Men. What then?

'Fore me, this fellow speaks!-what then? what then? 2 Cit. Should by the cormorant belly be restrain'd, Who is the fink o' the body,

Men. Well, what then?

2 Cit. The former agents, if they did complain, What could the belly answer?

Men. I will tell you;

If you'll bestow a small (of what you have little) Patience, a while, you'll hear the belly's answer. 2 Cit. You are long about it.

Men. Note me this, good friend;
Your most grave belly was deliberate,

Not rafh like his accusers, and thus anfwer'd.
True is it, my incorporate friends, quoth he,
That I receive the general food at first,
Which you do live upon and fit it is;
Because I am the ftore-boufe, and the shop
Of the whole body: But, if you do remember,
I fend it through the rivers of your blood,
Even to the court, the heart, to the feat o'the brain"
And, through the cranks and offices of man,
The frongest nerves, and fmall 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

me,

To th' feat o' the brain ;-] feems to me a very languid expref-
fion. I believe we fhould read, with the omiffion of a particle:
Even to the court, the heart, to the feat, the brain.
He ufes feat for throne, the royal feat, which the first editors pro-
bably not apprehending, corrupted the paffage. It is thus used
in Richard II. act III. fc. iv:

"Yea, diftaff-women manage rusty bills
"Against thy feat.".

It should be observed too, that one of the Citizens had just be-
fore characterifed these principal parts of the human fabrick, by
fimilar metaphors:

The kingly-crowned head, the vigilant eye,
The counsellor heart.-

TYRWHITT.

1

2 Cit. Ay, fir; well, well. Men. Though all at once cannot See what I do deliver out to each;

Yet I can make my audit up, that all
From me do back receive the flower of all,

And leave me but the bran. What say you to't?
2 Cit. It was an answer: How apply you this?
Men. The fenators of Rome are this good belly,
And you the mutinous members: For examine
Their counfels, and their cares; digeft things rightly,
Touching the weal o' the common; you shall find,
No publick benefit, which you receive,

But it proceeds, or comes, from them to you,
And no way from yourselves.-What do you think?
You, the great toe of this affembly?—

2 Cit. I the great toe? Why the great toe?
Men. For that, being one o' the lowest, baseft,
pooreft,

Of this moft wife rebellion, thou go'ft foremost :
Thou rafcal, that art worst in blood, to run
Lead'ft firft, to win fome vantage.-

But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs;
Rome and her rats are at the point of battle,

3 Thou rafcal, that art worft in blood, to run
Lead'ft firft, to win fome 'vantage.-]

I think, we may better read, by an easy change,
Thou rafcal that art worst, in blood, to ruin
Lead'ft firft, to win, &c.

Thou that art the meanest by birth, art the foremost to lead thy fellows to ruin, in hope of fome advantage. The meaning, however, is perhaps only this, Thou that art a hound, or running dog of the lowest breed, lead'ft the pack, when any thing is to gotten. JOHNSON.

be

Worft in blood may be the true reading. In K. Henry VI. P. I;, "If we bee English deer, be then in blood,"

z.e. high spirits.

Again, in this play of Coriolanus, act IV. fc. v. "But when they fhall fee his creft up again, and the man in blood, &c." STEEVENS. To win fome vantage, is to get the start, or to begin the chace before another dog. TOLLET.

The

The one fide must have bale.-Hail, noble Marcius !

Enter Caius Marcius.

Mar. Thanks.-What's the matter, you diffentious rogues,

That, rubbing the poor itch of your opinion,
Make yourselves fcabs?

2 Cit. We have ever your good word.

Mar. He that will give good words to thee, will flatter

Beneath abhorring.-What would have, you curs, 5 That like nor peace, nor war? the one affrights

you,

The

The one fide must have bale.-] Bale is an old Saxon word, for mifery or calamity.

"For light the hated as the deadly bale.”

Spenfer's Fairy Queen.

STEEVENS.

