Complete Works of Samuel Johnson

by Samuel Johnson

  V.i.20 (420,2) It was a bare petition] [Bare, for mean, beggarly. WARBURTON.] I believe rather, a petition unsupported, unaided by names that might give it influence.

  V.i.63 (422,4) I tell you, he does sit in gold] He is inthroned in all the pomp and pride of imperial splendour.

  [Greek: Chruzothronos Aerae] — Hom.

  V.i.69 (422,5) Bound with an oath to yield to his conditions] This if apparently wrong. Sir T. Hanmer, and Dr. Warburton after him, read,

  Bound with an oath not to yield to new conditions.

  They might have read more smoothly,

  — to yield no new conditions.

  But the whole speech is in confusion, and I suspect something left out. I should read,

  — What he would do,

  He sent in writing after; what he would not,

  Bound with an oath. To yield to his conditions.

  Here is, I think, a chasm. The speaker’s purpose seems to be this: To yield to his conditions is ruin, and better cannot be obtained, so that all hope is vain.

  V.ii.10 (424,7) it is lots to blanks] A lot here is a prize.

  V.ii.17 (424,8)

  For I have ever verify’d my friends,

  (Of whom he’s chief) with all the size that verity

  Would without lapsing suffer]

  [W: narrified] [Hanmer: magnified] If the commentator had given any example of the word narrify, the correction would have been not only received, but applauded. Now, since the new word stands without authority, we must try what sense the old one will afford. To verify is to establish by testimony. One may say with propriety, he brought false witnesses to verify his title. Shakespeare considered the word with his usual laxity, as importing rather testimony than truth, and only meant to say, I bore witness to my friends with all the size that verity would suffer.

  V.ii.45 (426,1) the virginal palms of your daughters] [W: pasmes or pames, French for “swooning fits.” Warburton also quotes Tarquin and Lucrece, “To dry the old oak’s sap, and cherish springs” and emends to “tarnish,” from the French, meaning “to dry up,” used of springs and rivers.] I have inserted this note, because it contains an apology for many others. It is not denied that many French words were mingled in the time of Elizabeth with our language, which have since been ejected, and that any which are known to have been then in use may be properly recalled when they will help the sense. But when a word is to be admitted, the first question should be, by whom was it ever received? in what book can it be shown? If it cannot be proved to have been in use, the reasons which can justify its reception must be stronger than any critick will often have to bring. Even in this certain emendation, the new word is very liable to contest. I should read,

  — and perish springs.

  The verb perish is commonly neutral, but in conversation is often used actively, and why not in the works of a writer negligent beyond all others of grammatical niceties?

  V.ii.60 (427,2) Back, I say, go; lest I let forth your half pint of blood; — back, that’s the utmost of your having: — Back] [Warburton emended the punctuation] I believe the meaning never was mistaken, and therefore do not change the reading.

  V.ii.69 (428,3) guess by my entertainment with him] I read, Guess by my entertainment with him, if thou standest not i’ the state of hanging [in place of guess but my entertainment].

  V.ii.80 (428,4) Though I owe/My revenge properly] Though I have a peculiar right in revenge, in the power of forgiveness the Volacians are conjoined.

  V.ii.104 (429,5) how we are shent] Shent is brought to destruction.

  V.iii.3 (430,6) how plainly/I have born this business] That is, how openly, how remotely from artifice or concealment.

  V.iii.39 (431,7) The sorrow, that delivers us thus chang’d,/Makes you think so] Virgilia makes a voluntary misinterpretation of her husband’s words. He says, These eyes are not the same, meaning, that he saw things with other eyes, or other dispositions. She lays hold on the word eyes, to turn his attention on their present appearance.

  V.iii.46 (431,8) Now by the jealous queen of heaven] That is, by Juno, the guardian of marriage, and consequently the avenger of connubial perfidy.

  V.iii.64 (432,1) The noble sister of Poplicola] Valeria, methinks, should not have been brought only to fill up the procession without speaking.

  V.iii.68 (432,2) epitome of yours] I read,

  — epitome of you.

  An epitome of you which, enlarged by the commentaries of time, may equal you in magnitude.

  V.iii.74 (433,4) every flaw] That is, every gust, every storm.

