It is her habit only that is honeft, Herfelf's a bawd. Let not the virgin's cheek Set them down horrible traitors. Spare not the babe, Hath doubtfully pronounc'd thy throat fhall cut, Alc. Haft thou gold yet? gone. I'll take the gold thou giv'ft me, not thy counfel. Tim. Doft thou, or doft thou not, heav'n's curfe upon thee! Both. 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 2 That through the windowbarn] How the words come to be blundered into this ftrange nonfenfe, is hard to conceive. But it is plain Shakespear wrote, -Window lawn-i. e. lawn almost as tranfparent as glafs windows. WARB. The reading is more probably window-bars. The virgin that fhows her bofom through the lattice of her chamber. 3 -exhaust their mercy;] For exbauft, Sir Í. Hanmer, and after him Dr.Warburton, read extort; but exbauft here fignifies literally to draw forth: baftard] An allufion to the tale of Oedipus. 4 And to make whore a bawd] The power of gold, indeed, may be fuppos'd great, that can make a whore forfake her trade; but what mighty difficulty was there in making a whore turn bawd? And yet, 'tis plain, here he is defcribing the mighty power, of gold. He had before fhewn, how gold can perfuade to any villany; he now fhews that it has ftill a greater force, and can even turn from vice to the practice, or, Your aprons mountant; you're not othable, And be no turn-coats. • Yet may your pains fix months be quite contrary. And thatch or, at least, the femblance of virtue. We must therefore read, to restore fenfe to our authour, And to make whole a Bawdi.. not only make her quit her calling, but thereby reitore her to reputation. WARBURTON. The old edition reads, And to make whores a bawd. That is, enough to make a whore leave whoring, and a bawd leave making whores. 5 I'll truft to your conditions.] You need not swear to continue whores, I will trust to your inclinations. yet may your pains fix months Be quite contrary-] This is obfcure, partly from the ambiguity of the word pains, and partly from the generality of the expreffion. The meaning is this, he had faid before, follow conftantly your trade of debauchery: that is, (fays he) for fix months in the year. Let the other fix be employed in quite contrary pains and labour, namely, in the fevere difcipline neceffary for the repair of thofe diforders that VOL. VI. Your your debaucheries occafion, in order to fit you anew to the trade; and thas let the whole year be fpent in thefe different occupations. On this account he goes on, and fays, Make falje hair, &c. But for, pains fix months, the Oxford Editor reads, pains exterior. What he means I know not. WARBURTON. The explanation is ingenious, but I think it very remote, and would willingly bring the authour and his readers to meet on eafier terms. We may read, yet may your pains fix months Be quite contraried." Timon is wifhing ill to mankind, but is afraid left the whores fhould imagine that he wishes well to them; to obviate v nich he lets them know, that he imprecates upon them influence enough to plague others, and difappointments enough to plague themfelves. He wishes that they may do all poffible mifchief, and yet take pains fix months of the year in vain. In this fenfe there is a connection of this line with the next. Finding R Your poor thin roofs with burdens of the dead, Wear them, betray with them, and whore on ftill; Both. Well, more gold-What then? In hollow bones of man, ftrike their sharp fhins, Nor found his quillets fhrilly. Hoar the Flamen, And not believes himfelf. Down with the nofe, 8 Of him, that his particular to foresee Finding your pains contraried, try new expedients, thatch your thin rocfs and paint. To contrary is an old verb. Latymer relates, that when he went to court, he was advised not to contrary the king. 7-mens spurring.] Hanmer reads parring, properly enough, if there be any ancient example of the word. 8- that his particular to FORESEE] In this beautiful paffage there is a ftrange jumble of metaphors. To fmell in order 10 forefee, is ufing the benefit of the fenfes in a very abfurd way. The fenfe too, is as bad as the expreffion: Men do not forfake and betray the public in order to forjee their own particular advantage, but to provide for it. Farejeeing is not the confequence of betraying, but one of the caufes of it. Without doubt we fhould read, The metaphor is apparently incongruous, but the fenfe is good. To forefee his particular, is to provide for his private advantage, for which he leaves the right Jcent of public good. In hunting, when hares have cross'd one another, it is common for fome of the hounds to Smell from the general weal, and forefce their own particular. Shakespear, who seems to have been a fkilful fportfman, and has alluded often to falconry, perhaps alludes here to hunting. To the commentator's emen-. dation it may be objected, that he Smells from the gen'ral weal. Make curl'd fians bald, pate ruf And let the unfcarr'd braggarts of the war Both. More counfel with more money, bounteous Tim. More whore, more mischief, firft. you earnest. I've given Alc. Strike up the drum tow'rds Athens. Farewel, Timon; If I thrive well, I'll vifit thee again. Tim. If I hope well, I'll never fee thee more. Tim. Yes, thou fpok'ft well of me. Alc. Call'st thou that harm? Tim. Men daily find it. Get thee hence. Away, And take thy beagles with thee. Alc. We but offend him. Strike. [Drums beat. Exeunt Alcibiades, Phrynia and Timandra. Tim. [Digging.] That nature, being fick of man's unkindness, Should yet be hungry!-Common mother, thou ? Whose womb unmeafurable, and infinite breast he used forefend in the wrong meaning. To forefend is, I think, never to provide for, but to provide againft. The verbs compounded with for or fore have commonly either an evil or negative fenfe. Teems, 9 Whofe womb unmeasurable, and infinite breaft] This i mage is taken from the ancient ftatues of Diana Ephefia Multimammia, called avalonos quois πάντων Μήτης; and is a very good comment on thofe extraorR 2 dinary Teems, and feeds all; oh thou! whofe felf-fame metal, Never prefented-O, a root-Dear thanks! 4 Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas, Whereof dinary figures. See Mountfaucon. Antiquité expliquée, lib. 3. c. 15. Hefiod, alluding to the fame reprefentations, calls the earth ΓΑΙ ΕΥΡΥΣΤΕΡΝΟΣ. WARBURTON. 1Eyeless venom'd worm;] The ferpent which we, from the fmallness of his eyes, call the blind worm, and the Latins, Cæcilia. 2 below CRISP heav'n,] We fhould read cript, i. e. vaulted, from the Latin Crypta, a vault. WARBURTON. Mr. Upton declares for crifp, curled, bent, hollow. 3 Let it no more bring out ungrateful man.] This is an abfurd reading. Shakespear wrote, -bring out to ungrateful man, i.e. fruits for his fuftenance and fupport; but let it rather teem with monsters to his deftruction. Nor is it to be pretended that this alludes to the fable: For he is fpeaking of what the earth now brings forth; which thought he repeats afterwards, Dry up thy barrow'd veins, and plow-torn leas, &c. WARBURTON It is plain that bring out is bring forth, with which the following lines correfpond fo plainly, that the commentator may be fufpected of writing his note without reading the whole paffage. 4 Dry up thy MARROWS, voins and plow-torn leas,] The integrity of the metaphor abfolutely requires that we should read, Dry up thy HARROW'D veins, and plow-torn leas. Mr. Theobald owns that this gives a new beauty to the verse, yet as unctious morfels follows, marrows might have gone before, and mean the fat of the land. That is, because there is a metaphor afterwards that suits it, it may be admitted, tho' it violates the metaphor in the place it is afed |