Which manifold record not matches? See, Magick of bounty! all thefe fpirits thy power Hath conjur'd to attend. I know the merchant. Pain. I know them both; the other's a jeweller. Mer. O'tis a worthy lord! Jew. Nay, that's most fix'd. Mer. A moft incomparable man, breath'd as it were To an untirable and continuate goodness: He paffes Jew. I have a jewel here. Mer. O pray, let's fee't: for the lord Timon, fir? Few. If he will touch the estimate. But for thatPoet. When we for recompence bave prais'd the vile, It fondness for every thing ftrange, furprizing, and portentous; and, a difregard for whatever is common, or in nature. Shakespeare therefore has with great delicacy of judgment put his poetafter upon this inquiry. WARBURTON. The learned commentator's note muft fhift for itself. I cannot but think that this paffage is at present in confufion. The poet afks a question, and ftays not for an anfwer, nor has his question any apparent drift or confequence. I would range the paffage thus: Poet. Ay, that's well known. But what particular rarity? what so ftrange, Poet. Magick of bounty, &c. It may not be improperly obferved 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. Breathed is inured by conflant practice; fo trained as not to be wea ried. To breathe a horfe, is to exercife him for the courfe. -touch the effimate.] Come up to the price. JOHNSON. JOHNSON. • When we for recompence, &c.] We must here fuppofe the poet It fains the glory in that happy vcrfe Which aptly fings the good. Mer. 'Tis a good form. [Looking on the jewel, few. And rich: here is a water, look you. Pain. You are rapt, fir, in fome work, fome dedi To the great lord. Poet. A thing flipt idly from me. [cation The fire i' the flint Our poefy is as a gum, 7 which oozes From whence 'tis nourished. Shews not, 'till it be ftruck: our gentle flame Provokes itself, and, like the current flies Each bound it chafes. What have you there! Pain. A picture, fit. When comes your book forth? poet bufy in reading his own work; and that these three lines are the introduction of the poem addreffed to Timon, which he af terwards gives the painter an account of. 7 WARB. which oozes] The folio copy reads, which uses. The mo dern editors have given it, which iffues. JOHNSON. The folio copy reads, Our poefic is a goune which uses. 8 and like the current fles Each bound it chafes.] STELVENS. Thus the folio reads, and rightly. In later editions, chafes. WARBURTON. This fpeech of the poet is very obfcure. He feems to boast the copioufnefs and facility of his vein, by declaring that verfes drop from a poet as gums from odoriferous trees, and that his flame kindles itfelf without the violence neceffary to elicit fparkles from the flint. What follows next? that it, like a current, flies ea.h bound it chafes. This may mean, that it expands itself notwithflanding all obstructions: but the images in the comparison are fo ill-forted, and the effect fo obfcurely expreffed, that I cannot but think fomething omitted that connected the laft fentence with the former. It is well known that the players often shorten fpeeches to quicken the reprefentation; and it may be fufpected, that they fometimes performed their amputations with more hafte than judgment. JOHNSON. VOL. VIII. T Poet. 9 Poet. Upon the heels of my presentment, fir. Let's fee your piece. Pain. 'Tis a good piece. Poet. So 'tis. 1 This comes off well and excellent. Pain. Indifferent. 2 How this grace Poet. Admirable. How this Speaks • Upon the heels, &c.] As foon as my book has been presented to lord Timon. JOHNSON. This comes off well and excellent.] By this we are to underftand what the painters call the goings off of a picture, which requires the niceft execution. WARBURTON. The meaning is, C'eft bien relevè. The note I understand lefs than the text. This figure rifes well from the canvas. 2 -how this grace JOHNSON. Speaks its own ftanding?] This relates to the attitude of the figure; and means that it ftands judiciously on its own centre. And not only fo, but that it has a graceful ftanding likewife. Of which the poet in Hamlet fpeaking of another picture, says, A Station like the Herald, Mercury, which lines Milton feems to have had in view, where he says of Raphael, At once on th' caftern cliff of Paradife He lights, and to his proper shape returns. -Like Maia's fon he stood. WARE. This fentence feems to me obfcure, and, however explained, not very forcible. This grace fpeaks his own ftanding, is only, The gracefulness of this figure fhers how it ftands. I am inclined to think fomething corrupted. It would be more natural and clear thus: how this flanding Speaks his own graces? How this pofture displays its own gracefulness. But I will indulge conjecture further, and propofe to read, -how this grace Speaks understanding? what a mental power The This eye Speaks his own standing? What a mental power shoots forth? How big imagination Moves in this lip? To the dumbness of the gefture One might interpret. Pain. It is a pretty mocking of the life. Here is a touch. Is't good? Poet. I'll fay of it, It tutors Nature: 3 artificial ftrife Lives in those touches, livelier than life. Enter certain Senators. Pain. How this lord is followed! Poet. The fenators of Athens! happy men! Poet. You fee this confluence, this great flood of vifitors. I have, in this rough work, fhap'd out a man, The paffage, to my apprehenfion at least, speaks its own meaning, which is, how the graceful attitude of this figure proclaims that it ftands firm on its centre, or gives evidence in favour of its own fixure. Grace is introduced as bearing witness to propriety. 3-artificial strife] Strife for action or motion. Strife is either the contest or act with nature. Hic ille eft Raphael, timuit, quo ffpite vinci STEEVENS. WARB. Or it is the contraft of forms or oppofition of colours. JOHNS. + This confluence, this great flood of wifitors.] Mane falutantúm totis vomit ædibus undam. JOHNSON. Halts not particularly,] My design does not stop at any single characters. JOHNSON, In a wide fea of wax: 7 no levell'd malice. Pain. How fhall I understand you? 8 Poet. I'll unbolt to you. You fee, how all conditions, how all minds, 2 • In a wide fea of wax ;] Anciently they wrote upon waxen tables with an iron file. 7 HANMER. -no LEVEIL'D malice.] Why this epithet to malice? which belongs to all actions whatfoever, which have their aim or level. Shakespeare wrote, -no LEVEN'D malice, which is not only a proper epithet for the acidity of that paffion, but anfwers well to the next words infers, and leaving no tratt be kind, as any thing fermenting or corrofive does. WARBURTON. To level is to aim, to point the thot at a mark. Shakespeare's meaning is, my poem is not a fatire written with any particular view, or levelled at any fingle perfon; I fly like an eagle into the general expanfe of life, and leave not, by any private mischief, JOHNSON. the trace of my paffage. JOHNSON. 8 I'll unbolt-] I'll open, I'll explain. -glib and flipp'ry creatures,] Hanmer, and Warburton after him, read, natures. Slippery is fmoth, unrefifting. JOHNSON. '-glass-fac'd flatt'rer.] That shows in his own look, as by reJOHNSON. flection, the looks of his patron. 2 Even he drops down, &c.] Either Shakespeare meant to put & falfhood into the mouth of his poet, or had not yet thoroughly planned the character of Apemantus; for in the enfuing fcenes, his beSTEEVENS. haviour is as cynical to Timon as to the rest. Pain. |