Chapter 18

"That hath the tyrant king Withouten _ruth_ commanded us to do."

Again, in Milton's "Lycidas," i. 163--

"Look homeward, angel, now and melt with _ruth_, And, O ye Dolphins, waft the helpless youth."

And in Churchyard's "Worthiness of Wales," 1587--

"Great _ruth_, to let so trim a seate goe downe, The countries strength, and beautie of the towne."

[37] [Mine almighty.--MS.]

[38] [This, and the three following lines, are not in the MSS.]

[39] [In creeping thorough all her veins within, That she thereby shall raise much ruth and woe.--MS.]

[40] [This, and the five preceding lines, are not in the MSS.]

[41] [Lo, this before your eyes so will I show, That ye shall justly say with one accord We must relent and yield; for now we know Love rules the world, love only is the lord.--MS.]

[42] [Hath taught me plain to know our state's unrest.--MS.]

[43] [O mighty Jove, O heavens and heavenly powers.--MS.]

[44] [This, and the next line, do not occur in the MSS.]

[45] [Thy sprite, I know, doth linger hereabout And looks that I, poor wretch, should after come; I would, God wot, my lord, if so I mought: But yet abide, I may perhaps devise Some way to be unburdened of my life, And with my ghost approach thee in some wise To do therein the duty of a wife.--MS.]

[46] These omissions are frequent in our old plays. See note on "Love's Labour Lost," edit. of Shakspeare, 1778, vol. ii. p. 410.--_Steevens_.

[47] In this manner the word was formerly accented. See Dr Farmer's "Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare."

[48] Go. So in Epilogue--

"With violent hands he that his life doth end, His damned soul to endless night doth _wend_."

Again, in the "Return from Parnassus," 1600, act v. sc. 4--

"These my companions still with me must _wend_."

In "George a Green Pinner of Wakefield," [Dyce's "Greene and Peele," 1861, p. 259, &c.]--

"Wilt thou leave Wakefield and _wend_ with me ... So will I _wend_ with Robin all along ... For you are wrong, and may not _wend_ this way."

And in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," Prologue, line 19--

"Byfel, that, on that sesoun on a day, In Southwerk at the Tabbard as I lay, Redy to _wenden_ on my pilgrimage, To Canturbury with ful devout corage."

[49] Alexander.

[50] Hector.

[51] _Euripus Euboicus_, or _Chalcidicus_, is a narrow passage of sea dividing _Attica_ and the Island of _Euboea_, now called the _Gulf of Negropont_. It ebbs and flows seven times every day: the reason of which, it is said, when Aristotle could not find, he threw himself into the sea with these words: _Quia ego non capio te, tu capias me_. Sir Thomas Brown, in his "Enquiries into Vulgar Errors," b. vii. c. 14, appears to have been not satisfied with this account of Aristotle's death, which he has taken some pains to render doubtful.

[52] [Go]. So act ii. sc. 3--

"Therefore my counsel is you shall not stir, Nor farther _wade_ in such a case as this,"

And in Turbervile's "Tragical Tales," 1587--

"Eare thou doe _wade_ so farre, revoke to minde the bedlam boy. That in his forged wings of waxe reposed too great a joy."

[53] _Sadly_, in most of our ancient writers, is used as here for _seriously_. So in Nash's "Lenten Stuff," 1599: "Nay, I will lay no wagers, for, now I perponder more _sadly_ upon it, I think I am out indeed."

Again, in Hall's "Chronicle," 1550, fo. 2: "His cosyn germaine was nowe brought to that trade of livynge, that he litle or nothynge regarded the counsaill of his uncles, nor of other grave and _sadde_ persones, but did all thynge at his pleasure."

In Ascham's "Toxophilus," 1571: "And when I sawe not you amonges them, but at the last espyed you lookinge on your booke here so _sadlye_, I thought to come and hold you with some communication."

