Alarum. Retreat. Enter Octavius, Antony, Meffala, Lucilius, and the army. Ota. What man is that? Mef. My master's man.-Strato, where is thy mafter? Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, Meffala The conquerors can but make a fire of hirn: For Brutus only overcame himself, And no man else hath honour by his death. Luc. So Brutus fhould be found. I thank thee, Brutus, That thou haft prov'd Lucilius' faying true. Ota. All that ferv'd Brutus, I will entertain them. Fellow, will thou beftow thy time with me? Stra. Ay, if Meffala will prefer me to you. Otta. Do fo, good Meffala. Mef. How died my mafter, Strato ? Stra. I held the fword, and he did run on it. That did the lateft fervice to my mafter. Ant. This was the nobleft Roman of them all: All the confpirators, fave only he', Did that they did in envy of great Cæfar; And common good to all, made one of them. I So -fave only he, &c.] So, in the old tranflation of Plutarch: "For, it was fayd that Antonius fpake it openly diuers tymes, that he thought, that of all them that had flayne Cæfar, there was none but Brutus only that was moued to do it, as thinking the acte commendable of it felfe: but that all the other confpirators did conspire his death, for fome priuate malice or enuy, that they otherwife did beare vnto him." STEEVENS. So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up, And fay to all the world, This was a man.] So, in the Barons' Wars, by Drayton, Canto III: " He So mix'd in him, that nature might ftand up, Ofta. According to his virtue let us ufe him, "He was a man (then boldly dare to fay) [Exeunt. "As that it feem'd, when nature him began, "She meant to fhew all that might be in man.' This poem was published in the year 1598. The play of our author did not appear before 1623. STEEVENS. Of this tragedy many particular paffages deferve regard, and the contention and reconcilement of Brutus and Caffius is univerfally celebrated; but I have never been ftrongly agitated in perufing it, and think it fomewhat cold and unaffecting, compared with fome other of Shakspeare's plays; his adherence to the real ftory, and to Roman manners, feems to have impeded the natural vigour of his genius. JOHNSON. The following letter, referred to in p. 32, being of too great length to be inferted as a note, I have placed it at the end of this play. EDITOR. The note on Dr. Akinfide's Ode to Mr. Edwards, is as follows: V During Mr. Pope's war with Theobald, Concanen, and the rest of their tribe, Mr. Warburton, the prefent lord bishop of Gloucester, did with great zeal cultivate their friendship; having been introduced, forfooth, at the meeting of that refpectable confederacy: a favour which he afterwards spoke of in very high terms of complacency and thankfulness. At the fame time, in his intercourfe with them he treated Mr. Pope in a moft contemptuous manner, and as a writer without genius. Of the truth of these affertions his lordship can have no doubt, if he recollects his own correfpondence with Concanen; a part of which is ftill in being, and will probably be remembered as long as any of this prelate's writings." If If the letter here alluded to, contained any thing that might affect the moral character of the writer, tenderness for the dead would forbid its publication. But that not being the cafe, and the learned prelate being now beyond the reach of criticism, there is no reafon why this literary curiofity fhould be longer with-held from the publick: 66 "Duncan is in his grave; "After life's fitful fever he fleeps well; "Treafon has done his worst: nor fteel, nor poison, "Malice domeftick, foreign levy, nothing "Can touch him further." Letter from Mr. W. Warburton to Mr. M. Concanen. "Dear Sir, having had no more regard for thofe papers which I spoke of and promis'd to Mr. Theobald, than just what they deferv'd 1 in vain fought for them thro' a number of loose papers that had the fame kind of abortive birth. I used to make it one good part of my amufement in reading the English poets, thofe of them I mean whofe vein flows regularly and conftantly, as well as clearly, to trace them to their fources; and obferve what oar, as well as what flime and gravel they brought down with them. Dryden I obferve borrows for want of leasure, and Pope for want of genius: Milton out of pride, and Addison