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NOTES.

"When we for recompense have praised the vile," &c.

Act I., Scene 1.

It must be here supposed, according to the suggestion of Warburton, that the Poet is busy in reading his own work; and that these three lines are the introduction to the poem addressed to Timon, of which he afterwards gives an account to the Painter.

"Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes

From whence 't is nourished."-Act I., Scene 1.

The original folio here reads,

"Our poesy is as a gowne, which uses," &c.

Pope suggested the alteration of "gowne" to "gum," and Johnson that of uses" to "oozes." Instances of restoration so sagacious and happy as this (and there are very many such in the received text of Shakspeare), may, at least, serve to rescue the commentators generally from the common charge of utter uselessness, or something worse.

"My free drift

Halls not particularly, but moves itself
In a wide sea of wax."

Why "in a wide sea of wax?" Admitting that not only the an
cients, but that the English, at a very early date, wrote upon waxen
tablets, it would scarcely be understood by popular audiences before
whom this drama was originally acted. "Wax," of old, was com-

"A thousand moral paintings I can shew, That shall demonstrate these quick blows of Fortune More pregnantly than words."- Act I., Scene 1. "Shakspeare seems to intend in this dialogue," says Johnson, "to express some competition between the two great arts of imitation. Whatever the Poet declares himself to have shown, the Painter thinks he could have shewn better."

"TIM. The man is honest.

OLD ATH. Therefore he will be, Timon."- Act I., Scene 1 "The thought," says Warburton, "is closely expressed and obscure; but the meaning seems to be, If the man be honest, he will be so in this, and not endeavor at the injustice of gaining my daugh. ter without my consent.'" Coleridge thus explains this difficult passage:"The meaning of the first line the Poet himself explains, or rather unfolds, in the second- The man is honest.' 'True; and for that very cause, and with no additional or extrinsic motive, he will be so. No man can be justly called honest who is not so for honesty's sake, itself including its own reward.'"

"Never may

That state or fortune fall into my keeping

Which is not owed to you !”—Act I., Scene 1.

That is, "Let me never henceforth consider anything that I possess but as owed or due to you; held for your service, and at your dis

monly spelt ware (although it is "wax" in the folios), and confiding, posal." In the same sense, Lady Macbeth says to Duncan,

as we are disposed to do, in a representation in the margin of the folio, 1632, the compositor must have read "waxe" for a word not very dissimilar in form, but much more appropriate and intelligible:

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--"Apemantus, that few things loves better
Than to abhor himself: even he drops down
The knee before him."— Act I, Scene 1.

Steevens remarks upon this passage, that either Shakspeare meant to put a falsehood into the mouth of the Poet, or had not yet thoroughly planned the character of Apemantus: for, in the ensuing scenes, his behavior is as cynical to Timon as to his followers. Mr. Harness, in reply, observes that the Poet, seeing that Apemantus paid frequent visits to Timon, naturally concluded that he was equally courteous with other guests.

"Your servants ever

Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt,
To make their audit at your highness' pleasure,
Still to return your own."

"That I had no angry wit to be a lord?"-Act I., Scene 1.
Warburton proposed, "That I had so hungry a wit to be a lord;"
and Monk Mason, "That I had an angry wish to be a Lord." The
restoration offered in the folio, 1632, is the same as parts of both
these suggestions, and at once renders the sense evident-"That I
had so hungry a wish to be a lord."
[Collier.

"I myself would have no power: pr'y thee, let my meat make thee silent."- Act I., Scene 2.

"Timon," says Mr. Tyrwhitt, "like a polite landlord, disclaims all power over his guests. His meaning is, I myself would have no power to make thee silent; but, pr'y thee, let my meat perform that office."

"I wonder men dare trust themselves with men:
Methinks they should invite them without knives."
Act I., Scene 2.

It was the custom in Shakspeare's time, according to Mr. Ritson, for each guest to bring his own knife, which he occasionally whetted on a stone that hung behind the door. One of these whetstones he states to have been in Parkinson's Museum.

"Entertained me with mine own device."- Act I., Seene 2. This mask appears to have been designed by Timon to entertain his guests.

