i

Trumpets found. Enter TIMON, attended; the Ser vant of Ventidius talking with him.

TIM.
Imprison'd is he, say you?*
VEN. SERV. Ay, my good lord: five talents is his
debt;

/ His means most short, his creditors most strait:
Your honourable letter he defires

To those have shut him up; which failing to him,
Periods his comfort. 4

TIM.

Noble Ventidius! Well;

I am not of that feather, to shake off

My friend when he must need me. I do know him

A gentleman, that well deserves a help,

Which he shall have: I'll pay the debt, and free

him.

VEN. SERV. Your lordship ever binds him.

TIM. Commend me to him; I will fend his ran

fom;

And, being enfranchis'd, bid him come to me:

2

Imprison'd is he, say you?] Here we have another interpolation deftru&ive to the metre. Omitting is he, we ought to read: Imprison'd, Say you? STEEVENS.

3

which failing to him,) Thus the second folio. The first omits to him, and confequently mutilates the verse. STEEVENS. 4 Periods his comfort.] To period is, perhaps, a verb of Shak speare's introduction into the English language. I find it, however, used by Heywood, after him, in A Maidenhead well Loft, 1634:

"How easy could I period all my care." Again, in The Country Girl, by T. B. 1647:

" To period our vain-grievings." STEEVENS.

muft need me.] i. e. when he is compelled to have need of my affiftance; or, as Mr. Malone has more happily explained the phrafe,-" cannot but want my afsistance." STEEVENS. VOL. XVII.

C

'Tis not enough to help the feeble up,
But to support him after. - Fare you well.

VEN. SERV. All happiness to your honour!"

Enter an old Athenian.

OLD ATH. Lord Timon, hear me fpeak.
TIM.

[Exit.

Freely, good father.

OLD ATH. Thou hast a servant nam'd Lucilius. Тім. I have so: What of him?

OLD ATH. Most noble Timon, call the man be

fore thee.

TIM. Attends he here, or no?-Lucilius!

Enter LUCILIUS.

Luc. Here, at your lordship's service.

OLD ATH. This fellow here, lord Timon, this

thy creature,

1

By night frequents iny house. I am a man
That from my first have been inclin'd to thrift!
And my estate deserves an heir more rais'd,

Than one which holds a trencher.

• 'Tis not enough &c.] This thought is better expressed by Dr. Madden in his Elegy on Archbishop Boulter:

" More than they alk'd he gave; and deem'd it mean
"Only to help the poor to beg again." JOHNSON.

It has been faid that Dr. Johnfon was paid ten guineas by Dr. Madden for correcting this poem. STEEVENS.

7

your honour!] The common address to a lord in our author's time, was your honour, which was indifferently used with your lordship. See any old letter, or dedication of that age; and Vol. XV. p. 366, where a Pursuivant, speaking to Lord Haftings, fays,-" I thank your honour." STEEVENS.

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 refort;
Myfelf have spoke in vain.

8

TIM.

The man is honest.

OLD ATH. Therefore he will be, Timon: 8

Therefore he will be, Timon:] The thought is closely expressed, and obfcure: but this seems the meaning: "If the man be honest, my lord, for that reason he will be fo in this; and not endeavour at the injustice of gaining my daughter without my confent."

I rather think an emendation necessary, and read;
Therefore well be him, Timon :
His honefly rewards him in itself.

WARBURTΟΝ.

That is, If he is honest, bene fit illi, I wish him the proper happiness of an honest man, but his honesty gives him no claim to my daughter." The first transcriber probably wrote will be with him, which the next, not understanding, changed to, will be. JOHNSON.

he

I think Dr. Warburton's explanation is best, because it exacts no change. So, in K. Henry VIII :

-- May he continue

"Long in his highness' favour: and do justice
"For truth's fake and his conscience."

Again, more appofitely, in Cymbeline :

"This hath been

"Your faithful servant: I dare lay mine honour
"He will remain fo." STEEVENS.

Therefore he will be, Timon:) Therefore he will continue to be fo, and is sure of being sufficiently rewarded by the conscioufness of virtue; and he does not need the additional blessing of a beautiful and accomplished wife.

It has been objected, I forget by whom, if the old Athenian means to say that Lucilius will still continue to be virtuous, what occasion has he to apply to Timon to interfere relative to this marriage? But this is making Shakspeare write by the card. The

His honesty rewards him in itself,

It must not bear my daughter.9

TIM.

Does she love him?

OLD ATH. She is young, and apt:

Our own precedent passions do inftruct 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

miffing,

I call the gods to witness, I will choose
Mine heir from forth the beggars of the world,

And dispossess her all.

TIM.

How shall she be endow'd,

If she be mated with an equal hulband?

OLD ATH. Three talents, on the present; in fa

ture, all.

TIM. This gentleman of mine hath serv'd me long;

To build his fortune, I will strain a little,

words mean undoubtedly, that he will be honest in his general condud through life; in every other action except that now complained of. MALONE.

9

bear my daughter.) A fimilar expression occurs in Othello: "What a full fortune does the thick lips owe, "If he can carry her thus!" STEEVENS.

How shall she be endow'd,

If the be mated with an equal husband?]

The players, those

avowed enemies to even a common ellipfis, have here again difordered the metre by interpolation. Will a single idea of our author's have been lost, if, omitting the useless and repeated words--the be, we should regulate the paffage thus:

How shall the be

Endow'd, if mated with an equal husband? STEEVENS,

1

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

promife.

Luc. Humbly I thank your lordship: Never may
That state or fortune fall into my keeping,
Which is not ow'd to you!"

[Exeunt LUCILIUS and old Athenian.

POET. Vouchsafe my labour, and long live your lordship !

TIM. I thank you; you shall hear from me anon: Go not away. What have you there, my friend? PAIN. A piece of painting; which I do beseech

Your lordship to accept.

TIM.

Painting is welcome.

The painting is almost the natural man;

For fince dishonour trafficks with man's nature,

He is but outside: These pencil'd figures are

Even suchas they give out. * I like your work;

That ftate or fortune fall into my keeping,

Which is not ow'd to you!] The meaning is, let me never henceforth confider any thing that I poffefs, but as owed or due to you: held for your service, and at your disposal. JOHNSON.

3

So Lady Macbeth says to Duncan:

"Your servants ever

"Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt,
"To make their audit at your highness' pleafure,

"Still to return your own." MALONE.

- pencil'd figures are

Even fuch as they give out.) Pitures have no hypocrify; they

are what they profess to be. Johnson.