True, as you faid, Timon is fhrunk, indeed; And he, that's once denied, will hardly fpeed. [Exit Lucius. 1. STRAN. Do you observe this, Hoftilius ?4 2. STRAN. Ay, too well. 5 1. STRAN. Why this Is the world's foul; and just of the fame piece Is every flatterer's fpirit. Who can call him His friend, that dips in the fame dish?o for, in My knowing, Timon has been this lord's father, 4 Do you obferve this, Hoftilius?] I am willing to believe, for the fake of metre, that our author wrote: 5 Obferve you this, Hoftilius? Ay, too well. STEEVENS. -flatterer's fpirit.] This is Dr. Warburton's emendation. The other modern] editions read: Why, this is the world's foul; And just of the fame piece is every flatterer's sport. Mr. Upton has not unluckily tranfpofed the two final words, thus: Why, this is the world's fport; Of the fame piece is every flatterer's foul. The paffage is not fo obfcure as to provoke fo much enquiry. This, fays he, is the foul or fpirit of the world: every flatterer plays the fame me, makes port with the confidence of his friend. JOHNSON, Mr. M. Mafon prefers the amendment of Dr. Warburton to the tranfpofition of Mr. Upton. STEEVENS. The emendation, fpirit, belongs not to Dr. Warburton, but to Mr. Theobald. The word was frequently pronounced as one fyllable, and fometimes, I think, written fprite. Hence the corruption was eafy; whilft on the other hand it is highly improbable that two words fo difant from each other as foul and sport (or Spirit} fhould change places. Mr. Upton did not take the trouble to look into the old copy; but finding foul and sport the final words of two lines in Mr. Pope's and the fubfequent editions, took it for granted they held the fame fituation in the original edition, which we fee was not the cafe. I do not believe this fpeech was intended by the author for verfe. 6 MALONE. that dips in the fame dish? This phrafe is fcriptural. "He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish." St. Matthew, xxvi. 23. STEEVENS. And kept his credit with his purse; 1. STRAN. For mine own part, I never tafted Timon in my life, Nor came any of his bounties over me, Had his neceffity made ufe of me, I would have put my wealth into donation, 7 in refpet of his, ] i. e. confidering Timon's claim for what he asks. WARBURTON. In refpect of his fortune: what Lucius denies to Timon is in proportion to what Lucius posselses, less than the usual alms given by good men to beggars. JOHNSON. Does not his refer to the lip of Timon? Though Lucius himself drink from a filver cup which was Timon's gift to him, he refuses to Timon, in return, drink from any cup. HENLEY. * I would have put my wealth into donation, And the best half fhould have return'd to him, ] Sir T. Hanmer reads: I would have put my wealth into partition, And the best half should have attorn'd to him,---- . Dr. Warburton receives attorn'd. The only difficulty is in the word return'd, which, fince he had receiv'd nothing from him, cannot be used but in a very low and licentious meaning. JOHNSON. Had his neceffity made ufe of me, I would have put my fortune into a condition to be alienated, and the best half of what I had gained my Jelf, or received from others, fhould have found its way to him. Eisher So much I love his heart: But, I perceive, [Exeunt. fuch licentious expofition must be allowed, or the paffage remain in obfcurity, as fome readers may not choose to receive Sir Thomas Hanmer's emendation. The following lines, however, in Hamlet, A& II. fc. ii. perfuade me that my explanation of-put my wealth into donation-is fomewhat doubtful: Put your dread pleasures more into command "Than to entreaty." Again, in Cymbeline, A& III. fc. iv: "And, mad'ft me put into contempt the fuits "Of princely fellows," &c. Perhaps the ftranger means to say, I would have treated my wealth as a prefent originally received from him, and on this occafion have returned him the half of that whole for which I fuppofed myself to be indebted to his bounty. Lady Macbeth has nearly the fame fentiment: in compt "To make their audit at your