And in Warton's "Life of Sir Thomas Pope," p. 30: "Wherein is an abbes namyd Dame Alice Fitzherbert, of the age LX yeares, a very _sadde_, discreate, and relegyous woman."

[54] Formerly this diversion was as much followed in the evening, as it was at an earlier hour in the day. In "Laneham's Account of the Entertainment at Kenelworth Castle," we find that Queen Elizabeth always, while there, hunted in the afternoon. "Monday was hot, and therefore her highness kept in till _five a clok in the eeveing; what time it pleaz'd to ryde forth into the chase too hunt the hart of fors: which found anon, and after sore chased," &c. Again, "Munday the 18 of this July, the weather being hot, her highness kept the castle for coolness, till about _five a clok_, her majesty in the chase, hunted the hart (as before) of forz" &c.

[55] That is, _proceed no further_.

[56] i.e., Of nature.

[57] Acquaint her with my resolution. _To resolve_, however, was sometimes used for _convince_, or _satisfy_. It may therefore mean, _convince her of the propriety of my command_. So in Middleton's "More Dissemblers besides Women," act i. sc. 3--

"The blessing of perfection to your thoughts, lady, For I'm _resolv'd_ they are good ones."

Reed is right in his first explanation; it is so used in Chapman's "May Day," act i. sc. 1.

"Tell her such a man will _resolve_ her naming me."

--"Anc. Dram.," vol. vi. p. 6.--_Gilchrist_.

[A few lines further on in the text, however,] _resolve_ has the same meaning as _dissolve_; and so in Lyly's "Euphues and his England," p. 38: "I could be content to _resolve_ myselfe into teares to rid thee of trouble."

Marlowe, as quoted in "England's Parnassus," 1600, p. 480 [see Dyce's "Marlowe," iii., 301], uses it in the same way--

"No molten Christall but a Richer mine, Euen natures rarest alchumie ran there, Diamonds _resolu'd_, and substance more diuine. Through whose bright gliding current might appeare A thousand naked Nymphes, whose yuorie shine, Enameling the bankes, made them more deare Then euer was that glorious Pallas gate. Where the day-shining sunne in triumph sate."

See also Shakespeare's "Hamlet," act i. sc. 2, and Mr Steevens's note on it.

[58] _To quail_, is to _languish, to sink into dejection_. So in Churchyard's "Challenge," 24--

"Where malice sowes, the seedes of wicked waies, Both honor _quailes_, and credit crackes with all: Of noblest men, and such as fears no fall."

See also Mr Steevens's notes on the "First Part of Henry IV.," act iv. sc. 2, and "Cymbeline," act v. sc. 5.

[Had the writer this passage in his mind when he wrote the well-known lines on Shakespeare, "What need my Shakespeare," &c., which occur in the folio of 1632?]

[59] [The second Chorus to leave off abruptly with this word, the third Chorus taking up the narrative.]

[60] A compliment to Queen Elizabeth.--_S.P_.

It was, as Mr Steevens observes, no uncommon thing to introduce a compliment to Queen Elizabeth in the body of a play. See "Midsummer's Night's Dream," act ii. sc. 2. See also "Locrine," act v. sc. last.

[61] Probably Henry Noel, younger brother to Sir Andrew Noel, and one of the gentlemen pensioners to Queen Elizabeth; a man, says Wood, of excellent parts, and well skilled in music. See "Fasti," p. 145. A poem, entitled, "Of disdainful Daphne," by M[aster] H. Nowell, is printed in "England's Helicon," 1600, 4to. The name of Mr Henry Nowell also appears in the list of those lords and gentlemen that ran at a tilting before Queen Elizabeth. See Peele's "Polyhymnia," 1590.