  V.iii.100 (435,2) Constrains them weep, and shake] That is, constrain the eye to weep, and the heart to shake.

  V.iii.149 (436,3) the fine strains] The niceties, the refinements.

  V.iii.159 (436,5) he lets me prate,/Like one i’ the stocks] Keep me in a state of ignominy talking to no purpose.

  V.iii.176 (437,6) Does reason our petition] Does argue for us and our petition.

  V.iii.201 (438,7) I’ll work/Myself a former fortune] I will take advantage of this concession to restore myself to my former credit and power.

  V.iii.206 (438,8) Come, enter with us, — Ladies, you deserve] [Warburton proposed to give the speech beginning “Ladies, you deserve” to Aufidius] The speech suits Aufidius justly enough, if it had been written for him; but it may, without impropriety, be spoken by Coriolanus: and since the copies give it to him, why should we dispossess him?

  V.iv.22 (439,1) He sits in state as a thing made for Alexander] In a foregoing note he was said to sit in gold. The phrase, as a thing made for Alexander, means, as one made to resemble Alexander.

  V.vi.39 (443,2) He wag’d me with his countenance] This is obscure. The meaning, I think, is, he prescribed to me vith an air of authority, and gave me his countenance for my wages; thought me sufficiently rewarded with good looks.

  V.vi.44 (443,3) For which my sinews shall be stretch’d upon him] This is the point on which I will attack him with my utmost abilities.

  V.vi.66 (444,4) answering us/With our own charge] That is, rewarding us with our own expences; making the cost of the war its recompence.

  V.vi.125 (446,5) his fame folds in/This orbe o’ th’ earth] His fame overspreads the world.

  (447) General Observation. The tragedy of Coriolanus is one of the most amusing of our author’s performances. The old man’s merriment in Menenius; the lofty lady’s dignity in Volumnia; the bridal modesty in Virgilia; the patrician and military haughtiness in Coriolanus; the plebeian malignity and tribunitian insolence in Brutus and Sicinius, make a very pleasing and interesting variety: and the various revolutions of the hero’s fortune fill the mind with anxious curiosity. There is, perhaps, too much bustle in the first act, and too little in the last.

  JULIUS CAESAR

  I.i.20 (4,2) Mar. What meanest thou by that?] [Theobald gave this speech to Flavius] I have replaced Marullus, who might properly enough reply to a saucy sentence directed to his colleague, and to whom the speech was probably given, that he might not stand too long unemployed upon the stage.

  I.ii.25 (7,5) [Sennet. Exeunt Caesar and Train] I have here inserted the word Sennet, from the original edition, that I may have an opportunity of retracting a hasty conjecture in one of the marginal directions in Henry VIII. Sennet appears to be a particular tune or mode of martial musick.

  I.ii.35 (8,6) You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand] Strange, is alien, unfamiliar, such as might become a stranger.

  I.ii.39 (8,7) Vexed I am,/Of late, with passions of some difference] With a fluctation of discordant opinions and desires.

  I.ii.73 (9,9) To stale with ordinary oaths my love/To every new protester] To invite every new protestor to my affection by the stale or allurement of customary oaths.

  I.ii.87 (10,1) And I will look on both indifferently] Dr. Warburton has a long note on this occasion, which is very trifling. When Brutus first names honour and death, he calmly declares them indifferent; but as the image kindles in his mind, he sets honou
r above life. Is not this natural?

  I.ii.160 (12,6) eternal devil] I should think that our author wrote rather, infernal devil.

  I.ii.171 (13,7) chew upon this] Consider this at leisure; ruminate on this.

  I.ii.186 (13,8) Looks with such ferret, and such fiery eyes] A ferret has red eyes.

  I.ii.268 (16,2) a man of any occupation] Had I been a mechanick, one of the Plebeians to whom he offered his threat.

  I.ii.313 (17,3) Thy honourable metal may be wrought/From what it is dispos’d] The best metal or temper may be worked into qualities contrary to its original constitution.

  I.ii.318 (17,4) If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius,/He should not humour me] The meaning, I think, is this, Caesar loves Brutus, but if Brutus and I were to change places, his love should not humour me, should not take hold of my affection, so as to make me forget my principles.

