And able horses. s No porter at his gate ;
But rather one that smiles, and still invites
All that pass by. It cannot hold; no reason
Can found his state in safety, Caphis, ho !
Caphis, I say !

Enter Capbis.
Caph. Here, fir; what is your pleasure ?
Sen. Get on your cloak, and haste you to lord

Timon; Importune him for my monies; be not ceas'd With Night denial ; nor then filenc'd, when“ Commend me to your master."—and the cap Plays in the right hand, thus :-But tell him, firrah, My uses cry to me, I must serve my turn Out of mine own; his days and times are past, And my reliances on his fracted dates, Has finit

my

credit. I I love, and honour him ;

S

which Theobald would alter, means only this. If I give my borse to Timon, i: immediately foals, and not only produces more, but able horses.

STEEVENS. No porter at bis gale; But rather one that fimiles, and fill invites] (imagine that a line is loft here, in which the behaviour of a furly porter was described.

JOHNSON. -Ro reason Can found bis fate in safety.--) The supposed meaning of this must be, No reason, by founding, fathoming, or trying, bis ftate, can find it safe. But as the words ftand, they imply, that no reason can safely found his fate. I read thus,

no reason Car found bis fiate in safety. Reason cannot find his fortune to have any safe or solid foundation.

The types of the first printer of this play were so work and defaced, that f and s are not always to be distinguished. JOHNSON.

Ponor then silenc'd,-) Thus the oldest copy, I would read, nor thou filenc'd,

T.T.

But

7

But must not break my back, to heal his finger :
Immediate are my needs, and my relief
Must not be cost and turn’d to me in words,
But find supply immediate. Get you gone:
Put on a most importunate aspect,
A visage of demand ; for, I do fear,
When every feather sticks in his own wing,
Lord Timon will be left a naked gull.
*Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.

Caph. I go, fir.
Sen. I go, fir ?-8 Take the bonds along with you,

, And have the dates in compt.

Caph. I will, fir.
Sen. Go.

[Exeunt. SCENE II.

Changes 10 Timon's ball. Enter Flavius, with many bills in his hand. Flav. No care, no stop! So senseless of expence, That he will neither know how to maintain it, Nor cease his flow of riot: Takes no account How things go from him; and resumes no care Of what is to continue. Never mind Was to be so unwise, to be so kind.

What • Which flashes, &c.] Which, the pronoun relative, relating to ibings, is frequently used, as in this instance, by Shakespeare, ina stead of who, the pronoun relative, applied to perfons. I he use of the former instead of the latter is Itill preserved in the Lord's prayer.

STEEVENS. Take the bonds along with you, And have the dates in. Come.] Certainly, ever since bonds were given, the date was put in when the bond was entered into: and these bonds Timon had already given, and the time limited for their payment was lapsed. The senator's charge to his servant must be to the tenour as I have amended the text; Take good notice of the dates, for the better computation of the interest due upon them. THEOBALD.

-Never mind
Was to be so unwise, to be so kind.)
VOL. VIII,

Х

Nothing

What shall be done ? He will not hear, till feel :
I must be round with him, now he comes from hunting.

Enter Capbis, with the servants of Isidore and Varro.
Fy, fy, fy, fy!
Caph. Good even, Varro. What, you come for
money?

Var.

Nothing can be worse, or more obscurely expressed: and all for the sake of a wretched rhime. To make it sense and grammar, ir Should be supplied thus,

-Never mind Was (made) to be so unwise, [in order to be so kind. i. e. Nature, in order to make a profuse mind, never before endowed any man with fo large a share of folly. WARBURTON.

Of this mode of expression conversation affords many examples : “ I was always to be blamed, whatever happened.” “I am in the lottery, but I was always to draw blanks." Johnson.

'Good even, Varro. -] It is obfervable, that this goed evening is before dinner ; for Timon tells Alcibiades, that they will go forth again as soon as dinner's done, which may prove that by dinner our author meant not the cæna of ancient times, but the mid-day's repait. I do not suppose the passage corrupt: such inadvertencies neither author nor editor can escape.

