I have a jewel here

sir?

Enter certain Senators, and pass over. PAIN. How this lord is follow'd! POET. The senators of Athens:-happy inen! b PAIN. Look, more!†

POET. You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors.

I have, in this rough work, shap'd out a man,
Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug
With amplest entertainment: my free drift
Halts not particularly, but moves itself
In a wide sea of wax: no levelled malice
Infects one comma in the course I hold;

a Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes-] In the old text the latter portion of this line is ludicrously misprinted, Gowne, which uses," &c. Pope corrected gowne to "gum," and Johnson very happily changed uses to "oozes."

b Happy men!] Theobald reads "happy man," perhaps rightly. e In a wide sea of wax :] The allusion is presumed to point to the Roman practice of writing on waxen tablets: a practice pre

PAIN. How shall I understand you? POET. I'll unbolt to you. You see how all conditions, how all minds, (As well of glib and slippery creatures, as Of grave and austere quality) tender down Their services to lord Timon: his large fortune, Upon his good and gracious nature hanging, Subdues and properties to his love and tendance All sorts of hearts; yea, from the glass-fac'd flatterer To Apemantus, that few things loves better Than to abhor himself; even he drops down The knee before him, and returns in peace, Most rich in Timon's nod.

PAIN. I saw them speak together. POET. Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant hill, Feign'd Fortune to be thron'd: the base o' the

mount

Is rank'd with all deserts, all kind of natures,
That labour on the bosom of this sphere
To propagate their states: amongst them all,
Whose eyes are on this sovereign lady fix'd,
One do I personate of lord Timon's frame,
Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to her;
Whose present grace to present slaves and servants
Translates his rivals.

PAIN.
"Tis conceiv'd to scope.
This throne, this Fortune, and this hill, methinks,
With one man beckon❜d from the rest below,
Bowing his head against the steepy mount
To climb his happiness, would be well express'd
In our condition."

POET.
Nay, sir, but hear me on:
All these which were his fellows but of late,
(Some better than his value,) on the moment
Follow his strides, his lobbies fill with tendance,
Rain sacrificial whisperings in his ear,
Make sacred even his stirrup, and through him
Drink the free air,—

PAIN.
Ay, marry, what of these?
POET.-When Fortune, in her shift and change
of mood,

Spurns down her late beloved, all his dependants,
Which labour'd after him to the mountain's top,
Even on their knees and hands,* let him slip down,
Not one accompanying his declining foot.

PAIN. "Tis common:

A thousand moral paintings I can show,
That shall demonstrate these quick blows of fortune's
More pregnantly than words. Yet you do well,

(*) First folio, hund.

valent in England until about the end of the fourteenth century; but the word wax is more probably a misprint, though not cer tainly, for verse, which Mr. Collier's annotator substitutes for it. d Properties-] Appropriates. See note (c), p. 268.

e In our condition.] Condition here means, profession or art. f Let him slip down,-] The old text has, "let him sit downe;" the necessary alteration was made by Rowe.

OLD ATH. One only daughter have I, no kin else,

On whom I may confer what I have got:
The maid is fair, o' the youngest for a bride,
And I have bred her at my dearest cost,
In qualities of the best. This man of thine
Attempts her love: I pr'ythee, noble lord,
Join with me to forbid him her resort;
Myself have spoke in vain.

a

TIM.
The man is honest.
OLD ATH. Therefore he will be, Timon: *
His honesty rewards him in itself,
It must not bear my daughter.
TIM.

Does she love him?
OLD ATH. She is young and apt:
Our own precedent passions do instruct us
What levity's in youth.

TIM. [TO LUCILIUS.] Love you the maid?
Luc. Ay, my good lord, and she accepts of it.
OLD ATH. If in her marriage my consent be
missing,

I call the gods to witness, I will choose
Mine heir from forth the beggars of the world,
And dispossess her all.

a Therefore he will be, Timon:] The meaning is not apparent. Malone construes it," Therefore he will continue to be 30, and is sure of being sufficiently rewarded by the consciousness of virtue." But this, too, is inexplicit. We should perhaps read,"Therefore he will be Timon's," &c., that is, he will continue to be in the service of so noble a master, and thus, his virtue will reward itself: or it is possible the words, "Therefore he will be,' may originally have formed part of Timon's speech, and the dialogue have run thus:

How shall she be endow'd,

TIM. If she be mated with an equal husband? OLD ATH. Three talents on the present; in future, all. [long;

TIM. This gentleman of mine hath serv'd me To build his fortune I will strain a little, For 'tis a bond in men. Give him thy daughter: What you bestow, in him I'll counterpoise, And make him weigh with her.

OLD ATH. Most noble lord, Pawn me to this your honour, she is his. TIM. My hand to thee; mine honour on my [may

promise.

Painting is welcome. The painting is almost the natural man ; For since dishonour traffics with man's nature, He is but outside: these pencill'd figures are Even such as they give out. I like work; And you shall find I like it: wait attendance Till you hear further from me. PAIN.

your

The gods preserve ye! TIM. Well fare you, gentleman: give me your

TIM. That's a deed thou'lt die for.

APEM. Right, if doing nothing be death by the law.

TIM. How likest thou this picture, Apemantus? APEM. The best, for the innocence.

TIM. Wrought he not well, that painted it?

APEM. He wrought better that made the painter; and yet he's but a filthy piece of work. PAIN. You are a dog.

APEM. Thy mother's of my generation; what's she, if I be a dog?

TIM. Wilt dine with me, Apemantus?
APEM. No; I eat not lords.

TIM. An thou shouldst, thou'dst anger ladies. APEM. O, they eat lords; so they come by great bellies.

TIM. That's a lascivious apprehension.

APEM. So thou apprehend'st it, take it for thy labour."

a So thou apprehend'st it, take it, &c.] That is, In whatever sense thou apprehend'st it, take it, &c.

H H