"I cannot here let pass unremembered a worthy gentleman, Master Henry Noel, brother to the said Sir Andrew Noel, one of the gentlemen pensioners [see Peck's "Life of Milton," p. 225, for the Gentlemen Pensioners.] to Queen Elizabeth; a man for personage, parentage, grace, gesture, valour, and many excellent parts, inferior to none of his rank in the court; who, though his lands and livelihoods were but small, having nothing known certain but his annuity and his pension, yet in state, pomp, magnificence and expenses, did equalise barons of great worth. If any shall demand whence this proceeded, I must make answer with that Spanish proverb--

'_Aquello qual vienne de arriba ninguno lo pregunta_.' 'That which cometh from above let no one question.'

"This is the man of whom Queen Elizabeth made this enigmatical distich--

'The word of denial, and letter of fifty, Is that gentleman's name that will never be thrifty.'

He, being challenged (as I have heard) by an Italian gentleman at the _baloune_ (a kind of play with a great ball tossed with wooden braces upon the arm), used therein such violent motion, and did so overheat his blood, that he fell into a calenture, or burning fever, and thereof died, Feb. 26, 1596, and was by her majesty's appointment buried in the abbey church of Westminster, in the chapel of St Andrew."--_Benton in Nichols's "Leicestershire_," vol. iii. p. 249.

Henry Noel was the second son of Sir Edward Noel, of Dalby, by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heir of William Hopton, of ----, Shropshire, relict of Sir John Peryent, Knt.--Ibid. 254.--_Gilchrist_.

[62] In the former edition, the word _denay'd_ was altered to the more modern one of _deny'd_. _Denay'd_, however, was the ancient manner of spelling it. So in the "Second Part of Henry VI.," act i. sc. 3--

"Then let him be _denay'd_ the regentship."

Again, in the "First Part of Jeronimo," 1605--

"And let not wonted fealty be _denayed_."

And in "Gammer Gurton's Needle"--

"Loke, as I have promised, I will not _denay_ it."

--_Collier_.

[63] _Prease_ signifies _a crowd or multitude, or any assemblage of a number of persons_. So in "Damon and Pithias," vol. iv., pp. 49, 53--

"The King is at hand, stand close in _the prease_, beware," &c.

And ibid.--

"Away from the prisoner, what a _prease_ have we here!"

Again, in the "History of Euordanus Prince of Denmark," 1605, sig. H: "The Prince passing forwards sorely shaken, having lost both his stirrups: at length recovering himselfe, entred _the prease_, where on all sides he beate downe knights, and unbarred helms."

[It must be repeated, once for all, that such totally unnecessary notes as this have been retained only from a reluctance to impart to these volumes the character of an abridged or mutilated republication.]

[64] [Draweth.]

[65] _Raught_ is the ancient preterite of the word _reach_. It is frequently used by Spenser, Shakespeare, and other ancient writers.

[66] [Old copy, _where her_.]

[67] [Reward.]

[68] Alluding to the vulture that gnawed the liver of Titius. In "Ferrex and Porrex," act ii. sc. 1, is this line--

"Or cruell gripe to gnaw my groaning hart."

--_Reed_. The allusion is rather to the vulture of Prometheus. --Steevens.

[69] _Vipeream inspirans animam_. The image is from Virgil. Rowe likewise adopts it in his "Ambitious Stepmother"--

"And send a _snake_ to every vulgar breast."--_Steevens_.

[70] i.e., The wretch. The word _miser_ was anciently used without comprehending any idea of avarice. See note on "King Henry VI, Part I.," edit. of Shakespeare, 1778, vol. vi. p. 279.--_Steevens_.

[71] "A _stoop_, or _stowp_; a post fastened in the earth, from the Latin _stupa_."--Ray's "North Country Words," p. 58, edit. 1742.

[72] Not that she is careful or anxious about, or regrets the loss of this life. So in Milton's "Paradise Lost," Bk. ix. line 171--

"Revenge at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on itself recoils; Let it; _I reck not_, so it light well aim'd."

And again, in the "History of Sir John Oldcastle," 1600--

"I _reck_ of death the less in that I die, Not by the sentence of that envious priest."

