ANNOTATIONS

UPON

TIMON OF ATHENS.

BREATH'D as it were-] Breath'd is inured by constant practice; so trained as not to be wearied. To breathe a horse, is to exercise him for the course.

JOHNSON.

2 When we for recompence, &c.] We must here suppose the poet busy in reading his own work; and that these three lines are the introduction of the poem addressed to Timon, which he afterwards gives the painter an account of.

WARBURTON.

3 In a wide sea of wax:] In ancient times men wrote upon tablets of wax with a graver or stile. This custom does not seem to have ceased in England till as late as the reign of Richard II.

4 I'll unbolt to you.] I'll explain; I'll unlock my

mind.

5

-properties-] Appropriates, makes his own. even he drops down, &c.] Either Shakspeare meant to put a falshood into the mouth of his poet, or

6

had not yet thoroughly planned the character of Apemantus; for in the ensuing scenes, his behaviour is as cynical to Timon as to the rest.

7

8

STEEVENS.

—conceiv'd to scope.] Imagined properly.

-our condition.] Our art; The subject would be well expressed in a picture.

9 A thousand moral paintings I can shew.] Shakspeare seems to intend in this dialogue to express some competition between the two great arts of imitation. Whatever the poet declares himself to have shewn, the painter thinks he could have shewn better.

JOHNSON.

10 Tis not enough, &c.] This thought is better expressed by Dr. Madden in his elegy on archbishop Boulter.

-He thought it mean

Only to help the poor to beg again.

JOHNSON.

Mr. Steevens hints, that Madden paid ten guineas to Johnson for correcting this Elegy.

11 Therefore he will be, Timon:] The thought is closely expressed, and obscure: but this seems the meaning, If the man be honest, my lord, for that reuson he will be so in this; and not endeavour at the injustice of gaining my daughter without my consent.

WARBURTON.

12 It would unclew me -] To unclew, is to unwind a ball of thread. To unclew a man, is to draw out the whole mass of his fortunes. 13 Enter APEMANTUS.] See this character of a cynic

JOHNSON.

finely drawn by Lucian, in his Auction of the Philosophers; and how well Shakspeare has copied it.

14

WARBURTON.

-angry wit to be a lord.] The meaning may be, I should hate myself for patiently enduring to be a lord. This is ill enough expressed. Perhaps some happy change may set it right. I have tried, and can do nothing.

JOHNSON.

I confess my inability either to explain or amend this passage, which must be left for some more successful commentator.

If I hazard one conjecture, it is with the smallest degree of confidence. By an angry wit Apemantus may mean the poet, who has been provoking him. The sense will then be this: I should hate myself, because I could find no captious wit (like him) to take the title in my stead.

15

STEEVENS.

-use of quittance.] All customary returns made in discharge of obligations.

In one man's blood;--] The allusion is to a pack of hounds trained to pursuit by being gratified with the blood of the animal which they kill, and the wonder is that the animal on which they are feeding cheers them to the chase.

JOHNSON.

17-wind-pipe's dangerous notes:] The notes of the wind-pipe seem to be only the indications which shew where the wind-pipe is.

JOHNSON.

Shakspeare is very fond of making use of musical

terms, when he is speaking of the human body, and wind-pipe and notes savour very strongly of a quibble.

STEEVENS.

18 Why have you that charitable title, &c.] The meaning is probably this. Why are you distinguished from thousands by that title of endearment, was there not a particular connection and intercourse of tenderness between you and me.

JOHNSON.

19 O joy, e'en made away, &c.] For this Hanmer writes, O joy, e'en made a joy, ere't can be born; and is followed by Dr. Warburton. I am always inclinable to think well of that which is approved by so much learning and sagacity, yet cannot receive this alteration. Tears being the effect both of joy and grief, supplied our author with an opportunity of conceit, which he seldom fails to indulge. Timon, weeping with a kind of tender pleasure, cries out, O joy, e'en made away, destroyed, turned to tears, before it can be born, before it can be fully possessed.

JOHNSON.

20 Like madness is the glory of this life-] The glory of this life is very near to madness, as may be made appear from this pomp, exhibited in a place where a philosopher is feeding on oil and roots. When we see by example how few are the necessaries of life, we learn what madness there is in so much superfluity. 21 Advance this jewel;] Raise it to honour by wearing it.

Serving of becks-] A beck is a salutation with