Notes to Shakepeare's Tragedies (eBook)

 TIMON OF ATHENS

 I.i.3 (271,3)

  Poet. Ay, that's well known:   But what particular rarity! what strange,   Which manifold record not matches? See,   Magick of bounty!]

The learned commentator's [Warburton's] note must shift for itself. I cannot but think that this passage is at present in confusion. The poet asks a question, and stays not for an answer, nor has his question any apparent drift or consequence. I would range the passage thus:

  Poet. Ay, that's well known.   Bat what particular rarity? what so strange,   That manifold record not matches?

  Pain. See!

  Poet. Magick of--bounty, &c.

It may not be improperly observed here, that as there is only one copy of this play, no help can be had from collation, and more liberty must be allowed to conjecture.

I.i.10 (272,4) breath'd as it were/To an untirable and continuate goodness] Breathed is inured by constant practice; so trained as not to be wearied. To breathe a horse, is to exercise him for the course.

I.i.20 (273,8) Poet.

  A thing slipt idly from me.   Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes   From whence 'tis nourished. The fire i' the flint   Shews not, 'till it be struck: our gentle flame   Provokes itself, and, like the current flies   Each bound it chafes. What have you there!]

This speech of the poet is very obscure. He seems to boast the copiousness and facility of his vein, by declaring that verses drop from a poet as gums from odoriferous trees, and that his flame kindles itself without the violence necessary to elicit sparkles from the flint. What follows next? that it, like a current, flies each bound it chafes. This may mean, that it expands itself notwithstanding all obstructions: but the images in the comparison are so ill-sorted, and the effect so obscurely expressed, that I cannot but think something omitted that connected the last sentence with the former. It is well knovn that the players often shorten speeches to quicken the representation; and it may be suspected, that they sometimes performed their amputations with more haste than judgment, (see 1765, VI, 169, 6)

I.i.27 (274,9) Poet. Upon the heels of my presentment, sir.] As soon as my book has been presented to lord Timon.

I.i.29 (274,1) This comes off weil and excellent] [By this we are to understand what the painters call the goings off of a picture, which requires the nicest execution. WARBURTON.] The note I understand less than the text. The meaning is, This figure rises weil from the canvas. C'est bien releve.

I.i.37 (275,3) artificial strife] Strife is either the contest or act with nature.

  Hic ille est Raphael, timuit, quo aospite vinci   Rerum magna parens, & moriente, mori.

Or it is the contrast of forms or opposition of colours.

I.i.43 (275,4) this confluence, this great flood of visitors] Mane salutantum totis vomit aedibus undam.

I.1.46 (275,5) Halts not particularly] My design does not stop at any single characters.

I.1.47 (276,7)

  no levell'd malice   Infects one comma in the course I hold;   But flies an eagle-flight, bold, and forth on,   Leaving no tract behind]

To level is to aim, to point the shot at a mark. Shakespeare's meaning is, my poem is not a satire written with any particular view, or levelled at any single person; I fly like an eagle into the general expanse of life, and leave not, by any private mischief, the trace of my passage.

I.i.51 (276,8) I'll unbolt] I'll open, I'll explain.

I.i.53 (276,9) glib and slippery creatures] Hanmer, and Warburton after him, read, natures. Slippery is smooth, unresisting.

I.i.58 (276,1) glass-fac'd flatterer] That shows in his own look, as by reflection, the looks of his patron.

I.i.65 (277,3) rank'd with all deserts] Cover'd with ranks of all kinds of men.

I.i.67 (277,4) To propagate their states] To advance or improve their various conditions of life.

I.i.72 (277,5) conceiv'd to scope] Properly imagined, appositely, to the purpose.

I.i.82 (278,8) through him/Drink the free air] That is, catch his breath in affected fondness.

I.i.90 (278,9) A thousand moral paintings I can shew] Shakespeare seems to intend in this dialogue to express some competition between the two great arts of imitation. Whatever the poet declares himself to have shewn, the painter thinks he could have shewn better. (1773)

I.i.107 (279,1) 'Tis not enough to help the feeble up,/But to support him after] This thought is better expressed by Dr. Madden in his elegy on archbishop Boulter.

