Flavius. They anfwer in a joint and corporate voice,
That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot
Do what they would; are forry-You are honourable-
But yet they could have wifhed-They know not-
Something hath been amifs--A noble nature

May catch a wrench-Would all were well-Tis pity.
And fo intending other ferious matters,

After difafteful looks, and thefe hard fractions †,
With certain half-caps, and cold-moving nods,
They froze me into filence.

To which Timon replies, with a competent knowledge of human nature; for he feems to be infpired here, as before :

Thefe old fellows

Have their ingratitude in them hereditary §;

Their blood is caked, is cold, it feldom flows;

'Tis lack of friendly warmth they are not kind;
And nature, as it grows again tow'rd earth,
Is fashioned for the journey, dull and heavy.

After having thrown out this ftricture against Age and Avarice, he defires his steward to apply to Ventidius, a young man lately come into the poffeffion of a large fortune, whom he had just redeemed from the miferies of a gaol, and reftrains him only to borrow from him the exact fum he had before paid for his releafe, faying,

Ne'er fpeak or think,

That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can fink.

To which the more experienced steward replies to himfelf,

Would I could not! That thought is bounty's foe;

Being free itself, it thinks all others fo.

The fame fentiment is well expreffed by Zanga, in the defcription he gives of his conqueror:

"Is not Alonzo rather brave than cautious,

"Honeft than fubtle; above fraud himself,

Slow, therefore, to fufpect it in another

Intending for attending to.

The REVENGE.

↑ Fractions of speech, as you are bonourable-they could bave wifhed-'tis pity, && See the laft pafiage of Scene II. of the former Act, with the remark upon it. By bereditary he means naturally, or connate with old agë.

ACT

ACT III. SCENE I.

When Ventidius has declined to lend his affiftance, (though this circumftance is only hinted at, but not produced upon the fcene) Timon difpatches the fteward to Lucullus, another young man of promifing hopes; who anfwers in the fame ftrain with the evasive and farcaftical reply given before by the Senators, as related in the Fifth Scene of the preceding Act; pleading incapacity, and reprehending the too profufe liberality of Timon. After which he forces fome pieces into Flavius's hand, by way of bribing him to pretend to his mafter, that he had not met with him; and then goes off. Upon which the honeft and indignant fteward, flinging away the money,

cries out,

May these add to the number that may fcald thee!

Let molten coin be thy damnation,

Thou disease of a friend, and not himself!
Has friendship fuch a faint and milky heart,

It turns in lefs than two nights? O, ye gods!
I feel my master's paffion. This flave
Unto this hour has my lord's meat in him :
Why should it thrive, and turn to nutriment,
When he is turned himself to poifon ?
O! may diseases only work upon it,

And when he's fick to death, let not that part
Of nurture my lord paid for, be of power

To expel ficknefs, but prolong his hour!

The generous and feeling mind must naturally fympathize with the warmth of refentment, here expreffed, though its moral and charity may refrain it from concurring in the anathemas of it.

I cannot quit this scene, till I have remarked upon the character of Ventidius, as reprefented by two feeming contradictory circumftances, in the first and fecond Acts.

In the text, this perfon's name is Flaminius, but I have not here distinguished him from Flavius, to avoid a confufion of perfons under the fame character of fteward.

Turns alluding to milk's growing four.
Cc 2

In

mon repues, with a competent knowTTURA Tarre, for he feems to be inspired

Suter boring thrown our this friture against Age kur mains is toward to apply to Venang may come into the potterton of be had it redeemed from the dns him erly to borrow he had before paid for his

ng his tremis can înk.

nure experienced Reward replies to

ACT III.

*

III. SCENE I.

When Ventidius has declined to lend his affiftance, (though this circumftance is only hinted at, but not produced upon the fcene) Timon difpatches the fteward to Lucullus, another young man of promifing hopes; who anfwers in the fame ftrain with the evafive and sarcastical reply given before by the Senators, as related in the Fifth Scene of the preceding A&t; pleading incapacity, and reprehending the too profufe liberality of Timon. After which he forces fome pieces into Flavius's hand, by way of bribing him to pretend to his mafter, that he had not met with him; and then goes off. Upon which the honest and indignant fteward, flinging away the money, cries out,

May these add to the number that may fcald thee!
Let molten coin be thy damnation,

Thou difeafe of a friend, and not himself!
"Has friendship fuch a faint and milky heart,
It turns in less than two nights! O, ye gods!
I feel my mafter's paffion. This flave
Unto this hour has my lord's meat in him :
Why should it thrive, and turn to nutriment,
When he is turned himself to poifon ?
O! may diseases only work upon it,

And when he's fick to death, let not that part
Of nurture my lord paid for, be of power
To expel ficknefs, but prolong his hour!

The generous and feeling mind must naturally fympathize with the warmth of refentment, here expreffed, though its moral and charity may refrain it from concurring in the anathemas of it.

I cannot quit this fcene, till I have remarked upon. the character of Ventidius, as reprefented by two feeming contradictory circumstances, in the first and fecond Acts.

In the text, this perfon's name is Flaminius, but I have not here distinguished him from Flavius, to avoid a confufion of perfons under the fame character of fteward.

|| Turns alluding to milk's growing four. C c 2

In

In the former he fhews his honesty and gratitude to his benefactor, by offering to repay the money which had been given to redeem his liberty; and here he betrays the very reverse of these principles. Is Shakespeare inconfiftent? No. Tis nature ftill. Ventidius had just then fucceeded to an ample patrimony. A fudden afflux of fortune, especially to a perfon newly emerging from diftrefs, is apt to fwell and enlarge the heart at firft; but then in mean minds it is as apt to fhrink and contract it as fuddenly again.

SCENE II.

Enter Lucius, and three Strangers.

That difingenuous nature in mankind, which prompts to cenfure thofe vices in others, which themfelves are capable of, is well expofed here. 1

When the firft ftranger has mentioned the forlorn ftate of Timon's fortunes, and related the story of Lucullus's unkindness towards him, Lucius exclaims with furprize,

What a ftrange cafe was that! Now, before the gods, I am afhamed on't. Denied that honourable man! There was very little honour fhewn in that. For my own part, I muit needs confefs I have received fome fmall kindneffes from him, as money; plate, jewels, and fuch like trifles, nothing comparing to his; yet had he not mistook him, and fent to me t, I fhould ne'er have denied his occafions fo many talents.

But immediately after, in the fame scene, upon application made to himself by Servilius, to the fame purpose, he thus defends his purse:

What a wicked beaft was I, (peaking to the messenger) to dif furnish myself against fo good a time, when I might have fhewn myfelf honourable? How unluckily it happened, that I should purchafe the day before for a little dirt §, and undo a great deal of honour! Servilius, now, before the gods, I am not able to do―The

*Scene V. of the Play; but only hinted at here, in one of the excurfions from Scene 11. by way of introducing Timon's fine reply to the offer.

The fente is corrected here by Doctor Johnson's alteration of the text in a note. 1 Wicked for unlucky.

Dirt, inttead of fart. Theobald.

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