TIM. Pr'ythee, no more. FLAV. Heavens, have 1 faid, the bounty of this lord! How many prodigal bits have flaves, and peasants, Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon? TIM. Come, fermon me no further: No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart; Unwifely, not ignobly, have I given. 9 Why doft thou weep? Canft thou the confcience lack, To think I fhall lack friends? Secure thy heart; 8 Who is not Timon's?] Í fuppose we ought to read, for the sake of measure: Who is not lord Timon's? STEEVENS. 9 No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart; Unwifely, not ignobly, kave I given. ] Every reader must rejoice in this circumftance of comfort which prefents itself to Timon, who, although beggar'd through want of prudence, confoles bimfelf with reflection that his ruin was not brought on by the purfuit bf guilty pleafures. STEVENS. 2 And try the argument The licentioufnefs of our author forces us often upon far-fetched expofitions. Arguments may mean contents, as the arguments of a book; or evidences and proofs. JOHNSON. The matter contained in a poem or play was in our author's time commonly thus denominated. The contents of his Rape of Lucrece, which he certainly published himself, he calls The Argument. Hence undoubtedly his ufe of the word. IfI would, fays Timon, by borrowing, try of what men's hearts are composed, what they Men, and men's fortunes, could I frankly use, FLAV. 3 Afsurance bless your thoughts! TIM. And, in fome fort, thefe wants of mine are crown'd, That I account them bleffings; for by these 6 Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Servants. SERV. My lord, my lord, - TIM. I will defpatch you feverally. You, to lord Lucius, - To lord Lucullus you; I hunted with his Honour to-day; - You, to Sempronius; Commend me to their loves; and, I am proud, fay, - argument, not, as Dr. have in them, &c. The old copy reads Johnfon fuppofed arguments. MALONE. So, in Hamlet: "Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in it?" Many more inftauces to the fame purpose might be fubjoined. STEEVENS. 3 As I cau bid thee Speak] Thus the old copy; but it being clear from the overloaded measure that these words are a playhouse interpolation, I would not hesitate to omit them. They are underflood, though not expreffed. STEEVENS. crown'd, i. c. dignified, adorned, made refpe&able. So, in King Henry VIII: "And yet no day without a deed to crown it. ' STEEVENS. Within there, ho!] Ho, was fupplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer. The frequency of Shakspeare's use of this interje&ion, needs no examples. STFEVENS. 6 Flaminius! The old copy has — Flavius. The correction was made by Mr. Rowe. The error probably arofe from Fle. only being fet down in the MS. MALONE. That my occafions have found time to use them FLAM. [Afide. TIM. Go you, fir, [To another Serv. ] to the fe nators, 8 (Of whom, even to the ftate's best health, I have FLAV. TIM. Is't true? can it be? FLAV. They answer, in a joint and corporate voice, 2 That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot Do what they would; are forry-you are honour But yet they could have wifh'd-they know notbut 3 Something hath been amifs a noble nature lord Lucullus? ] As the fteward is repeating the words of Timon, I have not fcrupled to fupply the title lord, which is wanting in the old copy, though neceffary to the metre. STEEVENS. Go you, fir, to the fenators,] To complete the line, we might read, as in the firft fcene of this play: 9 the fenators of Athens. STEEVENS. I knew it the most general way, ] General is not speedy, but compendious, the way to try many at a time. JOHNSON. -` at fall, ] i. e. at an ebb. STEEVENS. 3 but -] was fupplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to come plete the verse. STEVENS. May catch a wrench would all were well 'tis pity And fo, intending 4 other ferious matters, After diftafteful looks, and thefe hard fractions, 5 With certain half-caps, and cold-moving nods," They froze me into filence. TIM. You gods, reward them! I pr'ythee, man, look cheerly: Thefe old fellows Have their ingratitude in them hereditary: Their blood is cak'd, 'tis cold, it feldom flows; 'Tis lack of kindly warmth, they are not kind; intending is regarding, turning their nolice to other things. JOHNSON. To intend and to attend had anciently the fame meaning. So, in The Spanish Curate of Beaumont and Fletcher: "Good fr, intend this bufinefs. See Vol. VII. p. 145, n. 6. STEEVENS. So, in Wits, Fits, and Fancies, &c. 1595: "Tell this man that I am going to dinner to my lord maior, and that I cannot now intend his tittle-tattle. Again, in Pafquil's Night-Cap, a poem, 1623; 191 MALONE. and thefe hard fractions,] Flavius, by fractions, means broken hints, interrupted sentences, abrupt remarks. JOHNSON. half-caps, A half-cap is a cap flightly moved, not put off. JOHNSON. 6 7 cold-moving nods, ] By cold-moving I do not underftand with Mr. Theobald, chilling or cold-producing nods, but a flight motion of the head, without any warmth or cordiality. Cold-moving is the fame as coldly-moving. So perpetual fober gods, for perpetually fober; lazy-pacing clouds, loving-jealous flattering Sweet, &c. Such diftant and uncourteous falutations are properly termed cold-moving, as proceeding from a cold and unfriendly difpofition. MALONE. 8 Hape their ingratitude in them hereditary: Hereditary, for by natural conftitution. But fome distempers of natural conftitution being called hereditary, he calls their ingratitude fo. WARBURTON, And nature, as it grows again toward earth, -- 2 Thou art true, and honeft; ingenioufly I fpeak, No blame belongs to thee:-[To Serv.] Ventidius lately Bury'd his father; by whofe death, he's stepp'd Imprifon'd, and in fcarcity of friends, I clear'd him with five talents: Greet him from me; Bid him fuppofe, fome good neceffity 3 Touches his friend, which craves to be remem ber'd With thofe five talents that had, [TO FLAVIUS,] give it these fellows To whom 'tis inftant due, Ne'er fpeak, or think, That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can fink. And nature, as it grows again toward earth, Is fashion'd for the journey, dull, and heavy. ] The fame thought occurs in The Wife for a Month of Beaumont and Fletcher': Befide, the fair foul's old too, it grows covetous, "Which shows all honour is departed from us, And we are earth again. " STEEVENS. - ingeniously Ingenious was anciently ufed inftead of ingenuous. So, in The Taming of a Shrew : "A courfe of learning and ingenious ftudies.' REED. 3 Bid him fuppofe, fome good neceffity Touches his friend,] Good, as it may afford Ventidius an opportunity of exercising his bounty, and relieving his friend, in return for his former kindness : — or, fome honeft neceffity, not the confequence of a villainous and ignoble bounty. I rather think this latter is the meaning. MALONE, So afterwards: If this occafion were not virtuous, STEEVENS. |