[73] Petrarch and Laura.

[74] These initials were almost unquestionably intended for Christopher Hatton, afterwards knighted and created Lord Chancellor of England. In the fourth year of Queen Elizabeth, 1562, about six years before this play is supposed to have been written, we learn from Dugdale's "Origines Juridiciales," p. 150, a magnificent Christmas was kept in the Inner Temple, at which her majesty was present, and Mr Hatton was appointed Master of the Game. Historians say he owed his rise, not so much to his mental abilities, as to the graces of his person and his excellence in dancing, which captivated the Queen to such a degree, that he arose gradually from one of her Gentlemen Pensioners to the highest employment in the law, which he, however, filled without censure, supplying his own defects by the assistance of the ablest men in the profession. _The grave Lord Keeper_, after his promotion, still retained his fondness for that accomplishment to which he was indebted for his rise, _and led the Brawls_ almost until his death. In 1589, on the marriage of his heir with Judge Gawdy's daughter, "the Lord Chancellor danced the measures at the solemnity, and left his gown on the chair, saying _Lie there, Chancellor_." His death, which happened two years after, was hastened by an unexpected demand of money from the Queen, urged in so severe a manner, that all the kindness she afterwards showed to him was insufficient to remove the impression it had made on him. See Birch's "Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth." vol. i. pp. 8, 56, [and Nicolas's "Life of Hatton," p. 478.]

[75] Dryden's translation of Boccaccio's "Description of the Cave" is as follows:--

"Next the proud palace of Salerno stood A Mount of rough ascent, and thick with wood. Through this a cave was dug with vast expence: The work it seem'd of some suspicious prince, Who, when abusing power with lawless might, From public justice would secure his flight. The passage made by many a winding way, Reach'd even the room in which the tyrant lay. Fit for his purpose on a lower floor, He lodged, whose issue was an iron door; From whence by stairs descending to the ground. In the blind grot a safe retreat he found. Its outlet ended in a brake o'ergrown With brambles, choak'd by time, and now unknown. A rift there was, which from the mountain's height Convey'd a glimm'ring and malignant light, A breathing place to draw the damps away, A twilight of an intercepted day."

--"Sigismonda and Guiscardo." Dryden's Works, vol. iii. p. 251.

[76] See Milton's "Paradise Lost," Bk. i. l. 60.

[77] _Fetters_ or _chains_. So in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Beggar's Bush," act iii. sc. 4--

"_Gyves_ I must wear, and cold must be my comfort."

Marston's "What You Will," act ii. sc. 1--

"Think'st thou a libertine, _an ungiv'd_ beast, Scornes not the shackles of thy envious clogs?"

Milton's "Samson Agonistes," l. 1092--

"Dost thou already single me? I thought _Gyves_ and the mill had tam'd thee."

See Dr Newton's note on the last passage; and Mr Steevens's note on "First Part of Henry IV.," act iv. sc. 3.

[78] _Amate_ is to daunt or confound. Skinner, in his "Etymologicon," explains it thus: "Perterrefacere, Attonitum reddere, Obstupefacere, mente consternare, Consilii inopem reddere." So in "Thule or Vertue's Historic," by Francis Rous, 1598, sig. B--

"At last with violence and open force. They brake the posternes of the Castle gate, And entred spoyling all without remorce, Nor could old Sobrin now resist his fate, But stiffe with feare ev'n like a senceles corse Whom grisly terror doth so much _amate_, He lyes supine upon his fatall bed. Expecting ev'ry minute to be dead."

Again, Ibid., sig. D--

"He would forsake his choyse, and change his fate, And leave her quite, and so procure her woe, Faines that a sudden grief doth her _amate_, Wounded with piercing sicknes' Ebon bow."

