CRITICAL NOTES. ACT I., SCENE I. Page 39. Enter FLAVIUS, MARULLUS, &c.. - In the original, the latter of these names is printed Murellus. So all through the play except in one instance, where it is Murrellus. P. 40. Mar. What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade? The original prefixes "Fla." to this speech; but the next two speeches prove, beyond question, that it belongs to Marullus. Corrected by Capell. P. 41. I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl. - The original has " but withal." Of course a quibble is intended between all and awl; and it is not clear which form ought to be used. As the quibble is addressed to the ear, it matters little. Some have found fault with tradesman's, and Farmer proposed to read no trade, man's matters, nor woman's." Walker observes, "Surely this is at least a step to the right reading." 66 ACT I., SCENE II. Here, and genAnd so with sev P. 44. Stand you directly in Antonius' way. erally, the name is printed Antonio in the original. eral other names, Octavio, Flavio, and Claudio. Perhaps this grew, as Steevens thought, from the players being more used to Italian than to Roman terminations. P. 47. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself But by reflection from some other thing.—The original reads "by reflection, by some other things." Here by was doubtless repeated by mistake; and singulars and plurals were very often confounded. The first of these corrections was made by Pope; the other, by Walker. P. 48. That you have no such mirror as will turn Your hidden worthiness into your eye. - The old text has mirrors instead of mirror. Corrected by Walker. P. 48. Were I a common laugher, or did use To stale with ordinary oaths my love To every new protester. So Pope. Instead of laugher, the original has Laughter; which, after all, may possibly be right, in the sense of laughingstock. Some one has proposed "; a common lover"; and so, I have hardly any doubt, we ought to read. This would make common emphatic, and give it the sense of indiscriminate or promiscuous; which quite accords with the context. P. 49. Set honour in one eye, and death i' the other, And I will look on death indifferently. — So Theobald and Warburton. In the second of these lines, the original has both instead of death. With both, the paralogism is surely too glaring, even for so loose-knit a genius as Brutus. P. 53. When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome, That her wide walls encompass'd but one man? — The original has walkes instead of walls. Perhaps the error grew from talk'd in the preceding line. Corrected by Rowe. er. P. 55. As we have seen him in the Capitol, Being cross'd in conference by some Senator.So WalkThe original has Senators. P. 60. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth the eating. Walker says, "Surely, and my mind hold.' Your is absurd." Perhaps so; but I do not quite see it. ACT I., SCENE III. P. 63. A common slave-you'd know him well by sightHeld up his left hand, &c.—The original reads "you know him," &c. The correction is proposed by Dyce. The propriety of it is, I think, evident. See foot-note 6. P. 63. Against the Capitol I met a lion, Who glared upon me, &c.—The original has glaz'd instead of glared. Hardly worth noting, perhaps. P. 64. When these prodigies Do so conjointly meet, let not men say, These are their reasons; they are natural. — Collier's second folio changes reasons to seasons. Upon this reading Professor Craik comments thus: "This is their season might have been conceivable; but who ever heard it remarked of any description of phenomena that these are their seasons." Nevertheless I am pretty sure that similar phrases are current in common speech. And if any one were to say, "These parts of the year," or, "these months of Spring, are just the times," or "the seasons for such storms," where would be the absurdity of it? Besides, I do not see but that strict propriety of speech requires this is their reason, as much as this is their season. So I am apt to think that seasons is the right reading. See, however, foot note II. P. 66. You look pale, and gaze, And put on fear, and case yourself in wonder, &c. — The old text has cast instead of case. The correction occurred independently to Mr. Swynfen Jervis and Mr. W. W. Williams, and is certainly favoured by the words put on fear. See foot-note 18. P. 66. Why old men fool, and children calculate. The original reads "Why Old men, Fooles, and Children calculate." This makes the sense incoherent. The reading here adopted is coherent, and gives the right sense, - that old men in being foolish, and children in being considerate, are acting as much against nature as the fires and ghosts, the birds and beasts, are in what has just been related of them. The correction was proposed by Mitford. Lettsom says, “Read ‘old men fool,' if this has not been noticed before." P. 67. To make them instruments of fear and warning Name thee a man most like this dreadful night, &c.— So Capell. The original reads "Name to thee a man." P. 70. And the complexion of the element Is favour'd like the work we have in hand, Most bloody-fiery and most terrible. In the second of these lines, the original has "Is Favors, like the Worke," &c. Johnson's reading, "In Favour's like," is commonly adopted; but I prefer Capell's. See foot-note 34. — In the third line, the old text has "Most bloodie, fierie." The correction is Walker's. P. 70. No, it is Casca; one incorporate To our attempt. - So Walker. The old text has Attempts. The confusion of plurals and singulars is especially frequent in this play. P. 70. Good Cinna, take this paper, And look you lay it in the prætor's chair, Where Brutus may best find it. The original has "; may but find it." The correction was proposed by Professor Craik. ACT II., SCENE I. P. 74. Is not to-morrow, boy, the Ides of March? - The original reads "the first of March." This evidently cannot be right, though it may be what the Poet wrote: for in Plutarch, Life of Brutus, North's translation, he read as follows: "Cassius asked him if he were determined to be in the Senate-house the first day of the month of March, because he heard say that Cæsar's friends should move the Council that day, that Cæsar should be called king by the Senate." Nevertheless the whole ordering of dates in the play is clearly against the old reading; so that Theobald's correction must be accepted. P. 75. My ancestor did from the streets of Rome The Tarquin drive, &c.— So Dyce. The original has “ "my Ancestors." See page 53, note 39. P. 75. Speak, strike, redress! - Am I entreated, then, To speak and strike?— So Pope. The old text lacks then, which is needful to the metre, and helpful to the sense. P. 76. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days. - So Theobald. The original has "fifteene dayes," which cannot be right, as the Ides fell on the fifteenth of March, and this is the day before the Ides. P. 76. The genius and the mortal instruments Are then in Council; and the state of man, Like to a little kingdom, &c. - So the second folio. The original has "the state of a man." Both sense and metre are evidently against this reading; and Walker points out many like instances of a interpolated.—I am all but certain that we ought to read conflict instead of council. See foot-note 16. P. 77. For if thou pass, thy native semblance on, Not Erebus itself were dim enough, &c. -The original reads "For if thou path," &c. This has been defended by some, and several instances cited of the verb to path; but those instances are quite beside the mark, as they do not use the word in any such sense as would justify its retention here. Coleridge proposed put, Walker strongly approves it, and Dyce adopts it. This is certainly strong authority, still I cannot reconcile myself to such a use of put. Surely a man cannot be rightly said to put on his native looks; though he may well be said to put them off, or to keep them on. On the other hand, to pass may very well mean to walk abroad, or to pass the streets, which is the sense wanted here. Of course, with this reading, "thy native semblance on " is the ablative absolute; "thy native semblance being on." P. 79. No, not an oath: if not the face of men, The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse, &c. - There has been much stumbling at the word face here; I hardly know why, |