inventory to particularize their abundance; our fufferance is a gain to them. Let us revenge this with our pikes, ere we become rakes: for the gods know, I fpeak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge. 2 Cit. Would you proceed especially againft Caius Marcius?

All. Againft him firft: he's a very dog to the commonalty.

2 Cit. Confider you, what fervice he has done for his country?

1 Cit. Very well; and could be content to give him good report for't; but that he pays himself with being proud.

All. Nay, but fpeak not maliciously.

1 Cit. I fay unto you, what he hath done famously, he did it to that end; though foft-confcienc'd men can be content to fay, it was for his country; he did it to please his mother, and to be partly proud; which he is, even to the altitude of his virtue.

2 Cit. What he cannot help in his nature, you account a vice in him: you muft in no way fay, he is

Covetous.

1 Cit. If I muft not, I need not be barren of accufations; he hath faults, with furplus, to tire in repetition. [Shouts within.] What fhouts are thofe ? the other fide o'th' city is rifen; why ftay we prating here? To the capitol.

All. Come, come.

1 Cit. Soft--who comes here?

Enter Menenius Agrippa.

2 Cit. Worthy Menenius Agrippa; one that hath always lov'd the people.

1 Cit. He's one honeft enough; 'would, all the reft were fo!

Men. What work's, my countrymen, in hand? where go you

With bats and clubs? the matter-Speak, I pray you.

2 Cit. Our bufinefs is not unknown to the Senate; they have had inkling, this fortnight, what we intend

to

to do, which now we'll fhew 'em in deeds: they say, poor fuitors have ftrong breaths; they fhall know, we have strong arms too.

Men. Why, mafters, my good friends, mine honeft: neighbours,

Will you undo yourselves?

2 Cit. We cannot, Sir, we are undone already.
Men. I tell you, friends, most charitable care
Have the patricians of you: For your wants,
Your fufferings in this dearth, you may as well
Strike at the heaven with your ftaves, as lift them
Against the Roman State; whofe courfe will on
The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs
Of more ftrong links afunder, than can ever
Appear in your impediment. For the dearth,
The gods, not the patricians, make it; and
Your knees to them (not arms) muft help. Alack,.
You are tranfported by calamity

Thither, where more attends you; and you flander
The helms o' th' ftate, who care for you, like fathers,
When you curfe them as enemies.

2 Cit. Care for us!-true, indeed!-they ne'er car'd for us yet. Suffer us to famish, and their ftore-houses cramm'd with grain: make edicts for ufury, to fupport ufurers; repeal daily any wholesome act established against the rich, and provide more piercing ftatutes daily to chain up and reftrain the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and there's all the love they

bear us.

Men. Either you must,

Confefs yourselves wond'rous malicious,

Or be accus'd of folly. I fhall tell you

A pretty tale, (it may be, you have heard it ;)
But fince it ferves my purpofe, I will venture
(1) To itale't a little more.

2 Cit

any

(1) To fcale't a little more.] Thus all the editions, but without manner of fenfe, that I can find out. The poet must have wrote, as I have corrected the text: and then the meaning will be plainly this. "Perhaps, you may have heard my tale already, but for all that, I'll venture to make it more ftale and familiar to you, by telling it

66 over

2 Cit. Well,

I'll hear it, Sir-yet you must not think.
To fob off our difgraces with a tale :
But, and't please you, deliver.

Men. There was a time, when all the body's members Rebell'd against the belly; thus accus'd it ;

That only, like a gulf, it did remain

I' th' midst o' th' body, idle and unactive,

Still cupboarding the viand, never bearing

Like labour with the reft; where th' other inftruments

Did fee, and hear, devife, inftruct, walk, feel,
And mutually participate, did minister,
Unto the appetite, and affection common
Of the whole body. The belly anfwer'd

"over again." And nothing is more common than the verb in this fenfe, with our three capital Dramatic poets. To begin, with our own? author. Anth. and Cleop.

Age cannot wither her, nor cuftom ftale

Her infinite variety.

Jul. Caf.

Were I a common laugher, or did use
To ftale with ordinary oaths my love, &c.

And, again,,

-and imitations,

Which out of ufe, and fàled by other men,
Begin his fashion.

