Luc. I know, his lordship is but merry with me; He cannot want fifty-five hundred talents, Ser. But in the mean time he wants lefs, my lord. If his occafion were not virtuous 7, I fhould not urge it half fo faithfully. Luc. Doft thou fpeak feriously, Servilius? Luc. What a wicked beaft was I, to disfurnish myself against fuch a good time, when I might have fhewn myfelf honourable? how unluckily it happen'd, that I fhould purchase the day before for a little part, and undo a great deal of honour??-Servilius, now before the gods, I am not able to do't; the more beast, I say:-I was 7 If his occafion were not virtuous,] Virtuous, for ftrong, forcible, preffing. WARBURTON. The meaning may more naturally be;-If he did not want it for a good use. JOHNSON. Dr. Johnfon's explication is certainly right. We had before: "Some good neceffity touches his friend." MALONE. 8 balf fo faithfully.] Faithfully, for fervently. WARBURTON. Zeal or fervour ufually attending fidelity. MALONE. 9- that I should purcbafe the day before for a little part, and undo a great deal of bonour-] Though there is a feeming plaufible antithefis in the terms, I am very well affured they are corrupt at the bottom. For a little part of what? Honour is the only fubftantive that follows in the fentence. How much is the antithefis improved by the sense which my emendation gives?"That I fhould purchase -for a little dirt, and undo a great deal of honour!" THEOBALD. This emendation is received, like all others, by Sir Thomas Hanmer, but neglected by Dr. Warburton. I think Theobald right in fufpecting a corruption; nor is his emendation injudicious, though perhaps we may better read, purchase the day before for a little park. JOHNSON. I am fatisfied with the old reading, which is fufficiently in our author's manner. By purchafing what brought me but little honour, I have loft the more honourable opportunity of fupplying the wants of my friend. Dr. Farmer, however, fufpects a quibble between honour in its common acceptation, and bonour (i. e. the lordship of a place) in a legal fenfe. See Jacob's Dictionary. STEEVENS. I believe Dr. Johnson's reading is the true one. I once fufpected the phrafe "purchase for ;" but a more attentive examination of our authour's works and those of his contemporaries has fhewn me the folly of fufpecting corruptions in the text, merely because it exhibits a different phrafeology from that used at this day. MALONE. E 4 fending fending to use lord Timon myself, thefe gentlemen can witness; but I would not, for the wealth of Athens, I had done it now. Commend me bountifully to his good lordship; and, I hope, his honour will conceive the faireft of me, because I have no power to be kind:And tell him this from me, I count it one of my greatest afflictions, fay, that I cannot pleasure fuch an honourable gentleman. Good Servilius, will you befriend me fo far, as to use mine own words to him? Ser. Yes, fir, I fhall. Luc. I'll look you out a good turn, Servilius. [Exit. [Exit SERVILIUS. True, as you faid, Timon is fhrunk, indeed; And he, that's once deny'd, will hardly fpeed. 1. Stran. Do you obferve this, Hoftilius? 2. Stran. Ay, too well. 1. Stran. Why this is the world's foul, and just of the fame piece Is every flatterer's fpirit'. Who can call him his friend, 'That dips in the fame difh? for in my knowing Timon has been this lord's father, and kept His credit with his purfe; Supported his eftate; nay, Timon's money -flatterer's fpirit.] This is Dr. Warburton's emendation. The other [modern] editions read, Why this is the world's foul; Of the fame piece is every flatterer's sport. Mr. Upton has not unluckily tranfpofed the two final words, thus : Of the fame piece is ev'ry flatterer's foul. The paffage is not fo obfcure as to provoke fo much enquiry. This, fays he, is the foul or spirit of the world: every flatterer plays the fame game, makes sport with the confidence of his friend. JOHNSON. The emendation, spirit, belongs not to Dr. Warburton, but to Mr. Theobald. The word was frequently pronounced as one fyllable, and fometimes, I think, written fpirt. Hence the corruption was eafy; whilst on the other hand it is highly improbable that two words fo diftant from each other as foul and sport [or spirit] fhould change places. Mr. Upton did not take the trouble to look into the old copy; but finding foul and sport the final words of two lines in Mr. Pope's and the fubfequent editions, took it for granted they held the fame fituation in the original edition, which we fee was not the cafe. I do not believe this fpeech was intended by the authour for verfe, MALONE. Has paid his men their wages: He ne'er drinks, Had his neceffity made use of me, I would have put my wealth into donation, So 2-in refpect of bis,] That is, in respect of bis fortune: what Lucius denies to Timon is in proportion to what Lucius poffeffes, lefs than the ufual alms given by good men to beggars. JOHNSON. 