TIM. To Lacedæmon did my land extend.

FLAV. O my good lord, the world is but a word;4 Were it all yours to give it in a breath,

How quickly were it gone?

TIM.

You tell me true.

FLAV. If you fufpect my husbandry, or falfe

hood,

Call me before the exacteft auditors,

And fet me on the proof. So the gods blefs me,
When all our offices 5 have been opprefs'd

With riotous feeders ;6 when our vaults have wept
With drunken fpilth of wine; when every room
Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with min-
ftrelfy;

I have retir'd me to a wafteful cock,"

O my good lord, the world is but a word;] The meaning is, as the world itfelf may be comprifed in a word, you might give it away in a breath. WARBURTON.

5

our offices] i. e. the apartments allotted to culinary purposes, the reception of domefticks, &c. Thus, in Macbeth": Sent forth great largefs to your offices."

Would Duncan have fent largefs to any but fervants? See Vol. X. p. 94, n. 8. It appears that what we now call offices, were anciently called houfes of office. So, in Chaucer's Clerkes Tale, v. 8140, Mr. Tyrwhitt's edition:

66

Houfes of office ftuffed with plentee

"Ther mayft thou fee of deinteous vittaile."

STEEVENS.

• With riotous feeders ;] Feeders are fervants, whofe low debaucheries are practifed in the offices of a houfe. See a note on Antony and Cleopatra, A& III. fc. xi: "-one who looks on feeders." STEEVENS.

8

—a wafieful cock,] i. e. a cockloft, a garret. And a wafteful cock, fignifies a garret lying in wafte, neglected, put to no ufe. HANMER.

Sir Thomas Hanmer's explanation is received by Dr. Warburton, yet I think them both apparently mistaken. A wasteful cock is a cock or pipe with a turning ftopple running to waste.

And fet mine eyes at flow.

TIM.

Pr'ythee, no more.

FLAV. Heavens, have I faid, the bounty of this

lord!

How many prodigal bits have flaves, and peasants, This night englutted! Who is not Timon's ?

What heart, head, fword, force, means, but is lord
Timon's?

Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon?
Ah! when the means are gone, that buy this praife,
The breath is gone whereof this praife is made:
Feaft-won, faft-loft; one cloud of winter fhowers,
These flies are couch'd,

TIM.

Come, fermon me no further: No villainous bounty yet hath pafs'd my heart; Unwifely, not ignobly, have I given.9

In this fenfe, both the terms have their ufual meaning; but I know not that cock is ever used for cockloft, or wafteful for lying in wafte, or that lying in wafie is at all a phrafe. JOHNSON.

Whatever be the meaning of the prefent paffage, it is certain, that lying in wafte is ftill a very common phrafe. FARMER.

A wafteful cock is what we now call a wafe pipe; a pipe which is continually running, and thereby prevents the overflow of cifterns, and other refervoirs, by carrying off their fuperfluous water. This circumstance served to keep the idea of Timon's unceafing prodigality in the mind of the Steward, while its remotenefs from the fcenes of luxury within the house, was favourable to meditation. COLLINS.

The reader will have a perfect notion of the method taken by Mr. Pope in his edition, when he is informed that, for wasteful cock, that editor reads-lonely room. MALONE.

Who is not Timon's ?] I fuppofe we ought to read, for the fake of meafure :

• No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart;

Unwifely, not ignobly, have I given.] Every reader must rejoice in this circumftance of comfort which prefents itself to

Why doft thou weep? Canft thou the confcience

lack,

To think I fhall lack friends? Secure thy heart;
If I would broach the veffels of my love,
And try the argument of hearts by borrowing,
Men, and men's fortunes, could I frankly use,
As I can bid thee fpeak.?

FLAV.

Affurance blefs your thoughts! TIM. And, in fome fort, these wants of mine are crown'd,3

That I account them bleffings; for by these
Shall I try friends: You fhall perceive, how you
Mistake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my friends.

