compared eds. print "feign." The Camb. eds. mark the text as corrupt. Keightley proposed "seem."

Note (9.) Act III. Scene 2, Line 6,—

"Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus' lodging: such a waggoner
As Phaethon would whip you to the west,
And bring in cloudy night immediately.
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That rude day's eyes may wink, and Romeo
Leap to these arms untalk'd-of and unseen.”

"Come, civil night,

Thou sober-suited matron, all in black :

Come, gentle night,—come, loving, black-brow'd night.” "rude day" is contrasted with "civil, gentle, loving night.” “untalk'd-of and unseen”-compare 2 Hy. VI. iv. 1, 1,

"The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful day

Is crept into the bosom of the sea."

Lucrece, 800,

"O Night, thou furnace of foul-reeking smoke,

Let not the jealous Day behold that face

Which underneath thy black all-hiding cloak—” &c.

"Make me not object to the tell-tale Day!"

"day's eyes "—compare Lucrece, 1086,—

66

Revealing day through every cranny spies,

And seems to point her out where she sits weeping;

6

To whom she sobbing speaks: O eye of eyes,

Why pry'st thou through my window? leave thy peeping.'" Macb. iii. 2, 46,

"Come, seeling night,

Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day."

Compare also this play, Act iii. 5, 19,

"I'll

say yon grey is not the morning's eye."

Act. ii. 3, 1,

"The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night." The old eds. have "That run-awayes eyes" and "That runnawayes eyes." The correction is by Dyce; with the change of three letters, it gives a reading which is in harmony with the context, and has the support of many parallel passages. Singer prints "rumourers' eyes." Staunton has "run-aways' eyes;" Delius, "runaways' eyes;" and the Camb. eds., " runaway's eyes; "the latter mark the text as corrupt.

Note (10.) Act III. Scene 5, Line 227,

"Beshrew my very heart,

I think you're happy in this second match,

For it excels your first; or if it did not,

Your first is dead; or 'twere as good he were,

As living hence, and you no use of him.”

Compare The Tragicall Hystory of Romeus and Juliet,

1562, cited by Malone,

"The flattering nurse did praise the friar for his skill,And eke she praiseth much to her the second marriage ;

And County Paris now she praises ten times more

By wrong, than she herself by right had Romeus prais'd before; Paris shall dwell there still: Romeus shall not return;

What shall it boot her all her life to languish still and mourn?" The old eds. have "As liuing here "—the correction is by Hanmer. All the compared eds. retain "here." Dyce, however, states "I suspect that 'here' is wrong. The line (Act iii. 3, 15),—

'Hence from Verona art thou banished,'

is corrupted, in the second and third quartos and in the folio, to' Here in Verona,' &c."

Note (11.)

Act V. Scene 1, Line 1,—

"If I may trust the flattering toys of sleep,
My dreams presage some joyful news at hand."

Compare W. T. iii. 3, 39,

"Dreams are toys:

Yet for this once, yea, superstitiously,

I will be squar'd by this."

The first quarto has "eye of sleep"-which is the reading of Dyce and Staunton. The later eds. have "truth of sleep" which is adopted by the other compared eds.

Note (1.)

TIMON OF ATHENS.

Act I. Scene 1, Line 21, 47,–—

"Poet. Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes
From whence 'tis nourish'd: the fire i' the flint
Shows not till it be struck; our gentle flame
Provokes itself, and, like the current, flies

Each bound it chafes."

In these five lines poesy is a gum, a gentle flame, and an impetuous current: the poet affects a rapid change of similes this introduction to his style is of service in considering the longer speech which follows,

"Poet. You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors. I have, in this rough work, shap'd out a man,

Whom this beneath-world doth embrace and hug
With amplest entertainment: my free drift

Halts not particularly, but moves itself
In a wide sea of man: no levell'd malice
Infects one comment in the course I hold;
But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on,
Leaving no track behind.”

"this confluence," "this great flood of visitors," "this

beneath-world," "a wide sea of man," all indicate the crowd of worshippers of the man shap'd out, (line 69),

"One do I personate of Lord Timon's frame."

my free drift halts not particularly ", &c.-i.e. my comprehensive aim dwells not on individual cases, but moves freely in " a wide sea of man.”

66

no levell'd malice infects one comment," &c.

i.e. no malice aimed at persons infects one comment made in the course of "this work." For" comment," compare J. C. iv. 3, 8,

"In such a time as this it is not meet

That every nice offence should bear his comment."

"Leaving no track behind"-i.e. leaving no individual man marked by my satire. Jaques speaks more clearly, in the same sense, A. L. I. ii. 7, 70, 47, 58,

66

"Who cries out on pride,

That can therein tax any private party?
Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea?"
"I must have liberty

Withal, as large a charter as the wind,
To blow on whom I please."

"Give me leave

To speak my mind, and I will through and through
Cleanse the foul body of the infected world."

a wide sea of man”. -we have the same idea (Act iii. 4, 118) "the tide of knaves"—(Hy. VIII. iv. 1, 62) "the rich stream of lords and ladies "-(A. L. I. iii. 2, 440) "the full stream of the world"-(Cor. v. 4, 58),

"This Volumnia

Is worth of consuls, senators, patricians,
A city full; of tribunes, such as you,
A sea and land full."

The folio has "In a wide Sea of wax " and "Infects one comma." All the compared eds. retain the old text. The folio has, in the passage first considered, "Our Poesie is as a Gowne, which uses"—where all correct, as above, "a gum, which oozes."

Note (2.)

66

Ib. Line 241,

Apem. Heavens, that I were a lord!

Tim. What wouldst do then, Apemantus ?

Apem. E'en as Apemantus does now; hate a lord with my heart.

Tim. What, thyself?

Apem. Ay.

Tim. Wherefore?

Apem. That I had so green a wit to be a lord.”

Compare L. L. L. i. 2, 95,—

“Armado. He surely affected her for her wit.
Moth. It was so, sir, for she had a green wit."

W. T. iii. 2, 182,—

"Fancies too weak for boys, too green and idle
For girls of nine."

The folio has "That I had no angry wit."

Singer

prints "an empty wit." The other compared eds. retain the old text: the Cambridge eds. mark it as corrupt.

Note (3.) Act I. Scene 2, Line 59,–

66

Apem. Here's that which is too clear to be a liar,

Honest water, which ne'er left man i̇' the mire:

This and my food are equals; there's no odds:
Feasts are too proud to give thanks to the gods."

"clear" in the double sense of pure, transparent, and
pure, innocent.
The folio has "too weake to be a