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.