VEN. A noble fpirit. [They all fland ceremoniously looking on TIMON. TIM. Nay, my lords, ceremony Was but devis'd at firft, to fet a glofs On faint deeds, hollow welcomes, Recanting goodnefs, forry ere 'tis fhown; But where there is true friendship, there needs none. Pray, fit; more welcome are ye to my fortunes, Than my fortunes to me. [They fit. 1. LORD. My lord, we always have confefs'd it. APEM. Ho, ho, confess'd it? hang'd it, have you not? 3 TIM. O, Apemantus!-you are welcome. You fhall not make me welcome: I come to have thee thruft me out of doors. No, TIM. Fie, thou art a churl; you have got a hu mour there Does not become a man, 'tis much to blame : They fay, my lords, that ira furor brevis eft, Go, let him have a table by himself; For he does neither affect company, Nor is he fit for it, indeed. 3 APEM. Let me ftay at thine own peril,' Timon; confefs'd it? hang'd it, have you not?] There feems to be fome allufion here to a common proverbial faying of Shakspeare's time: "Confefs and be hang'd." See Othello, Act IV. fc. i. They fay, my lords, that-] Hanmer, for the fake of metre. MALONE. That was inferted by Sir Thomas STEEVENS. But yond' man's ever angry.] The old copy has-very angry; which can hardly be right. The emendation now adopted was made by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. Perhaps we fhould read-But yon man's very anger; i. e. anger itfelf, which always maintains its violence. STEEVENS. at thine own peril,] The old copy reads-at thine apperil. I come to obferve; I give thee warning on't. TIM. I take no heed of thee; thou art an Athenian; therefore welcome: I myfelf would have no power: 'pr'ythee, let my meat make thee filent. APEM. I fcorn thy meat; 'twould choke me, for I fhould Ne'er flatter thee.'-O you gods! what a number It grieves me, to fee fo many dip their meat 8 I have not been able to find fuch a word in any Dictionary, nor is it reconcileable to etymology. I have therefore adopted an emendation made by Mr. Steevens. MALONE. Apperil, the reading of the old editions, may be right, though no other inftance of it has been, or poffibly can be produced. It is, however, in actual ufe in the metropolis, at this day. RITSON. 6 I myfelf would have no power:] If this be the true reading, the fenfe is,-all Athenians are welcome to share my fortune: I would myself have no exclufive right or power in this houfe. Perhaps we might read,-I myself would have no poor. I would have every Athenian confider himself as joint poffeffor of my fortune. JOHNSON. I understand Timon's meaning to be:'I myself would have no power to make thee filent, but I wish thou would't let my meat make thee filent. Timon, like a polite landlord, difclaims all power over the meaneft or moft troublefome of his guefts." TYRWHITT.. Thefe words refer to what follows, not to that which precedes. I claim no extraordinary power in right of my being mafter of the houfe: I wish not by my commands to impofe filence on any one: but though I myself do not enjoin you to filence, let my meat ftop your mouth. MALONE. Ifcorn thy meat; 'twould choke me, for I should Ne'er flatter thee.] The meaning is,-I could not fwallow thy meat, for I could not pay for it with flattery; and what was given me with an ill will would ftick in my throat. JOHNSON. For has here perhaps the fignification of becaufe. So, in Othello: -Haply, for I am black," MALONE. 8 66 -fo many dip their meat In one man's blood ;] The allufion is to a pack of hounds He cheers them up too. I wonder, men dare trust themselves with men: Is the readiest man to kill him: it has been prov'd. Were a huge man, I fhould fear to drink at meals; Left they should spy my windpipe's dangerous notes: Great men fhould drink with harnefs on their throats. TIM. My lord, in heart; and let the health go round. trained to purfuit by being gratified with the blood of an animal which they kill, and the wonder is that the animal on which they are feeding cheers them to the chase. JOHNSON. 8 Methinks, they should invite them without knives;] It was the cuftom in our author's time for every guest to bring his own knife, which he occafionally whetted on a ftone that hung behind the door. One of these whetstones may be seen in Parkinfon's Museum. They were ftrangers, at that period, to the ufe of forks. RITSON. windpipe's dangerous notes:] The notes of the windpipe feem to be only the indications which show where the windpipe is. JOHNSON. Shakspeare is very fond of making ufe of mufical terms, when he is fpeaking of the human body, and windpipe and notes favour ftrongly of a quibble. STEEVENS. 2 with harnefs-] i. e. armour. n. 7. STEEVENS. See Vol. VII. p. 573, 3 My lord, in heart;] That is, my lord's health with fincerity. An emendation has been propofed thus: My love in heart; but it is not neceffary. JOHNSON. So, in The Queen of Corinth, by Beaumont and Fletcher: "I will be never more in heart to you." Again, in King Henry IV. Part I. A& IV. sc. i: ་ in heart defiring ftill "You may behold," &c. 2. LORD. Let it flow this way, my good lord. APEM. Flow this way! A brave fellow!-he keeps his tides well. Timon Thofe healths' will make thee, and thy ftate, look ill. Here's that, which is too weak to be a finner, Honeft water, which ne'er left man i'the mire: This, and my food, are equals; there's no odds. Feasts are too proud to give thanks to the gods. APEMANTUS'S GRACE. Immortal gods, I crave no pelf; Rich men fin, and I eat root. [Eats and drinks. Much good dich thy good heart, Apemantus! Again, in Love's Labour's Loft, A&t V. fc. ii: Doft thou not wish in heart, "The chain were longer, and the letter short?" Timon STEEVENS. Thofe healths-] This fpeech, except the concluding couplet, is printed as profe in the old copy; nor could it be exhibited as verfe but by transferring the word Timon, which follows-look ill, to its prefent place. The tranfpofition was made by Mr. Capell. The word might have been an interlineation, and fo have been mifplaced. Yet, after all, I suspect many of the speeches in this play, which the modern editors have exhibited in a loose kind of metre, were intended by the author as profe; in which form they appear in the old copy. MALONE. s Rich men fin,] Dr. Farmer propofes to read-fing. REED. TIM. Captain Alcibiades, your heart's in the field now ALCIB. My heart is ever at your fervice, my lord. TIM. You had rather be at a breakfast of enemies, than a dinner of friends. ALCIB. So they were bleeding-new, my lord, there's no meat like them; I could with my best friend at fuch a feaft. APEM. 'Would all thofe flatterers were thine enemies then; that then thou might'ft kill 'em, and bid me to 'em. 1. LORD. Might we but have that happiness, my lord, that you would once ufe our hearts, whereby we might express some part of our zeals, we should think ourselves for ever perfect." TIM. O, no doubt, my good friends, but the gods themselves have provided that I shall have much help from you: How had you been my friends elfe? why have you that charitable title from thoufands, did you not chiefly belong to my heart? I 6 — for ever perfect.] That is, arrived at the perfection of happinefs. JOHNSON. So, in Macbeth: "Then comes my fit again; I had elfe been perfect;—.” STEEVENS. 7 How had you been my friends elfe? why have you that charitable title from thousands, did you not chiefly belong to my heart?] Charitable fignifies, dear, endearing. So, Milton: "Relations dear, and all the charities "Of father, fon, and brother." Alms, in English, are called charities, and from thence we may collect that our ancestors knew well in what the virtue of almsgiving confifted; not in the act, but in the difpofition. WARBURTON. The meaning is probably this:-Why are you diftinguished from thoufands by that title of endearment, was there not a particular connection and intercourfe of tenderness between you and me? JOHNSON. |