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SCENE

Apem. What a coil's here,

VII.

5 Serving of becks and jutting out of bums! 'I doubt, whether their legs be worth the fums That are giv'n for 'em; friendship's full of dregs; Methinks, falfe hearts should never have found legs. Thus honeft fools lay out their wealth on court' fies. Tim. Now, Apemantus, if thou wert not fullen, I would be good to thee.

Apem. No, I'll nothing; for if I fhould be brib'd too, there would be none left to rail upon thee, and then thou wouldst fin the faster. Thou giv'ft fo long, Timon, I fear me, thou wilt give away thyfelf in paper fhortly. What need these feasts, pomps, and vain-glories?

Tim. Nay, if you begin to rail on fociety once, I am fworn not to give regard to you. Farewel, and come with better mufick.

Apem. So

at

SERVING of becks-] This bow or all of obeisance. nonfenfe fhould be read, SERRING of becksfrom the French, ferrer, to join clofe together. A metaphor taken from the billing of pigeons. WARBURTON. The commentator conceives heck to mean the mouth or the bead, after the French, ber, whereas it means a falutation made with the head. So Milton,

7 I fear me, thou wilt give away thyself in paper hotly.] i. e. be ruin'd by his fecurities entered into. But this sense is flat, and relishes very little of the falt in Apemantu's other reflections. We should read,

Nods and becks, and wreathed files.

To ferve a beck, is to offer a falutation.

6 I doubt, whether their legs, &c] He plays upon the word leg, as it fignifies a limb and a

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—give away thyself in proper forily.

i. e. in perfon; thy proper felf. This latter is an expreffion of our author's in the Tempest;

And ev'n with fuch like valour men hang and drown Their proper felves. WARB. Hanmer reads very plaufibly, thou wilt give away thy felf in perpetuum.

Thou

Thou wilt not hear me now, thou shalt not then.
I'll lock

• Thy heaven from thee. Oh, that men's ears should be To counsel deaf, but not to flattery!

[Exit.

A

ACT II. SCENE I.

A publick Place in the City.

Enter a Senator.

SENATOR.

ND late, five thoufand. To Varro and to Ifidore

He owes nine thoufand, befides my former Sum; Which makes it five and twenty.-Still in motion Of raging wafte? It cannot hold, it will not. If I want gold, fteal but a beggar's dog, And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold. If I would fell my horse, and buy ten more Better than he; why, give my horse to Timon; 9 Afk nothing, give it him, it foals me ftraight Ten able horfe. No porter at his gate,

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8 Thy heaven-] The pleasure

of being flattered.

66

9 In old Edition:

"fetches me an horfe." But is that gaining the Point propos'd? The firit Folio reads, lefs corrupt

Afk nothing, give it him, it ly than the modern Impreffions,

foals me ftraight An able barfe, "If I want "Gold, (fays the Senator) let me iteal a Beggar's Dog, and "give it to Timon, the Dog "coins me Gold. If I would fell my berfe, and had a mind "to buy ten better inftead of him; why, I need but give my Horie to limon, to gain this Point; and it prefently

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-And able Horses.Which Reading, join'd to the Reafoning of the Paffage, gave me the Hint for this Emendation. THEOBALD.

-No porter at his ga e, But rather one that miles, and fill invites] I imagine that a line is loft here, in which the ufual behaviour of a furly porter was defcribed.

But rather one that fmiles, and ftill invites

All that pafs by it. It cannot hold; no reason
Can found his ftate in fafety. Caphis, hoa!

Caphis, I fay.

Enter Caphis.

Caph. Here, Sir, what is your pleasure?

Sen. Get on your cloak, and hafte you to Lord
Timon;

Importune him for my monies, be not ceas'd
With flight denial; nor then filenc'd, when
"Commend me to your mafter"-and the cap
Plays in the right hand, thus. But tell him, firrah,
My uses cry to me, I must serve my turn
Out of mine own; his days and times are paft,
And my reliance on his fracted dates

Has fmit my credit. I love and honour him;
But muft not break my back, to heal his finger.
Immediate are my needs, and my relief
Muft not be toft and turn'd to me in words,
But find fupply immediate. Get you gone.
Put on a molt importunate afpect,
A vifage of demand; for I do fear,
When every feather fticks in his own wing,
Lord Timon will be left a naked Gull,

Who flashes now a Phoenix. Get you gone,
Caph. I go, Sir.

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Enter Flavius, with many bills in his hand.

expence,

JO care, no ftop. So fenfeless of
That he will neither know how to main-

Flav. N

tain it,

Nor ceafe his flow of riot; takes no account

How things go from him, and resumes no care
Of what is to continue. 4 Never Mind

Was to be fo unwife, to be fo kind.

What fhall be done. He will not hear, 'till feel.
I must be round with him, now he comes from hunting.

Enter Caphis, with the fervants of Ifidore, and Varro.
Fy, fy, fy, fy.

3-take the Bonds along with you,

And have the Dates in. Come] Certainly, ever fince Bonds were given, the Date was put in when the Bond was entered into: And thefe Bonds Timon had already given, and the Time limited for their Payment was laps'd. The Senator's Charge to his Servant must be to the Tenour as I have amended the Text; Take good Notice of the Dates, for the better Computation of the Interest due upon them. THEOB.

4

never Mind Was, to be fo unwife, to be fo

kind.] Nothing can be worse, or more obfcurely exprefs'd: And all for the fake of a wretched rhime. To make it fenfe and grammar, it should be fupplied thus,

never Mind Was [made] to be fo unaife,

[in order] to be fo kind. i. e. Nature in order to make a profufe mind never before endow'd any man with fo large a fhare of folly.

WARE.

Caph.

Caph. Good even, Varro. What, you come for

money?

Var. Is't not your business too?

Caph. It is; and your's too, Ifidore?
Ifid. It is fo.

Caph. 'Would we were all discharg'd!
Var. I fear it.

Caph. Here comes the Lord.

Enter Timon, and his train.

Tim. So foon as dinner's done, we'll forth again, My Alcibiades.-Well, what's your will?

[They prefent their bills. Caph. My Lord, here is a note of certain dues. Tim. Dues? Whence are you?

Caph. Of Athens here, my Lord.

Tim. Go to my Steward.

Caph. Please it your Lordship, he hath put me off To the fucceffion of new days, this month.

My mafter is awak'd by great occafion,

To call upon his own; and humbly prays you,
That with your other noble parts you'll suit,
In giving him his Right.

Tim. Mine honest friend,

I pr'ythee, but repair to me next morning.
Caph. Nay, good my Lord.

Tim. Contain thyfelf, good friend.

Var. One Varro's fervant, my good Lord

Ifid. From Ifidore. He prays your fpeedy payment

vertencies neither authour nor editor can escape.

There is another remark to be

Good evening, Varro.] It is obfervable that this good evening is before dinner; for Timon tells Alcibiades, that they will go forth made. Varro and Ifidore fink a again as soon as dinner's done, few lines afterwards into the ferwhich may prove that by dinner vants of Varro and Ifidore. Wheour authour meant not the coena ther fervants, in our authour's of ancient times, but the mid- time, took the names of their day's repaft. I do not fuppofe mafters, I know not. Perhaps the paffage corrupt: fuch inad- it is a flip of negligence.

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