3 I would have put my wealth inte donation, And the beft half should have return'd to him,] Had bis neceffity made ufe of me, I would have put my fortune into a condition to be alienated, and the beft balf of what I had gained myself, or received from ethers, fhould bave found its way to bim. Either fuch licentious expofition must be allowed, or the paffage remain in obscurity. The following lines in Hamlet, A&t II. fc. ii. perfuade me that my explanation of put my wealth into donation-is very doubtful: "Put your dread pleasures more into command "Than to entreaty." Again, in Cymbeline, Act III. fc. iv: "And mad'ft me put into contempt the fuits "Of princely fellows," &c. Perhaps the ftranger means to fay, I would have treated my wealth as a prefent originally received from him, and on this occafion have return'd him the half of that whole for which I fuppofed myself to be indebted to his bounty. STEEVENS. I have no doubt that the latter, very happy interpretation given by Mr. Steevens is the true one; and I should have omitted the former, but that it was fo connected with what follows as not to be easily feparated. Though, (tays the speaker) I never tafted Timon's bounty in my life, I would have fuppofed my whole fortune to have been a gift from him, &c. So, in the common phrafe,-Put yourself [i. e. fuppofe yourself] in my place. The paffages quoted by Mr. Steevens fully fupport the phrafe into donation. "Return'd So much I love his heart: But, I perceive, SCENE III. [Exeunt: The fame. A Room in Sempronius's House. Enter SEMPRONIUS, and a Servant of Timon's. Sem. Muft he needs trouble me in't? Humph! 'Bove all others? He might have try'd lord Lucius, or Lucullus; And now Ventidius is wealthy too, Whom he redeem'd from prifon*: All these Owe their eftates unto him. Serv. My lord, They have all been touch'ds, and found base metal; for They have all deny'd him? Sem. How! have they deny'd him? Has Ventidius and Lucullus deny'd him? Muft I be his laft refuge? His friends, like phyficians, He "Return'd to him" neceffarily includes the idea of having come from him, and therefore can not mean simply—found its way, the interpretation first given by Mr. Steevens. MALONE. 4 And now Ventidius is wealthy too, Whom be redeem'd from prifont] This circumftance occurs likewise in the anonymous unpublished comedy of Timon: "O yee ingrateful! have I freed yee "From bonds in prifon, to requite me thus, "To trample ore mee in my mifery?" MALONE. 5 They bave all been touch'd,] That is, tried; alluding to the touchfone. JOHNSON. 6 bis friends, like phyficians, Thrive, give him over] Hanmer reads, try'd, plaufibly enough. Inftead of three propofed by Mr. Pope, I should read thrice. But perhaps the old reading is the true. JOHNSON. Perhaps we should read-friv'd. They give bim over fbriv'd; that is, prepared for immediate death by fhrift. TYRWHITT. Perhaps the following paffage in Webster's Dutchefs of Malfy is the best comment after all: Phyficians He has much difgrac'd me in't; I am angry at him, Physicians thus, "With their bands full of money, ule to give o'er But The paffage will then mean:-" His friends, like physicians, thrive by his bounty and fees, and either relinquish, and forjake bim, or give his cafe up as defperate." To give over in the Taming of the Shrew has no reference to the irremediable condition of a patient, but fimply means to leave, to forfake, to quit: "And therefore let me be thus bold with you, "To give you over at this first encounter, "Unless you will acompany me thither." STEEVENS. The editor of the fecond folio, the firft and principal corrupter of thefe plays, for Thrive, fubftituted Thriv'd, on which the conjectures of Sir Thomas Hanmer and Mr. Tyrwhitt were founded. The passage quoted by Mr. Steevens from The Dutchess of Malfy, is a strong confirmation of the old reading; for Webfter appears both in that and in another piece of his (The White Devil) to have frequently imitated Shakspeare. Thus, in The Dutchess of Malfy, we find: Ufe me well, you were beft; "What I have done, I have done; I'll confess nothing." Apparently from Orbello: "Demand me nothing; what you know, you know; << From this time forth I never will fpeak word." Again, the Cardinal, fpeaking to his mistress Julia, who had importuned him to difclofe the caufe of his melancholy, fays: Satisfy thy longing; "The only way to make thee keep thy counsel, "Is, not to tell thee." So, in King Henry IV. P. I: " for fecrecy "No lady clofer; for I well believe "Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know." Again, in The White Devil: "Terrify babes, my lord, with painted devils.” So, in Macbeth: -'tis the eye of childhood, "That fears a painted devil." Again, in The White Devil: the fecret of my prince, "Which I will wear i' th' infide of my beart." Copied, I think, from these lines of Hamlet: Give me the man "That is not paffion's flave, and I will wear him The |