5 That like nor peace, nor war? The one affrights you, The other makes you proud. That they did not like war is evident from the reason affigned, of its frighting them; but why they should not like peace (and the reafon of that too is aligned) will be very hard to conceive. Peace, he fays, made them proud, by bringing with it an increase of wealth and power, for thofe are what make a people proud; but then those are what they like but too well, and so must needs like peace the parent of them. This being contrary to what the text fays, we may be affured it is corrupt, and that Shakespeare

wrote:

That likes not peace, nor war?

i, e. whom neither peace nor war fits or agrees with, as making them either proud or cowardly. By this reading, peace and war, from being the accufatives to likes, become the nominatives. But the editors not understanding this conftruction, and feeing likes a verb fingular, to curs a noun plural, which they supposed the nominative to it, would, in order to fhew their skill in grammar, al ter it to like; but likes for pleases was common with the writers of this time. So Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy:

"What look likes you best? WARBURTON.

That to like is to please, every one knows, but in that fense it VOL. VII. 2

ig

The other makes you proud. He that trufts to you, Where he should find you lions, finds you hares; Where foxes, geefe: You are no furer,notio T Than is the coal of fire upon the ice,

.COM Or hailftone in the fun. Your virtue is, IlvedT To make him worthy, whose offence subdues him, And curfe that justice did it. Who deferves great

4

J

nefs, we wis Deferves your hate: and your affections are o A fick man's appetite, who defires moft that o¤Â Which would increafe his evil. He that depends Upon your favours, fwims with fins of lead,

And hews down oaks with rufhes. Hang ye Truft * ye?

With every minute you do change a mind;

And call him noble, that was now your hate,

Him vile, that was your garland. What's the mat

ter,

That in these feveral places of the city.
You cry against the noble senate, who,

Under the gods, keep you in awe, which elfe M
Would feed on one another What's their feek-

ing 7?

is as hard to fay why peace fhould not like the people, as, in the other fenfe, why the people fhould not like peace. The truth is, that Coriolanus does not use the two fentences confequentially, but first reproaches them with unsteadinefs, then with their other occafional vices. JOHNSON.

6

Your virtue is,

To make him worthy, whofe offence fubdues him, wqli.
And curfe that juftice did it.}^{

i. e. Your virtue is to fpeak well of him whom his own offences have fubjected to juftice; and to rail at thofe laws by which he whom you praife was punifhed. STEEVENS.

What's their feeking ?] I believe Shakespeare wrote:

What is't they are feeking?

which from the fimilarity of found might eafily have been con

founded with the prefent text.

Had feeking been used substan

tively, the answer would have been, not-for corn-but corn. It

MALONE.

Men.

Men. For corn at their own rates; whereof, they

estid day, abrit vero? as

The city is well stor❜d.

Mar. Hang 'em! They fay?

They'll fit by the fire, and prefume to know
What's done i' the Capitol who's like to rife,
Who thrives, and who declines: fide factions, and
give out

Conjectural marriages; making parties ftrong,
And feebling fuch, as ftand not in their liking,
Below their cobled fhoes. They fay, there's grain
enough?

Would the nobility lay afide their ruth,

And let me ufe my fword, I'd make a quarry With thousands of thefe quarter'd flaves, as high As I could pitch my lance.

Men. Nay, thefe are almost thoroughly perfuaded; For though abundantly they lack discretion, Yet are they paffing cowardly. But, I beseech you, What fays the other troop?

Mar. They are diffolv'd: Hang 'em!

They faid, they were an-hungry; figh'd forth proverbs;

That, hunger broke ftone walls; that, dogs must

eat ;

That, meat was made for mouths; that, the gods fent not

8 —their ruth,] i. e. their pity, compaffion. Fairfax and Spenfer often ufe the word. STEEVENS.

I'd make a quarry

9

With thousands

-]

Why a quarry? I fuppofe, not because he would pile them fquare, but because he would give them for carrion to the birds of prey. JOHNSON.

So, in the Miracles of Mofes, by Drayton :

"And like a quarry caft them on the land." STEEvens. pitch my lance.] The old copy reads-picke my lance: and fo the word is ftill pronounced in Staffordshire, where they fay-picker me fuch a thing, that is, throw any thing that the demander wants. TOLLET.

A

Z 2

Corn