MER. O, pray, let's fee't: For the lord Timon, fir? JEW. If he will touch the estimate: But, for that POET. When we for recompenses have prais'd the vile, It ftains the glory in that happy verse Which aptly fings the good. MER. 'Tis a good form. [Looking on the jewel. JEW. And rich: here is a water, look you. PAIN. You are rapt, fir, in some work, some dedication To the great lord. A thing flipp'd idly from me. 9 Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes & He passes.- I have a jewel here.] The syllable wanting in this line, might be restored by reading: He paffes. Look, I have a jewel here. STEEVENS. 7-touch the estimate: Come up to the price. JOHNSON. When we for recompense &c.] We must here suppose the poet busy in reading his own work; and that these three lines are the introducion of the poem addressed to Timon, which he afterwarde gives the painter an account of. WARBURTON. 9 which oozes-] The folio copy reads which uses. The modern editors have given it_which isssurs. JOHNSON. The two oldest copies read: Our poere is as a gowne which uses. STEEVENS. MALONE. Provokes itself, and, like the current, flies 2 *and, like the current, flies Each bound it chafes.) Thus the folio reads, and rightly. In later editions-chafes. WARBURTON. This fpeech of the poet is very obfcure. 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 obftructions: but the images in the comparison are fo ill-forted, and the effet so obscurely expressed, that I cannot but think fomething omitted that connected the last sentence with, the former. It is well known that the players often shorten speeches to quicken the representation: and it may be suspected, that they sometimes performed their amputations with more hafte than judge. ment. JOHNSON. Perhaps the sense is, that having touch'd on one fubject, it flies off in quest of another. The old copy feems to read: Each bound it chases. The letters / and / are not always to be diftinguished from each other, especially when the types have been much worn, as in the first folio. If chases be the true reading, it is best explained by the Se fequiturque fugitque -" of the Roman poet. Somewhat fimilar occurs in The Tempeft : "Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him The obscurity of this passage arifes merely from the mistake of the editors, who have joined in one, what was intended by Shakfpeare as two distinct fentences. - It should be pointed thus, and then the sense will be evident: - our gentle flame Provokes itself, and like the current flies; Each bound it chafes. Our gentle flame animates itself; it flies like a current; and every obftacle serves but to increase its force. M. MASON. In Julius Cæfar, we have " The troubled Tyber chafing with her shores,-" Again, in The Legend of Pierce Gaveston, by Michael Drayton, 1594: Like as the ocean, chafing with his bounds, "With raging billowes flies against the rocks, "And to the shore sends forth his hideous founds," &c. MALONE. PAIN. A picture, fir. - And when comes your book forth? 3 POET. Upon the heels of my presentment, fir. Let's fee your piece. PAIN. 'Tis a good piece. POET. So 'tis: this comes off well and excellent." This jumble of incongruous images, seems to have been defigned, and put into the mouth of the Poetafter, that the reader might appreciate his talents: his language therefore should not be confidered in the abftra&. HENLEY. 3- And when comes your book forth? And was supplied by Sir T. Hanmer, to perfect the measure. STEEVENS. 4 Upon the heels &c.) As soon as my book has been presented to lord Timon. JOHNSON, 5 presentment] The patrons of Shakspeare's age do not appear to have been all Timons. " I did determine not to have dedicated my play to any body, because forty shillings I care not for, and above, few or none will beflow on these matters." Preface to A Woman is a Weathercock, by N. Field, 1612. STEEVENS. It should however be remembered, that forty shillings at that time were equal to at least fix, perhaps eight, pounds at this day. MALONE. 6 'Tis a good piece.] As the metre is here defe&ive, it is not improbable that our author originally wrote 'Tis a good piece, indeed. So, in The Winter's Tale: 7 STEEVENS. this comes off well and excellent.) The meaning is, the figure rises well from the canvas. C'est bien relevé. JOHNSON.. What is meant by this term of applaufe I do not exadly know. It occurs again in The Widow, by Ben Jonson, Fletcher, and Middleton: "It comes off very fair yet." Again, in A Trick to catch the old One, 1608: "Put a good tale in his ear, so that it comes off cleanly, and there's a horfe and man for us. I warrant thee." Again, in the first part of Marston's Antonio and Mellida: "Fla. Faith, the song will seem to come off hardly. STEEVENS. PAIN. Indifferent. POET. Admirable: How this grace Speaks his own standing! what a mental power This eye shoots forth! how big imagination Moves in this lip! to the dumbness of the gesture One might interpret.9 8 - How this grace Speaks his own standing!) This relates to the attitude of the And figure, and means that it stands judiciously on its own centre. not only so, but that it has a graceful standing likewise. Of which the poet in Hamlet, speaking of another picture, says: "A station like the herald, Mercury "New-lighted on a heaven-kiffing hill." which lines Milton seems to have had in view, where he says of Raphael: " At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise "He lights, and to his proper shape returns. Like Maia's fon he stood.". WARBURTON. This sentence seems to me obscure, and, however explained, nor very forcible. This grace Speaks his own standing, is only, The gracefulness of this figure shows how it stands. I am inclined to think something corrupted. It would be more natural and clear thus: How this ftanding Speaks his own graces! - How this posture displays its own gracefulness. But I will indulge conjecture further, and propose to read: How this grace Speaks understanding! what a mental power This eye shoots forth! JOHNSON. The affage, to my apprehenfion at least, speaks its own meaning. which is, how the graceful attitude of this figure proclaims that it stands firm on its center, or gives evidence in favour of its own fixure. Grace is introduced as bearing witness to propriety. A fimilar expression occurs in Cymbeline, A& II. fc. iv: "So likely to report themselves." STEEVENS. - to the dumbness of the geflure One might interpret.) The figure, though dumb, seems to have a capacity of speech. The allusion is to the puppet-shows, or motions, as they were termed in our author's time. The perfon PAIN. It is a pretty mocking of the life. Here is a touch; Is't good? POET. I'll say of it, It tutors nature: artificial ftrife 2 who spoke for the puppets was called an interpreter. See a note on Hamlet, A& III. fc. v. MALONE. Rather-one might venture to supply words to such intelligible adion. Such fignificant gesture ascertains the sentiments that should accompany it. STEEVENS. 3 - artificial ftrife -] Strife for action or motion. Strife is either the coutest of art with nature: Hic ille eft Raphael, timuit, quo sosoite vinci Rerum magna parens, & moriente mori. WARBURTON. or it is the contraft of forms or opposition of colours. JOHNSON. So, under the print of Noah Bridges, by Faithorne: "Faithorne, with nature at a noble ftrife, "Hath paid the author a great share of life." &c. STEEVENS. And Ben Jonson, on the head of Shakspeare by Droeshout: " This figure which thou here seest put, "It was for gentle Shakspeare cut: " Wherein the graver had a ftrife " With nature, to out-doo the life." HENLEY. That artificial ftrife means, as Dr. Johnfon has explained it, the contest of art with nature, and not the contrast of forms or oppoption of colours, may appear from our author's Venus and Adonis, wher the fame thought is more clearly expressed: "Look, when a painter would surpass the life, In Drayton's Mortimeriados, printed I believe in 1596, (afterwards entitled The Baron's Wars,) there are two lines nearly resembling thefe: "Done for the last with such exceeding life, " MALONE. 1 |