As for my country I have fhed my blood,
Not fearing outward force, fo fhall my lungs
Coin words till their decay, against thofe meazels,"
Which we disdain fhould tetter us, yet fought
The very way to catch them.

Were I as patient as the midnight sleep,
By Jove, 'twould be my mind.

SIC.

It is a mind,

That fhall remain a poison where it is,

Not poifon any further.

COR.
Hear you this Triton of the minnows? mark
His abfolute fhall?

Shall remain !—

8

you

COм.

'Twas from the canon."

COR.

Shall!

7

Верет.

1605.

meazels,] Mefell is ufed in Pierce Plowman's Vifion for a The fame word frequently occurs in The London Prodigal, STEEVENS.

A minnow is one of the fmalleft river fifh, called in fome coun

'Twas from the canon.] Was contrary to the eftablished rule it was a form of fpeech to which he has no right. JOHNSON.

O good, but most unwife patricians," why,
You grave, but reckless fenators, have you thus
Given Hydra here to choose an officer,

That with his peremptory fhall, being but

The horn and noife 3 o'the monfters, wants not

fpirit

Cominius

These words appear to me to imply the very reverse. means to fay, that what Sicinius had faid, was according to the rule," alluding to the abfolute veto of the Tribunes, the power of putting a top to every proceeding; and, accordingly, Coriolanus, inftead of difputing this power of the Tribunes, proceeds to argue against the power itself, and to inveigh against the Patricians for having granted it. M. MASON.

O good, but most unwife patricians, &c.] The old copy has-O God, but &c. Mr. Theobald made the correction. Mr. Steevens afks," when the only authentick ancient copy makes sense, why fhould we depart from it?" No one can be more thoroughly convinced of the general propriety of adhering to the old copy than I am; and I truft I have given abundant proofs of my attention to it, by reftoring and eftablishing many ancient readings in every one of thefe plays, which had been difplaced for modern innovations: and if in the paffage before us the ancient copy had afforded fenfe, I should have been very unwilling to difturb it. But it does not; for it reads, not "O Gods" as Mr. Steevens fuppofed, but O God, an adjuration furely not proper in the mouth of a heathen. Add to this, that the word but is exhibited with a fmall initial letter, in the only authentick copy; and the words " good but unwife" here appear to be the counterpart of grave and reckless in the fubfequent line. On a re-confideration of this paffage therefore, I am confident that even my learned predeceffor will approve of the emendation now adopted. MALONE.

I have not difplaced Mr. Malone's reading, though it may be obfèrved, that an improper mention of the Supreme Being of the Chriftians will not appear decifive on this occafion to the reader who recollects that in Troilus and Creffida the Trojan Pandarus fwears, by God's lid," the Greek Therfites exclaims Goda-mercy;" and that, in The Midfummer-Night's Dream, our author has put God thield us!" into the mouth of Bottom, an Athenian weaver. I lately met with a fill more glaring inftance of the fame impropriety in another play of Shakspeare, but cannot, at this moment, afcertain it. STEEVENS.

3 The horn and noife] Alluding to his having called him Triton before. WARBURTON.

4

To fay, he'll turn your current in a ditch,
And make your channel his? If he have power,
Then vail your ignorance: if none, awake
Your dangerous lenity. If you are learned,
Be not as common fools; if you are not,
Let them have cufhions by you. You are plebeians,
If they be fenators: and they are no less,

When, both your voices blended, the greatest taste
Moft palates theirs.5 They choose their magiftrate;
And fuch a one as he, who puts his fhall,
His popular hall, against a graver bench
Than ever frown'd in Greece! by Jove himfelf,
It makes the confuls bafe: and my foul akes,"

4 Then vail your ignorance:] If this man has power, ignorance that gave it him vail or bow down before him.

So, in The Taming of a Shrew:

Then vail your flomachs-."

Again, in Meafure for Measure:

If they be fenators: and they are no less,

When, both your voices blended, the greatest tafte

. JOHNSON.