"Here's that which is too weak to be a sinner,
Honest water, which ne'er left man the mire:
This and my food are equals, there's no odds;
Feasts are too proud to give thanks to the gods.”

Act I., Scene 2. Apemantus is adverting to the intoxication which follows drinking strong wines and ardent spirits, and contrasting "honest water" with them; and we may feel assured that the two first lines ought to be printed hereafter as they are made to run by the old corrector:"Here's that, which is too weak to be a fire,

Honest water, which ne'er left man i the mire."

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"No porter at his gate,

But rather one that smiles, and still invites
All that pass by."- Act II., Scene 1.

The word "one" in the second line does not refer to "porter," but signifies a person. Roughness was the imputed characteristic of a porter. There appeared at Killingworth Castle, 1575, "a porter, tall of person, big of limb, and stern of countenance." The meaning of the text is, "He has no stern forbidding porter at his gate to keep people out, but a person who invites them in."

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"So soon as dinner's done we'll forth again."— Act II., Scene 2. It was formerly the custom to hunt as well after dinner as before. From Laneham's "ACCOUNT OF THE ENTERTAINMENT AT KENILWORTH CASTLE," it appears that Queen Elizabeth, while there, hunted in the afternoon:-" Monday was hot, and therefore her highness kept in till five o'clock in the evening; what time it pleased her to ride forth into the chase, to hunt the hart of force; which found anon, and after sore chased," &c. On the 18th of July, there is another entry to the same effect.

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The same thought occurs in the "WIFE FOR A MONTH" of Beaumont and Fletcher:

"Beside, the fair soul's old too, it grows covetous; Which shews all honor is departed from us, And we are earth again."

"Here's three solidares for thee."- Act III., Scene 1. "Where Shakspeare found this odd word," says Mr. Nares, "is uncertain. Solidata' is, in low Latin, the word for the daily pay of a common soldier; and solidare' the verb expressing the act of paying it; whence comes the word soldier' itself. From one or the other of these, some writer had formed the English word. Or the true reading may be 'solidate,' which is precisely 'solidata' made English."

"Requesting your lordship to supply his instant use with so many talents." Act III., Scene 2.

Steevens conjectured that no precise amount was stated by Shakspeare, but that it was left to the player. This does not seem probable, and in a note in the folio, 1632, the sum is given as 500 talents, both here and afterwards, where Lucius speaks of "fifty-five hundred talents." We may presume, therefore, that it was the practice of the theatre, in the time of the corrector, to consider that Timon sent to borrow 500 talents, and that that was the amount required by Servilius, and repeated by Lucius. The point is, however, of little importance, because it does not in any way affect the spirit and purport of the scene. [Collier.

"The devil knew not what he did, when he made man politic; he crossed himself by it: and I cannot think but, in the end, the villanies of man will set him clear."— Act III., Scene 3.

The meaning of this passage appears to be, that the devil, by putting policy or cunning into the heart of man, merely intended to make him more wicked; but that this cunning has thriven so wonderfully in a congenial soil, that it will finally be turned against its bestower, and enable man to escape from the net of the devil himself.

"Who cannot keep his wealth, must keep his house."

Act III., Scene 3. That is, keep within doors for fear of duns. So in "MEASUre for MEASURE" (act ii., scene 2):-"You will turn good husband now, Pompey; you will keep the house."

"PHI. All our bills.

TIM. Knock me down with 'em."— Act III., Scene 4.

This is a quibbling allusion to the weapon called the bill. In Decker's "GULL'S HORNBOOK" we find, "They durst not strike down their customers with large bills."

"He did behave his anger, ere 'twas spent,

As if he had but prov'd an argument." — Act III., Scene 5. Here the printer was in error; in the old copies the lines are thus printed :

"He did behoove his anger ere 'twas spent,

As if he had but prov'd an argument."

Modern editors have consented to suppose behoove intended for "behave," and they have taken great pains to justify the expression, "he did behave his anger;" but the old corrector of the folio, 1632, shows that their labor has been thrown away, since the author did not use the phrase, but wrote as follows:

"He did reprove his anger, ere 'twas spent,
As if he had but mov'd an argument."

If these small, but more than plausible, emendations be admitted, no explanation is wanted.

