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ACT II. SCENE I.

The fame. A Room in a Senator's Houfe.

Enter a Senator, with papers in his hand.

Sen. And late, five thousand to Varro; and to Ifidore, He owes nine thousand ;-befides my former fum, Which makes it five and twenty.-Still in motion Of raging wafte? It cannot hold; it will not. If I want gold, fteal but a beggar's dog, And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold: If I would fell my horfe, and buy twenty more Better than he, why, give my horfe to Timon, Afk nothing, give it him, it foals me, ftraight, And able horfes: No porter at his gate; But rather one that smiles3, and ftill invites

2- it foals me, ftraight,

All

And able borses:] If I give my borse to Timon, it immediately foals, and not only produces more, but able borses. The fame construction occurs in Much ado about Nothing: "and men are only turned into tongue, and trim ones too." Something fimilar occurs also in B. and Fletcher's Humorous Lieutenant :

❝ fome twenty young and handfome,

"As also able maids, for the court and fervice." STREVENS. Perhaps the letters of the word me were tranfpofed at the prefs. Shakspeare might have written:

—it foals 'em ftraight,

And able horfes.

If there be no corruption in the text, the word twenty in the preceding line, is understood here after me.

We have had this fentiment differently expreffed in the preceding act: "no meed but he repays

"Seven-fold above itfelf; no gift to him,

But breeds the giver a return exceeding

"All use of quittance." MALONE.

3- No porter at bis gate j

But rather one that smiles, &c.] I imagine that a line is loft here, in which the behaviour of a furly porter was defcribed. JOHNSON. There is no occafion to fuppofe the lofs of a line. Sternness was the characteristick of a porter. There appeared at Killingworth castle, [1575,] "a porter, tall of parfon, big of lim, and flearn of countinauns." FARMER.

[blocks in formation]

All that pass by. It cannot hold; no reafon
Can found his state in fafety. Caphis, ho!
Caphis, I fay!

Enter CAPHIS.

Caph. Here, fir; What is your pleasure ?

Sen. Get on your cloak, and hafte you to lord Timon;
Impórtune him for my monies; be not ceas'ds
With flight denial; nor then filenc'd, when-
Commend me to your mafter-and the cap

Plays in the right hand, thus :-but tell him, firrah*,
My ufes cry to me, 1 muft ferve my turn
Out of mine own; his days and times are paft,
And my reliances on his fracted dates

Have fmit my credit: I love, and honour him;
But muft not break my back, to heal his finger:
Immediate are my needs; and my relief
Must not be toft and turn'd to me in words,
But find fupply immediate. Get you gone:
Put on a most importunate afpéct,

A vifage of demand; for, I do fear,
When every feather sticks in his own wing,

The word one in the fecond line does not refer to porter, but means a perfon. He has no ftern forbidding porter at his gate to keep people out, but a person who invites them in. MASON.

4- no realon

Can found bis ftate in fafety.] In my copy of the first folio the word appears to be found. I have printed found for the reafon affigned by Dr. Johnson. MALONE.

The fuppofed meaning of "Can found his ftate," &c. must be, No reafon, by founding, fathoming, or trying, bis ftate, can find it safe. But as the words ftand, they imply, that no reason can safely found bis State. I read thus:

-no reason

Can found bis ftate in fafety.

Reafon cannot find his fortune to have any safe or folid foundation. The types of the first printer of this play were fo worn and defaced, that f and fare not always to be distinguished. JOHNSON.

-be not ceas'd] i. e. ftopp'd. So, in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607:

"Why should Tiberius' liberty be ceas'd." STEEVENS. -firrab,] was added for the fake of the metre by the editor of the fecond folio. MALONE.

Lord

Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,
Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.
Caph. I go, fir.

Sen. I go, fir?-take the bonds along with you,
And have the dates in compt.

Caph. I will, fir.

Sen. Go.

SCENE II.

The fame. A Hall in Timon's Houfe.

[Exeunt.

Enter FLAVIUS, with many bills in his hand.
Flav. No care, no ftop! fo fenfeless of expence,
That he will neither know how to maintain it,
Nor ceafe his flow of riot: Takes no account
How things go from him; nor resumes no care
Of what is to continue; Never mind

Was to be fo unwife, to be fo kind'.

What

6 — a naked gull,] A gull is a bird as remarkable for the poverty of its feathers, as a phoenix is fuppofed to be for the richness of its plumage. STEEVENS.

7 Which flabes, &c.] Which, the pronoun relative, relating to things, is frequently ufed, as in this inftance, by Shakspeare, inftead of who, the pronoun relative, applied to perfons. The ufe of the former instead of the latter is still preferved in the Lord's prayer. STEEVENS. take the bonds along with you,

8

And bave the dates in compt.] The old copy reads have the dates in. Come. The correction was made by Mr. Theobald. MALONE. Certainly, ever fince bonds were given, the date was put in when the bond was entered into: and thefe bonds Timon had already given, and the time limited for their payment was lapfed. The Senator's charge to his fervant 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.

