By all your vows of love, and that great vow Bru. Kneel not, gentle Portia. Por. I fhould not need, if you were gentle Brutus, Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, Is it excepted, I fhould know no fecrets That appertain to you? Am I yourself, But, as it were, in fort, or limitation; To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed, • To keep with you at meals, &c.] And "I being, O Brutus, (fayed fhe) the daughter of Cato, was maried vnto thee, not to be thy beddefellowe and companion in bedde and at borde onelie, like a harlot: but to be partaker alfo with thee, of thy good and euill fortune. Nowe for thyfelfe, I can finde no caufe of faulte in thee touchinge our matche: but for my parte, how may I thowe my duetie towardes thee, and how muche I woulde doe for thy fake, if I can not conftantlie beare a fecret mifchaunce or griefe with thee, which requireth fecrecy and fidelitie? I confeffe, that a womans wit commonly is too weake to keep a fecret fafely: but yet, Brutus, good education, and the companie of vertuous men, haue fome power to reforme the defect of nature. And for myfelfe, I haue this benefit moreouer: that I am the daughter of Cato, and wife of Brutus. This notwithstanding, I did not truft to any of these things before vntil that now I have found by experience, that no paine nor griefe whatsoeuer can ouercome me. With those wordes fhe fhewed him her wounde on her thigh, and tolde him what he had done to proue her selfe,” Sir Tha. North's Tranflat. of Plutarch. STEEVENS. Here also we find our author and lord Sterline walking over the fame ground: I was not, Brutus, match'd with thee, to be • With And talk to you fometimes? Dwell I but in the fuburbs Of your good pleasure? If it be no more, Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife. Bru. You are my true and honourable wife; As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops That vifit my fad heart. Por. If this were true, then should I know this I grant, I am a woman; but, withal, "With chains of mutual love together ty'd "As thofe that have two breaits, one heart, two fouls, MALONE. -comfort your bed,]" is but an odd phrafe, and gives as odd an idea," fays Mr. Theobald. He therefore fubftitutes, confort. But this good old word, however difufed through modern refinement, was not fo difcarded by Shakfpeare. Henry VIII. as we read in Cavendish's Life of Wolfey, in commendation of queen Katharine, in public faid, "She hathe beene të me a true obedient wife, and as comfortable as I could wish.” UPTON. In the book of entries at Stationers' Hall, I meet with the following: 1598. "A Converfation between a careful Wyfe and her comfortable Hufband." STEEVENS. In our marriage ceremony, the hufband promises to comfort his wife; and Barrett's Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1582, fays, that to comfort is, " to recreate, to folace, to make paftime." COLLINS. -in the fuburbs.] Perhaps here is an allufion to the place in which the harlots of Shakspeare's age refided. See Vol. II. p. 16. STEEVENS, I grant I am a woman, &c.] So, lord Sterline: "And though our fex too talkative be deem'd "As thofe whofe tongues import our greatest pow'rs, For fecrets ftill bad treasurers efteem'd, "Of others greedy, prodigal of ours; "Good education may reform defects, "And I this vantage have to a vertuous life, MALONE. I grant, I grant, I am a woman; but, withal, Tell me your counfels, I will not difclofe them: Here, in the thigh: Can I bear that with patience, And not my husband's fecrets? Bru. O ye gods, Render me worthy of this noble wife! [Knock, Hark, hark! one knocks: Portia, go in a while; And by and by thy bofom fhall partake The fecrets of my heart. All my engagements I will conftrue to thee, Enter Lucius, and Ligarius, Lucius, who is that knocks? [Exit Portia, Luc. Here is a fick man, that would fpeak with you. Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of.→ 3 A woman well-reputed; Cato's daughter.] This falfe pointing fhould be corrected thus: A woman well reputed Cato's daughter. i. e. worthy of my birth, and the relation I bear to Cato. This indeed was a good reason why the fhould be intrufted with the fecret. But the falíe pointing, which gives a fenfe only implying that he was a woman of a good character, and that the was Cato's daughter, gives no good reafon for the might be Cato's daughter, and yet not inherit his firmnefs; and the might be a woman well-reputed, and yet not the beft at a fecret. But if fhe was well-reputed Cato's daughter, that is, worthy of her birth, the could neither want her father's love to her country, nor his refolution to engage in its deliverance. WARBURTON. 4 all the charactery---] i. e. all that is character'd on, &c. The word has already occurr'd in the Merry Wives of Windr, STEEVENS. Boy Boy, ftand aside.-Caius Ligarius! how? Lig. Vouchfafe good morrow from a feeble tongue. To wear a kerchief? 'Would you were not fick + ! Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius, Had you a healthful ear to hear of it. Lig. By all the gods that Romans bow before, I here difcard my fickness. Soul of Rome! Brave fon, deriv'd from honourable loins! Thou, like an exorcift, haft conjur'd up My mortified fpirit. Now bid me run, And I will ftrive with things impoffible; Yea, get the better of them. What's to do? Bru. A piece of work, that will make fick men whole. Lig. But are not fome whole, that we must make fick? Bru. That muft we alfo. What it is, my Caius, I fhall unfold to thee, as we are going To whom it must be done. Lig. Set on your foot; And, with a heart new-fir'd, I follow you, Bru. Follow me then. ✦ Would you were not fick! &c.] So, lord Sterline: "By ficknefs being imprifon'd in his bed [Exeunt. Whilft I Ligarius fpied, whom pains did prick "He anfwer'd ftraight, as I had phyfick brought, MALONE. SCENE Thunder and lightning. Enter Cafar, in his night gown. Caf. Nor heaven, nor earth, have been at peace to-night: Thrice hath Calphurnia in her fleep cry'd out, Serv. My lord? Enter a Servant. Caf. Go bid the priests do prefent facrifice, Enter Calpburnia. Cal. What mean you, Cæfar? Think forth? [Exit. you to walk You fhall not ftir out of your house to-day. Caf. Cæfar fhall forth: The things, that threat en'd me, Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they fhall fee The face of Cæfar, they are vanished.. Cal. Cæfar, I never ftood on ceremonies, 5 Cæfar, I never food on ceremonies.] i. e. I never paid a ceremonious or fuperftitious regard to prodigies or omens. The adjective is used in the fame fenfe in the Devil's Charter, 1607: "The devil hath provided in his covenant, " I should not crofs myfelf at any time: "I never was fo ceremonious.” The original thought is in the old tranflation of Plutarch : "Calphurnia, until that time, was never given to any fear or fuperftition." STEEVENS. Yet |