So B. Jobnfon, in his Every Man in his Humour,

and not content

To fale himself in all focieties,

He makes my house here common as a mart..

Cynthia's Revels.

I'll go tell all the argument of his play aforehand, and so ftale his invention to the auditory, before it come forth.

And fo Beaumont and Fletcher, in their Beggar's Bufb.
But I fhould lofe. myself to speak him further,

And fale, in my relation, the much good

You may be witnefs of..

Queen of Corinth.

-I'll not fale 'em,

By giving up their characters; but leave your

To make your own difcov'ries..

Wit at feveral weapons.

You fhall not be feen yet, we'll ftale your friend first,

So please but him to stand for th' anti-mask.

z Git. Well, Sir, what answer made the belly? Men. (2) Sir, I fhall tell you.-With a kind of smile Which ne'er came from the lungs, but even thus(For, look you, I may make the belly fmile, As well as fpeak) it tauntingly reply'd

To th' difcontented members, th' mutinous parts,
That envied his receipt; even fo most fitly,
As you malign our fenators, for that
They are not fuch as you-

2 Cit. Your belly's anfwer-what!
The kingly crowned head, the vigilant eye,
The counsellor heart, the arm our foldier,
Our fteed the leg, the tongue our trumpeter;
With other muniments and petty helps

In this our fabrick, if that they.

Men. What then?-Fore me, this fellow fpeaks. What then? what then?

2 Cit. Should by the cormorant belly be restrain'd,:~ Who is the fink o' th' body,

Men. Well,-what then?

2 Cit. The former agents, if they did complain, What could the belly answer?.

Men. I will tell you,

If you'll bestow a small (of what you have little), Patience, a while; you'll hear the belly's anfwer. 2 Cit. Y'are long about it..

Men. Note me this, good friend;
Your moft grave belly was deliberate,

Not rash, like his accufers; and thus answer'd,
True is it, my incorporate friends, quoth he,
That I receive the general food at first,
Which you do live upon; and fit it is,
Because I am the ftore-house, and the shop
Of the whole body. But, if you do remember,
I fend it through the rivers of your blood,

(2) Sir, I fhall tell you with a kind of fmile,

Which ne'er came from the lungs,] Thus all the editors, moft ftupidly, hitherto; as if Menenius were to fmile in telling his ftory, tho' the lines, which immediately follow, make it evident that the belly was meant to fmile,

Even to the court, the heart; to th' feat o' th' brain;
And, through the cranks and offices of man,
The strongest nerves, and small inferior veins,
From me receive that natural competency,
Whereby they live. And though that all at once,
You, my good friends, (this fays the belly) mark me-
2 Cit. Ay, Sir, well, well.

Men. Though all at once cannot
See what I do deliver out to each,

Yet I can make my audit up, that all
From me do back receive the flow'r of all,
And leave me but the bran. What fay you to't?
2 Cit. It was an answer;-how apply you this?
Men. The fenators of Rome are this good belly,
And you the mutinous members; for examine
Their counfels, and their cares; digeft things rightly,.
Touching the weal o'th' common; you fhall find,
No publick benefit, which you receive,

But it proceeds, or comes, from them to you,
And no way from yourselves. What do you think?
You, the great toe of this affembly !—

2 Cit. I the great toe! why, the great toe?

Men. For that, being one o' th' loweft, bafeft, pooreft, Of this moft wife rebellion, thou goest foremost : Thou rafcal, that are worst in blood to run,

Lead'ft first, to win fome vantage.

But make you ready your fliff bats and clubs,
Rome and her rats are at the point of battle :
(3) The one fide must have bale.

Enter

(3) The one fide must have bail.] It must be the vanquisht fide, fure, that could want it; and who were likely to be their bail? but it is endless to question with negligence and ftupidity. The poet, undoubt edly wrote, as I have restor❜d;

The one fide must have bale.

i. e. Sorrow, misfortune, muft have the worst of it, be discomfited. I have refor'd this word in fome other paflages of our author; and we meet with it in a play, attributed to him, call'd Locrine:

Yea, with thefe eyes thou haft feen her, and therefore pull them out, for they will work thy bale. Mr. Rowe, indeed, in his editions of our poet, has erroneously printed bail too in this paffage; but in the old quarto which I have of Locrine,

printed