ACT V. SCENE II. A Man's Tears. Let me wipe off this honourable dew, But this effufion of fuch manly drops, SCENE IV. Drums. Strike up the drums, and let the tongue of war Plead for our int'reft. * * * * * * * * * * * * Do but start An eccho with the clamour of thy drum, And even at hand a drum is ready brac'd, 'That fhall reverb'rate all as loud as thine. Sound but ancher, and another fhall, As loud as thine, rattle the welkin's ear, And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder. SCENE IX. The approach of Death. It is too late, the life of all his blood (Which, fome fuppofe, the foul's frail dwelling-houfe,) Madness, Madness, occafioned by Poifon, (12) Ay, marry, now my foul hath elbow-room, It would not out at windows, nor at doors. There is fo hot a fummer in my bofom, That all my bowels crumble up to dust: I am (12) Ay, marry, &c.] In the Valentinian of Beaumont and Fletcher, the emperor is brought on the ftage, poifoned.There he calls out for Drink, drink, drink, colder, colder Than fnow on Seythian mountains: oh my heart-ftrings; I'll have brought through my body: And Volga, on whofe face the north wind freezes. Already to my funeral are flaming, Shall I not drink? Like Nero, But far more terrible and full of flaughter, More drink, A thousand April showers fall in my bofom; See A&t 5. S. 2. But in another play of theirs A wife for a month, is a poi- Give me more air, more air, air: blow, blow, blow, Diftil thy cold dews, O thou icy moon, And rivers run through my afflicted fpirit. I am all fire, fire, fire: the raging dog-star Reigns in my blood: oh which way fhall I turn me ? Dig, dig, dig, dig, until the fprings fly up; The I am a fcribbled form, drawn with a pen Poifon'd, The cold, cold fprings, that I may leap into them, Where treasures of delicious fnow are nourish'd, Rug. Hold him fåst, friar, Alph. What will ye facrifice me? Upon the altar lay my willing body, And pile your wood up, fling your holy incenfe: Mart. To bed, good Sir. Alph. My bed will burn about me: Like Phaeton, in all confuming flashes Am I inclos'd: let me fly, let me fly, give room; Like jewels round about my head to cool me.! The line 'Twixt the cold bears, far from the raging lion, was read, (before corrected by Mr. Seward.) Betwixt the cold bear and the raging lion. Poifon'd, ill fare! dead, forfook, cast off; SCENE X. England, invincible, if unanimous England never did, nor ever shall And we shall shock them.-Nought fhall make us rue, General Obfervations. The tragedy of King John (fays Johnson) though not written with the utmoft power of Shakespear, is varied with a very pleafing interchange of incidents and characters. The Lady's grief is very affecting; and the character of the bastard contains that mixture of greatnefs and levity which this author delighted to exhibit. Julius XIII. Julius Cæfar. ACT I. SCENE IIL (1) WH Patriotifm. "HAT is it, that you would impart to me? If it be aught towards the general good, Set honour in one eye, and death i' th' other, And I will look on both indifferently: For (1) What, &c. "How agreeable to his stoic character, does Shakespear make Brutus speak here? Cicero de fin. iii. 16. Qu'd cnim illi AAIA OPON dicunt, id mihi ita occurrit, ut indifferens dicerem. One of the great divifion of things among the ftoics was into good, bad, indifferent: virtue, and whatever partook of virtue, was good vice, bad: but what partook of neither virtue, nor vice, being not in our power, was indifferent: fuch as honour, wealth, death, &c. But of thefe indifferent things, fome might be esteemed more than others; as here Brutus says, I love the name of honour, more than I fear death. See Cicero de fin. ii. 15, 16. The ftoics never deftroyed choice among indifferent things. This being premifed, let us fee Brutus's fpeech" If it be aught (fays he) towards the general good, (pos TO: ONOR og Ty To) as I am a part of that whole, a citizen of that |