Note III.
II. 1. 189. Jennens quotes 'and wildness' as the reading of Rowe's Octavo. Two lines below he quotes 'laugh at us hereafter' as from the same edition. In I. 2. 110, he says that Rowe's Octavo reads 'we arrive' for 'arrive;' in I. 2. 163, that it reads 'would you' for 'you would;' in I. 2. 170, that it reads 'But' for 'Both;' in I. 3. 85, that it omits 'say;' in III. 1. 207, that it reads 'Sing'd.' In none of these cases does our copy of Rowe correspond with his statements.
Note IV.
III. 2. 109. We transcribe a portion of Pope's note on this passage:
'"Cæsar has had great wrong.
3 Pleb. Cæsar had never wrong, but with just cause."
If ever there was such a line written by Shakespear, I shou'd fancy it might have its place here, and very humorously in the character of a Plebeian.' He refers to Ben Jonson's quotation in the Sylva or Discoveries, which has been much discussed by the commentators on III. 1. 47. Jonson's words are: 'Many times he [i.e. Shakespeare] fell into those things, could not escape laughter: as when he said in the person of Cæsar, one speaking to him, "Cæsar thou dost me wrong." He replied "Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause," and such like; which were ridiculous.' Vol. IX. pp. 175, 176. ed. 1816. There is another reference to Shakespeare's supposed blunder in the Induction to Ben Jonson's Staple of News, first acted in 1625: 'Prologue. Cry you mercy, you never did wrong, but with just cause.' Vol. V. p. 162. Gifford in his note supposes that Metellus Cimber's speech and Cæsar's reply, as they are found in the Folio of 1623, are due to the 'botchery of the players,' and that they originally stood thus:
'Met. Cæsar, thou dost me wrong.
Cæs. Cæsar did never wrong, but with just cause.'
But surely the first twelve lines of Cæsar's reply, to which Gifford makes no allusion, cannot have been written by any other hand than Shakespeare's. On the whole it seems more probable that Jonson, quoting from memory, quoted wrong, than that the passage was altered in consequence of his censure, which was first made, publicly, in 1625.