Yet were there but this fingle plot to lofe,
This mould of Marcius, they to duft fhould grind

it,

And throw it against the wind.-To the market

place:

You have put me now to fuch a part, which never I fhall discharge to the life.

Сом.

Come, come, we'll prompt you.

VOL. I pr'ythee now, fweet fon; as thou haft faid,

My praises made thee first a foldier, fo,

To have my praise for this, perform a part
Thou haft not done before."

sfingle plot-] i. e. piece, portion; applied to a piece of earth, and here elegantly transferred to the body, carcafe.

WARBURTON.

fuch a part, which never &c.] So, in King Henry VI.

P. III. Vol. X. p. 295:

he would avoid fuch bitter taunts "Which in the time of death he gave our father." Again, in the present scene:

"But with fuch words that are but roted," &c. Again, in Act V. fc. iv :

"Which thou shalt thereby reap, is such a name,
Whofe repetition will be dogg'd with curfes."

i. e. the repetition of which-.

Again, in A& V. fc. iii:

- no, not with fuch friends,
"That thought them fure of you."

This phrafeology was introduced by Shakspeare in the first of thefe paffages, for the old play on which the third part of King Henry VI. was founded, reads-As in the time of death. The word as has been fubftituted for which by the modern editors in the paffage before us. MALONE.

7

-perform a part

Thou haft not done before.] Our author is ftill thinking of his theatre. Cominius has juft faid, Come, come, we'll prompt you.

MALONE.

COR.

Well, I must do't:

Away, my difpofition, and poffefs me

Some harlot's fpirit! My throat of war be turn'd,
Which quired with my drum, into a pipe
Small as an eunuch, or the virgin voice

That babies lulls afleep! The fmiles of knaves
Tent in my cheeks; and schoolboys' tears take up
The glaffes of my fight! A beggar's tongue

Make motion through my lips; and my arm'd knees,

Who bow'd but in my ftirrop, bend like his
That hath receiv'd an alms-I will not do't:
Left I furceafe to honour mine own truth,'

And, by my body's action, teach my mind
A moft inherent bafenefs.

VOL.
At thy choice then:
To beg of thee, it is my more dishonour,
Than thou of them. Come all to ruin; let
Thy mother rather feel thy pride, than fear
Thy dangerous ftoutnefs; for I mock at death
With as big heart as thou. Do as thou lift.
Thy valiantnefs was mine, thou fuck'dft it from me;
But owe thy pride thyself.

Which quired with my drum,] Which played in concert with my drum. JOHNSON.

So, in The Merchant of Venice:

Still quiring to the young-ey'd cherubins." STEEVENS. 9 Tent in my cheeks;] To tent is to take up refidence. JOHNSON.

to honour mine own truth,]

Πάντων δὲ μάλις' αἰσχύνει σαῦτον. Pythagoras. JOHNSON,

let

Thy mother rather feel thy pride, than fear

Thy dangerous floutnefs;] This is obfcure. Perhaps, fhe means, Go, do thy worft; let me rather feel the utmost extremity that thy pride can bring upon us, than live thus in fear of thy dangerous obftinacy. JOHNSON.

4

orve- i. e. own. REED.

COR.

Pray, be content; Mother, I am going to the market-place;

Chide me no more. I'll mountebank their loves,
Cog their hearts from them, and come home belov'd
Of all the trades in Rome. Look, I am going:
Commend me to my wife. I'll return conful;
Or never trust to what my tongue can do
I' the way of flattery, further.

VOL.

Do your will. [Exit.

Coм. Away, the tribunes do attend you: arm yourself

To answer mildly; for they are prepar'd
With accufations, as I hear, more strong
Than are upon you yet.

COR. The word is, mildly :-Pray you, let us go: Let them accufe me by invention, I

Will answer in mine honour.

MEN.

Ay, but mildly.

COR. Well, mildly be it then; mildly. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

The fame. The Forum.

Enter SICINIUS and BRUTUS.

BRU. In this point charge him home, that he affects

Tyrannical power: If he evade us there,

So, in Macbeth:

"To throw away the dearest thing he owed,
"As 'twere a careless trifle." STEEVENS.

Enforce him with his envy' to the people;
And that the spoil, got on the Antiates,
Was ne'er diftributed.-

ED. With old Menenius, and those fenators That always favour'd him.

SIC.

Of all the voices that we have procur'd,

Set down by the poll?

ED.

Have you a catalogue

I have; 'tis ready, here.+

I have.

SIC. Have you

ED.

collected them by tribes?

Sic. Affemble prefently the people hither: And when they hear me fay, It shall be fo

I the right and frength o' the commons, be it either For death, for fine, or banishment, then let them, If I fay, fine, cry fine; if death, cry death;

Infifting on the old prerogative

And power i' the truth o' the cause.'

envy i. e. malice, hatred. So, in King Henry VIII:

1

no black envy

"Shall make my grave."

See Vol. XI. p. 61, n. 9.

STEEVENS.

4tis ready, here.] The word--here, which is wanting in the old copics, was fupplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer. STEEVENS. -i' the truth o' the caufe.] This is not very easily underftood. We might read:

5

-o'er the truth o' the canje. JOHNSON.

As I cannot understand this pailage as it is pointed, I fhould fuppofe that the fpeeches fhould be thus divided, and then it will require no explanation.

ED.

I fhall inform them.

BRU. And when fuch time they have begun to

cry,

Let them not cease, but with a din confus'd
Enforce the present execution

Of what we chance to fentence.

ED.

Very well.

SIC. Make them be ftrong, and ready for this

Put him to choler ftraight: He hath been us'd
Ever to conquer, and to have his worth

Of contradiction: Being once chaf'd, he cannot
Be rein'd again to temperance; then he speaks
What's in his heart; and that is there, which looks
With us to break his neck.8

6

That is, I will explain the matter to them fully. M. MASON.

and to have his worth

Of contradiction:] The modern editors fubftituted word; but the old copy reads worth, which is certainly right. He has been ufed to have his worth, or (as we fhould now fay) his pennyworth of contradiction; his full quota or proportion. So, in Romeo and Juliet:

66

You take your pennyworth [of sleep] now."

MALONE.

Be rein'd again to temperance;] Our poet feems to have taken feveral of his images from the old pageants. In the new edition of Leland's Collectanea, Vol. IV. p. 190, the virtue temperance is reprefented holding in hyr haund a bitt of an horse." TOLLET. Mr. Tollet might have added, that both in painting and fculpture the bit is the established fymbol of this virtue.

HENLEY.

The

With us to break his neck.] To look is to wait or expect.