which, as Mr. Collier says, apparently points to some scene wherein Timon had been represented; and he is again mentioned, in a way to show that his peculiarities were well understood, in the play of "Jack Drum's Entertainment," printed in 1601 :-" But if all the brewers' jades in the town can drag me from the love of myself, they shall do more than e'er the seven wise men of Greece could. Come, come; now I'll be as sociable as Timon of Athens."

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Athens. A Hall in Timon's House.

POET. Good day, sir.

PAIN.

Enter Poet and Painter.

I am glad you're well.

POET. I have not seen you long; how goes the world?
PAIN. It wears, sir, as it grows.

POET.

Ay, that's well known;

But what particular rarity? what strange,

Which manifold record not matches?-See,

Enter Jeweller, Merchant, and others, at several doors.

Magic of bounty! all these spirits thy power

Hath conjur'd to attend. I know the merchant.

PAIN. I know them both; the other 's a jeweller.
MER. O, 't is a worthy lord!

JEW.

Nay, that's most fix'd.

MER. A most incomparable man; breath'd, as it were, To an untirable and continuate goodness,

He passes.a

JEW. I have a jewel here

MER. O, pray, let's see 't: for the lord Timon, sir?

JEW. If he will touch the estimate: but, for that—

POET. [Reciting aside.] When we for recompense have prais'd the

vile,

It stains the glory in that happy verse

Which aptly sings the good.

MER.

"T is a good form. [Looking at the jewel.

JEW. And rich: here is a water, look ye.

PAIN. You are rapt, sir, in some work, some dedication To the great lord.

POET.

A thing slipp'd idly from me.

Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes

From whence 't is nourished. The fire i' the flint

Shows not, till it be struck; our gentle flame

In the accepted reading of this passage, a colon is placed after "goodness," and the phrase "He passes," interpreted to mean, he surpasses or exceeds, is made a separate member of the sentence. From the expressions "breath'd" and "untirable," it may well be questioned, however, whether "He passes" should not be immediately connected with what goes before, and be understood in the same sense, of runs, which it bears in "Henry V." Act II. Sc. 1:-" He passes some humours and careers."

Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes-] In the old text the latter portion of this line is ludicrously misprinted, "-as a Gowne, which uses," &c. Pope corrected youne to "gum," and Johnson very happily changed uses to "oozes."

Provokes itself, and, like the current, flies

Each bound it chafes.* What have you there?
PAIN. A picture, sir.-When comes your book forth?
POET. Upon the heels of my presentment, sir.
Let's see your piece.

PAIN.

"Tis a good piece.

POET. So 'tis: this comes off well and excellent.
PAIN. Indifferent.

POET.

Admirable! how this grace

Speaks his own standing! what a mental power
This eye shoots forth! how big imagination
Moves in this lip! to the dumbness of the gesture
One might interpret.

PAIN. It is a pretty mocking of the life.
Here is a touch; is 't good?

POET.

I'll say of it,

It tutors nature: artificial strife

Lives in these touches, livelier than life.

Enter certain Senators, and pass over.

PAIN. How this lord is follow'd!

POET. The senators of Athens:-happy men!a

PAIN. Look, more!†

POET. You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors.

I have, in this rough work, shap'd out a man,

Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug

With amplest entertainment: my free drift
Halts not particularly, but moves itself
In a wide sea of wax: no levelled malice
Infects one comma in the course I hold;
But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on,
Leaving no track behind.

I'll unbolt to you.

PAIN. How shall I understand you?
POET.
You see how all conditions, how all minds,
(As well of glib and slippery creatures, as
Of grave and austere quality) tender down
Their services to lord Timon: his large fortune,
Upon his good and gracious nature hanging,
Subdues and properties to his love and tendance
All sorts of hearts; yea, from the glass-fac'd flatterer
To Apemantus, that few things loves better
Than to abhor himself; even he drops down
The knee before him, and returns in peace,
Most rich in Timon's nod.

(*) Old text, chases.

(+) Old text, moe.

Happy men!] Theobald reads "happy man," perhaps rightly.

In a wide sea of wax:] The allusion is presumed to point to the Roman practice of writing on waxen tablets: a practice prevalent in England until about the end of the fourteenth century; but the word wax is more probably a misprint, though not certainly, for verse, which Mr. Collier's annotator substitutes for it.

