That scolds against the quality of flesh, And not believes himself: down with the nose, Of him, that his particular to foresee,3 Smells from the general weal: make curl'd-pate ruffians bald; And let the unscarr'd braggarts of the war The source of all erection.-There 's more gold :- And ditches grave you all!4 Phr. & Timan. More counsel with more money, bounteous Timon. Tim. More whore, more mischief first; I have given Alcib. Strike up the drum towards Athens. Farewel, 3 that his particular to foresee,] The metaphor is apparently incongruous, but the sense is good. To foresee his particular, is to provide for his private advantage, for which he leaves the right scent of publick good. In hunting, when hares have cross'd one another, it is common for some of the hounds to smell from the general weal, and foresee their own particular. Shakspeare, who seems to have been a skilful sportsman, and has alluded often to falconry, perhaps, alludes here to hunting. [Dr. Warburton would read-fore fend, i. e. (as he interprets the word) provide for, secure.] To the commentator's emendation it may be objected, that he uses forefend in the wrong meaning. To forefend is, I think, never to provide for, but to provide against. The verbs compounded with for or fore have commonly either an evil or negative sense. Johnson. And ditches grave you all!] To grave is to entomb. The word is now obsolete, though sometimes used by Shakspeare and his contemporary authors. So, in Lord Surrey's translation of the fourth book of Virgil's Æneid: "Cinders (think'st thou) mind this? or graved ghostes?" Again, in Chapman's version of the fifteenth Iliad: 66 the throtes of dogs shall grave: "His manlesse lims." To ungrave was likewise to turn out of a grave. Thus, in Mar ston's Sophonisba: 66 and me, now dead, Deny a grave; hurl us among the rocks "To stanch beasts hunger: therefore, thus ungrav'd,. If I thrive well, I'll visit thee again. Tim. If I hope well, I'll never see thee more. Tim. Yes, thou spok'st well of me.5 Alcib. Call'st thou that harm? We but offend him. Tim. Men daily find it such. The gilded newt, and eyeless venom'd worm,8 5 Yes, thou spok'st well of me.] Shakspeare in this as in many other places, appears to allude to the sacred writings: "Woe unto him of whom all men speak well!" Malone. 6 find it such.] For the insertion of the pronoun-such, I am answerable. It is too frequently used on similar occasions by our author, to need exemplification. Steevens. 7 Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast,] This image is taken from the ancient statues of Diana Ephesia Multimammia, called παναίολος φυσις πάντων μήτηρ; and is a very good comment on those extraordinary figures. See Montfaucon, l'Antiquité expliqueé Lib. III, ch. xv. Hesiod, alluding to the same representations, calls the earth, гAI' ErPr£TEPNOΣ. Warburton. Whose infinite breast means no more than whose boundless surface. Shakspeare probably knew nothing of the statue to which the commentator alludes. Steevens. 8 eyeless venom'd worm,] The serpent, which we, from the smallness of his eyes, call the blind-worm, and the Latins, cæcilia. So, in Macbeth: Johnson. "Adder's fork, and blindworm's sting." Steevens. 9 below crisp heaven-] We should read-cript, i. e. vaulted, from the Latin crypta, a vault. Warburton. Mr Upton declares for crisp, curled, bent, hollow. Johnson. Perhaps Shakspeare means curl'd, from the appearance of the clouds. In The Tempest, Ariel talks of riding "On the curl'd clouds." Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth shine; Never presented!—O, a root,—Dear thanks! Chaucer, in his House of Fame, says― "Her here that was oundie and crips." i. e. wavy and curled. Again, in The Philosopher's Satires, by Robert Anton: 1 “Her face as beauteous as the crisped morn." Steevens. who all thy human sons doth hate,] Old copy-the human sons do hate. The former word was corrected by Mr. Pope; the latter by Mr. Rowe. Malone. 2 Ensear thy fertile and conceptious womb. So, in King Lear: Dry up in her the organs of encrease." Steevens. 