Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "no idol-votarist:" but see Johnson's note ad l. P. 250. (74) "Tim. The gods confound them all in thy conquest; And thee after, when thou hast conquer'd! That, by killing of villains, Alcib. Why me, Timon? Tim. Thou wast born to conquer my country." So the passage limps in the folio (though Mr. Knight, by mistake, states that here the folio has prose).—In the days when editors thought they might alter ad libitum, the two first lines assumed this form,— "Tim. The gods confound them all then in thy conquest, And, after thee, when thou hast conquerèd.” See Johnson's note ad l.-Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "And to make whores abhorr'd:" but, as Mr. Singer pertinently asks (Shakespeare Vindicated, &c. p. 242), “Why should abundance of gold make whores abhorr'd?" P. 252. (78) "who all thy human sons doth hate," &c. The folio has "who all the humane Sonnes do hate," &c. P. 252. (79) 66 Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas," &c. Here Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector alters "marrows" to "meadows:" but see Johnson's note ad l.-Qy. “Dry up thy marrowy vines," &c.? the "Marrowes" of the folio may be a mistake for "marrowie":-Cotgrave, in his Dict., has "Moëlleux. Marrowie, pithie, full of strength or strong sap." P. 252. (80) "This is in thee a nature but infected," &c. Here Rowe changed "infected" to "affected:"-but, surely, the old reading (in the sense of-diseased) suits better with what immediately follows. So the second folio.-The first folio has "that bad welcome," &c. So Hanmer. The folio has " these moyst Trees," &c. P. 254. (4) "To such as may the passive drugs of it The folio has, "To such as may the passiue drugges of it Mr. Collier's and Mr. Singer's Ms. Correctors read". the passive dugs of it," &c.; and Mr. Grant White (Shakespeare's Scholar, &c. p. 394) is confident that the author wrote " the passive dregs of it," &c. But I think there can hardly be a doubt that here "drugs" is equivalent to drudges:- Todd (Johnson's Dict. sub Drug) cites from Huloet, "Drudge, or drugge, a servant which doth all the vile service;" and from Barret, "Drudge, a drug, or kitchen-slave,”—to which other examples might easily be added. "If," observes Johnson, "we read 'poor rogue,' it will correspond rather better to what follows;" and Mr. Singer (Shakespeare Vindicated, &c. p. 242) says that here the "ragge" of the folio is evidently a misprint for "rogue." But "rag" occurs elsewhere in our author as a term of contempt; and it was formerly a very common one. P. 257. (87) "I'll beat thee, but I should infect my hands." 44 Here I'll" has been altered to "I'd :" but in such sentences our old writers frequently use will and should (just as they also use will after should; see vol. iv. p. 523, note (14)). Here the folio has "I swoond," &c. (the later folios have "I swound"). Sec note (87), p. 88. P. 258. "More things like men?-Eat, Timon, and abhor them." The folio prefixes " Ape." to this line, and has "abhorre then." P. 258. (90) "the falling-from of his friends," &c. Has been (very badly) altered to "the falling off of friends," &c.; and by Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector to "the falling from him of his friends," &c. P. 259. (91) “Do villany, do, since you protest to do't," &c. The folio has "Do Villaine do," &c. 66 P. 260. (94) "I never had honest man about me, I; all," &c. The editors have taken various liberties with this speech.-The second “I” would be better omitted: Mr. Knight alters it to "ay;" but here the negative adverb, not the affirmative, is required. P. 261. (95) "It almost turns my dangerous nature mild.” So Warburton (and Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector).-The folio has ". wild;"-which has been defended! nature P. 262. (96) "If thou hat'st curses, Stay not; fly, whilst thou art bless'd and free," &c. The second line has been amended to, "Stay not; but fly whilst," &c.; and so probably the author wrote.-In the more recent editions (Mr. Knight's excepted) the passage is thus rather awkwardly arranged,— P. 263. (97) "If thou hat'st Curses, stay not; fly, whilst thou'rt bless'd and free," &c. "black-corner'd night," &c. This odd epithet, “black-corner'd," has drawn forth an odd explanation from Steevens, and several odd conjectural emendations from others.-Qy. “blackcurtain'd night," &c.? Not all the whips of heaven are large enough," &c. i.e. For whose thankless natures, &c.; which I mention because the passage is wrongly pointed by the modern editors. (Compare The Tempest, act i. sc. 2; "Me, poor man, my library Was dukedom large enough," &c.) P. 265. (100) 66 You have done work for me, there's payment: hence!" The folio has "You haue work for me," &c.-I adopt Malone's correction (though it is pronounced to be "hasty" by Mr. Knight, who retains the old reading, with a strange interpretation).-Hanmer printed “You have work'd for me; there's your payment, hence !" &c. So the third folio.-The earlier folios have "It is vain that," &c. (Afterwards, p. 267, the same speaker says to the same persons, "Stay not, all's in vain.") So the second folio.-The first folio has "And chanc'd it," &c. Hanmer altered "fall" to "fault:" Capell printed "fail,”—which is manifestly the genuine reading: the Senator means to say,-"At the same time that they feel a lack of Timon's aid, they feel also how they failed (or, how faulty they were) in withholding their aid from Timon."-The substantive "fail” was formerly common: in The Winter's Tale, act ii. sc. 3, we have "Mark, and perform it,-seest thou? for the fail Of any point in 't," &c. and in Cymbeline, act iii. sc. 4, “From thy great fail." (Johnson explains "hath sense of its own fall" to mean "The Athenians had sense, that is, felt the danger of their own full by the arms of Alcibiades:" but that is sufficiently implied in the preceding declaration, "feeling a lack of Timon's aid;" and besides it has no fitness when taken in connection with what immediately follows, "restraining aid to Timon."- Malone "once suspected that our author wrote 'fail':" he, however, eventually persuaded himself that the old reading was fully supported by the occurrence of the word "fall" in two subsequent passages of the play.) P. 268. (104) Come hither," &c. "let him take his haste, Here the very suspicious expression, "take his haste,” is changed by Mr. Col lier's Ms. Corrector to "take his halter,”—perhaps the true reading. (This alteration was obligingly communicated to me by Mr. Collier, who till lately had overlooked it, the ink with which it is written in his folio being much faded.) The second folio has "Which once a day," &c.—Malone printed "Whom once a day," &c., referring "whom" to Timon.-But here, as in sundry other passages of these plays, the "who" of the first folio is used for "whom," (i.e. which,-see vol. iv. p. 642, note (43)), and is the relative to "everlasting mansion." P. 269. (106) Hanmer printed; 66 Whom, though in general part we were oppos'd, And made us speak like friends." "And, though in general part we were oppos'd, and Mr. Singer (Shakespeare Vindicated, &c. p. 244) proposes; “When, though on several part we were oppos'd, Yet our old love had a particular force," &c. But the only questionable word of this passage is the "made" in the second line. As to "whom,”—it is merely an old ungrammatical use of the relative. Warburton's correction.-The folio has "Some Beast reade this," &c. “The old copy has—grief; but, as the Senator in his preceding speech uses the plural, grief was probably here an error of the press [or of the transcriber]. The correction was made by Mr. Theobald." MALONE. "Old copy-revenge. Corrected by Mr. Steevens. See the preceding speech." MALONE. So the second folio.-The first folio has "Defend," &c. P. 272. (11) "But shall be render'd to your public laws," &c. The folio has "But shall be remedied to your," &c.; which the editor of the second folio altered to " remedied by your," &c.-Mason saw (what the earlier critics ought to have seen) that here "remedied" was an error for "render'd." |
