^0 Critical Remarks on Shakespeare* [Aug. 
cero and Cassius, both the wit and rude¬ 
ness totally disappear; and the original idea 
of the character is evidently abandoned. 
Kn®w Cxsar doth not wrong, nor without 
cause 
Will he be satisfied.’’ Act III. Scene 1. 
♦ In opposition to the doubt of Mr. Pope, 
and the assertion of Mr. Steevens, Mr, 
Tyrwhitt inclines to believe, surely not 
without good and sufficient reason, that 
Ben Jonson has not misquoted this line, 
and that, in its original state, it exhibited 
the famous blunder, “ Know Cresar doth 
not wrong but with just cause, &c." It 
is spoken of as public and notorious; 
and, by the subsequent omission, Shake¬ 
speare seems to have acknowledged an 
inadvertency; although the word might 
».dmit of a plausible defence, by under¬ 
standing wrong to mean not* injustice, 
but simply harm or hurt, damnum sine 
injiiruu 
There are divers instances in which 
Ben Jonson has unquestionably noticed, 
whether in pleasantry or malice, impro¬ 
prieties real or imaginary in Shakespeare ; 
but I am disposed to adopt the more fa¬ 
vorable construction ; and certainly his 
well-known poetical Eulogy on his illus¬ 
trious rival discovers no trace of envy 
or jealousy. The praise is lofty, appro* 
riate, and warm from the heart: and 
onson was, perhaps, the only contem¬ 
porary critic who saw, and the only one 
who saidj of Shakespeare, 
He was not for an age, but for all time.” 
——Then burut his mighty heart. 
And in bis mantle muffling up his face 
S’en at the base of Porapey’s statue, 
Which all the while raa blood, great 
Cjesar fell !— 
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! 
Ibid. Scene 2, 
Dr. Warburton, with much plausibili- 
proposes a transposition of the third 
and fourth lines of this passage ; but the 
jTieaning unquestionably is, that the as¬ 
sassination was perpetrated so near to the 
statue as to stain it with the blood of 
Cffisar, which ran down, as the old trans¬ 
lation of Plutarch, by Sir Thos. North, 
expresses it, all a gore blood till he 
was slain.” It is the conceit of Mr. 
Steevens, and not of Shakespeare, that 
Fompey’s statue is represented by a poe¬ 
tical iivperbole as lamenting the fate of 
Cesar in tears of blood, as Pope, in his 
Eloisa, talks of pitying saints whose 
statues learn lo weep.'* 
A barren-spirited fellow, one that feed# 
On objects, arts, and imitations. 
Act ly. Scene 1. 
This is said by Antony of Lepidus; 
and Mr,Steevens informs us that “'objects’* 
means speculative knowledge, and “ arts’* 
mechanic operations. If so, bow could 
Lepidus be stigmatized as barren-spiritedi 
But Mr. Theobald, by a very happy con¬ 
jecture, changes these doubtful words to 
“ abject orts,” i. e. fragments of things 
mean and despised. Mr. Steevens, in iiis 
anxiety for the honour of Lepidus, re¬ 
marks, “ that, in the tragedy of Antony 
atid Cleopatra, he is represented as iiu 
quisitive about the structures of Egypt, 
and that too when almost in a state of 
intoxication. Antony, as at present, 
makes a jest of him, and returns him un¬ 
intelligible answers to very reasonable 
questions.” These remarks must have 
been written very much at random. In 
the scene to which *Mr. Steevens refei’S 
(An. and C. Act II. Scene 7.) Lepi¬ 
dus observes to Antony, You have 
strange serpents in Egypt ?” Antony re¬ 
plies, “ Ay, Lepidus.” “ Your serpent 
of Egypt,” continues Lepidus, “ is bred 
now of your mud, by the operation of 
your sun. So is your crocodile.” An¬ 
tony, perceiving him not ahnoU but al¬ 
together intoxicated, answers, contemp¬ 
tuously, “ They are so.”* After more 
wine has been called for, Lepidus pro¬ 
ceeds in the following rational strain— 
“ Nay, certainly I have heard the Ptole¬ 
mies’ pyramises are very goodly things ; 
without contradiction I have heard that.” 
No notice being taken of this sally, Le¬ 
pidus asks, “ What manner of thing i« 
your crocodile?’' To which Antony, 
making, it must be confessed, as Mr, 
Steevens complains, a jest of him, replies, 
“ It is shaped. Sir, like itself, and it is as 
broad as it hath breadth; it is just s<> 
high as it is', and moves with its own 
organs; it lives by that which nourisheth 
it; and the elements once out of it, it 
transmigrates.” Lepidus. What co¬ 
lour is it of?” Antony. ** Of its own 
colour too.” Lepidus. “ 'Tis a strange 
serpent.” And this it is, according t« 
Mr. Steevens, “ to return uninielligihle 
answers to very reasonable questions.” 
Antont and Cleopatra. 
Act IT. Scene 2. 
Qatar .' - You have broken 
The article of your Mth. 
S*ft, C»sar ! 
Ant* 
