thing was more common than for women to entice such as had fine locks into private places, and there to cut them off. I have this information from Stubbes's Anatomie of Abuses, which I have often quoted on the article of dress. STEEVENS. Line 303. that his particular to foresee.] The metaphor is apparently incongruous, but the sense is good. To foresee his particular, is to provide for his private advantage, for which he leaves the right scent of public good. JOHNSON.

Line 311. And ditches grave you all!] To grave is to entomb. The word is now obsolete, though sometimes used by Shakspeare and his contemporary authors. STEEVENS.

Line 333. —eyeless venom'duorm,] The serpent, which we, from the smallness of his eyes, call the blind-worm, and the Latins, cæcilia. JOHNSON. Line 334. below crisp heaven-] i. e, curled, bent, hollow. JOHNSON. Line 339. Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!] It is plain that bring out is bring forth. JOHNSON.

Line 344. Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plow-torn leas;] The sense is this: O nature! cease to produce men, ensear thy womb; but if thou wilt continue to produce them, at least cease to pamper them; dry up thy marrows, on which they fatten with unctuous morsels, thy vines, which give them liquorish draughts, and thy plow-torn leas. Here are effects corresponding with causes, liquorish draughts, with vines, and unctuous morsels with marrows, and the old reading literally preserved. JOHNSON. Line 359. Hug their diseas'd perfumes,] i. e. their diseas'd perfumed mistresses. MALONE.

Line 361. -the cunning of a carper.] For the philosophy of a Cynick, of which sect Apemantus was; and therefore he concludes:

-Do not assume my likeness." WARBURTON. Cunning here seems to signify counterfeit appearance. JOHNS. Line 400. What, a knave too!] Timon had just called Apemantus fool, in consequence of what he had known of him by former acquaintance; but when Apemantus tells him that he comes to vex him, Timon determines that to vex is either the office of a villain or a fool; that to vex by design is villainý, to vex without design is folly. He then properly asks Apemantus

66

whether he takes delight in vexing, and when he answers, yes, Timon replies,-What! a knave too? I before only knew thee to be a fool, but now I find thee likewise a knave. JOHNS. Line 405. is crown'd before:] Arrives sooner at high -wish; that is, at the completion of its wishes. JOHNSON. Line 409. Worse than the worst, content.] Best states contentless have a wretched being, a being worse than that of the worst states that are content. JOHNSON. Line 411. by his breath,] By his breath means in our author's language, by his voice or speech, and so in fact by his sentence. Shakspeare frequently uses the word in this sense. It has been twice used in this play. MALONE.

Line 414. but bred a dog.] Alluding to the word Cynick, of which sect Apemantus was. WARBURTON.

Line 415. Hadst thou, like us.] There is in this speech a sullen haughtiness, and malignant dignity, suitable at once to the lord and the man-hater. The impatience with which he bears to have his luxury reproached by one that never had luxury within his reach, is natural and graceful. JOHNSON.

Line 422.

Line 415. first swath.] From infancy. Swath is the dress of a new-born child. JOHNSON. precepts of respect,] Of obedience to laws. JOHNS. 437. -that poor rag.] The term is yet used. The lowest of the people are yet denominated-Tag, rag, &c. So, in Julius Cæsar: "—if the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, I am no true man." MALONE.

Line 442. Thou hast been a knave, and flatterer.] Dryden has quoted two verses of Virgil to show how well he could have written satires. Shakspeare has here given a specimen of the same power by a line bitter beyond all bitterness, in which Timon tells Apemantus, that he had not virtue enough for the vices which he condemns.

Dr. Warburton explains worst by lowest, which somewhat weakens the sense, and yet leaves it sufficiently vigorous.

I have heard Mr. Burke commend the subtilty of discrimination with which Shakspeare distinguishes the present character of Timon from that of Apemantus, whom to vulgar eyes he .would now resemble. JOHNSON.

Line 477. for too much curiosity;] i. e. for too much finical delicacy. The Oxford editor alters it to courtesy. WARB. Line 482. Ay, though it look like thee.] Timon here supposes that an objection against hatred, which through the whole tenor of the conversation appears an argument for it. One would have expected him to have answered

Yes, for it looks like thee.

JOHNSON.

Line 511. the unicorn, &c.] The account given of the unicorn is this: that he and the lion being enemies by nature, as soon as the lion sees the unicorn he betakes himself to a tree: the unicorn in his fury, and with all the swiftness of his course, running at him, sticks his horn fast in the tree, and then the lion falls upon him and kills him. Gesner Hist. Animal. HANMER. Line 517. ware remotion;] Remotion means, I apprehend, merely remoteness, the being placed at a distance from the lion.