[79] Astonished. So in "Euphues and his England," p. 102--"Philautus, _astonied_ at this speech," &c. And again, in the "Fable of Jeronimi," by G. Gascoigne, p. 209: "When Ferdinando (somewhat _astonied_ with hir strange speech) thus answered." And in "Thieves Falling Out," &c., 1615, by Rob. Greene: "The gentleman, _astonied_ at this strange metamorphosis of his mistress."

[80] _Sprent_ is sprinkled. So in Spenser's "Shepherd's Calendar," December--

"My head _besprent_ with hoary frost I find."

And Fairfax's "Tasso," cant. xii. st. 101--

"His silver locks with dust he foul _besprent_."

Again in Milton's "Comus," l. 542--

"Of knot grass dew _besprent_."

[81] Harbour.

[82] Old copy, _hasteth_.

[83] Habiliments, _S.P_.

[84] Unrevenged. [The more correct form would be _unwroken_.] So in Ben Jonson's "Every Man out of his Humour," act ii. sc. 4--

"Would to heaven, In _wreak_ of my misfortunes, I were turn'd To some fair water nymph."

In "Sejanus his Fall," act iv.--

"Made to speak What they will have to fit their tyrannous _wreak_."

In Massinger's "Fatal Dowry," act iv. sc. 4--

"But there's a heaven above, from whose just _wreak_ No mists of policy can hide offenders."

In his "Very Woman," act i.

"And our just _wreak_, by force or cunning practice With scorn prevented."

See also Mr Steevens's note on "Coriolanus," act iv. sc. 5. "Moriamur _in ultae_?"--Virgil's "Aeneid," lib. iv.--_Steevens_.

[85] Sorrow. Again, act v. sc. 3--

"His death, her woe, and her avenging _teen_."

And in Shakespeare's "Venus and Adonis"--

"More I could tell, but more I dare not say, The text is old, the orator too green. Therefore in sadness now I will away, My face is full of shame, my heart of _teen_."

[86] Old copy, _but hell_.

[87] _Untrimmed locks_ are locks dishevelled or undressed. _Trim_, in the language of the times, was frequently used for dress. So in Massinger's "Emperor of the East," act ii. sc. 1--

"Our Eastern queens, at their full height bow to thee, And are, in their best _trim_, thy foils and shadows."

See also Mr Steevens's note on "King John," act iii. sc. 3.

[88] Alluding to a custom of which mention is made in Genesis, chap. xxiv. 9--"And the servant put his _hand_ under the _thigh_ of Abraham his master, and _sware_ to him concerning that matter." The same form was likewise observed by Jacob and Joseph when they were dying. Some mystery is supposed to be couched under this practice. The most probable, at least the most decent, supposition is, that it was a token of subjection or homage from a servant to his lord, when the former solemnly promised to perform whatever should be commanded by the latter.--_Steevens_.

[89] The following account of Lodge and his works is very imperfect. See the Shakespeare Society volume, 1853, containing much fuller particulars.

[90] In the "Epistle of England to her Three Daughters," in Clarke's "Polimanteia," 1595, Lodge is spoken of as belonging to Oxford. --_Collier_.

[91] Mr Malone ("Shakespeare," by Boswell, iii. 40, note 9) says that it was printed about 1580; but Lodge himself, writing in 1584, speaks of Gosson's "Plays Confuted," as written "about two years since."

[92] "Scilla's Metamorphosis," 1589; "Diogenes in his Singularity," 1591; and "A Fig for Momus," 1595, are all stated to be by T.L., or Thomas Lodge, of Lincoln's Inn, Gentleman.

[93] A French sonnet by Thomas Lodge is prefixed to Robert Greene's "Spanish Masquerado." He has also some French verses in "Rosalynde."

[94] The lines upon Lodge in "The Return from Parnassus," 1606, would show that it did occur:--

"He that turns over Galen every day, To sit and simper 'Euphues' Legacy,'" &c.

--_Collier_.

[95] Afterwards purchased by Mr Collier.

