Alc. I know thee well; But in thy fortunes am unlearn'd and strange. Tim. I know thee too; and more, than that I know thee, I not defire to know. Follow thy drum; With man's blood paint the ground, gules, gules: Then what should war be? This fell whore of thine Phry. Thy lips rot off! Tim. I will not kifs thee; then the rot returns To thine own lips again. Alc. How came the noble Timon to this change! Tim. As the moon does, by wanting light to give; But then renew I could not, like the moon; There were no funs to borrow of. Alc. Noble Timon, Alc. What is it, Timon? Tim. Promife me friendship, but perform none: If thou wilt not promife, the gods plague thee, For thou art a man! if thou dost perform, Confound thee, for thou art a man! Alc. I have heard in fome fort of thy miferies. Tim. Thou faw'ft them, when I had profperity. Alc. I fee them now; then was a bleffed time. Tim. As thine is now, held with a brace of harlots. Tyman. Is this the Athenian minion, whom the world' Voic'd fo regardfully? 3 I will not kifs thee;] This alludes to an opinion in former times, generally prevalent, that the venereal infection tranfmitted to another, left the infecter free. I will not, fays Timon, take the rot from thy lips by kifing thee. JOHNSON. 4 if thou wilt net promije, &c.] That is, however thou may`st act, fince thou art man, hated man, I wish thee evil. JORNSON. * - then was a blessed time.] I fufpect, from Timon's answer, that Shakspeare wrote-tbine was a blefied time. MALONE. Tim. Art thou Tymandra? Tyman. Yes. Tim. Be a whore ftill! they love thee not, that ufe thee; Give them diseases, leaving with thee their luft. Make ufe of thy falt hours: season the flaves For tubs, and baths; bring down rofe-cheeked youth, To the tub-faft, and the diet 7. 3 Be a whore fill! They love thee not that use thee; Give them difeafes, leaving with thee their luft: Tyman. Make ufe of thy falt bours, &c.] There is here a flight transpofition. I would read: -They love thee not that use thee, Leaving with thee their luft; give them difeafes, 6-bring down rofe-cheeked youth-] This expreffive epithet our authour might have found in Marlowe's Hero and Leander : "Rofe-cbeek'd Adonis kept a folemn feaft." MALONE. 7 To the tub-faft, and the diet.] Old Copy-fub-fast. Corrected by Dr. Warburton. The preceding line, and a paffage in Measure for Measure, fully fupport the emendation: "Truly, fir, the [the bawd] hath eaten up all her beef, and she is herfelf in the tub." "MALONE. The authour is alluding to the lues venerea, and its effects. At that time the cure of it was performed either by guaiacum, or mercurial unctions: and in both cafes the patient was kept up very warm and clofe; that in the first application the fweat might be promoted; and left, in the other, he should take cold, which was fatal. "The regimen for the course of guaiacum (fays Dr. Friend in his Hiftory of Phyfick, Vol. II. p. 380.) was at firft ftrangely circumftantial; and fo rigorous, that the patient was put into a dungeon in order to make him fweat; and in that manner, as Fallopius expreffes it, the bones, and the very man himself was macerated." Wifeman says, in England they used a tub for this purpose, as abroad, a cave, or oven, or dungeon. And as for the unction, it was fometimes continued for thirty-feven days (as he obferves, p. 375.) and during this time there was neceffarily an extraordinary abftinence required. Hence the term of the tub-fafi. WARBURTON. So, in Jasper Maine's City Match, 1639: "You had better match a ruin'd bawd, The diet was likewife a cuftomary term for the regimen prefcribed Tyman. Hang thee, monster! Alc. Pardon him, fweet Tymandra; for his wits In my penurious band: I have heard, and griev'd, Tim. I pr'ythee, beat thy drum, and get thee gone. I had rather be alone. Alc. Why, fare thee well: Here is fome gold for thee. Tim. Keep it, I cannot eat it. Alc. When I have laid proud Athens on a heap,- Alc. Ay, Timon, and have cause. Tim. The gods confound them all in thy conqueft; and Thee after, when thou haft conquer'd! Alc. Why me, Timon? Tim. That, by killing of villains, thou waft born To conquer my country. Put up thy gold; Go on,-here's gold,-go on; in thefe cafes. So, in a Collection of ancient Epigrams called the Maftive, &c.. "She took not diet, nor the fweat in feafon." Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pefile: 66 caught us, and put us in a tub, "Where we this two months fweat, &c. "This bread and water hath our diet been," &c. STEEVENS. Of the tub mentioned in this note, there is a print in Holme's Storebeufe of Armory and Blazon, with an account of it in Book III. ch. xi. p. 421, which the reader, whofe curiofity is alive to fuch fubjects, may be referred to. M. C. T. 8 ―trod upon them,] Hanmer reads—bad trod upon them. Shakpeare was not thus minutely accurate. MALONE. Be Be as a planetary plague, when Jove Will o'er fome high-vic'd city hang his poifon He is an ufurer: Strike me the counterfeit matron, Herfelf's a bawd: Let not the virgin's cheek 9 Be as a planetary plague, when Jove In the fick air: This is wonderfully fublime and picturesque. We meet with the fame image in King Richard 11: 66 —or suppose, WARBURTON. "Devouring peftilence bangs in our air." MALONE. 1 That through the window-bars bore at men's eyes,] The virgin that fhews her bofom through the lattice of her chamber. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnson's explanation is almost confirmed by the following paffage in Cymbelyne: 66 or let her beauty "Look through a cafement, to allure falfe bearts, "And be falfe with them." Shakspeare at the fame time might aim a ftroke at this indecency in the women of his own time, which is animadverted on by several contemporary dramatists. So, in the ancient interlude of the Repentance of Marie Magdalené, 1567: "Your garments must be worne alway, "That your white papps may be feene if you may.- "It will allure them to love, and foon bring them in. "I know them that will lay out their faire teates." And all this is addreffed to Mary Magdalen. STEEVENS. Our authour has again the fame kind of imagery in his Lover's Complaint: fpite of heaven's fell rage, "Some beauty peep'd through lattice of fear'd age." In the old copy bars is fpelt barne.-I do not believe any particular fatire was here intended. Lady Suffolk, Lady Somerset, and many of the celebrated beauties of the time of James I. are thus represented in their pictures; nor were they, I imagine, thought more reprehenfible than the ladies of the prefent day, who from the fame extravagant purfuit of what is called fashion, run into an oppofite extreme. MALONE. But But fet them down horrible traitors: Spare not the babe, Hath doubtfully pronounc'd thy throat fhall cut, Alc. Haft thou gold yet? I'll take the gold thou giv'ft me, Not all thy counfel. Tim. Doft thou, or doft thou not, heaven's curfe upon thee! Phr. and Tym. Give us fome gold, good Timon: Haft thou more? Tim. Enough to make a whore forfwear her trade, And to make whores, a bawd. Hold up, you fluts, Your aprons mountant: You are not oathable,Although, I know, you'll swear, terribly swear, Into ftrong fhudders, and to heavenly agues, The immortal gods that hear you,-fpare your oaths, exhaust their mercy ;] For exhauft, Sir T. Hanmer, and after him Dr. Warburton, read extort; but exbauft here fignifies literally to draw forth. JOHNSON. 3-a baftard,] An allufion to the tale of Oedipus. JOHNSON. 4thy throat-] Old Copy-the throat. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 5 Swear against objects ;] So, in our author's 1523 Sonnet: "Or made them fwear against the thing they fee." STEEVENS. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads: 'gainst all objects: Perhaps objects is here ufed provincially for abjets. FARMER. And to make bores, a bawd.] That is, enough to make a rubore leave whoring, and a bawd leave making wobores. JOHNSON. 7 The immortal gods that bear you,] The fame thought is found in Antony and Cleopatra, A&t I. fc. iii ? "Though you with fwearing shake the throned gods.” Again, in the Winter's Tale : "Though you would feek to unfphere the ftars with oaths." STEEVENS. |