MAR. Stand by me, Lucius; do not fear thine

aunt.

TIT. She loves thee, boy, too well to do thee harm.

Bor. Ay, when my father was in Rome, fhe did.

MAR. What means my niece Lavinia by these

figns?

TIT. Fear her not, Lucius -Somewhat doth fhe

mean:

See, Lucius, fee, how much the makes of thee:
Somewhither would fhe have thee go with her.
Ah, boy, Cornelia never with more care

Read to her fons, than fhe hath read to thee,
Sweet poetry, and Tully's Orator."

Canft thou not guess wherefore the plies thee thus?

Bor. My lord, I know not, I, nor can I guess,
Unless fome fit or frenzy do poffefs her:
For I have heard my grandfire fay full oft,
Extremity of griefs would make men mad;
And I have read that Hecuba of Troy

Ran mad through forrow: That made me to fear;
Although, my lord, I know, my noble aunt
Loves me as dear as e'er my mother did,

And would not, but in fury, fright my youth: Which made me down to throw my books, and fly;

6

-Tully's Orator.] The moderns-oratory. The old copies read-Tully's oratour; meaning, perhaps, Tully De oraSTEEVENS.

tore.

Tully's Orator.] Tully's Treatife on Eloquence, addrefsed to Brutus, and entitled Orator. The quantity of Latin words was formerly little attended to. Mr. Rowe and all the fubfequent editors read-Tully's oratory. MALONE.

Causeless, perhaps : But pardon me, fweet aunt:
And, madam, if my uncle Marcus go,

I will most willingly attend your ladyship.
MAR. Lucius, I will.

[LAVINIA turns over the Books which LUCIUS
has let fall.

TIT. How now, Lavinia ?-Marcus, what means this?

Some book there is that the defires to fee :—
Which is it, girl, of thefe ?-Open them, boy.-
But thou art deeper read, and better skill'd;
Come, and take choice of all my library,
And fo beguile thy forrow, till the heavens
Reveal the damn'd contriver of this deed.-
Why lifts the up her arms in sequence thus ?

MAR. I think, fhe means, that there was more than one

Confederate in the fact ;-Ay, more there was :Or elfe to heaven fhe heaves them for revenge.

TIT. Lucius, what book is that she toffeth fo? Bor. Grandfire, 'tis Ovid's Metamorphofis; My mother gave't me.

MAR.

For love of her that's gone,

Perhaps the cull'd it from among the reft.

TIT. Soft! fee, how bufily she turns the leaves !" Help her :

What would fhe find?-Lavinia, fhall I read ?
This is the tragick tale of Philomel,

And treats of Tereus' treafon, and his rape;

And rape, I fear, was root of thine annoy.

7 Soft! fee, how bufily &c.] Old copies-Soft, fo bufily, &c. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

The edition 1600 alfo reads-foft, fo bufilie. Todd.

MAR. See, brother, fee; note, how the quotes the leaves.8

TIT. Lavinia, wert thou thus furpriz'd, sweet

girl,

Ravifh'd, and wrong'd, as Philomela was,

Forc'd in the ruthlefs, vaft, and gloomy woods?—
See, fee!

Ay, fuch a place there is, where we did hunt,
(0, had we never, never, hunted there!)
Pattern'd by that the poet here describes,
By nature made for murders, and for rapes.

MAR. O, why should nature build fo foul a den,
Unless the gods delight in tragedies!

TIT. Give figns, fweet girl,-for here are none
but friends,-

What Roman lord it was durft do the deed:
Or flunk not Saturnine, as Tarquin erft,
That left the camp to fin in Lucrece' bed?

MAR. Sit down, sweet niece ;-brother, fit down
by me.-

Apollo, Pallas, Jove, or Mercury,

Infpire me, that I may this treafon find!-
My lord, look here ;-Look here, Lavinia ;
This fandy plot is plain; guide, if thou canst,
This after me, when I have writ my name
Without the help of any hand at all.

[He writes his Name with his Staff, and guides
it with his Feet and Mouth.

Curs'd be that heart, that forc'd us to this fhift !—
Write thou, good niece; and here display, at laft,

how he quotes the leaves.] To quote is to obferve. See a note on Hamlet, Act II. fc. ii. STEEVENS.

See Vol. VII. p. 107, n. 8; and Vol. VIII. p. 400, n. 2.

MALONE.

A

What God will have difcover'd for revenge: Heaven guide thy pen to print thy forrows plain, That we may know the traitors, and the truth!

[She takes the Staff in her Mouth, and guides it with her Stumps, and writes.

TIT. O, do you read, my lord, what the hath writ?

Stuprum-Chiron--Demetrius.

MAR. What, what!-the luftful fons of Tamorá Performers of this heinous, bloody deed?

TIT. Magne Dominator poli,

Tam lentus audis fcelera ? tam lentus vides?
MAR. O, calm thee, gentle lord! although, I
know,

There is enough written upon this earth,
To ftir a mutiny in the mildeft thoughts,
And arm the minds of infants to exclaims.
My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;
And kneel, fweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope;
And fwear with me,-as with the woful feere,'

9 Magne Dominator poli, &c.] Magne Regnator Deum, &c. is the exclamation of Hippolytus when Phædra discovers the secret of her incestuous paffion in Seneca's tragedy. STEEVENS. Magne Dominator poli.] The edition 1600 reads Magni Dominator poli. TODD.

And fwear with me,- -as with the woful feere,] The old copies do not only affift us to find the true reading by conjecture. I will give an instance, from the first folio, of a reading (inconteftibly the true one) which has escaped the laborious researches of the many moft diligent criticks, who have favoured the world with editions of Shakspeare:

My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;
And kneel, fweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope;
And fwear with me, as with the woeful peer,
And father of that chofte difhonour'd dame,
Lord Junius Brutus fware for Lucrece' rape-

And father, of that chafte dishonour'd dame,
Lord Junius Brutus fware for Lucrece' rape,
That we will profecute, by good advice,
Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,
And fee their blood, or die with this reproach.

TIT. 'Tis fure enough, an you knew how,
But if you hurt thefe bear-whelps, then beware:
The dain will wake; and, if the wind you once,
She's with the lion deeply still in league,

And lulls him whilft the playeth on her back,
And, when he fleeps, will the do what she lift.
You're a young huntfman, Marcus; let it alone; 2
And, come, I will go get a leaf of brass,
And with a gád of fteel 3 will write these words,

What meaning has hitherto been annexed to the word peer, in this paffage, I know not. The reading of the firft folio is feere, which fignifies a companion, and here metaphorically a husband. The proceeding of Brutus, which is alluded to, is described at length in our author's Rape of Lucrece, as putting an end to the lamentations of Collatinus and Lucretius, the husband and father of Lucretia. So, in Sir Eglamour of Artoys, fig. A 4: "Chriftabell, your daughter free,

"When shall she have a fere?" i. e. husband. Sir Thomas More's Lamentation on the Death of Queen Elizabeth, Wife of Henry VII:

"Was I not a king's fere in marriage?"

And again:

"Farewell my daughter Katherine, late the fere

The word feere or pheere very frequently occurs among the old dramatick writers and others. So, in Ben Jonfon's Silent Woman, Morofe fays:

her that I mean to chufe for my bed-pheere." And many other places. STEEVENS.

2-let it alone] In edit. 1600, it is wanting. TODD.

3 And with a gad of Steel-] A gad, from the Saxon gad, i. e. the point of a fpear, is ufed here for fome fimilar pointed inftrument. MALONE.

GA