[96] [This does not appear quite to follow. In a poem, "Upon London Physicians," written about 1620, and quoted in "Inedited Poetical Miscellanies," edit. Hazlitt, 1870, sig. Ff 5, he is mentioned in the same way, without any reference to his literary repute or performances.] It is to be observed in the list of Lodge's productions, that there is an interval between 1596, when "Wit's Misery and the World's Madness" appeared, and 1603, when the "Treatise of the Plague" was published.

[97] Others have been attributed to him in conjunction with Greene, but on no sufficient evidence--viz., "Lady Alimony," not printed until 1659; "The Laws of Nature," and "The Contention between Liberality and Prodigality," 1602.

[98] [Reprinted in Mr Dyce's editions of Greene's Works, 1831 and 1861.] Henslowe probably alludes to this play in his MSS., and if so, it was acted as early as 1591. The following is the entry: "R. (i.e., received) at _the Looking Glasse_, the 8th of Marche, 1591, vij s." [See Mr Collier's edit. 1845, pp. 23-8.]

[99] [Here follows in the former edition a list of Lodge's works, which will be found more fully and correctly given in Hazlitt's "Handbook," in _v_.]

[100] In the course of the incidents of this historical tragedy, Lodge has very much followed the lives of Marius and Sylla, as given by Plutarch: he was a scholar, and it was not necessary therefore for him to resort to Sir Thomaa North's translation from the French, of which Shakespeare availed himself, and of which there were many editions subsequent to its first appearance in 1579. It is pretty evident, however, from a comparison of a few passages quoted in the notes in the progress of the play, that Lodge did employ this popular work, although he has varied some of the events, and especially the death of Sylla.

It is not, perhaps, possible now to settle the point when this tragedy was first represented on the stage, but it was most likely some time before its publication in 1594. We know that Lodge had written in defence of the stage before 1582, and it is not unlikely that he did so, because he had already written for it. Robert Greene, in his "Groat's worth of Wit," speaks of Lodge as a dramatic poet in 1592; and the comedy which they wrote together, it is ascertained, was acted in March 1591, if not earlier, although it was not printed until three years afterwards. The versification of "The Wounds of Civil War" certainly affords evidence that it was penned even before Marlowe had improved the measure of dramatic blank verse, which Shakespeare perfected: it is heavy, monotonous, and without the pauses subsequently introduced; if therefore Lodge produced it after Marlowe's "Edward II." was brought out, he did not at least profit by the example. All the unities are set at defiance.

[101] The "consul's pall" is the consul's robe. Thus Milton in "Il Penseroso"--

"Let gorgeous Tragedy In scepter'd _pall_ come sweeping by."

Purple _pall_ is very commonly met with in our old writers.

[102] "Sylla _nill_ brook" is "Sylla _ne will_, or will not brook." Shakespeare uses the word. See Mr Steevens's note, "Taming of the Shrew," act ii. sc. 1.

[103] "But specially one day above the rest, having made him sup with him at his table, some one after supper falling in talke of Captaines that were in Rome at that time, one that stood by Scipio asked him (either because he stood in doubt, or else for that he would curry favour with Scipio), what other Captaine the Romanes should have after his death, like unto him? Scipio having Marius by him, gently clapped him upon the shoulders and said, Peradventure this shall be he." --_North's Plutarch, "Life of Caius Marius_."

[104] [Old copy, _into_.]

[105] [Old copy, _shall_, and so in the next line.]

[106] It is doubtful whether we ought to read _impale_ or _impall_. If the latter, it means to enfold with a _pall_; but Cleveland uses _impale_ in the same sense--

"I now _impale_ her in my arms."

This, however, is rather a forced construction.

[107] [Old copy, _spence_.] This may mean "the _expense_ of years that Marius hath o'erpast," or it may be an easy misprint for "space of years." Either may be right.

[108] [Old copy, _mate_.]