  I.iii.1 (18,5) brought you Caesar home?] Did you attend Caesar home?

  I.iii.3 (18,6) sway of earth] The whole weight or momentum of this globe.

  I.iii.21 (19,7) Who glar’d upon me] The first edition reads,

  Who glaz’d upon me, —

  Perhaps, Who gaz’d upon me.

  I.iii.64 (20,8) Why birds, and beasts, from quality and kind] That is, Why they deviate from quality and nature. This line might perhaps be more properly placed after the next line.

  Why birds, and beasts, from quality and kind;

  Why all these things change from their ordinance.

  I.iii.65 (20,9) and children calculate] [Shakespeare, with his usual liberty, employs the species [calculate] for the genus foretel]. WARB.] Shakespeare found the liberty established. To calculate a nativity, is the technical term.

  I.iii.l14 (22,2) My answer must be made] I shall be called to account, and must answer as for seditious words.

  I.iii.117 (22,3) Hold my hand] Is the same as, Here’s my hand.

  I.iii.118 (22,4) Be factious for redress] Factious seems here to mean active.

  I.iii.129 (23,5) It favours, like the work] The old edition reads,

  It favours, like the work —

  I think we should read,

  In favour’s, like the work we have in hand,

  Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.

  Favour is look, countenance, appearance. (rev. 1778, VIII, 25, 7)

  II.i.19 (25,6) Remorse from power] [Remorse, for mercy. WARB.] Remorse (says the Author of the Ravisal) signifies the conscious uneasiness arising from a sense of having done wrong; to extinguish which feeling, nothing hath so great a tendency as absolute uncontrouled power.

  I think Warbuton right. (1773)

  II.i.21 (25,7) common proof] Common experiment.

  II.i.26 (25,8) base degrees] Low steps.

  II.i.33 (26,9) as his kind] According to his nature.

  II.i.63 (27,3)

  Between the acting of a dreadful thing,

  And the first motion, all the interim is

  Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:

  The genius, and the mortal instruments

  Are then in council; and the state of man,

  Like to a little kingdom, suffers then

  The nature of an insurrection]

  The [Greek: deinon] of the Greek critics does not, I think, mean sentiments which raise fear, more than wonder, or any other of the tumultuous passions; [Greek: to deinon] is that which strikes, which astonishes, with the idea either of some great subject, or of the author’s abilities.

  Dr. Warburton’a pompous criticism might well have been shortened. The genius is not the genius of a kingdom, nor are the instruments, conspirators. Shakespeare is describing what passes in a single bosom, the insurrection which a conspirator feels agitating the little kingdom of his own mind; when the Genius, or power that watches for his protection, and the mortal instruments, the passions, which excite him to a deed of honour and danger, are in council and debate; when the desire of action and the care of safety, keep the mind in continual fluctuation and disturbance.

  II.i.76 (29,5) any mark of favour] Any distinction of countenance.

  II.i.83 (30,6) For if thou path thy native semblance on] If thou walk in thy true form.

  II.i.114 (31,7) No, not an oath. If not the face of men] Dr. Warburten would read fate of men; but his elaborate emendation is, I think, erroneous. The face of men is the countenance, the regard, the esteem of the publick; in other terms, honour and reputation; or the face of men may mean the dejected look of the people.

  He reads, with the other modern editions,

  — If that the face of men,

  but the old reading is,

  — if not the face, &c.

  II.i.129 (32,1) Swear priests, and cowards, and men cautelous] This is imitated by Utway,

  When you would bind me, is there need of oaths? &c.

  Venice preserved.

  II.i.187 (34,2) take thought] That is, turn melancholy.

  II.i.196 (34,3) Quite from the main opinion he held once] Main opinion, is nothing more than leading, fixed, predominant opinion.

  II.i.225 (36,6) Let not our looks put on our purposes] Let not our faces put on, that is, wear or show our designs.

  II.ii.36 (42,3) death, a necessary end,/Will come, when it will come] This is a sentence derived from the Stoical doctrine of predestination, and is therefore improper in the mouth of Caesar.

  II.ii.41 (42,4) The Gods do this in shame of cowardice:/Caesar should be a beast without a heart] The ancients did not place courage but wisdom in the heart.