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- Steevens states that Mr. Strutt, the engraver, was in possession of a MS. play on this subject, which is supposed to have been an older drama than Shakspeare's. There is said to have been a scene in it resembling the banquet given by Timon in the present play. Instead of warm water, he sets before his false friends stones painted like artichokes, and afterwards beats them out of the room. He then retires to the woods, attended by his faithful steward. In the last act, he is followed by his fickle mistress, &c., after being reported to have discovered a treasure by digging. Steevens states the piece to have been a wretched composition, although apparently the work of an academic. It is possible that this production may have been of some service to Shakspeare: at present, no one appears to know what has become of it.

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"Will these mossed trees,

That have outlived the eagle, page thy heels?"

Act IV., Scene 3. "Aquile senectus" is a proverb. Turberville says that the great age of this bird has been ascertained from the circumstance of its always building its eyrie, or nest, in the same place.

"Willing misery

Outlives incertain pomp; is crowned before."

Act IV., Scene 3.

That is, arrives sooner at the completion of its wishes. So in a former scene of this play:

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given a specimen of the same power, by a line bitter beyond all bitterness, in which Timon tells Apemantus that he had not virtue enough for the vices he condemns.-I have heard," continues the critic, "Mr. Burke commend the subtlety of discrimination with which Shakspeare distinguishes the present character of Timon from that of Apemantus, whom, to vulgar eyes, he would now resemble."

"When thou wast in thy gilt and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much curiosity."— Act IV., Scene 3.

The word "curiosity" is here used in the sense of finical delicacy. So in Jervas Markham's "ENGLISH ARCADIA," 1606:-" For all those eye-charming graces, of which with such curiosity she hath boasted." And in Hobby's translation of Castiglione's "CORTEGIANO," 1556:"A waiting-gentlewoman should flee affection or curiosity." "Curiosity" is here inserted as a synonyme to "affection," which means affectation.

"Wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury.”—Act IV., Scene 3.

The fabulous account of the unicorn states, that he and the lion being enemies by nature, as soon as the lion sees the unicorn, he be takes himself to a tree: the unicorn, in his fury, and with all the swiftness of his course, running at him, sticks his horn fast in the tree, and then the lion falls upon him and kills him.

"Wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life.” — Act IV., Scene 3.

This seems to be an allusion to Turkish policy:-
"Bear like the Turk, no brother near the throne."- POPE.

"Yet thanks I must you con,

That you are thieves professed." — Act IV., Scene 3.

To "con thanks" is a common expression of the time; as, in "PIERCE PENNILESS HIS SUPPLICATION," by Nash, 1592:-"It is well done to practise thy wit; but I believe our lord will con thee little thanks for it."

"There is boundless theft

In limited professions."— Act IV., Scene 3. That is, in regular, orderly professions. So in " MACBETH:". "For 't is my limited service." Meaning, "My appointed service, prescribed by the necessary duty and rules of my office."

"Tis in the malice of mankind that he thus advises us; not to have us thrive in our mystery."- Act IV., Scene 3.

The "malice of mankind" means here, Timon's malicious hatred of mankind. "He does not give us this advice to pursue our trade of stealing, &c., from any goodwill to us, or a desire that we should thrive in our profession, but merely from the malicious enmity that he bears to the human race."

"Performance is ever the duller for his act; and, but in the plainer and simpler kind of people, the deed of saying is quite out of use."Act V., Scene 1.

That is, the doing of that which we have said we would do,- the accomplishment and performance of our promise, is for the most part out of use.

"It must be a personating of himself."— Act V., Scene 1. The word "personating" here signifies representation. The subject of the projected satire was Timon's case, not his person."

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Justice says to Falstaff, "Your means are very slender, and your waste is great."

"Here lies a wretched corse," &c.- Act V., Scene 5.

This epitaph is formed out of two distinct epitaphs which appear in North's "PLUTARCH." The first couplet is said by Plutarch to have been composed by Timon himself; the second to have been written by the poet Callimachus.