Timon, who, although beggar'd through want of prudence, confoles himself with reflection that his ruin was not brought on by the purfuit of guilty pleafures. STEEVENS.

And try the argument-] The licentiousness of our author forces us often upon far-fetched expofitions. Arguments may mean contents, as the arguments of a book; or evidences and proofs. JOHNSON.

The matter contained in a poem or play was in our author's time commonly thus denominated. The contents of his Rape of Lucrece, which he certainly published himself, he calls The Argument. Hence undoubtedly his ufe of the word. If I would, fays Timon, by borrowing, try of what men's hearts are compofed, what they have in them, &c. The old copy reads-argument; not, as Dr. Johnfon fuppofed-arguments. MALONE. So, in Hamlet : "Have you heard the argument? Is there Many more inftances to the fame purpose STEEVENS.

no offence in it?" might be fubjoined.

As I can bid thee fpeak.] Thus the old copy; but it being clear from the overloaded measure that thefe words are a playhoufe interpolation, I would not hesitate to omit them. They are understood, though not expreffed. STEEVENS.

3

crown'd,] i. e. dignified, adorned, made refpectable. So, in King Henry VIII:

"And yet no day without a deed to crown it."

STEEVENS.

Within there, ho !4-Flaminius !5 Servilius!

Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other
Servants.

SERV. My lord, my lord,

TIM. I will defpatch you feverally.-You, to
lord Lucius,-

To lord Lucullus you; I hunted with his
Honour to-day;-You, to Sempronius;
Commend me to their loves; and, I am proud, fay,
occafions have found time to use them

That my

Toward a fupply of money: let the request

Be fifty talents.

FLAM.

As have faid, my lord.

you

FLAV. Lord Lucius, and lord Lucullus ? humph!

[Afide. TIM. Go you, fir, [To another Serv.] to the fe

nators,"

(Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have Deferv'd this hearing,) bid 'em fend o'the inftant A thousand talents to me.

FLAV.

mer.

I have been bold,

Within there, ho!] Ho, was fupplied by Sir Thomas HanThe frequency of Shakspeare's ufe of this interjection, no examples. STEEVENS.

needs

Flaminius ] The old copy has-Flavius. The correction was made by Mr. Rowe. The error probably arose from Fla. only being fet down in the MS. MALONE.

6

lord Lucullus ?] As the Steward is repeating the words

of Timon, I have not fcrupled to fupply the title lord, which is wanting in the old copy, though necessary to the metre.

7

STEEVENS.

?Go you, fir, to the fenators,] To complete the line, we might read, as in the firft fcene of this play:

the Senators of Athens. STEEVENS,

(For that I knew it the most general way,8)
To them to use your fignet, and your name;
But they do fhake their heads, and I am here
No richer in return.

TIM.

Is't true? can it be?

FLAV. 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 honour

able,

But yet they could have wifh'd-they know notbut1

Something hath been amifs-a noble nature

May catch a wrench-would all were well-'tis pity--

And fo, intending other serious matters,

After distasteful looks, and these hard fractions,3

"I knew it the most general way,] General is not speedy, but compendious, the way to try many at a time. JOHNSON.

I

at fall,] i. e. at an ebb. STEEVENS.

but

was fupplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the verfe. STEEVENS.

2- intending] is regarding, turning their notice to other things. JOHNSON.

To intend and to attend had anciently the fame meaning. So, in The Spanish Curate of Beaumont and Fletcher :

"Good fir, intend this business."

See Vol. IV. p. 469, n. 5. STEEVENS.

So, in Wits, Fits, and Fancies, &c. 1595:

"Tell this man that I am going to dinner to my lord maior, and that I cannot now intend his tittle-tattle."

Again, in Pafquil's Night-Cap, a poem, 1623:
"For we have many fecret ways to spend,
"Which are not fit our husbands fhould intend."

3

MALONE.

and thefe hard fractions,] Flavius, by fractions, means broken hints, interrupted fentences, abrupt remarks.

JOHNSON.