ΤΙΜΟΝ OF ATHENS. ACT I. SCENE I. Athens. A Hall in Timon's House. Enter Poet, Painter, Jeweller, Merchant, and Others, at feveral doors. POET. Good day, fir. 3 PAIN. I am glad you are well. POET. I have not seen you long; How goes the world? PAIN. It wears, fir, as it grows. POET. Ay, that's well known: But what particular rarity ? + what strange, 2 - Jeweller, Merchant,] In the old copy: Enter &c. Merchant and Mercer, &c. STEEVENS. 3 Poet. Good day, fir.] It would be less abrupt to begin the play thus: Poet. Good day. Pain. Good day, fir: I am glad you're well. FARMER. The present deficiency in the metre also pleads strongly in behalf of the fupplemental words proposed by Dr. Farmer. STEEVENS. 4 But what particular rarity ? &c.] I cannot but think that this passage is at present in confufion. The poet asks a question, and stays not for an answer, nor has his question any apparent drift or confequence. I would range the passage thus: Poet. Ay, that's well known. But what particular rarity? what so strange, Pain. See! Poet. Magick of bounty! &c. It may not be improperly observed here, that as there is only one copy of this play, no help can be had from collation, and more liberty must be allowed to conjecture. JOHNSON. Which manifold record not matches? See, Magick of bounty! all these spirits thy power Hath conjur'd to attend. I know the merchant. PAIN. I know them both; t'other's a jeweller. MER. O, 'tis a worthy lord! JEW. Nay, that's most fix'd. MER. A most incomparable man; breath'd, as it were, To an untirable and continuate goodness :* Johnson supposes that there is fome error in this passage, because the Poet afks a question, and stays not for an answer; and therefore suggests a new arrangement of it. But there is nothing more common in real life than questions asked in that manner. And with refpect to his propofed arrangement, I can by no means approve of it; for as the Poet and the Painter are going to pay their court to Timon, it would be strange if the latter should point out to the former, as a particular rarity, which manifold record could not match, a merchant and a jeweller, who came there on the same errand. M. MASON. The poet is led by what the painter has faid, to ask whether any thing very strange and unparalleled had lately happened, without any expectation that any fuch had happened; and is prevented from waiting for an answer by observing fo many conjured by Timon's bounty to attend. "See, Magick of bounty!" &c. This furely is very natural. MALONE. To an untirable and continuate goodness: Breathed is inured by conftant practice; so trained as not to be wearied. To breathe a horse, is to exercise him for the course. JOHNSON. So, in Hamlet: "It is the breathing time of day with me." STEEVENS. -continuate-) This word is used by many ancient English writers. Thus, by Chapman, in his verfion of the fourth book of the Odyssey: "Her handmaids join'd in a continuate yell." STEEVENS. 6 He paffes.] i. e. exceeds, goes beyond common bounds. So, in The Merry Wives of Windfor: Why this paffes, master Ford." STEEVENS. MER. O, pray, let's fee't: For the lord Timon, fir? JEW. If he will touch the estimate: But, for that POET. When we for recompense have prais'd the vile, It ftains the glory in that happy verse Which aptly fings the good. MER. 'Tis a good form. [Looking on the jewel. JEW. And rich: here is a water, look you. PAIN. You are rapt, fir, in some work, fome dedication To the great lord. POET. A thing flipp'd idly from me. Our poefy is as a gum, which oozes 9 6 He passes. I have a jewel here.) The syllable wanting in this line, might be restored by reading: 7 He paffes. Look, I have a jewel here. STEEVENS. - touch the estimate:) Come up to the price. JOHNSON. 8 When we for recompense &c.] We must here suppose the poet busy in reading his own work; and that these three lines are the introduction of the poem addressed to Timon, which he afterwards gives the painter an account of. WARBURTON. 9 - which oozes -) The folio copy reads-which uses. The modern editors have given it which issues. JOHNSON. Gum and issues were inserted by Mr. Pope; oozes by Dr. Johnson. The two oldest copies read: Our poesie is as a gowne which uses. STEEVENS. Provokes itself, and, like the current, flies Each bound it chafes.] Thus the folio reads, and rightly. In later editions-chases. WARBURTON. This speech of the poet is very obfcure. He seems to boaft the copiousness and facility of his vein, by declaring that verses drop from a poet as gums from odoriferous trees, and that his flame kindles itself without the violence necessary to elicit sparkles from the flint. What follows next? that it, like a current, flies each bound it chafes. This may mean, that it expands itself notwithstanding all obstructions: but the images in the comparison are fo ill-forted, and the effect so obfcurely expressed, that I cannot but think fomething omitted that connected the last sentence with the former. It is well known that the players often shorten speeches to quicken the representation: and it may be suspected, that they sometimes performed their amputations with more haste than judgement. JOHNSON. Perhaps the sense is, that having touch'd on one fubject, it flies off in quest of another. The old copy seems to read: Each bound it chases. The letters f and / are not always to be diftinguished from each other, especially when the types have been much worn, as in the first folio. If chases be the true reading, it is best explained by the "Je fequiturque fugitque" of the Roman poet. Somewhat fimilar occurs in The Tempest: "Do chafe the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him The obfcurity of this passage arifes merely from the mistake of the editors, who have joined in one, what was intended by Shakspeare as two distinct fentences. - It should be pointed thus, and then the sense will be evident: our gentle flame Provokes itself, and like the current flies Each bound it chafes. Our gentle flame animates itself; it flies like a current; and every obstacle ferves but to increase its force. M. MASON. In Julius Cæfar, we have "The troubled Tyber chafing with her shores,-" Again, in The Legend of Pierce Gaveston, by Michael Drayton, 1594: " Like as the ocean, chafing with his bounds, "And to the shore sends forth his hideous sounds," &c. MALONE. PAIN. A picture, fir. And when comes your book forth? 3 POET. Upon the heels of my presentment, fir. 'Tis a good piece." POET. SO 'tis: this comes off well and excellent." This jumble of incongruous images, seems to have been defsigned, and put into the mouth of the Poetafter, that the reader might appreciate his talents: his language therefore should not be confidered in the abstract. HENLEY. 3 And when comes your book forth? And was supplied by Sir T. Hanmer, to perfect the measure. STEEVENS. 4 Upon the heels &c.] As soon as my book has been presented to lord Timon. JOHNSON. 5 • presentment,] The patrons of Shakspeare's age do not appear to have been all Timons. " I did determine not to have dedicated my play to any body, because forty shillings I care not for, and above, few or none will beftow on these matters." Preface to A Woman is a Weathercock, by N. Field, 1612. STEEVENS. It should however be remembered, that forty shillings at that time were equal to at least fix, perhaps eight, pounds at this day. MALONE. 6 'Tis a good piece.) As the metre is here defective, it is not improbable that our author originally wrote 'Tis a good piece, indeed. So, in The Winter's Tale: ""Tis grace indeed." STEEVENS. 7 - this comes off well and excellent.) The meaning is, the figure rises well from the canvas. C'est bien relevé. JOHNSON. What is meant by this term of applause I do not exactly know. It occurs again in The Widow, by Ben Jonfon, Fletcher, and Middleton: " It comes off very fair yet." Again, in A Trick to catch the old One, 1608: "Put a good tale "Fla. Faith, the fong will feem to come off hardly. |