out of modesty. And now I fpeak of this latter, that you and Mr. Theobald may fee of what kind thofe Idle collections are, and likewife to give you my notion of what we may fafely pronounce an imitation, for it is not I prefume the fame train of ideas that follow in the fame defcription of an Ancient and a modern, where nature when attended to, always fupplys the fame flores, which will autorize us to pronounce the latter an imitation, for the moft judicious of all poets, Terence, has obferved of his own feience, Nihil eft dictum, quod non fit dictum prius; For these reafons I fay I give myfelfe the pleature of fetting down fome imitations I obferved in the Cato of Addifon. Addifon. A day, an hour of virtuous liberty is worth a whole eternity in bondage. Act 1. Sc. I. Tully. Quod fi immortalitas confequeretur præfentis periculi fugam, tamen eo magis ea fugienda effe videretur, quo diuturnior effet fervitus. Philipp. Or. 10a, Addifon. Bid him difband his legions Reftore the commonwealth to liberty Submit his actions to the public cenfure, And ftand the judgement of a Roman fenate, Tully. Tully. Pacem vult? arma deponat, roget, deprccetur. Philipp. 52. 'Tis not to ftalk about and draw fresh air 'Tis to be free. When Liberty is gone, Life grows infipid and has lost its relish. Sc. 3. Tully. Non enim in fpiritu vita eft: fed ea nulla eft om- Addifon. Remember O my friends the laws the rights Tully. At 3. Sc. 5. Philipp. 43. Tully. de oratore. "The first half of the 5 Sc. 3 Act is nothing but a tranfcript from the 9 book of lucan between the 300 and the 700 line. You fee by this fpecimen the exactnefs of Mr. Addifon's judgement who wanting fentiments worthy the Roman Cato fought for them in Tully and Lucan. When he wou'd give his fubject thofe terrible graces which Dion. Hallicar: complains he coud find no where but in Homer, he takes the affiitance of our Shakespear, who in his Julius Cæfar has painted the confpirators with a pomp and terrour that perfectly aftonishes. hear our British Homer. Between the acting of a dreadful thing Mr. Addison has thus imitated it : Ọ think what anxious moments pass between Filled up with horror all, and big with death. I have two things to obferve on this imitation. 1. the decorum this exact Mr. of propriety has obferved. In the Confpiracy of Shakespear's defcription, the fortunes of Cæfar and the roman Empire were concerned. And the magnificent circumftances of "The genius and the mortal inftruments "Are then in council. is exactly proportioned to the dignity of the fubject. But this wou'd have been too great an apparatus to the desertion of Syphax and the rape of Sempronius, and therefore Mr. Addison omits it. II. The other thing more worth cur notice is, that Mr. A. was fo greatly moved and affected with the pomp of Sh: defcription, that instead of copying his author's fentiments, he has before he was aware given us only the marks of his own impreffions on the reading him. For, "O'tis a dreadful interval of time "Filled up with horror all, and big with death. are but the affections raised by such lively images as these -all the Int'rim is Like a phantafma or a hideous dream. "The ftate of man-like to a little kingdom fuffers then "The nature of an infurrection. Again when Mr. Addifon woud paint the fofter paffions he has recourfe to Lee who certainly had a peculiar genius that way. thus his Juba True fhe is fair. O how divinely fair! coldly imitates Lee in Alex: "Then he wou'd talk: Good Gods how he wou'd talk? I pronounce the more boldly of this, becaufe Mr. A. in his 39 Spec. expreffes his admiration of it. My paper fails me, or I fhould now offer to Mr. Theobald an objection agt. Shakefpear's acquaintance with the ancients. As it appears to me of great weight, and as it is neceffary he fhou'd be prepared to obviate all that occur on that head. But fome other opportunity will prefent itfelfe. You may now, S, juftly complain of my ill manners in deferring till now, what fhou'd have been firft of all acknowledged due to you. which is my thanks for all your favours when in town, particularly for introducing me to the knowledge of thofe worthy and ingenious Gentlemen that made up our last night's converfation. I am, Sir, with all efteem your moft obliged friend and humble fervant. Newarke Jan. 2. 1726. W. Warburton. The |