Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy; Pr’ythee, no more. mon's ? Come, sermon me no further: ? — a wasteful cock,] i. e. a cockloft, a garret. And a wasteful cock, signifies a garret lying in waste, neglected, put to no use. Hanmer. Sir Thomas Hanmer's explanation is received by Dr. Warbur. ton, yet I think them both apparently mistaken. A wasteful cock is a cock or pipe with a turning stopple running to waste. In this sense, both the terms have their usual meaning; but I know not that cock is ever used for cockloft, or wasteful for lying in waste, or that lying in waste is at all a phrase. Johnson. Whatever be the meaning of the present passage, it is certain, that lying in waste is still a very common phrase. Farmer. A wasteful cock is what we now call a waste pipe; a pipe which is continually running, and thereby prevents the overflow of cis- terns, and other reservoirs, by carrying off their superfluous wa. ter. This circumstance served to keep the idea of Timon's unceasing prodigality in the mind of the Steward, while its remote. ness from the scenes of luxury within the house, was favourable to meditation. Collins. The reader will have a perfect notion of the method taken by Mr Pope in his edition, when he is informed that, for wastefül: cock, that editor reads-lonely room. Malone. 8 Who is not Timon's?] I suppose we ought to read, for the sake: of measure: Who is not lord Timon's ? Steevens.. 9 No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart ; Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.) Every reader must rejoice in this circumstance of comfort which presents itself to Timon, who, although beggar'd through want of prudence, consoles him. self with reflection that bis ruin was not brought on by the pur. suit of guilty pleasures. Steevens. Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience lack, Assurance bless your thoughts! Tim. And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd, 3 friends. Within there, ho!4-Flaminius !5 Servilius! Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Servants. cius, 1 And try the argument ---] The licentiousness of our author forces is often upon far-fetched expositions. Arguments may mean contents, as the arguments of a book; or evidences and proofs. Fohnson. The matter contained in a poem or play was in our author's time commonly thus denominated. The cotents of his Rape of Lucrece, which he certainly published himself, he calls The Argu. ment. Hence undoubtedly his use of the word. If I would, says Timon, by borrowing, try of what men's hearts are composed, what they have in them, &c. The old copy reads-argument; not, as Dr. Johnson supposed-arguments Malone So, in Hamlet: “Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in it?” Many more instances to the same purpose might be subjoined. Steevens. 2 As I can bid thee speak.) Thus the old copy; but it being clear from the overloaded measure that these words are a play-house interpolation, I would not hesitate to omit them. They are under. stood, though not expressed. Steevens. crown’d!,] i.e. dignified, adorned, made respectable. So, in King Henry VIII: “ And yet no day without a deed to crown it.” Steevens. 4 Within there, ho!) Ho, was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer. The frequency of Shakspeare's use of this interjection, needs no examples. Steevens. 5 — Flaminius.'] The old copy has--Flavius. The correction was made by Mr. Rowe. The error probably arose from Fla only heing set down in the MS. Malone. 3 Honour to-day ;-You, to Sempronius; As you have said, my lord. Aside. I have been bold, Is 't true? can it be? 6 8 - lord Lucullus?] As the Steward is repeating the words of Timon, I have not scrupled to supply the title lord, which is wanting in the old copy, though necessary to the metre. Steevens. 7 Go you, sir, to the senators,] To complete the line, we might read, as in the first scene of this play: the senators of Athens. Steevens. - I knew it the most general way,] General is not speeds, but compendious, the way to try many at a time. Fohnson. at fall,] i. e. at an ebb. Steevens. but -- ] was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the verse. Steevens. intending -] is regarding, turning their notice to other things. Fohnson. To intend and to attend had anciently the same meaning. So, inThe Spanish Curate of Beaumont and Fletcher: “Good sir, intend this business." See Vol. II, p. 357, n. 4. Steedens. So, in Wits, Fits, and Fancies, &c. 1595: 9 1 After distasteful looks, and these hard fractions, 3 You gods, reward them! be not sad, Thou art too true, and honest; ingeniously I speak, No blame velongs to thee:-[to Serv.] Ventidius lately Buried his father; by whose death, he 's stepp'd 3 5 “ Tell this man that I am going to dinner to my lord maior, and that I cannot now intend his tittle-tattle.” Again, in Pasquil's Night-Cap, a poem, 1623: “ For we have many secret ways to spend, - and these hard fractions,] Flavius, by fractions, means broken bints, interrupted sentences, abrupt remarks. Fohnson. - half-caps,] A half-cap is a cap slightly moved, not put off. Fohnson. -cold-moving nods,] By cold-moving I do not understand with Mr. Theobald. chilling or cold-producing nods, but a slight motion of the head, without any warmth or cordiality. Cold-moving is the same as coldly-moving. So-perpetual sober gods, for perpetually sober; lazy-pacing clouds, loving jealousRattering sweet, &c. Such distant and uncourteous salutations are properly termed cold-moving, as proceeding from a cold and un. friendly disposition. Malone. 6 Have their ingratitude in them hereditary:) Hereditary, for by natural constitution. But some distempers of natural consti. tution being called hereditary, he calls their ingratitude so. Warburton. 7 And nature, as it grows again toward earth, Is fashion'd for the journey, dull, and heavy.] The same thought occurs in The Wife for a Month, by Beaumont and Fletcher: “ Beside, the fair soul's old too, it grows covetous, pariterque senescere mentem. Lucret. I. Steevens. ingeniously - Ingenious was anciently used instead of in. genuous. So, in The Taming of the Shrew: A course of learning and ingenious studies." Reen. 8 Into a great estate : when he was poor, these fellows bounty's foe; Being free? itself, it thinks all others so. [Exeunt. ACT III.....SCENE I. The same. A Room in Lucullus's House. FLAMINIUS waiting. Enter a Servant to him. Serv. I have told my lord of you, he is coming down to you. Flam. I thank you, sir. Enter LUCULLUS. Serv. Here 's my lord. 9 Bid him suppose, some good necessity Toucles his friend, Good, as it may afford Ventidius an opportunity of exercising his bounty, and relieving his friend, in return for his former kindness:-or, some honest necessity, not the consequence of a villainous and ignoble bounty. I rather think this latter is the meaning. Malone. So afterwards: “ If his occasion were not virtuous, “ I should not urge it half so faithfully.” Steevens. 1 I would, I could not think it; &c ) I concur in opinion with some former editors, that the words think it, should be omitted. Every reader will mentally insert them from the speech of Ti. mon, though they are not expressed in that of Flavius. The laws of meire, in my judgment, should supersede the authority of the plurers, who appear in many instances to have taken a designed ellipsis for an error of omission, to the repeated injury of our author's versification I would read: I would, I could not : That thought 's bounty's foe -- Steevens. 2-free-) is liberal, not parsimonious. Fohnson. |