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P. 9, 1.5 g. If it be aught toward the general good,

Set honour in one eye, and death i' the other,

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And I will look on both indifferently: For, let the Gods so speed me, as I love The name of honour more than I fear death.] 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 honour above life. Is not this natural ? JOHNSON. P. 10, 1. 7. His coward lips did from their colour fly;] A plain man would have said, the colour fled from his lips. But the and not his lips from their colour.. false expression was for the sake of as false a piece of wit a poor quibble, alluding to a coward -flying from his colours. WARBurton.

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P. 10. 1. 14. temper—] i. e. temperament, constitution. STEEVENS.) 2

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P. 10, 1. 14 - 16. A man of such a feeble temper should So get the start of the majestick world, And bear the palm alone. This image extremely noble: it is taken from the Olympic games. The majestick world is a fine periphrasis for the Roman empire: their citizens set themselves on a footing with Kings, and they called their dominion Orbis Romanus. But the particular allusion seems to be to the known story of Caesar's great pattern Alexander, who being asked, Whether he would run the course at the Olympic games, replied, Yes, if the racers were Kings.

WARBURTON.

..That the allusion is to the prize allotted games to the foremost in the race, is very clear. All the rest existed, I apprehend, only in Dr. Warburton's imagination. MALONE.

P. 11, 1. 12. There was a Brutus once, i, e. Lucius Junius Brutus. STEEVENS,

P. 11, l. 12 - 14. that would have brook'd The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome, As easily as a King.] I should think that: our author wrote rather, infernal devil.

JOHNSON.

I would continue to read eternal devil. L. J. Brutus (says Cassius) would as soon have submitted to the perpetual dominion of a daemon, as to the lasting government of a King.

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STEEVENS.

P. 11, l. 16. I have some aim:] i. e, guess.

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STEEVENS. P. 11, l. 24. — chew upon this;] Consider

this at leisure; ruminate on this. JOHNSON.

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P. 12, 1. 4. 5. -- and Ciceró

Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes,]

A ferret has red eyes. JOHNSON. →

P. 12, 1, 24. — he hears no musick:] Our author considered the having no delight in musick as so certain a mark of an austere disposition, that in The Merchant of Venice, he has pronounced, that

"The man that hath no musick in himself, "Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.' MALONE. P. 14, 1. 17. I am no true man.] i. e. no honest man. MALONE.

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P. 14, 1. 23. 24. An I had been a man of any occupation,] Had I been a mechanick, one of the Plebeians to whom he offer'd his throat,

JOHNSON.

P. 15, 1, 33. 54, Thy honourables metale

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"be wrought ẾC ÁLMOR! From that it is dispos d:] The best metal or temper may be worked into qualities contrary to its original constitution. "JOHNSON.

From that it is dispos'd, i, e. dispos'd to.

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MALONE. P. 16, first 1. Caesar doth bear me hard;] i. e. has an unfavourable opinion of me.

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STEEVENS.

P. 16, 1. 2. 3. If I were Brutus now, and ISTORT 1042059 bshe were Cassius,

He should not humour me. This is a reflexion non Brutus's ingratitude which concludes, as is usual on such occasions, in an encomium on his own better conditions. If I were Brutus (Says he) and Brutus Cassius, he should not cajole me as I do him. To humour signifies here to turn and wind him, by inflamning his passions. 111 B 36 es* WARBURTON.

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The meaning *' 1 think, is this Caesar loves Brutus but if Brutus and I were to change places, his love should not humour me, should ot take hold of my affection, so as to make me forget my my principles. JOHNSON ? P76 Brought you Caesar home ?] Did you attend Caesar home? JOHNSON. P. 16, l. 20. — all the sway of earth The whole weight or momentum of this globefa en ble ads ai JOHNSON. P. 17, 1. 8. Who glar'd upon me,] The first [and second edition reads: s aloof, mom blo Д Who glaz'd upon me,

Perhaps, Who gaz'd upon me. JoHNSON.
Glar dise

certainly right. To gaze is only to look stedfastly, or with admiration. Glar'd has

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singular propriety, as it expresses the furious scintillation of a lion's eyes: and, that a should I appear full of fury, and yet attempt no violence, augments, the prodigy, STEEVENS TO P. 17, 1. 22. Clean is altogether, entirely,

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MALONE,

Why birds, and beasts, from
Hish quality and kind;]

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That is, Why they deviate from quality and natureeze This line might perhaps be more properly placed after the next line:

Why birds, and beasts, from quality and kind,ge 9H

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Why all these things change from the

ordinance. JONSON,

P. 18, §1.26.1 Why old men fools,

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and

children calculate] Calculate here signifies to foretel or prophesy for the custom of foretelling fortunes by judicial astrology (which was at that time much in vogue) being performed by a long tedious calculation, Shakspeare, with his usual liberty, employs the Ispecies [calculate] for the genus [foretel]. 90 % of as 98 nojbolts em to WARBURTON. Shakspeare found the liberty established. To [ calculate the nativity, is the technical term.

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JOHNSON. sd There is certainly no prodigy in old men's calculating from their past experience. The wonder is, that old men should not, and that children should. I would therefore [instead of old men, fools, and children, &c.] point thus: Why old men fools, and children calenlate. BLACKSTONE.

P. 19 first 1. Prodigious is portentous.

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STEEVENS.

Pa 19, 1.-6. "Thews is an obsolete word implying nerves or muscular strength, STEEVENS. P. 20, 1.4. My answer must be made!] I shall be called to account, and must answer as for seditious words. JOHNSON,

``P. 20, 1. 7. Here's my hand. P 20, 1, 8.

10 10

Hold my hand:] is the same as,
JOHNSON.

Be factions for redress of all
these griefs

Factious, seems here to mean active. JOHNSON. # I apprehend, embody a party or

It conmeans, faction. MALONE.

Perhaps Dr. Johnson's explanation is the true one. Menenius, iu Coriolanus, says, "I have been always factionary on the part of your generay and the speaker, who is describing himself, would scarce have employed the word in its commou and unfavourable sense. STEEVENS.

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P. 20, I. 19. 21. And the complexion of the element,

Is favour'd like the work we have in hand, Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible,] The old edition reads:

Is favors, 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.. JOHNSON.

favour is to resemble. STEEVENS, Perhaps fev'rous is the true reading; So, Macbeth:

Some say the earth

in

Was feverous, and did shake." REED. P22, 1. 2. Brutus's Orchard.] The modern

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