"You shall not make me welcome; I hate wel

come:

"I come," &c.

Again too:

"But yon man's ever angry, and with all.”
35. "For he does neither affect company,
"Nor is he fit for it, indeed."

Unless we place the accent, contrary to all usage, upon the first syllable of "affect," the metre is not to be found in the first of these lines; and something has dropped from the second: we might thus correct:

"For he does neither company affect,

"Nor is he, at all, fit for it indeed." Apem. "Well, let me stay at thine own peril, Timon."

36. "It grieves me, to see so many dip their

meat

"In one man's blood; and all the madness is, "He cheers them up, too."

If the sense is disputable, the metre is, incontestably, depraved: I would propose, by a com mon ellipsis in the first line,

"It grieves me, see so many dip their meat "In one man's blood; and all the madness is, "He cheers them up too; urges them unto't."

Dr. Johnson's application of the practice in the

chase is a mere sophism:-the hounds dipping their mouths in the blood of the animal they kill, is not dipping their meat: neither can it be said, in any just reference to Timon, that it is the animal, but rather the huntsman who cheers the hounds. The only sense I can extract from the passage, as it stands, is this, so many feed luxuriously, or "sauce their meat" at the expence of one man, whose very "blood" (means of living) must at length be exhausted by them; and yet he preposterously encourages them to proceed in his destruction.

If I

"Were a huge man, I should fear to drink at meals."

This is pretty versification: I suppose it was, "Were I a huge man, I'd fear drink at meals." i. e. According to a warranted ellipsis, "I should fear to drink."

This is deficient by a foot and a half.-I suppose the words missing were,

"Amen, say I, and so fall to't."

39. "We should think ourselves for ever perfect."

Dr. Johnson's interpretation of "perfect" (arrived at the height of perfection), I believe is incorrect it means, I think, no more than, satisfied, free from uneasiness or solicitude; in which sense the word occurs in Macbeth:

"Then comes my fit again, (the disorder of my anxious apprehensions)

43.

I had been perfect else.'

Hey day, what a sweep of vanity comes this way!

They dance! they are mad women.”

Does the editor give us this for metre? I suppose it should be,

Why, heyday! what a sweep of vanity

"Comes this way dancing! They are mad wo

men."

44. "We make ourselves fools, to disport our

selves;

"And spend our flatteries, to drink those

men,

Upon whose age we void it up again, "With poisonous spite, and envy."

The meaning of this passage is to me not at all obvious; yet the commentators have passed it by in silence.-I cannot explain it otherwise than by "drink those men," understanding, compliment them, while the bottle is in circulation, drink their healths; and, by taking "age," to imply, as well a decline from prosperity, as an advancement in years.

In many parts of the dialogue in this play, the attempt to exhibit correct metre may appear not only fruitless but absurd: yet where the writer, whoever he might be, was composing in verse, there can hardly be a doubt he would have given the necessary numbers: I would regulate the text, here, after

"And entertain'd me with my own de

vice.

"I am to thank you for't."

1st Lad. "

My lord, you take us,

"E'en at the best."

Faith, for the worst, is filthy,

"And would not hold the taking-in, I

Apem.

66

Tim.

doubt me."

"Ladies, pray tarry; there's an idle banquet

"Attends you; please you to dispose yourselves."

All Lad. "Most thankfully, my lord.'

"

Tim.

Here, Flavius !"

My lord."

Tim.

ther."

The little casket bring me hi

Here, I apprehend, Flavius pauses, in honest reluctance, and gives Timon reason to suppose his orders were not exactly understood, who therefore repeats,

Yes, my lord, more jewels yet! "There is no crossing him in's humour now."

46. "Tis pity, bounty had not eyes behind; "That man might ne'er be wretched for his

mind."

It is pity that Generosity should not reflect, and avail itself of experience, so as to prevent a man's· becoming a sacrifice to the nobleness of his disposition.

47. "Where be our men ?"

66

Here, my lord, in readiness."

Here, sir, in readiness."

Timon's speech following this is miserably lame and prosaic; but if it is to be measured, let it have fair play:

2d Lord. "Our horses."

Tim.

--O, my good friends, I have yet "One word to say; look you, my lord,

I must

"Entreat that you will honour me so

much

"As to advance this jewel; pray accept, "And wear it, kind my lord."

1st Lord. "I am so far already in your gifts."

2d Lord. "6

3d Lord. 66

And I."

And I."

So are we all."

Near? why then another time I'll hear thee.”

We can here count ten syllables, indeed, but find nothing like metre: I would propose:

"Me! near! why then another time I'll hear thee."

48.

I pr'ythee, let us be provided."

The defective measure, and the sense of the context, shew that a rhyme was intended here: at some other opportunity, says Timon, I will hear thee, but

Flao.

"I pr'ythee let us be provided now,
"To shew them entertainment.

I scarce know how."

"He commands us to provide, and give great

gifts,

"And all out of an empty coffer."