3 Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!] It is plain that bring out is bring forth. Johnson. Neither Dr Warburton nor Dr. Johnson seems to have been aware of the import of this passage. It was the great boast of the Athenians that they were autox loves; sprung from the soil on which they lived; and it is in allusion to this, that the terms common mother, and bring out, are applied to the ground. Henley. Though Mr. Henley, as a scholar, could not be unacquainted with this Athenian boast, I fear that Shakspeare knew no more of it than of the many-breasted Diana of Ephesus, brought forward by Dr. Warburton in a preceding note. Steevens. 4 the marbled mansion] So, Milton, B. III, \. 564: "Through the pure marble air Virgil bestows the same epithet on the sea. Again, in Othello: "Now by yon marble heaven, S.eevens. -- -." Milone. 5 Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plow-torn leas;] The sense is this: O nature! cease to produce men, ensear thy womb; but if thou wilt continue to produce them, at least cease to pamper them; dry up thy marrows, on which they fatten with unctuous morsels, thy vines, which give them liquorish draughts, and thy plow-torn leas. Here are effects corresponding with causes, liquorish draughts, with vines, and unctuous morsels with marrows, and the old reading literally preserved. Johnson. That from it all consideration slips! Enter APEMANTUS. More man? Plague! plague! Apem. I was directed hither: Men report, A poor unmanly melancholy, sprung From change of fortune. Why this spade? this place? Thou gav'st thine ears, like tapsters, that bid welcome,1 6 This is in thee a nature but affected; A poor unmanly melancholy, sprung From change of fortune.] The old copy reads infected, and change of future. Mr. Rowe made the emendation. Malone.. 7 Hug their diseas'd perfumes,] i. e. their diseas'd perfumed mistresses. Malone. So, in Othello: "'Tis such another fitchew; marry, a perfum'd one.” Steevens. the cunning of a carper.] For the philosophy of a Cynick, of which sect Apemantus was; and therefore he concludes: "Do not assume my likeness." Warburton. Cunning here seems to signify counterfeit appearance. Johnson. The cunning of a carper, is the insidious art of a critick. Shame not these woods, says Apemantus, by coming here to find fault. Maurice Kyffin in the preface to bis translation of Terence's Andria, 1588, says: "Of the curious carper I look not to be favoured." Again, Ursula, speaking of the sarcasms of Beatrice, ob serves "Why sure, such carping is not commendable." There is no apparent reason why Apemantus (according to Dr: Warburton's explanation) should ridicule his own sect. Steevens. hinge thy knee,] Thus, in Hamlet: 9 "To crook the pregnant hinges of the knee." Steevens. To knaves, and all approachers: 'Tis most just, And skip when thou point'st out? Will the cold brook, To cure thy o'er-night's surfeit? call the creatures,— Of wreakful heaven; whose bare unhoused trunks, 1 bid them flatter thee; like tapsters, that bid welcome,] So, in our author's Venus and Adonis: "Like shrill-tongu'd tapsters answering every call, The old copy has-bad welcome. Corrected in the second folio. 2 Malone. moss'd trees,] [Old copy-moist trees.] Sir T. Hanmer reads very elegantly: moss'd trees. Johnson. Shakspeare uses the same epithet in As you Like it, Act IV: "Under an oak, whose boughs were moss'd with age.' So also, Drayton, in his Mortimeriados, no date: Moss'd is, I believe, the true reading. Malone. Steevens. I have inserted this reading in the text, because there is less propriety in the epithet-moist; it being a known truth that trees become more and more dry, as they encrease in age. Thus, our author, in his Rape of Lucrece, observes, that it is one of the properties of time 3 outliv'd the eagle,] Aquila Senectus is a proverb. I learn from Turberville's Book of Falconry, 1575, that the great age of this bird has been ascertained from the circumstance of its always building its eyrie, or nest, in the same place Steevens. 4 Answer mere nature,] So, in King Lear, Act II, sc. iii: |