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VAL. O' my word, the father's son: I'll swear, 'tis a very pretty boy. O' my troth, I looked upon him o' Wednesday half an hour together: he has such a confirmed countenance. I saw him run after a gilded butterfly; and when he caught it, he let it go again; and after it again; and over and over he comes, and up again; catched it again: or whether his fall enraged him, or how 'twas, he did so set his teeth, and tear it; O, I warrant, how he mammocked it!1

VOL. One of his father's moods.

VAL. Indeed la, 'tis a noble child.

VIR. A crack, madam.2

VAL. Come, lay aside your stitchery; I must have you play the idle huswife with me this afternoon. VIR. No, good madam; I will not out of doors. VAL. Not out of doors!

VOL. She shall, she shall.

VIR. Indeed, no, by your patience: I will not over the threshold, till my lord return from the

wars.

VAL. Fye, you confine yourself most unreasonably; Come, you must go visit the good lady that lies in.

1

mammocked it!] To mammock is to cut in pieces, or to tear. So, in The Devil's Charter, 1607:

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"That he were chopt in mammocks, I could eat him.”
STEEVENS.

A crack, madam.] Thus in Cynthia's Revels by Ben Jonson :
Since we are turn'd cracks, let's study to be like cracks,

act freely, carelesly, and capriciously."

Again, in The Four Prentices of London, 1615:

"A notable, dissembling lad, a crack.”

Crack signifies a boy child. See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note on The

Second Part of King Henry IV. Vol. XII. p. 129, n. 8.

STEEVENS.

VIR. I will wish her speedy strength, and visit her with my prayers; but I cannot go thither. VOL. Why, I pray you?

VIR. 'Tis not to save labour, nor that I want love.

VAL. You would be another Penelope: yet, they say, all the yarn she spun, in Ulysses' absence, did but fill Ithaca full of moths. Come; I would, your cambrick were sensible as your finger, that you might leave pricking it for pity. Come, you shall go with us.

VIR. No, good madam, pardon me; indeed, I will not forth.

VAL. In truth, la, go with me; and I'll tell you excellent news of your husband.

VIR. O, good madam, there can be none yet. VAL. Verily, I do not jest with you; there came news from him last night.

VIR. Indeed, madam?

VAL. In earnest, it's true; I heard a senator speak it. Thus it is:-The Volces have an army forth; against whom Cominius the general is gone, with one part of our Roman power: your lord, and Titus Lartius, are set down before their city Corioli; they nothing doubt prevailing, and to make it brief wars. This is true, on mine honour; and so, I pray, go with us.

VIR. Give me excuse, good madam; I will obey in every thing hereafter.

you

VOL. Let her alone, lady; as she is now, she will but disease our better mirth.

VAL. In troth, I think, she would:-Fare you well then.-Come, good sweet lady.-Pr'ythee,

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Virgilia, turn thy solemness out o'door, and go along with us.

VIR. No: at a word, madam; indeed, I must not. I wish you much mirth.

VAL. Well, then farewell.

Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Before Corioli.

Enter, with Drum and Colours, MARCIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, Officers, and Soldiers. To them a Messenger.

MAR. Yonder comes news:-A wager, they have

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MAR. Say, has our general met the enemy? MESS. They lie in view; but have not spoke as

yet.

LART. So, the good horse is mine.

MAR.

I'll buy him of you.

LART. No, I'll nor sell, nor give him: lend you him, I will,

For half a hundred years.-Summon the town.
MAR. How far off lie these armies?

MESS.

Within this mile and half.s

• Within this mile and half.] The two last words, which dis

MAR. Then shall we hear their 'larum, and they

ours.

Now, Mars, I pr'ythee, make us quick in work; That we with smoking swords may march from hence,

To help our fielded friends!Come, blow thy

blast.

They sound a Parley. Enter, on the Walls, some Senators, and Others.

Tullus Aufidius, is he within your walls?

1 SEN. No, nor a man that fears you less than

he,

That's lesser than a little.5 Hark, our drums [Alarums afar off.

turb the measure, should be omitted; as we are told in p. 43, that ""Tis not a mile" between the two armies. STEEVENS.

4

-fielded friends!] i. e. our friends who are in the field of battle. STEEVENS.

5

nor a man that fears you less than he,

That's lesser than a little.] The sense requires it to be read: -nor a man that fears you more than he

Or, more probably:

nor a man but fears you less than he, That's lesser than a little. JOHNSON.

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The text, I am confident, is right, our author almost always entangling himself when he uses less and more. See Vol. IX. p. 293, n. 6. Lesser in the next line shows that less in that preceding was the author's word, and it is extremely improbable that he should have written-but fears you less, &c. MALONE.

Dr. Johnson's note appears to me unnecessary, nor do I think with Mr. Malone that Shakspeare has here entangled himself; but on the contrary that he could not have expressed himself better. The sense is, "however little Tullus Aufidius fears you, there is not a man within the walls that fears you less."

DOUCE

Virgilia, turn thy solemness out o'door, and go along with us.

VIR. No: at a word, madam; indeed, I must not. I wish you much mirth.

VAL. Well, then farewell.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Before Corioli.

Enter, with Drum and Colours, MARCIUS, TITUS LARTIUS, Officers, and Soldiers. To them a Messenger.

MAR. Yonder comes news:-A wager, they have

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MAR. Say, has our general met the enemy? MESS. They lie in view; but have not spoke as

yet.

LART. So, the good horse is mine.

MAR.

I'll buy him of you.

LART. No, I'll nor sell, nor give him: lend you him, I will,

For half a hundred years.—Summon the town.
MAR. How far off lie these armies?

MESS.

Within this mile and half.s

• Within this mile and half.] The two last words, which dis

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