highness' pleasure, STEEVENS. not the The difficulty of this paffage arifes from the word return'd. Warburton proposes to read attorn'd; but that word always relates to perfons, not to things. It is the tenant that attorns, lands. The meaning of the paffage appears to be this: "Though I never tafted of Timon's bounty, yet I have fuch an efteem for his virtue, that had he applied to me, I fhould have confidered my wealth as proceeding from his donation, and have returned half of it to him again." To put his wealth into donation, means, to put it down in account as a donation, to suppose it a donation. M. MASON. I have no doubt that the latter very happy interpretation given by Mr. Steevens is the true one. Though (fays the speaker) I never tafted Timon's bounty in my life, I would have fuppofed my whole fortune to have been a gift from him, &c. So, in the common phrafe,-Put yourself i. e fuppofe yourself] in my place. The paffages quoted by Mr. Steevens fully fupport the phrafe-inte donation. "Return'd to him neceffarily includes the idea of baving come from him, and therefore can not mean fimply-found its way, the interpretation firft given by Mr. Steevens. MALONE. SCENE III. The fame. A Room in Sempronius's House. Enter SEMPRONIUS, and a Servant of Timon's. SEM. Muft he needs trouble me in't? Humph! 'Bove all others? He might have tried lord Lucius, or Lucullus; And now Ventidius is wealthy too, Whom he redeem'd from prifon: All thefe three Owe their eftates unto him. SERV. O my lord, 3 They have all been touch'd, and found base metal; "O yee ingrateful! have I freed yee "From bonds in prifou, to requite me thus, Malone. thefe three-] The word three was inferted by Sir T. Hanmer to complete the measure; as was the exclamation O, for the same reason, in the following speech. STEEVENS. 3 They have all been touch'd,] That is, tried, alluding to the touchflone. JOHNSON. So, in King Richard III: "O Buckingham, now do I play the touch, "To try, if thou be current gold, indeed." STEEVENS. ▲ Has Ventidius &c.] With this mutilated and therefore rugged Speech no ear accustomed to harmony can be fatisfied. Sir T. Hanmer thus reforms the firft part of it: Have Lucius, and Ventidius, and Lucullus, Deny'd him all? and does he fend to me? And does he fend to me? Three? humph! Thrive, give him over;5 Muft I take the cure upon me? Yet we might better, I think, read with a later editor: Deny'd him, say you? and does he fend to me? Three? humph! It shows &c. But I can only point out metrical dilapidations which I profefs my inability to repair. STEEVENS. 5 His friends, like physicians, Thrive, give him over ;] Sir T. Hanmer reads, try'd, plaufibly enough. Inftead of three propofed by Mr. Pope, I fhould read thrice. But perhaps the old reading is the true. JOHNSON. Perhaps we fhould read-fhriv'd. They give him over Shriv'd; that is, prepared for immediate death by fhrift. TYRWhitt. Perhaps the following paffage in Webfter's Dutchess of Malfy, is the beft comment after all: "With their hands full of money, use to give o'er "Their patients.” - The paffage will then mean: "His friends, like phyficians, thrive by his bounty and fees, and either relinquish, and forfake him, or give his cafe up as defperate." To give over in The Taming of the Shrew has no reference to the irremediable condition of a patient, but fimply means to leave, to forsake, to quit: "And therefore let me be thus bold with you "To give you over at this first encounter, "Unless you will accompany me thither." STEEVENS. The editor of the fecond folio, the firft and principal corrupter of thefe plays, for Thrive, fubftituted Thriv'd, on which the conjedures of Sir Thomas Hanmer and Mr. Tyrwhitt were founded. The paffage quoted by Mr. Steevens from The Dutchess of Malfy, is a ftrong confirmation of the old reading; for Webfter appears both in that and in another piece of his (The White Devil) to have frequently imitated Shakspeare. Thus, in The Dutchefs of Mally, we find : Ufe me well, you were beft; "What I have done, I have done; I'll confefs nothing." |