  --He thought it mean   Only to help the poor to beg again.

I.i.129 (280,2) Therefore he will be, Timon] I rather think an emendation necessary, and read,

  Therefore well be him, Timon.   His honesty rewards him in itself.

That is, If he in honest, bene fit illi, I wish him the proper happiness of an honest man, but his honesty gives him no claim to my daughter.

The first transcriber probably wrote will be him, which the next, not understanding, changed to, he will be. (1773)

I.i.149 (281,3)

  never may   That state, or fortune, fall into my keeping,   Which is not ow'd to you!]

The meaning is, let me never henceforth consider any thing that I possess, but as owed or due to you; held for your service, and at your disposal.

I.i.159 (281,4) pencil'd figures are/Even such as they give out] Pictures have no hypocrisy; they are what they profess to be.

I.i.165 (282,5) unclew me quite] To unclew, is to unwind a ball of thread. To unclew a man, is to draw out the whole mass of his fortunes.

I.i.171 (282,5) Are prized by their masters] Are rated according to the, esteem in which their possessor is held.

I.i.178 (282,8)

  Tim. Good-morrow to thee, gentle Apemantua!   Apam. 'Till I be gentle, stay for thy good-morrow.   When thou art Timon's dog, and these knaves honest,--]

[Warburton conjectured a line lost and added one of his own making] I think my punctuation may clear the passage without any greater effort.

I.i.180 (283,9) Then thou art Timon's dog] When thou hast gotten a better character, and instead of being Timon, as thou art, shalt be changed to Timon's dog, and become more worth; of kindness and salutation. (1773)

I.i.241 (284,9) That I had no angry wit to be a lord] [W: so hungry a wit] The meaning may be, I should hate myself for patiently enduring to be a lord. This is ill enough expressed. Perhaps some happy change may set it right. I have tried, and can do nothing, yet I cannot heartily concur with Dr. Warburton.

I.i.259 (286,2) The strain of man's bred out/Into baboon and monkey] Man is exhausted and degenerated; his strain or lineage is worn down into monkey.

I.ii.12 (288,5)

  If our betters play at that game, we must not dare   To imitate them. Faults that are rich, are fair]

[Warburton gave the second line to Apemantus] I cannot see that these lines are more proper in any other mouth than Timon's, to whose character of generosity and condescension they are very suitable. To suppose that by our betters are meant the Gods, is very harsh, because to imitate the Gods has been hitherto reckoned the highest pitch of human virtue. The whole is a trite and obvious thought, uttered by Timon with a kind of affected modesty. If I would make any alteration, it should be only to reform the numbers thus:

  Our betters play that game; we must not dare   T' imitate then; faults that are rich are fair.

I.ii.34 (289,6) thou art an Athenian,/Therefore welcome: I myself would have no power] If this be the true reading, the sense is, all Athenians are welcome to share my fortune; I would myself have no exclusive right or power in this house. Perhaps we might read, I myself would have no poor. I would have every Athenian consider himself as joint possessor of my fortune.

I.ii.38 (289,7) I scorn thy meat, 'twould choke me, for I should/ Ne'er flatter thee] [W: 'fore/I should e'er] Of this emendation there is little need. The meaning is, I could not swallow thy meat, for I could not pay for it with flattery; and what was given me with an ill will would stick in my throat.

I.ii.41 (290,8) so many dip their meat/In one man's blood] The allusion is to a pack of hounds trained to pursuit by being gratified with the blood of the animal which they kill, and the wonder is that the animal on which they are feeding cheers them to the chase.

I.ii.52 (290,9) wind-pipe's dangerous notes] The notes of the windpipe seem to be the only indications which shew where the windpipe is. (see 1765, VI, 184, 4)

I.ii.54 (290,1) My lord, in heart] That is, my lord's health...