CHAR. In this wild world?-So, fare thee Now boast thee, death! in thy poffeffion lies Of eyes again fo royal! Your crown's awry ; 2 In this wild world?] Thus the old copy. I fuppofe the means by this wild world, this world which by the death of Antony is become a defert to her. A wild is a defert. Our author, however, might have written vild (i. e. vile according to ancient spelling) for worthlefs. STEEVENS. 3 Downy windows, clofe;] So, in Venus and Adonis : "Her two blue windows faintly fhe upheaveth." MALONE. Charmian, in faying this, must be conceived to close Cleopatra's eyes; one of the firft ceremonies performed toward a dead body. tors. RITSON. Your crown's awry;] This is well amended by the edi- Your crown's away. JOHNSON. So, in Daniel's Tragedy of Cleopatra, 1594: "And fenfelefs, in her finking down, the wryes "Which Charmian (poor weak feeble maid) efpyes, "For Eras now was dead." STEEVENS. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. The author has here as usual followed the old translation of Plutarch. "They found Cleopatra ftarke dead layed upon a bed of gold, attired and arrayed in her royal robes, and one of her two women, which was called Iras, dead at her feete; and her other woman called Charmian half dead, and trembling, trimming the diadem which Cleopatra wore upon her head." MALONE. 5 and then play.] i. e. play her part in this tragick fcene by deftroying herfelf: or the may mean, that having performed her laft office for her mistress, she will accept the permission given her in p. 674, to "play till doomfday." STEEVENS. Enter the Guard, rushing in. I. GUARD. Where is the queen? Speak foftly, wake her not. 1. GUARD. Cæfar hath fent- Too flow a messenger. [Applies the afp. O, come; apace, defpatch: I partly feel thee. 1. GUARD. Approach, ho! All's not well: Cæfar's beguil❜d. 2. GUARD. There's Dolabella fent from Cæfar; -call him. 1. GUARD. What work is here?-Charmian, is this well done? CHAR. It is well done, and fitting for a princess Defcended of fo many royal kings." Ah, foldier! [Dies. Enter DOLABELLA. DOL. How goes it here? 2. GUARD. DOL. All dead. Cæfar, thy thoughts Touch their effects in this: Thyfelf art coming WITHIN. A way there, way for Cæfar! Defcended of fo many royal kings.] Almoft thefe very words are found in Sir T. North's tranflation of Plutarch; and in Daniel's play on the fame fubject. The former book is not uncommon, and therefore it would be impertinent to crowd the page with every circumftance which Shakspeare has borrowed from the fame original. STEEVENS. Enter CÆSAR, and Attendants. DOL. O, fir, you are too fure an augurer; That you did fear, is done. CES. Brav'ft at the laft: She levell'd at our purposes, and, being royal, Took her own way.-The manner of their deaths? I do not fee them bleed. DOL. Who was laft with them? I. GUARD. A fimple countryman, that brought her figs ; This was his basket. CES. I. GUARD. Poison'd then. - O Cæfar, This Charmian liv'd but now; fhe ftood, and fpake: I found her trimming up the diadem On her dead misftrefs; tremblingly she stood, O noble weakness! CES. In her strong toil of grace. DOL. Here, on her breast, There is a vent of blood, and fomething blown: ' The like is on her arm. fomething blown:] The flesh is fomewhat puffed or fwoln. JOHNSON. So, in the ancient metrical romance of Syr Bevys of Hampton, bl. 1. no date : "That with venim upon him throwen, 1. GUARD. This is an afpick's trail: and these fig-leaves Have flime upon them, fuch as the afpick leaves CES. Most probable, That fo fhe died; for her physician tells me, No grave upon the earth fhall clip in it Again, in the romance of Syr Ifenbras, bl. 1. no date; "With adders all your beftes ben slaine, "With venyme are they blowe." Again, in Ben Jonfon's Magnetick Lady: What is blown, puft? fpeak English. "Tainted an' please you, fome do call it. "She fwells and fo fwells," &c. STEEVENS. 8 She hath purfu'd conclufions infinite-] To purfue conclufions, is to try experiments. So, in Hamlet: 66 like the famous ape, "To try conclufions," &c. Again, in Cymbeline: I did amplify my judgment in "Other conclufions. STEEVENS. 9 Of eafy ways to die.] Such was the death brought on by the afpick's venom. Thus Lucan, Lib. IX: 2 3 "At tibi Leve mifer fixus præcordia preffit "Niliaca ferpente cruor; nulloque dolore Accipis, & Stygias fomno defcendis ad umbras." STEEVENS. -fball clip-] i. e. enfold. See p. 608, n. 4. STEEVENS. their fory is No lefs in pity, than his glory, &c.] i. e. the narrative of fuch events demands not lefs compaffion for the fufferers, than glory on the part of him who brought on their fufferings. STEEVENS. . Brought them to be lamented. Our army fhall, [Exeunt. 4 This play keeps curiofity always bufy, and the paffions always interested. The continual hurry of the action, the variety of incidents, and the quick fucceffion of one perfonage to another, call the mind forward without intermiffion from the first act to the laft. But the power of delighting is derived principally from the frequent changes of the scene; for, except the feminine arts, fome of which are too low, which diftinguish Cleopatra, no character is very ftrongly difcriminated. Upton, who did not eafily miss what he defired to find, has difcovered that the language of Antony is, with great skill and learning, made pompous and fuperb, according to his real practice. But I think his diction not diftinguishable from that of others: the moft tumid fpeech in the play is that which Cæfar makes to Octavia. The events, of which the principal are defcribed according to hiftory, are produced without any art of connexion or care of dif pofition. JOHNSON. THE END OF THE TWELFTH VOLUME. |