Moft palates theirs. Thefe lines may, I think, be made more intelligible by a very flight correction:

When the tale of the great, the patricians, must palate, muft please [or must try that of the plebeians. JOHNSON.

The plain meaning is, that fenators and plebeians are equal, when the highest taste is beji pleafed with that which pleases the lowest.

STEEVENS.

I think the meaning is, the plebeians are no lefs than fenators, when, the voices of the feuate and the people being blended together, the predominant tafte of the compound fmacks more of the populace than the fenate. MALONE.

6

and my foul akes,] The mifchief and abfurdity of what is called Imperium in imperio, is here finely expreffed. WARBURTON.

To know, when two authorities are up,
Neither fupreme, how foon confufion
May enter 'twixt the gap of both, and take
The one by t'other.

COM.

Well, on to the market-place. COR. Whoever gave that counfel,' to give forth The corn o'the ftorehouse gratis, as 'twas us'd Sometime in Greece,

MEN.

Well, well, no more of that.

COR. (Though there the people had more abfolute power,)

I fay, they nourish'd difobedience, fed
The ruin of the ftate.

BRU.

Why, fhall the people give

1 Whoever gave that counsel, &c. ] So in the old tranflation of Plutarch: "Therefore, fayed he, they that gaue counsell, and perfuaded that the Corne fhould be giuen out to the common people gratis, as they vfed to doe in cities of Græce, where the people had more abfolute power, dyd but only nourishe their disobedience, which would breake out in the ende, to the vtter ruine and ouerthrow of the whole ftate. For they will not thincke it is done in recompenfe of their service paft, fithence they know well enough they haue fo often refused to go to the warres, when they were commaunded: neither for their mutinies when they went with vs, whereby they haue rebelled and forfaken their countrie: neither for their accufations which their flatterers haue preferred vnto them, and they have recevued, and made good against the fenate: but they will rather judge we geue and graunt them this, as abafing our selues, and standing in feare of them, and glad to flatter them euery way. By this meanes, their difobedience will fill grow worse and worfe; aud they will neuer leave to practife newe fedition, and vprores. Therefore it were a great follie for vs, me thinckes, to do it: yea, fhall I faye more? we should if we were wise, take from them their tribunefhippe, which moft manifeftly is the embaling of the confulthippe, and the caufe of the diuifion of the cittie, The ftate whereof as it ftandeth, is not now as it was wont to be, but becommeth difmembered in two factions, which mainteines allwayes ciuill diffention and difcorde betwene vs, and will neuer suffer us againe to be vnited into one bodie." STEEVENS.

One, that speaks thus, their voice?

COR. I'll give my reasons, More worthier than their voices. They know, the

corn

Was not our recompenfe; refting well affur'd They ne'er did fervice for't: Being prefs'd to the

war,

Even when the navel of the flate was touch'd, They would not thread the gates: this kind of

fervice

8

Did not deferve corn gratis: being i' the war,
Their mutinies and revolts, wherein they show'd
Moft valour, spoke not for them: The accufation
Which they have often made against the fenate,
All cause unborn, could never be the native 9
Of our fo frank donation. Well, what then?
How fhall this bofom multiplied digeft

2

The fenate's courtefy? Let deeds exprefs

What's like to be their words: We did request it;
We are the greater poll, and in true fear

They gave us our demands:Thus we debafe
The nature of our feats, and make the rabble
Call our cares, fears: which will in time break ope

They would not thread the gates:] That is, pass them. We yet fay, to thread an alley. JOHNSON.

So, in King Lear:

could never be the native] Native for natural birth. WARBURTON.

Native is here not natural birth, but natural parent, or cause of

birth. JOHNSON.

So, in a kindred fenfe, in King Henry V:

"As many of our bodies fhall no doubt

Find native graves." MALONE.

this bofom multiplied This multitudinous bofom; the holom of that great monster, the people. MALONE.

VOL. XVII,

Y