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heath,

I have, lare. [They draw now, lords?

,

e;

cerns:

re,

h'd3

throat,

1,

hit that wo

riot in the

3 Quip for ng-sword Again, in

has been ere both

hat had

arburton.

oachful.

Todd.

Or Bassianus so degenerate,
That for her love such quarrels may be b
Without controlment, justice, or revenge
Young lords, beware! an should the emp
This discord's ground, the musick would

Chi. I care not, I, knew she and all the
I love Lavinia more than all the world.
Dem. Youngling, learn thou to make

choice:

Lavinia is thine elder brother's hope.

Aar. Why, are ye mad? or know ye n
How furious and impatient they be,
And cannot brook competitors in love?
I tell you, lords, you do but plot your de
By this device.

Chi.

Aaron, a thousand death Would I propose, to achieve her whom Aar. To achieve her! How?

Dem.

Why mak'st tho She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd She is a woman, therefore may be won;

5

- thunder'st with thy tongue,] This p have been adopted from Virgil, Æneid XI, 38 "Proinde tona eloquio solitum tibi;

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Would I propose,] Whether Chiron mea trive a thousand deaths for others, or image ones for himself, I am unable to determine. Aaron's words, to which these are an answe the latter interpretation. Malone.

7 She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd;

She is a woman, therefore may be won;] T cur, with very little variation, in the First Par "She's beautiful, and therefore to be w "She is a woman, therefore to be won."

ence may lead one to suspect that the author of the was also author of the original Henry VI. I do not, cive either to be the production of Shakspeare ; for, and is sufficiently visible in some parts of the other ilarly in the second scene of the fourth Act, there ear a single line in this, which can have any pretenhonour and therefore the testimony of Meres and Lon of the players must necessarily yield to the force and circumstantial evidence. It is much to be rethe dramatick works of our earliest tragick wriene and Peele, for instance, and "sporting Kyd,” we's mighty line," are not collected and published at were only to enable the readers of Shakspeare to between his style and that of which he found the has left some of his dramas, in possession; and of sider this play, and at least four fifths of the First

Henry VI, (including the whole of the first Act) ances, no doubt, of one or other of the writers ald, as a genuine and not unfavourable specimen. ould take Kyd to have been the author of Titus because he seems to delight in murders and scraps Dugh I must confess that, in the first of those good arlowe's Jew of Malta may fairly dispute precedence anish Tragedy. Some few of the obsolete dramas I e, it is true, to be found in the collections of Dodsley 5: though I could wish that each of those gentlemen

his researches to the further side of the year 1600. rs will, doubtless, agree in ejecting a performance eir author's name is dishonoured, and his works are

Ritson.

the same lines, with a little variation, in Richard III, 18:

s ever woman in this humour woo'd?

s ever woman in this humour won?" Am. Ed.

re water glideth by the mill &c.] A Scots proverb: ter goes by the miller when he sleeps."

1 omnem molitor quæ fluit unda videt." Steevens.

borne for. Wh ould serv

Dem. Aat

teal a shive,] A shive is a slice. So, in the tale of
d Curan, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602:
heeve of bread as browne as nut."

again indebted to a Scots proverb:

s safe taking a shive of a cut loaf." Steevens.

kr.
en should

ve yet worn - Worn is here used as a dissyllable.

hark square fo

modert
om. M
Let him wh
t of that
Steer 1

sage that ze, but or s of his fo

Thad Thad see borrowed wed in our there is , that we of his bro tise the werthy Demetrius

Would y rech also

To squar mer Nig

"But , in Dr

"Let

"Wh

squar w used

VI. I do not,
akspeare; for,
ts of the other
th Act, there

ve any preten
of Meres and

d to the force
much to be re-

tragick wri Dorting Kyd," nd published Thakspeare to The found the sion; and of of the First the first Act) e writers al. e specimen. hor of Titus s and scraps those good precedence ete dramas I s of Dodsley gentlemen e year 1600. erformance s works are

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Would serve your turns.

Chi.

Ay, so the turn w

Dem. Aaron, thou hast hit it.
Aar.

'Would you ha

Then should not we be tir'd with this ado.
Why, hark ye, hark ye,-And are you such
To square for this?4* Would it offend you

The modern editors, however, after the second fo
yet worn. Malone.

Let him who can read worn as a dissyllable, re am not of that description, I must continue to fol folio. Steevens.

2

struck a doe,] Mr. Holt is willing to i passage that Titus Andronicus was not only the speare, but one of his earliest performances, beca gems of his former profession seem to have been mind. I had made the same observation in King fore I had seen his; but when we consider how are borrowed from the sports of the field, which lowed in our author's time than any other amuse think there is much in either his remark or my add, that we have here Demetrius, the son of a q ing of his brother prince if he has not often be practise the common artifices of a deer-stealer :right worthy the rest of the piece. Steevens.

Demetrius surely here addresses Aaron, not h

3 'Would you had hit it too;] The same pleasa curreth also in Love's Labour 's Lost, Vol. IV, p.

4 To square for this?] To square is to quarrel. summer Night's Dream:

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Again, in Drant's translation of Horace's Art of
"Let them not sing twixt act and act,
"What squareth from the rest."

But to square, which in both these instances sig
is now used only in the very opposite sense, and

D2

affect; and so must you resolve;
at you cannot, as you would, achieve,
t perforce accomplish as you may.
s of me, Lucrece was not more chaste
5 Lavinia, Bassianus' love.

er course than lingering languishments
pursue, and I have found the path.
a solemn hunting is in hand;
Il the lovely Roman ladies troop:
st walks are wide and spacious;
y unfrequented plots there are,
kind for rape and villainy:
u thither then this dainty doe,
e her home by force, if not by words:
, or not at all, stand you in hope.
me, our empress, with her sacred wit,
ay and vengeance consecrate,
acquaint with all that we intend;
shall file our engines with advice,

are, is to take the position of defence, to square up to in the language of pugilists, denotes the manner in combatants advance to the conflict, with arms preer to strike or defend. Am. Ed.

dier course than lingering languishment ] The old 1:

this lingering &c.

mean, we must pursue by a speedier course this coy dame, this piece of reluctant softness. Steevens.

endation was made by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

y kind - That is, by nature, which is the old sigof kind.

Johnson.

rith her sacred wit,] Sacred here signifies accursed;

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:

Quid non mortalia pectora cogis,

uri sacra fames?" Virg. Malone.

le our engines with advice,] i. e. remove all impedi. n our designs by advice. The allusion is to the ope-

5

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all impedi. s to the ope

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