Theobald's emendation may be supported by the following inftance in Macbeth:

"Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt." STEEVENS.

- Never mind

Was to be fo unwife, to be so kind.] Nothing can be worse, or more obfcurely expreffed and all for the fake of a wretched rhime. To make it fenfe and grammar, it should be fupplied thus:

:

D 3

Never

What shall be done? He will not hear, till feel:

I must be round with him, now he comes from hunting.
Fye, fye, fye, fye!

Enter CAPHIS, and the fervants of Ifidore and Varro.
Caph. Good even, Varro': What,
You come for money?

Never mind

Was [made] to be fo unwife, [in order] to be fo kind.

i. e. Nature, in order to make a profufe mind, never before endowed any man with fo large a fhare of folly. WARBURTON.

Of this mode of expreffion, converfation affords many examples: "I was always to be blamed, whatever happened.” “I am in the lottery, but I was always to raw blanks." JOHNSON.

1 Good even, Varro:] It is obfervable, that this good evening is before dinner for Timon tells Alcibiades, that they will go forth again as foon as dinner's done, which may prove that by dinner our author meant not the cœna of ancient times, but the mid-day's repaft. I do not fuppofe the paffage corrupt: fuch inadvertencies neither author nor editor can escape.

There is another remark to be made. Varro and Ifidore fink a few Pines afterwards into the fervants of Varro and Ifidore. Whether fervants, in our author's time, took the names of their mafters, I know not. Perhaps it is a flip of negligence. JOHNSON.

In like manner in the fourth fcene of the next at the fervant of Lucius is called by his master's name; but our author's intention is fufficiently manifested by the stage-direction in the fourth fcene of the third act, where we find in the first folio, (p. 86. col. 2.) “Enter Varro's man, meeting others." I have therefore in the present edition always annexed Serv. to the name of the master. MALONE.

In the old copy it ftands: Enter Capbis, Ifidore, and Varro. STEEV. Good even, or, as it is fometimes lefs accurately written, Good den, was the ufual falutation from noon, the moment that Good-morrow became improper. This appears plainly from the following paffage. Romeo and Juliet, A& II. fc. iv:

"Nurfe. God ye good morrow, gentlemen.

"Mercutio. God 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. ... neon."

So, in Hamlet's greeting to Marcellus. At I. fc. i. Sir Thomas Hanmer and Dr. Warburton, not being aware, I prefume, of this wide fenfe of Good even, have altered it to Good morning; without any neceffity, as from the course of the incidents, precedent and fubfequent, the day may well be supposed to be turn'd of noon. TYRWHITT.

Var. Serv. Is't not your business too?
Caph. It is;-And yours too, Ifidore?
Ifid. Serv. It is fo.

Caph. 'Would we were all discharg'd!
Var. Serv. I fear it.

Caph. Here comes the lord.

Enter TIMON, ALCIBIADES, and Lords, &c.
Tim. So foon as dinner's done, we'll forth again",
My Alcibiades. With me? What is your will?
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 fteward.

Caph. Please it your lordship, he hath put me off
To the fucceffion of new days this month:

My mafter is awak'd by great occafion,

To call upon his own; and humbly prays you,
That with your other noble parts you'll fuit 3,
In giving him his right.

Tim. Mine honest friend,

I pr'ythee, but repair to me next morning.
Capb. Nay, good my lord,-

Tim. Contain thyfelf, good friend.

Var. Serv. One Varro's fervant, my good lord,➡
Ifid. Serv. From Ifidore;

we'll forth again,] i. e. to hunting, from which diverfion we find by Flavius's fpeech he was just returned. It may be here observed, that in our author's time it was the custom to hunt as well after dinner as before. Thus, in Laneham's Account of the Entertainment at Kenelsworth Castle, we find that Queen Elizabeth always while there, hunted in the afternoon. "Monday was hot, and therefore her highnes kept in till five o'clock in the evening; what time it pleafed her to ryde forth into the chafe, to hunt the hart of fors; which found anon, and after fore chafed," &c. Again: "Monday the 18 of this July, the weather being hot, her highness kept the castle for coolness till about five o'clock; her majesty in the chase hunted the hart (as before) of fors." So, in Tancred and Gismund, 1592, Act II. fc. i:

He means this evening in the park to hunt." REED. 3 That with your orber noble parts you'll fuit,] i. e. that you will behave on this occafion in a manner confiftent with your other noble qualities. STEEVENA.

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