King. Come, come, my lord, you'd fpare your
fpoons you fhall have [of Norfolk,
Two noble partners with you: the old dutchefs
And lady marquis Dorfer; Will these please you ?-
Once more, my lord of Winchester, I charge you,
Embrace, and love this man.

In daily thanks, that gave us fuch a prince;
Not only good and wife, but most religious:
One that, in all obedience, makes the church
The chief aim of his honour; and, to ftrengthen
That holy duty, out of dear refpect,
His royal felf in judgment comes to hear
The caufe betwixt her and this great offender.
King. You were ever good at fudden commen-Witnefs how dear I hold this confirmation.

The Palace Yard.
Noife and tumult within: Enter Porter, and his Man.
Port. You'll leave your noife anon, ye rafcals:
Do you take the court for 2 Paris-garden? ye rude
flaves, leave your gaping..

Within. Good mafter porter, I belong to the, larder.

Port. Belong to the gallows, and be hang'd, you rogue. Is this a place to roar in -Fetch me a dozen crab-tree ftaves, and ftrong ones; thefe are but switches to 'em.-I'll fcratch your heads : You must be feeing chriftenings? Do you look for Jale and cakes here, you rude rafcals?

Man. Pray, fir, be patient; 'tis as much impoffible

1 Mr. Steevens fays, "It was the custom, long before the time of Shakspeare, for the sponsors at chriftenings to offer gilt spoons as a prefent to the child. Thefe fpoons were called aprile spoons, becaufe the figures of the apoftles were carved on the tops of the handles. Such as were at once opulet and generous, gave the whole twelve; thole who were either more moderately rich or liberal, raped a the expence of the four evangelias; or even fometimes contented themfeives with prefenting one ipod only, which exhibited the figure of any faint in honour of whom the child re ceived its lar... 2 "The bear-enden of that time, and in a line with Bridewell.

(Unless we sweep them from the door with cannons)
To fcatter 'em, as 'tis to make 'em fleep
On May-day morning; which will never be:
We may as well puth against Paul's, as ftir 'em.
Port. How got they in, and be hang'd?

Man. Alas, I know not; How gets the tide in?
As much as one found cudgel of four foot
(You fee the poor remainder) could diftribute,
I made no ipare, fir.

Port. You did nothing, fir.

Man. I am not Sampfon, nor Sir Guy, nor Colbrand 2, to mow 'em down before me: but, if I fpar'd any, that had a head to hit, either young or old, he or the, cuckold or cuckold-maker, let me never hope to fee a chine again; and that I would not for a cow, God fave her.

Within. Do you hear, mafter Porter?

Enter the Lord Chamberlin.

Cham. Mercy o' me, what a multitude are here!
They grow fill too, from all parts they are coming,
As if we kept a fair! Where are thefe porters,
Thefe lazy knaves?-Ye have made a fine hand,
fellows.

There's a trim rabble let in: Are all thefe Thave
Your faithful friends of the fuburbs? We fhall
Great ftore of room, no doubt, left for the ladies,
When they pafs back from the chriftening.
Port. Pleafe your honour,

We are but men; and what fo many may do,
Not being torn 2-pieces, we have done:

Port. I thall be with you prefently, good mafter An army cannot rule 'em. puppy. Keep the door clote, firrah.

Man. What would you have me do?

Port. What should you do, but knock 'em down by the dozens? Is this Morefields to mufter in? or have we fome ftrange Indian with the great tool come to court, the women fo befiege us? Blefs me, what a fry of fornication is at door! O my chriftian confcience, this one chriftening will beget a thoufand: here will be father, godfather, and all together.

Man. The ipoons will be the bigger, fir. There is a fellow fomewhat near the door, he thould be a brafier 3 by his face, for, o' my confcience, twenty of the dog-days now reign in's note; all that stand about him are under the line, they need no other penance: that fire-drake 4 did I hit three times on the head, and three times was his nofe difcharg'd against me; he ftands there like a mortar-piece, to blow us. There was a haberdather's wife of fmall wit near him, that rail'd upon me 'till her pink'd porringer fell off her head, for kindling fuch a combuftion in the ftate. I mits'd the meteor 5 once, and hit that woman, who cry'd out, clubs! when I might fee from far fome forty truncheoneers draw to her fuccour, which were the hope of the ftrand, where the was quarter'd. They fell on; I made good my place; at length they came to the broomstaff with me, I defy'd 'em ftill; when fuddenly a file of boys behind 'em, loote fhot, deliver'd fuch a fhower of pebbles, that 1 was fain to draw mine honour in, and let 'em win the work: The devil was amongst 'em, I think, furely.

Port. These are the youths that thunder at a play-] houfe, and fight for bitten apples; that no audience, but the tribulation of Tower-hill7, or the limbs of Limehoufe, their dear brothers, are able

Cham. As I live,

If the king blame me for 't, I'll lay ye all
By the heels, and fuddenly; and on your heads
Clap round fines, for neglect: You are lazy knaves;
And here ye lie baiting of bumbards 9, when
Ye fhould do fervice. Hark, the trumpets found;
They are come already from the chriftening:
Go, break among the prefs, and find a way out
To let the troop país fairly; or I'll find
A Marthalfea, thall hold you play thefe two months.
Port. Make way there for the princefs.
Man. You great fellow, ftand close up, or I'll
make your Head ake.