There is another remark to be made. Varro and IGdore fink a few lines afterwards inco the servants of Varro and Ifidore. Whe. ther servants, in our author's time, took the names of their masters, I know not. Perhaps it is a flip of negligence.

JOHNSON. In the old copy it stands, Enter Caphis, Tidore, and Varro.

STEEVENS Good even, or, as it is fometimes less accurately written, Gord den, was the usual falutation from noon, the moment that Good morrow became improper. This appears plainly from the following passage. Romeo and Juliet, A& II, Scene 4.

Nurse. God ye good morrow, gentlemen.
Mercurio. Gód ye good den, fair gentlewoman.
Nur. Is it good den?

Merc. 'Tis no lefs I tell you ; for the ..... hand of the dial is now upon ....noon. So in Hamlet's greeting to Marcellus. A& I. Scene 1. Sir T. Hanmer and Dr. Warburton, not being aware, I presume, of this wide sense of Good even, have altered it to Good morning; without

any

Var. Is't not your business too?
Caph. It is : And your's too, Isidore ?
Ifid. It is fo.
Caph. 'Would we were all discharg'd!
Var, I fear it.
Capb. Here comes the lord.

Enter Timon, and his train.
Tim. So soon as dinner's done, we'll forth again,
My Alcibiades.— With me, what is your will?

[They present their bills. Caph. My lord, here is a note of certain dues. Tim. Dues ? Whence are you? Caph. Of Athens here, my lord, . Tim. Go to my steward.

Capb. Please it your lordship, he hath put me off
To the succession of new days this month :
My master is awak'd by great occasion,
To call upon his own; and humbly prays you, ,
That with your other noble parts you'll suit,
In giving him his right.

Tim. Mine honest friend,
I pr'ythee, but repair to me next morning.

Caph. Nay, good my lord,
Tim. Contain thyself, good friend.
Var. One Varro's servant, my good lord,

lid. From Ifidore.
He humbly prays your speedy payment, —

Caph. If you did know, iy lord, my master's wants, Var. 'Twas due on forfeiture, my lord, six weeks,

And past.

Ihd. Your steward puts me off, my lord, and I any necessity, as from the course of the incidents, precedent and subsequent, the day may well be supposed to be turn'd of noon.

Observations and Conjectures, &c. printed at Oxford, 1766. * That with your other noble parts you'll fuir,] i. e. that you will behave on this occafion in a manner consistent with your other noble qualities.

STEEVENS.

Am sent expresy to your lordship.

Tim. Give me breath: - I do beseech you, good my lords, keep on;

(Exeunt Lords. I'll wait upon you instantly.--Come hither, pray you.

[To Flavius. How goes the world, that I am thus encountred, With clamorous demands of broken bonds, And the detention of long-since-due debts, Against my honour ?

Flav. Please you, gentlemen, The time is unagreeable to this business : Your importunacy cease, till after dinner ; That I may make his lordship understand Wherefore you are not paid. Tim. Do so, my friends. See them well entertain'd.

[Exit Timon. Flav, Pray draw near.

[Exit Flavius. Enter Apemantus and a Fool. Caph. Stay, stay, here comes the fool with Ape

mantus;
Let's have some sport with 'em.

Var. Hang him, he'll abuse us.
Ifid. A plague upon him, dog!
Var. How doft, fool?

Apem. Doft dialogue with thy shadow?
Var. I speak not to thee.
Apem. No, 'tis to thyself.-Come away.

[To the Fool. 3 of broken bonds,] The first folia reads, of debt; broken bonds,

STEEVENS. 4 Enter Apemantus and a Fol. I suspect some scene to be loft, in which the entrance of the fool, and the page that follows him, was prepared by some introductory dialogue, in which the audience was informed that they were the fool and page of Phrynia, Timandra, or some other courtesan, upon the knowledge of which des pends the greater part of the ensuing jocularity. JOHNSON.

Ifid.

6