[109] [Old copy, _conservatives_.]

[110] "To _bandy_ a ball" Coles defines _clava pilam torquere_; "to bandy at tennis," "Dict." 1679. See Mr Malone's note on "Lear," act i. sc. 4.

[111] _Prest_ for Asia, is ready for Asia. It is almost unnecessary to multiply instances, but the following is very apposite:--

"Dispisde, disdainde, starvde, whipt and scornd, _Prest_ through dispaire myself to quell."

--R. Wilson's "Cobbler's Prophecy," 1594, sig. C4.

[112] Lodge and other writers not unfrequently use the adjective for the substantive: thus, in "The Discontented Satyre:"--

"Blush, daies eternal lampe, to see thy lot, Since that thy _cleere_ with cloudy _darkes_ is scar'd."

[113] The quarto has the passage thus--

"These peers of Rome have mark'd A rash revenging _hammer_ in thy brain;"

which seemed so decidedly wrong as to warrant the change that, without much violence, has been made.

[114] _Guerdon_ is synonymous with _reward_. It is scarcely yet obsolete.

[115] Old copy, _hammer_.

[116] Vengeance.

[117] Scarce. It is found in Spenser. Robert Greene also uses it--

"It was frosty winter season, And fair Flora's wealth was _geason_."

--"Philomela," 1592. Again, we find it in the tragical comedy of "Appius and Virginia," 1575--"Let my counsel at no time lie with you _geason,_" sig. D. [vol. iv. p. 138].

[118] Open them.

[119] Old copy, _what_.

[120] The meaning of "would _amate_ me so," is, would daunt or confound me so. See note to "Tancred and Gismunda" [_suprâ_, p. 79], where instances are given.

[121] Mr Steevens, in a note on the "Comedy of Errors," act ii. sc. 1, has collected a number of quotations to show the meaning of the word _stale_, and to them the reader is referred. In this place it signifies a false allurement, bait, or deception on the part of fortune.

[122] The barbarous jargon put into the mouth of this Frenchman is given in the orthography of the old copy, since it was vain to attempt correction.

[123] "Now when they were agreed upon it, they could not find a man in the city that durst take upon him to kill him; but a man of armes of the Gaules, or one of the Cimbres (for we find both the one and the other in writing) that went thither with his sword drawn in his hand. Now that place of the chamber where Marius lay was very dark, and, as it is reported, the man of armes thought he saw two burning flames come out of Marius's eyes, and heard a voice out of that dark corner, saying unto him: O fellow, thou, darest thou come to kill Caius Marius? The barbarous Gaule, hearing these words, ran out of the chamber presently." --_North's Plutarch, "Life of Caius Marius_."

[124] "For when he was but very young, and dwelling in the country, he gathered up in the lap of his gowne the ayrie of an eagle, in the which were seven young eagles; whereat his father and mother much wondering, asked the soothsayers what that meant? They answered that their sonne should one day be one of the greatest men in the world, and that out of doubt he should obtain seven times in his life the chiefest office of dignity in his country."--_North's Plutarch, "Life of Caius Marius_."

[125] The old quarto divides the play very irregularly; for according to it there are two Acts iii. and two Acts iv. One of the Acts iii. was made to commence here.

[126] Necessarily or unavoidably.

[127] Old copy, _Picaeo_.

[128] Old copy, metals.

[129] An early instance of an echo of this kind upon the stage is to be found in Peele's "Arraignment of Paris," 1584. Mr D'Israeli has an entertaining essay upon them in his "Curiosities of Literature," second series. They were carried to a most ridiculous excess afterwards.

[130] The old spelling of _than_ was _then_, and this must be observed here. The echo is supposed to encourage Marius again to take up arms--

"Nought better fits old Marius' mind than war."

And the reply of the echo is, "Then war," or then go to war.

[131] This passage is quoted by Mr Steevens in a note on "Hamlet,"