Part. You i'the camblet, get up o' the rail; I'll
peck you o'er the pales elfe.
[Exeunt.

S C E N E IV. The Palace. Enter Trumpets, founding; then two Aldermen, Lord Mayor, Garter, Cranmer, Duke of Norfolk with bis Marshal's faff, Duke of Suffolk, two Noblemen bearing tavo great flanding bowls for the chriftening gifts; then four Noblemen bearing a canopy, under which the Dutchefs of Norfolk, godmother, bearing the child richly babited in a ma tie, c. Train borne by a Lady: then follows the Marchionefs of Dorfit, the other godmother, and Ladies. The troop pafs once about the fiage, and Garter Speaks.

Gart. Heaven, from thy endlefs goodness, fend profperous life, long, and ever happy, to the high and mighty princets of England, Elizabeth!

Flourish. Enter King, and Train.

Gran. [Kneeling.] And to your royal grace, and

the good queen,

My noble partners, and myself, thus pray;-
All comfort, joy, in this moft gracious lady,
Heaven ever laid up to make parents happy,

1 It was anciently the custom for all ranks of people to go out a Maying on the first of May. 2 Of Guy of Warwick every one has heard. Colbrand was the Danish giant, whom Guy iubdued at Winchefter. 3 A brafier fignifies a man that manufactures brafs, and a refervoir for charcoal occafionallyheated to convev warmth. Both thefe fenfes are here understood. 4 A fire-drake is both a ferpent, anciently called a brenning-drake, or dipfas, and a name formerly given to a Will o' th' Wifp, or ignis fatuus. A fire-drake was likewife an artificial firework. 5 i. c. the brafier. 6 The prices of feats for the vulgar in our ancient theatres were fo very low (viz. a penny, twopence, and fixpence, each, for the ground, gallery, and rooms:-the boxes were fomewhat higher, being a filling and half-a-crown), that we cannot wonder if they were filled with the tumultuous company defcribed by Shakspeare in this scene; efpecially when it is added, that tobacco was smoaked, and ale drank in them. 7 Dr. Johnion fufpects the Tribulation to have been a puritanical meeting-houfe. 8 A publick whipping. 9 Tobait bumbards is to tipple, to lie at the fpigot. Bumbards were large veffels in which the beer was carried to foldiers upon duty. They refembled black jacks of leather.

PILOGU

Thefe lines, to the interruption by the king, feem to have been inferted at fome revifal of the play, after the acceffion of king James. 2 Theobald remarks, that the tranfition here from the complimentary addrefs to king James the firll is lo abrupt, that it feems to him, that compliment was inferted after the acceffion of that prince. If this play was wrote, as in his opinion it was, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, we may cafily determine where Cranmer's eulogium of that princefs concluded. He makes no queftion but the poet reiled here:

And claim by thofe their greatness, not by blood.

All that the bishop fays after this, was an occafional homage paid to her fucceffor, and evidently inferted after her demife. 3 Dr. Johnton is of opinion, with other Critics, that both the Prese and Epilogue to Henry VIII. were written by Zen Junjon. * In the character of Katharine. CORIOLANUS

The SCENE is partly in Rome; and partly in the Territories of the Volfcians and Antiates.

ACTI.

SCENE I.

A Street in Rome.

we become rakes 3: for the gods know,
this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge.
2 Git. Would you proceed especially against

speak

All. Againft him firft; he's a very dog to the

Enter a Company of mutinous Citizens, with flaves, Caius Marcius? clubs, and other weapons.

enemy to the people.

All. We know't, we know't.

2 Cit. Confider you what fervices he has done for his country?

1 Cit. Very well; and could be content to give him good report for't, but that he pays himself with being proud.

All. Nay, but fpeak not maliciously.

I Cit. I fay unto you, what he hath done fa moufly, he did it to that end: though soft-con

1 Cit. Let us kill him, and we'll have corn at fcienc'd men can be content to fay, it was for his our own price. Is't a verdict? country, he did it to pleafe his mother, and to be All. No more talking on't; let it be done: partly proud; which he is even to the altitude of his virtue. away, away.

2 Cit. One word, good 2 citizens.

Cit. We are accounted poor citizens; the patricians, good: What authority furfeits on, would relieve us: If they would yield us but the fuperfluity, while it were wholefome, we might guefs, they relieved us humanely but they think, we are too dear: the leannefs that afflicts us, the object of our mifery, is as an inventory to particularize their abundance; our fufferance is a gain to them. Let us revenge this with our pikes, erel

2 Cit. What he cannot help in his nature, you account a vice in him: You must in no way fay, he is covetous.

1 Cit. If I muft not, I need not be barren of accufations; he hath faults, with furplus, to tire in repetition. [Shauts within.] What fhouts are these? The other fide the city is rifen: Why itay we prating here to the Capitol ?

All. Come, come.

