from Lucian, there being then no translation of the dialogue that relates to that subject. Malone imagines that Shakspeare wrote his Timon of Athens in the year 1610. "Of all the works of Shakspeare, Timon of Athens possesses most the character of a satire-a laughing satire in the picture of the parasites and flatterers, and a Juvenalian in the bitterness and the imprecations of Timon against the ingratitude of a false world. The story is treated in a very simple manner, and is definitely divided into large masses:—in the first act, the joyous life of Timon, his noble and hospitable extravagance, and the throng of every description of suitors to him; in the second and third acts, his embarrassment, and the trial which he is thereby reduced to make of his supposed friends, who all desert him in the hour of need; in the fourth and fifth acts, Timon's flight to the woods, his misanthropical melancholy, and his death. The only thing which may be called an episode, is the banishment of Alcibiades, and his return by force of arms. However, they are both examples of ingratitude,-the one of a state towards its defender, and the other of private friends to their benefactor.* As the merits of the general towards his fellow-citizens suppose more strength of character than those of the generous prodigal, their respective behaviors are no less different. Timon frets himself to death; Alcibiades * "It appears to me," says Singer, "that Schlegel and professor Richardson have taken more unfavorable view of the character of Timon, than our great Poet intended to convey. Timon had not only been a benefactor to his private, unworthy friends, but he had rendered the state service, which ought not to have been forgotten. He himself expresses his consciousness of this, when he sends one of his servants to request a thousand talents at the hands of the senators 'Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have And Alcibiades afterwards confirms this: I have heard, and grieved How cursed Athens, mindless of thy worth, "Surely, then, he suffered as much mentally from the ingratitude of the state, as from that of his faithless friends. Shakspeare seems to have entered entirely into the feeling of bitterness, which such conduct was likely to awaken in a good and susceptible nature, and has expressed it with vehemence and force. The virtues of Timon, too, may be inferred from the absence of any thing which could imply dissoluteness or intemperance in his conduct: as Richardson observes, He is convivial, but his enjoyment of the banquet is in the pleasure of his guests; Phrynia and Timandra are not in the train of Timon, but of Alcibiades. He is not so desirous of being distinguished for magnificence, as of being eminent for courteous and beneficent actions: he solicits distinction, but it is by doing good.' Johnson has remarked that the attachment of his servants in his declining fortunes, could be produced by nothing but real virtue and disinterested kindness. I cannot, therefore, think that Shakspeare meant to stigmatize the generosity of Timon as that of a fool, or that he meant his misanthropy to convey to us any notion of the vanity of wishing to be singular.'" *f regains his lost dignity by violence. If the Poet very properly sides with Timon against the common practice of the world, he is, on the other hand, by no means disposed to spare Timon. Timon was a fool in his generosity; he is a madman in his discontent; he is every where wanting in the wisdom which enables man in all things to observe the due measure. Although the truth of his extravagant feelings is proved by his death, and though, when he digs up a treasure, he spurns at the wealth which seems to solicit him, we yet see distinctly enough that the vanity of wishing to be singular, in both parts of the play, had some share in his liberal selfforgetfulness, as well as his anchoretical seclusion. This is particularly evident in the incomparable scene where the cynic Apemantus visits Timon in the wilderness. They have a sort of competition with each other in their trade of misanthropy: the cynic reproaches the impoverished Timon with having been merely driven by necessity to take to the way of living which he had been long following of his free choice, and Timon cannot bear the thought of being merely an imitator of the cynic. As in this subject the effect could only be produced by an accumulation of similar features, in the variety of the shades an amazing degree of understanding has been displayed by Shakspeare. What a powerfully diversified concert of flatteries and empty testimonies of devotedness! It is highly amusing to see the suitors, whom the ruined circumstances of their patron had dispersed, immediately flock to him again when they learn that he had been revisited by fortune. In the speeches of Timon, after he is undeceived, all the hostile figures of language are exhausted,—it is a dictionary of eloquent imprecations." # Two Servants of Varro, and the Servant of Isidore, two of Timon's Creditors. CUPID and Maskers. Three Strangers. Poet, Painter, Jeweller, and Merchant. Other Lords, Senators, Officers, Soldiers, Thieves, and Attendants. SCENE. Athens, and the Woods adjoining. TIMON OF ATHENS. ACT I. SCENE I. Athens. A Hall in Timon's House. Enter Poet, Painter, Jeweller, Merchant, and others, at several doors. Poet. GOOD day, sir. Pain. I am glad you are well. Poet. I have not seen you long; how goes the world? Pain. It wears, sir, as it grows. Poet. See, Ay, that's well known. But what particular rarity? what strange, Which manifold record not matches? Magic of bounty! all these spirits thy power Hath conjured to attend. I know the merchant. Pain. I know them both; t'other's a jeweller. Mer. O, 'tis a worthy lord! Jew. Nay, that's most fixed. Mer. A most incomparable man; breathed, as it were, To an untirable and continuate goodness. He passes. Jew. I have a jewel here. Mer. O, pray, let's see't; for the lord Timon, sir? 1 The poet merely means to ask if any thing extraordinary or out of the common course of things has lately happened; and is prevented from waiting for an answer by observing so many conjured by Timon's bounty to attend. He passes, 2 Breathed is exercised, inured by constant practice. i. e. exceeds or goes beyond common bounds. Jew. If he will touch the estimate.' But for that Poet. When we for recompense have praised the vile, It stains the glory in that happy verse Which aptly sings the good. Mer. 'Tis a good form. [Looking at the jewel. Jew. And rich; here is a water, look you. Pain. You are rapt, sir, in some work, some ded ication To the great lord. Poet. A thing slipped idly from me. Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes 3 From whence 'tis nourished. The fire i'the flint Shows not, till it be struck; our gentle flame 5 Poet. Upon the heels of my presentment, sir. 'Tis a good piece. 6 Poet. So 'tis; this comes off well and excellent. Pain. Indifferent. Poet. Admirable. How this grace Speaks his own standing?" what a mental power Pain. It is a pretty mocking of the life. 1 Touch the estimate, that is, come up to the price. 2 We must here suppose the poet busy in reciting part of his own work. 3 The old copies read : "Our poesie is a gowne which uses." 4 It is not certain whether this word is chafes or chases, in the folio. 5 i. e. as soon as my book has been presented to Timon. 6 This comes off well, apparently means this piece is well executed. 7 How the graceful attitude of this figure proclaims that it stands firm on its centre, or gives evidence in favor of its own fixture. introduced as bearing witness to propriety. 8 One might venture to supply words to such intelligible action. Grace is |