MALONE.

Line 535. Thou art the cap &c.] The top, the principal. The remaining dialogue has more malignity than wit. JOHNSON. Line 565. 'Twixt natural son and sire!

“ Διὰ τῦτον ἐκ ἀδελφὸς

« Διὰ τῆτον & τοκῆες.” Anac.

Line 566. Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow That lies on Dian's lap!] The imagery is here exquisitely beautiful and sublime. WARBURTON. Line 571. 0 thou touch of hearts !] Touch, for touchstone. STEEVENS. 606. -you want much of meat.] The Thieves tell him, that they are men that much do want. Here is an ambiguity between much want and want of much. Timon takes it on the wrong side, and tells them that their greatest want is, that, like other men, they want much of meat; then telling them where meat may be had, he asks, Want? why want? JOHNSON.

Line 622. In limited professions,] Limited for legal.

JOHNSON.

WARBURTON.

634. The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves

The moon into salt tears:] The moon is supposed to be humid, and perhaps a source of humidity, but cannot be resolved by the surges of the sea. Yet I think moon is the true

reading. Here is a circulation of thievery described: The sun, JOHNSON. moon, and sea, all rob, and are robbed.

Line 659. What an alteration of honour has

Desperate want made !] An alteration of honour, is an alteration of an honourable state to a state of disgrace. JOHNS.

Line 665. Grant, I may ever love, and rather woo

Those that would mischief me, than those that do!] It is plain, that in this whole speech friends and enemies are taken only for those who profess friendship and profess enmity; for the friend is supposed not to be more kind, but more dangerous than the enemy. The sense is, Let me rather woo or caress those that would mischief, that profess to mean me mischief, than those that really do me mischief, under falfe professions of kindness. The Spaniards, I think, have this proverb: Defend me from my friends, and from my enemies I will defend myself. This proverb is a 'suffiJOHNSON. cient comment on the passage.

Line 678. knaves,] Knave is here in the compound JOHNSON. sense of a servant and a rascal.

ACT V. SCENE I.

Line 117. a made-up villain.] That is, a villain that adopts qualities and characters not properly belonging to him; a hypoJOHNSON. crite.

Line 122. -in a draught,] That is, in the jakes. JOHNS. 126. but two in company:] This passage is obscure. I think the meaning is this: but two in company, that is, stand apart, let only two be together; for even when each stands single JOHNSON. there are two, he himself and a villain.

ACT V. SCENE II.

Line 161. -a caut'rizing —] To cauterize was a word of our author's time; being found in Bullokar's English Expositor, "To burn to a sore." octavo, 1616, where it is explained,

MALONE. Line 180. Of its own fall,] The Athenians had sense, that is, felt the danger of their own fall, by the arms of Alcibiades.

JOHNSON.

Line 183. Than their offence can weigh down by the dram;] I take the meaning to be, We will give thee a recompence that our offences cannot outweigh, heaps of wealth down by the dram, or delivered according to the exactest measure. JOHNSON.

Line 196. Allow'd with absolute power,] Allowed is licensed, privileged, uncontrolled. So of a buffoon, in Love's Labour's Lost, it is said, that he is allowed, that is, at liberty to say what he will, a privileged scoffer. JOHNSON.

Line 217. There's not a whittle in the unruly camp,] A whittle is a small clasp knife.

Line 224.

My long sickness-] The disease of life begins to promise me a period. JOHNSON. Line 273. In our dear peril.] Dear, in Shakspeare's language, is dire, dreadful. So, in Hamlet:

"Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven." MALONE.

ACT V. SCENE V.

Line 318. the time is flush,] A bird is flush when his feathers are grown, and he can leave the nest. Flush is mature. JOHNS. Line 319. When crouching marrow, in the bearer strong,

Cries, of itself, No more:] The image may be said to be taken from a porter or coal-heaver, who when there is as much laid upon his shoulders as he can bear, will certainly cry, MALONE.

no more.

Line 352. 375.

-not a man

Shall pass his quarter,] Not a soldier shall quit his station, or be let loose upon you; and, if any commits violence, he shall answer it regularly to the law. JOHNSON.

not square,] Not regular, not equitable. JOHNS. uncharged ports:] That is, unguarded gates. JOHNSON.

379.

Line 400. -our brain's flow,] Sir Thomas Hanmer and Dr. Warburton read,—brine's flow. Our brain's flow is our tears; but we may read, our brine's flow, our salt tears.. Either will

serve.

JOHNSON.