The remarks of Schlegel on this fine play are subjoined. They are worthy of the writer, although we think his estimate of the charac ter of Timon far more severe than is warranted by the incidents of the drama:

"Of all the works of Shakspeare, TIMON OF ATHENS' possesses most the character of a satire: a laughing satire, in the picture of the parasites and flatterers; and a Juvenalian, in the bitterness and the imprecations of Timon against the ingratitude of a false world. The story is treated in a very simple manner, and is definitely divided into large masses. In the first act, the joyous life of Timon; his noble and hospitable extravagance, and the throng of every description of suitors of him: in the second and third acts, his embarrassment, and the trial which he is thereby reduced to make of his supposed friends, who all desert him in the hour of need: in the fourth and fifth Acts, Timon's flight to the woods, his misanthropical melancholy, and his death. The only thing which may be called an episode, is the banishment of Alcibiades, and his return by force of arms. However, they are both examples of ingratitude: the one, of a state towards its defender; and the other, of private friends to their benefactor. As the merits of the general towards his fellow-citizens suppose more strength of character than those of the generous prodigal, their respective behaviors are no less different: Timon frets himself to death; Alcibiades regains his lost dignity by violence.

"If the poet very properly sides with Timon against the common

"I have a tree which grows here in my close."-Act V., Scene 2. This satirical stroke appears to be founded on a passage in Plutarch's" LIFE OF ANTONY:"-" It is reported of him also, that this Timon on a time (the people being assembled in the market-place practice of the world, he is, on the other hand, by no means disposed about despatch of some affairs), got up into the pulpit for orations, where the orators commonly use to speak unto the people; and silence being made, every man listening to hear what he would say, because it was a wonder to see him in that place, at length he began to speak in this manner:-'My lords of Athens, I have a little yard in my house, where there groweth a fig-tree, on the which many citizens have hanged themselves; and because I mean to make some building upon the place, I thought good to let you all understand it, that before the fig-tree be cut down, if any of you be desperate, you may there in time go hang yourselves." "

"All have not offended;

For those that were, it is not square to take

On those that are, revenge.” — Act V., Scene 5.

The correction in the folio, 1632, puts it as an interrogative appeal, and substitutes another word for the unusual expression, "it is not square:"

"All have not offended;

For those that were, is 't not severe to take

On those who are, revenge?"

Steevens altered "revenge" to revenges, for the sake of the metre, and very justifiably, since the word occurs just above in the plural, but the old corrector leaves it in the singular.

"Now the time is flush." Act V., Scene 5.

A bird is said to be "flush" when his feathers are grown and he can leave the nest.

"By humble message, and by promised means." Act I., Scene 5. That is, by promising him a competent subsistence. The Chief

to spare Timon. Timon was a fool in his generosity; he is a madman in his discontent; he is everywhere wanting in the wisdom which enables men in all things to observe the due measure. Although the truth of his extravagant feelings is proved by his death, and though, when he digs up a treasure, he spurns at the wealth which seems to solicit him, we yet see distinctly enough that the vanity of wishing to be singular, in both parts of the play, had some share in his liberal

self-forgetfulness, as well as in his anchoretical seclusion. This is particularly evident in the incomparable scene where the cynic Apemantus visits Timon in the wilderness. They have a sort of competition with each other in their trade of misanthropy; the cynic reproaches the impoverished Timon with having been merely driven by necessity to take to the way of living which he had been long following of his own free choice; and Timon cannot bear the thought of being merely an imitator of the cynic. As in this subject, the effect could only be produced by an accumulation of similar features, in the variety of the shades an amazing degree of understanding has been displayed by Shakspeare. What a powerfully diversified concert of flatteries, and empty testimonies of devotedness! It is highly amusing to see the suitors whom the ruined circumstances of their patron had dispersed, immediately flock to him again when they learn that he has been revisited by fortune. In the speeches of Timon after he is undeceived, all the hostile figures of language are exhausted; it is a dictionary of eloquent imprecation."

Alas! the error of hapless Timon lay not (as the critic supposes) in the "vanity of wishing to be singular," but in the humility of not perceiving that he really was so, in the boundless and unsuspecting generosity of his disposition. Timon is not to be considered an object of imitation: but it is plain, that had he not thought as well of others as of himself, he would not have been overwhelmed with horror and astonishment on the discovery of his fatal mistake.

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