Auf. Name not the god, thou boy of tears,-
Cor.

Auf. No more.

Cor. Measureless liar, thou hast made my heart Too great for what contains it. Boy! O slave!— Pardon me, lords, 'tis the first time that ever

Ha!

I was forc'd to scold. Your judgements, my grave

lords,

Must give this cur the lie: and his own notion
(Who wears my stripes impress'd on him; that must
bear

My beating to his grave;) shall join to thrust
The lie unto him.

1 Lord.

Peace, both, and hear me speak.

Cor. Cut me to pieces, Volces; men and lads, Stain all your edges on me.-Boy! False hound! If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there, That like an eagle in a dove-cote, I

Flutter'd your Volces in Corioli:

Alone I did it.-Boy!

Auf.

Why, noble lords,

Will you be put in mind of his blind fortune, Which was your shame, by this unholy braggart, 'Fore your own eyes and ears?

Con. Let him die for't.

[Several speak at once.

Cit. [Speaking promiscuously.] Tear him to pieces, do it presently. He killed my son;-my daughter;-He killed my cousin Marcus;—He killed my father.— 2 Lord. Peace, ho;-no outrage ;-peace. The man is noble, and his fame folds in

This orb o'th'earth. His last offence to us
Shall have judicious hearing.-Stand, Aufidius,
And trouble not the peace.

Cor.

O, that I had him,

With six Aufidiuses, or more, his tribe,

To use my lawful sword!

Auf.

Insolent villain!

Con. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill him.

Lords.

[AUFIDIUS and the Conspirators draw, and kill CORIOLANUS, who falls, and Aufidius stands on him.

Hold, hold, hold, hold.

O Tullus,

Auf. My noble masters, hear me speak.

1 Lord.

2 Lord. Thou hast done a deed whereat valour will

weep.

3 Lord. Tread not upon him.-Masters all, be quiet; Put up your swords.

Auf. My lords, when you shall know (as in this

rage,

Provok'd by him, you cannot,) the great danger
Which this man's life did owe you, you'll rejoice
That he is thus cut off. Please it your honours
To call me to your senate, I'll deliver

Myself your loyal servant, or endure

Your heaviest censure.

1 Lord.

Bear from hence his body,

And mourn you for him: let him be regarded
As the most noble corse, that ever herald

Did follow to his urn.

2 Lord.

His own impatience

Takes from Aufidius a great part of blame.
Let's make the best of it.

My rage is gone,

Auf.
And I am struck with sorrow.-Take him up:—
Help, three o' th' chiefest soldiers; I'll be one.-

Beat thou the drum, that it speak mournfuïly:
Trail your steel pikes.-Though in this city he-
Hath widow'd and unchilded many a one,
Which to this hour bewail the injury,

Yet he shall have a noble memory.

Assist.

[Exeunt, bearing the body of CORIOLANUS. A dead march sounded.

JULIUS CÆSAR.

JULIUS CESAR.] It appears from Peck's Collection of divers curious historical Pieces, &c. (appended to his Memoirs, &c. of Oliver Cromwell,) p. 14, that a Latin play on this subject had been written: Epilogus Cæsaris interfecti, quomodo in scenam prodiit ea res, acta, in Ecclesia Christi, Oxon. Qui Epilogus a Magistro Ricardo Eedes, et scriptus et in proscenio ibidem dictus fuit, A. D. 1582.” Meres, whose Wit's Commonwealth was published in 1598, enumerates Dr. Eedes among the best tragick writers of that time. STEEVENS.

From some words spoken by Polonius in Hamlet, I think it probable that there was an English play on this subject, before Shakespeare commenced a writer for the stage.

Stephen Gosson, in his School of Abuse, 1579, mentions a play entitled The History of Cæsar and Pompey.

William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Sterline, wrote a tragedy on the story and with the title of Julius Cæsar. It may be presumed that Shakespeare's play was posterior to his; for Lord Sterline, when he composed his Julius Cæsar was a very young author, and would hardly have ventured into that circle, within which the most eminent dramatick writer of England had already walked. The death of Cæsar, which is not exhibited but related to the audience, forms the catastrophe of his piece. In the two plays many parallel passages are found, which might, perhaps, have proceeded only from the two authors drawing from the same source. However, there are some reasons for thinking the coincidence more than accidental.

A passage in The Tempest, (p. 64,) seems to have been copied from one in Darius, another play of Lord Sterline's, printed at Edinburgh, in 1603. His Julius Cæsur appeared in 1607, at a time when he was little acquainted with English writers; for both these pieces abound with scotticisms, which, in the subsequent folio edition, 1637, he corrected. But neither the Tempest nor the Julius Cæsar of our author was printed till 1623.

It should also be remembered, that our author has several plays, founded on subjects which had been previously treated by others. Of this kind are King John, King Richard II. the two parts of King Henry IV. King Henry V. King Richard III. King Lear, Anthony and Cleopatra, Measure