1 Cit. Soft; who comes here!

The whole hiftory is exactly followed, and many of the principal fpeeches exactly copied from the Life of Coriolanus in Plutarch. 2 Good is here used in the mercantile fente. 3 Alluding to the proverb, as lean as a rake; which perhaps owes its origin to the thin taper form of the mitru ment made ufe of by hay-makers. Dr. Johufon obferves, that Rekel, in Islandick. is faid to mean a cur-dug, and this was probably the furit ufe among us of the word rake, As lean as a rake is, therefore, as lean as a dog too worthlefs to be fed.

704

Enter Menenius Agrippa.

2 Cit. Worthy Menenius Agrippa; one that hath always lov'd the people.

1 Cit. He's one honeft enough; 'Would, all the
reft were fo!

Men. What work's, my countrymen, in hand?
Where go you

And mutually participate, did minifter
Unto the appetite and affection common
Of the whole body. The belly answer'd,—

2 Cit. Well, fir, what anfwer made the belly ?
Men. Sir, I fhall tell you.-With a kind of
fmile,

Which ne'er came from the lungs 4, but even thus,

With bats and clubs? The matter? Speak, 1(For, look you, I may make the belly fmile,

pray you.

2 Cit Our bufinefs is not unknown to the fonate; they have had inkling, this fortnight, what we intend to do, which now we'll thew 'em in deeds. They fay, poor fuitors have strong breaths; they fhall know, we have ftrong arms too. Men. Why, mafters, my good friends, mine honeft neighbours,

Will you undo yourselves?

2 Cit. We cannot, fir, we are undone already.
Men. I tell you, friends, most charitable care
Have the patricians of you. For your wants,
Your fuffering in this dearth, you may as well
Strike at the heaven with your ftaves, as lift them
Against the Roman ftate; whofe courfe will on
The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs
Of more strong link afunder, than can ever
Appear in your impediment: For the dearth,
The gods, not the patricians, make it; and
Your knees to them, not arms, muft help. Alack,
You are tranfported by calamity

Thither where more attends you; and you flander
The helms o'the ftate, who care for you like fathers,
When you curse them as enemies.

As well as fpeak) it tauntingly reply'd
To the difcontented members, the mutinous parts
That envy'd his receipt; even fo moft fitly s
As you malign our fenators, for that
They are not fuch as you.

2 Cit. Your belly's anfwer: What!
The kingly-crowned head, the vigilant eye,
The counsellor heart 6, the arm our foldier,
Our fteed the leg, the tongue our trumpeter,
With other muniments and petty helps
In this our fabrick, if that they

Men. Note me this, good friend; 2 Cit. Care for us!-True, indeed!-They Your moft grave belly was deliberate, ne'er car'd for us yet. Suffer us to famifh, and Not rafh like his accufers, and thus anfwer'd: their ftore-houfes cramm'd with grain; make" True is it, my incorporate friends," quoth he, edicts for ufury, to fupport ufurers; repeal daily "That I receive the general food at first, any wholsome act established against the rich; and "Which you do live upon. and fit it is; provide more piercing ftatutes daily, to chain up" Because I am the ftore-houfe, and the shop and reftrain the poor. If the wars eat us not up," Of the whole body: But, if you do remember, they will; and there's all the love they bear us.

Men. Either you must

Confefs yourselves wondrous malicious,
Or be accus'd of folly. I fhall tell you

A pretty tale; it may be, you have heard it;
But, fince it ferves my purpose, I will venture
To fcale 't a little more.

2 Cit. Well, I'll hear it, fir; yet you must not think to fob off our difgrace 2 with a tale : but, an't pleafe you, deliver.

"I fend it through the rivers of your blood,

"Even to the court, the heart, to the feat 7 o' the

brain;

"And, through the cranks and offices of man,
"The ftrongeft nerves, and small inferior veins,
"From me receive that natural competency
"Whereby they live: And though that all at once,
" You, my good friends," (this fays the belly) mark
2 Cit. Ay, fir; well, well.
[me,-
Men. "Though all at once cannot

Men. There was a time, when all the body's" See what I do deliver out to each;

members

Rebell'd against the belly; thus accus'd it :-
That only like a gulf it did remain

I' the midft o' the body, idle and unactive,
Still cupboarding the viand, never bearing

"Yet I can make my audit up, that all
"From me do back receive the flour of all,
"And leave me but the bran." What fay you to't?
2 Cit. It was an answer: How apply you this?
Men. The fenators of Rome are this good belly,

Like labour with the reft; where 3 the other in- And you the mutinous members: For examine

ftruments

Did fee, and hear, devife, inftruct, walk, feel,

Their counfels, and their cares; digeft things rightly,

1 To fale is to difperfe. The word is ftill ufed in the North. The meaning is, Though fome of you have heard the flory, I will fpread it yet wider, and diffufe it among the reft 3 Where for whereas. 4 i. e. with a fmile not indicating are hardships, injuries. contempt. i.e. exactly. The heart was anciently eftcemed the feat of prudence.

6

+ Difgraces pleafure, but Stat tor throne.

Touching