DEC. Never fear that: If he be so resolv'd, 2 That unicorns may be betray'd with trees, And bears with glasses, elephants with holes,] Unicorns are said to have been taken by one who, running behind a tree, eluded the violent push the animal was making at him, so that his horn spent its force on the trunk, and stuck fast, detaining the beast till he was despatched by the hunter. So, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. II. c. v: "Like as a lyon whose imperiall powre "A prowd rebellious unicorne defies; "T" avoid the rash assault and wrathfull stowre "And when him running in full course he spies, "His precious horne, sought of his enemies, Again, in Bussy D'Ambois, 1607: "An angry unicorne in his full career Charge with too swift a foot a jeweller "That watch'd him for the treasure of his brow, "Nail him with his rich antler to the earth." Bears are reported to have been surprised by means of a mirror, which they would gaze on, affording their pursuers an opportunity of taking the surer aim. This circumstance, I think, is mentioned by Claudian. Elephants were seduced into pitfalls, lightly covered with hurdles and turf, on which a proper bait to tempt them, was exposed. See Pliny's Natural History, B. VIII. STEEVENS. 3 Let me work:] These words, as they stand, being quite unmetrical, I suppose our author to have originally written: Let me to work. i. e. go to work. STEEVENS. For I can give his humour the true bent; CAS. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him. BRU. By the eighth hour: Is that the uttermost? CIN. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then. MET. Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæsar hard,* Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey; I wonder, none of you have thought of him. BRU. Now, good Metellus, go along by him :5 He loves me well, and I have given him reasons; Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him. CAS. The morning comes upon us: We'll leave you, Brutus: And, friends, disperse yourselves: but all remember What you have said, and show yourselves true Ro mans. BRU. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily; Let not our looks put on our purposes; But bear it as our Roman actors do, bear Cæsar hard,] Thus the old copy, but Messieurs Rowe, Pope, and Sir Thomas Hanmer, on the authority of the second and latter folios, read-hatred, though the same expression appears again in the first scene of the following Act: - I do beseech you, if you bear me hard;" and has already occurred in a former one: 66 "Cæsar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus." STEEVENS. Hatred was substituted for hard by the ignorant editor of the second folio, the great corrupter of Shakspeare's text. 5 MALONE. -by him:] That is, by his house. Make that your way home. Mr. Pope substituted to for by, and all the subsequent editors have adopted this unnecessary change. Malone. • Let not our looks-] Let not our faces put on, that is, wear or show our designs. JOHNSON. With untir'd spirits, and formal constancy: [Exeunt all but BRUTUS. Boy! Lucius!-Fast asleep? It is no matter; Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber : Thou hast no figures, nor no fantasies, Which busy care draws in the brains of men; Therefore thou sleep'st so sound. Enter PORTIA. POR. Brutus, my lord! BRU. Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rise you now? It is not for your health, thus to commit POR. Nor for yours neither. You have ungently, Stole from my bed: And yesternight, at supper, Musing, and sighing, with your arms across : Which seem'd too much enkindled; and, withal, "Thou hast no figures, &c.] Figures occurs in the same sense in The First Part of King Henry IV. Act I. sc. iii: "He apprehends a world of figures." HENLEY. Which sometime hath his hour with every man. 8 BRU. I am not well in health, and that is all. POR. Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health, He would embrace the means to come by it. BRU. Why, so I do :-Good Portia, go to bed. POR. Is Brutus sick? and is it physical To walk unbraced, and suck up the humours Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick; And will he steal out of his wholesome bed, To dare the vile contagion of the night? And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus; You have some sick offence within your mind, Which, by the right and virtue of my place, I ought to know of: And, upon my knees, I charm you, by my once commended beauty, By all your vows of love, and that great vow Which did incorporate and make us one, That you unfold to me, yourself, your half, Why you are heavy; and what men to-night Have had resort to you: for here have been Some six or seven, who did hide their faces Even from darkness. on your condition,] On your temper; the disposition of your mind. See Vol. XII. p. 521, n. 7. MALone. 9 I charm you,] Thus the old copy. Mr. Pope and Sir Thomas Hanmer read-charge, but unnecessarily. So, in Cymbeline: 66 'tis your graces "That from my mutest conscience to my tongue STEEVENS. BRU. Kneel not, gentle Portia. POR. I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, To keep with you at meals,' comfort your bed,2 To keep with you at meals, &c.] "I being, O Brutus, (sayed she) the daughter of Cato, was married vnto thee, not to be thy beddefellowe and companion in bedde and at borde onelie, like a harlot; but to be partaker also with thee, of thy good and euill fortune. Nowe for thyselfe, I can finde no cause of faulte in thee touchinge our matche: but for my parte, how may I showe my duetie towards thee, and how muche I woulde doe for thy sake, if I can not constantlie beare a secrete mischaunce or griefe with thee, which requireth secrecy and fidelitie? I confesse, that a woman's wit commonly is too weake to keep a secret safely: but yet, Brutus, good education, and the companie of vertuous men, haue some power to reforme the defect of nature. And for my selfe, I haue this benefit moreouer: that I am the daughter of Cato, and wife of Brutus. This notwithstanding, I did not trust to any of these things before; vntil that now I have found by experience, that no paine nor grife whatsoeuer can ouercome me. With these wordes she showed him her wounde on her thigh, and tolde him what she had done to proue her selfe." Sir Thomas North's Translation of Plutarch. STEEVENS. Here also we find our author and Lord Sterline walking over the same ground: 2 "I was not, Brutus, match'd with thee, to be "As those that have two breasts, one heart, two souls, -comfort your bed,]" is but an odd phrase, and gives as odd an idea," says Mr. Theobald. He therefore substitutes, |