Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth shine; Never prefented !—O, a root,-Dear thanks! Perhaps Shakspeare means curl'd, from the appearance of the clouds. In The Tempeft, Ariel talks of riding "On the curl'd clouds." Chaucer, in his Houfe of Fame, fays, "Her here that was oundie and crips." i. e. wavy and curled. Again, in The Philofopher's Satires, by Robert Anton: " "Her face as beauteous as the crifped morn.' STEEVENS. 4 who all thy human fons doth hate,] Old copy-the human fons do hate. The former word was corrected by Mr. Pope; the latter by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. s Enfear thy fertile and conceptious womb,] So, in King Lear: Dry up in her the organs of encreafe." STEEVENS. 6 Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!] It is plain that bring out is bring forth. JOHNSON. Neither Dr. Warburton nor Dr. Johnson feem to have been aware of the import of this paffage. It was the great boast of the Athenians that they were autoxov; fprung from the foil on which they lived; and it is in allufion to this, that the terms common mother and bring out, are applied to the ground. HENLEY. Though Mr. Henley, as a fcholar, could not be unacquainted with this Athenian boaft, I fear that Shakspeare knew no more of it than of the many-breafted Diana of Ephefus, brought forward by Dr. Warburton in a preceding note. STEEVENS. 1---the marbled manfion -] So, Milton, Book III. 1. 564: "Through the pure marble air Virgil beftows the fame epithet on the fea. STEEVENS. "Now by yon marble heaven,———." MALONE. & Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plow-torn leas;] The fenfe is Whereof ingrateful man, with liquorifh draughts, And morfels unctuous, greafes his pure mind, That from it all confideration flips! Enter APEMANTUS. More man? Plague! plague! APEM. I was directed hither: Men report, Thou doft affect my manners, and doft use them. TIM. 'Tis then, because thou doft not keep a dog Whom I would imitate: Consumption catch thee! From change of fortune." Why this spade? this place? This flave-like habit? and thefe looks of care? Thy flatterers yet wear filk, drink wine, lie soft; Hug their difeas'd perfumes, and have forgot That ever Timon was. Shame not these woods, this: O nature! ceafe to produce men, enfear thy womb; but if thou wilt continue to produce them, at leaft ceafe to pamper them; dry up thy marrows, on which they fatten with unctuous morfels, thy vines, which give them liquorifb draughts, and thy plow-torn leas. Here are effects correfponding with caufes, liquorish draughts, with vines, and unctuous morfels with marrows, and the old reading literally preferved. JOHNSON. 9 This is in thee a nature but affected; A poor unmanly melancholy, Sprung From change of fortune.] The old copy reads infected, and change of future. Mr. Rowe made the emendation. MALONE. 2 Hug their difeas'd perfumes,] i. e. their difeas'd perfumed miftreffes. MALONE. So, in Othello: " "Tis fuch another fitchew; marry, a perfum'd one." STEEVENS. By putting on the cunning of a carper.3 Be thou a flatterer now, and seek to thrive Thou gav'ft thine ears, like tapfters,. that bid welcome,s To knaves, and all approachers: 'Tis moft juft, That thou turn rascal; had'st thou wealth again, Rafcals fhould have't. Do not affume my likeness. TIM. Were I like thee, I'd throw away myself. APEM. Thou haft caft away thyself, being like thyfelf; A madman fo long, now a fool: What, think'st That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain, 3 66 the cunning of a carper.] For the philofophy of a Cynic, of which fect Apemantus was; and therefore he concludes: Do not affume my likeness." WARBURTON. Cunning here feems to fignify counterfeit appearance. JOHNSON. The cunning of a carper, is the infidious art of a critick. Shame not thefe woods, fays Apemantus, by coming here to find fault. Maurice Kyffin in the preface to his Tranflation of Terence's Andria, 1588, fays: "Of the curious carper I look not to be favoured." Again, Urfula fpeaking of the farcafms of Beatrice, obferves, Why fure, fuch carping is not commendable." There is no apparent reafon why Apemantus (according to Dr. Warburton's explanation) fhould ridicule his own fect. 4 66 hinge thy knee,] Thus, in Hamlet: STEEVENS. STEEVENS. 5-like tapfters, that bid welcome,] So, in our author's Venus and Adonis: "Like fhrill-tongu'd tapfters anfwering every call, Soothing the humour of fantastick wits." The old copy has-bad welcome. Corrected in the second folio. Will put thy fhirt on warm? Will these mofs'd trees,' That have outliv'd the eagle," page thy heels, And skip when thou point'ft out? will the cold brook, Candied with ice, caudle thy morning taste, tures, Whose naked natures live in all the spite Of wreakful heaven; whofe bare unhoused trunks, To the conflicting elements expos'd, Answer mere nature,"-bid them flatter thee; O! thou shalt find. TIM. A fool of thee: Depart. APEM. I love thee better now than e'er I did. TIM. I hate thee worse. 5-mofs'd trees,] [Old copy-moift trees,] Sir T. Hanmer reads very elegantly, mofs'd trees. JOHNSON. Shakspeare uses the fame epithet in As you like it, A& IV: So alfo Drayton, in his Mortimeriados, no date: "Even as a bustling tempeft roufing blasts "Upon a forest of old branching oakes, "And with his furie teyrs their moy loaks." Mofs'd is, I believe, the true reading. MALONE. STEEVENS. I have inferted this reading in the text, because there is lefs propriety in the epithet-moift; it being a known truth that trees. become more and more dry, as they encrease in age. Thus, our author, in his Rape of Lucrece, obferves, that it is one of the properties of time "To dry the old oak's fap-.' STEEVENS. 6 outliv'd the eagle,] Aquila Senectus is a proverb. I learn from Turberville's Book of Falconry, 1575, that the great age of this bird has been afcertained from the circumftance of its always building its eyrie, or neft, in the fame place. STEEVENS. ↑ Anfwer mere nature,] So, in King Lear, A& II. fc. iii: АРЕМ. TIM. Why? Thou flatter'ft mifery. APEM. I flatter not; but fay, thou art a caitiff. TIM. Why doft thou feek me out? APEM. To vex thee.* TIM. Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Doft please thyself in't? APEM. TIM. Ay. What! a knave too? APEM. If thou didst put this four-cold habit on To caftigate thy pride, 'twere well: but thou Doft it enforcedly; thou'dft courtier be again, Wert thou not beggar. Willing mifery Outlives incertain pomp, is crown'd before:" The one is filling ftill, never complete; The other, at high wish: Best state, contentless, 2 Tovex thee.] As the measure is here imperfect, we may suppose, with Sir Thomas Hanmer, our author to have written, Only to vex thee. STEEVENS. 8 What! a knave too?] Timon had juft called Apemantus fool, in confequence of what he had known of him by former acquaintance; but when Apemantus tells him, that he comes to vex him, Timón determines that to vex is either the office of a villain or a fool; that to vex by defign is villainy, to vex without defign is folly. He then properly afks Apemantus 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 likewife a knave. JOHNSON. 9 is crown'd before:] Arrives fooner at high wish; that is, at the completion of its wishes. JOHNSON. So, in a former fcene of this play: "And in fome fort these wants of mine are crown'd, Again, more appofitely, in Cymbeline: 66 - my supreme crown of grief." MALONE. |