" between the two armies.

told in p. 39, STEEVENS.

MAR. Then shall we hear their 'larum, and they

ours.

Now, Mars, I pr'ythee, make us quick in work; That we with smoking swords may march from

hence,

To help our fielded friends!-Come, blow thy blast.

They sound a Parley. Enter, on the Walls, some Senators, and Others.

Tullus Aufidius, is he within your walls?

1 SEN. No, nor a man that fears you less than

he,

That's lesser than a little 5. Hark, our drums

[Alarums afar off. Are bringing forth our youth: We'll break our

walls,

Rather than they shall pound us up: our gates, Which yet seem shut, we have but pinn'd with

rushes;

They'll open of themselves.

Hark you, far off;

[Other Alarums.

O, they are at it!

There is Aufidius; list, what work he makes

Amongst your cloven army.
MAR.

4

FIELDED friends !] i. e. our friends who are in the field of battle. STEEVENS.

5

nor a man that fears you LESS than he,

That's lesser than a little.] The sense requires it to be read: nor a man that fears you more than he;"

66

Or, more probably :

nor a man but fears you less than he, "That's lesser than a littleJOHNSON.

The text, I am confident, is right, our author almost always entangling himself when he uses less and more.

See vol. x.

p. 118, n. 4. Lesser in the next line shows that less in that preceding was the author's word, and it is extremely improbable that he should have written-but fears you less, &c. MALONE.