Properties-] Appropriates. See note (*), p. 280, Vol. III.

PAIN.

I saw them speak together.

POET. Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant hill,
Feign'd Fortune to be thron'd: the base o' the mount
Is rank'd with all deserts, all kind of natures,
That labour on the bosom of this sphere
To propagate their states: amongst them all,
Whose eyes are on this sovereign lady fix'd,
One do I personate of lord Timon's frame,
Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to her;
Whose present grace to present slaves and servants
Translates his rivals.

PAIN.

"T is conceiv'd to scope.

This throne, this Fortune, and this hill, methinks,
With one man beckon'd from the rest below,
Bowing his head against the steepy mount
To climb his happiness, would be well express'd
In our condition.a

РОЕТ.

Nay, sir, but hear me on:

All those which were his fellows but of late,
(Some better than his value,) on the moment
Follow his strides, his lobbies fill with tendance,
Rain sacrificial whisperings in his ear,

Make sacred even his stirrup, and through him
Drink the free air,—

PAIN.

Ay, marry, what of these?

POET. When Fortune, in her shift and change of mood,

Spurns down her late beloved, all his dependants,

Which labour'd after him to the mountain's top,

Even on their knees and hands,* let him slip down,

Not one accompanying his declining foot.

PAIN. "T is common:

A thousand moral paintings I can show,

That shall demonstrate these quick blows of fortune's
More pregnantly than words. Yet you do well,

To show lord Timon that mean eyes have seen

The foot above the head.

Trumpets sound. Enter TIMON, (1) attended; the Servant of

TIM.

VENTIDIUS talking with him.

Imprison'd is he, say you?

VEN. SERV. Ay, my good lord: five talents is his debt

His means most short, his creditors most strait :

Your honourable letter he desires

To those have shut him up; which failing,

Periods his comfort.

TIM.

Noble Ventidius! Well,

(*) First folio, hand.

let him sit downe;" the necessary

In our condition.] Condition here means, profession or art. b Let him slip down,-] The old text has,

alteration was made by Rowe.

Talking with him.] The old stage direction is, "Trumpets sound. Enter Lord Timon, addressing himselfe curteously to every Sutor."

I am not of that feather to shake off

My friend when he most needs me. I do know him
A gentleman that well deserves a help,

Which he shall have: I'll pay the debt, and free him.
VEN. SERV. Your lordship ever binds him.

TIM. Commend me to him: I will send his ransom;
And, being enfranchis'd, bid him come to me:-

"Tis not enough to help the feeble up,

But to support him after.-Fare you well.
VEN. SERV. All happiness to your honour!

Enter an old Athenian.

OLD ATH. Lord Timon, hear me speak.

TIM.

[Exit.

Freely, good father.

OLD ATH. Thou hast a servant nam'd Lucilius.

TIM. I have so: what of him?

OLD ATH. Most noble Timon, call the man before thee.
TIM. Attends he here, or no?-Lucilius!

Enter LUCILIUS.

Luc. Here, at your lordship's service.

OLD ATH. This fellow here, lord Timon, this thy creature, By night frequents my house. I am a man

That from my first have been inclin'd to thrift;

And my estate deserves an heir more rais'd,

Than one which holds a trencher.

TIM.

Well; what further?

OLD ATH. One only daughter have I, no kin else,
On whom I may confer what I have got:
The maid is fair, o' the youngest for a bride,
And I have bred her at my dearest cost,
In qualities of the best. This man of thine
Attempts her love: I pr'ythee, noble lord,
Join with me to forbid him her resort;
Myself have spoke in vain.

TIM.

The man is honest.

OLD ATH. Therefore he will be, Timon:

His honesty rewards him in itself,

It must not bear my daughter.

• When he most needs me.] So the folio 1664; that of 1623 reads:

b Therefore he will be, Timon:] The meaning is not apparent. Malone construes it, "Therefore he will continue to be so, and is sure of being sufficiently rewarded by the consciousness of virtue." But this, too, is inexplicit. We should perhaps read,"Therefore he will be Timon's," &c., that is, he will continue to be in the service of so noble a master, and thus, his virtue will reward itself: or it is possible the words, "Therefore he will be," may originally have formed part of Timon's speech, and the dialogue have run thus:

In a text so lamentably imperfect as that of the present play, a more than ordinary licence of conjecture is permissible.