  II.ii.88 (44,7) and that great men shall press/For tinctures, stains, relicks, and cognisance] [Warburton conjectured some lines lost] I am not of opinion that any thing is lost, and have therefore marked no omission. This speech, which is intentionally pompous, is somewhat confused. There are two allusions; one to coats armorial, to which princes make additions, or give new tinctures, and new marks of cognisance; the other to martyrs, whose reliques are preserved with veneration. The Romans, says Brutus, all come to you as to a saint, for reliques, as to a prince, for honours.

  II.ii.104 (45,8) And reason to my love is liable] And reason, or propriety of conduct and language, is subordinate to my love.

  II.iii.16 (47,9) the fates with traitors do contrive] The fates join with traitors in contriving thy destruction.

  III.i.38 (51,2) And turn pre-ordinance and first decree/Into the lane of children] I do not veil understand what is meant by the lane of children. I should read, the law of children. It was, change pre-ordinance and decree into the law of children; into such slight determinations as every start of will would alter. Lane and laws in some manuscripts are not easily distinguished.

  III.i.67 (52,4) apprehensive] Susceptible of fear, or other passions.

  III.i.68 (52,5) but one] One, and only one.

  III.i.69 (52,6) holds on his rank] Perhaps, holds on his race; continues his course. We commonly say, To hold a rank, and To hold on a course or way.

  III.i.75 (52,7) Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?] I would read, Do not Brutus bootless kneel!

  III.i.152 (55,9) Who else must be let blood, who else is rank] Who else may be supposed to have overtopped his equals, and grown too high for the public safety.

  III.i.257 (59,3) in the tide of times] That is, in the course of times.

  III.i.262 (60,4) A curse shall light upon the limbs of men] Hanmer reads,

  — kind of men.

  I rather think it should be,

  — the lives of men.

  unless we read,

  — these lymms of men;

  That is, these bloodhounds of men. The uncommonness of the word lymm easily made the change.

  III.i.273 (60,5) Cry Havock] A learned correspondent has informed me, that, in the military operations of old times, havock was the word by which declaration was made, that no quarter should be given.

  In a tract intitled, The Office of the Conestable & Mareschall in the Tyme of Werre, contained in the Black Book of the Admiralty, there is the following chapter:
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  “The peyne of hym that crieth havock and of them that followeth hym. etit. v.”

  “Item Si quis inventus fuerit qui clamorem inceperit qui vecatur Havok.”

  “Also that no man be so hardy to crye Havok upon peyne that he that is begynner shal be deede therefore: & the remanent that doo the same or folow shall lose their horse & harneis: and the persones of such as foloweth & escrien shal be under arrest of the Conestable & Mareschall warde unto tyme that they have made fyn; & founde suretie no morr to offende; & his body in prison at the Kyng wylle.— “

  III.ii.116 (66,8) Caesar has had great wrong] [Pope has a rather ridiculous note on this] I have inserted this note, because it is Pope’s, for it is otherwise of no value. It is strange that he should so much forget the date of the copy before him, as to think it not printed in Jonson’s time. (see 1765, VII, 81, 1)

  III.ii.126 (68,9) And none so poor] The meanest man is now too high to do reverence to Caesar.

  III.ii.192 (68,2)

  And, in his mantle muffling up his face,

  Even at the base of Pompey’s statue,

  Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell.

  O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!]

  [Warburton suggested transposing the second and third of these lines] The image seems to be, that the blood of Caesar flew upon the statue, and trickled down it. And the exclamation,

  O what a fall was there —

  follows better after

  -great Caesar fell,

  than with a line interposed, (see 1765, VII, 64, 3)

  III.ii.226 (70,4) For I have neither writ] The old copy reads instead of wit,

  For I have neither writ, nor words, —

  which may mean, I have no penned and premeditated oration.

  IV.ii.4 (77,1

  Your master, Pindarus,

  In his own change, or by ill officers,

  Hath given me some worthy cause to wish

  Things done, undone]

  [W: own charge] The arguments for the change proposed are insufficient. Brutus could not but know whether the wrongs committed were done by those who were immediately under the command of Cassius, or those under his officers. The answer of Brutus to the servant is only an act of artful civility; his question to Lucilius proves, that his suspicion still continued. Yet I cannot but suspect a corruption, and would read,