Jew. I have a jewel here.
MER. O, pray, let's see't: For the lord Timon,

Gir?
Jew. If he will touch the estimate :? But, for

that
Poet. When we for recompenses have prais’d the

vile,
Il ftains the glory in that happy verse
Which aptly fings the good.
MER.

'Tis a good form.

Looking on the jewel. Jew. And rich : here is a water, look you. Pain. You are rapt, fir, in some work, some

dedication To the great lord. PoET.

A thing slipp'd idly from me. Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes o From whence 'tis nourished: The fire i'the flint Shows not, till it be struck ; our gentle flame

9

* He poffes.

I have a jewel here.] The syllable wanting in this line, might be restored by reading :

He paffes.- Look, I have a jewel here. Steevens.

touch the estimate :) Come up to the price. Jounson. When we for recompense &c.] We must here suppołe the poet busy in reading his own work; and that these three lives are the introduâion of the poem addressed to Timon, which he afterwarda gives the painter an account of. WARBURTON.

which oozes -] The folio copy reads which uses. The modern editors have given it- which issurs. JOHNSON. Gum and issues were inserted by Mr. Pope; oozes by Dr. Johuson.

MALONE. The two older copies read: Our poefie is as e gowne which uses.

STELLENS,

9

Provokes itself, and, like the current, flies
Each bound it chafes. What have you there?

2

and, like the current, flies Each bound it chafes.] Thus the folio reads, and rightly. In, later editions-m chases. WARBURTON.

This speech of the poet is very obscure. He fecups to boalt the copiousness and facility of bis vein, by declaring that verses drop from a poet as guins from pdoriferous trees, and that his fame kindles itself without the violence necessary to elicit sparkles from the flint. What follows next? that it, like a current, lies each bound it chajes. This may mean, that it expands itself notwithftanding all obftru&1011s : but the images in the comparisou are lo ill-sorted, and the effe& so obscurely expressed, that I cannot but think something omitted that conneded the laft sentence with, the former. It is well known that the players often shorten speeches lo quicken the representation : and it may be suspe&ed, that they sometimes performed their amputations with more hafte than judge. ment. Johnson.

Perhaps the sense is, that having touch'd on one subje&t, it flies off in quest of another. The old copy seems to read:

Each bound it chases. The letters | and s are not always to be distinguished from each other, especially when the types have been much worn, as in the firft folio. If chases be the true reading, it is best explained by the

Je fequiturque fugitque -" of the Roman poet. Somewhat fimilar occurs in The Tempeft:

“ Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly bim

6. When he pursues." STEEVENS. The obscurity of this passage arises merely from the mistake of the editors, who have joined in one, what was intended by Shakfpeare as two diftin& fentences. - It should be pointed thus, aod then the seose will be evident:

our gentle flame
Provokes itself, and like the current flies;-

Each bound it chafes.
Our gentle flame animates itself; it flies like a current; and every
obstacle serves but to increase its force. M. MASON.
In Julius Cæfar, we have-

“ The troubled Tyber chafing with her shores,-". Again, in The Legend of Pierce Gavefton, by Michael Drayton, 1594:

" Like as the ocean, chafing with his bounds,
5. With raging billowes flics against the rocks,
" And to the thore sends foril his hideous founds," &c.

MALONE.

3

5

Pain. A picture, fir. — And when comes your

book forth? Poet. Upon the heels 4 of my presentment," fir, Let's see your piece. Pain.

'Tis a good piece. Poet. So'tis: this comes off well and excellent.”

6

3

5

This jumble of incongruous images, seems to have been defigned, and put into tbe mouth of the Poclater, that the reader might appreciate his talents : his language therefore should not be confidered in the abftra&. HENLEY,

And when comes your book forth?] And was supplied by Sir T. Hanmer, to perfe& the measure. STEEVENS.

* Upon the heels &c.] As soon as my book has been presented to lord Timon.

JOHNSON,

presentment ] The patrons of Shakspeare's age do not appear to have been all Timons.

" I did determine not 10 bave dedicated my play to any body, because forly shillings I care noi for, and above, few or noue will beflow on these matters. Prefacc to A Woman is a Weathercock, by N. Field, 1612. STEEVENS.

It should however be remembered, thar forty. Millings at that time were equal to at least six, perhaps eight, pounds at this day,

MALONE. 6 'Tis a good piece. } As the metre is here defedive, it is not improbable that our author originally wrole

'Tis a good piece, indeed. So, in The Winter's Tale:

“ 'Tis grace indeed." STEVENS.

this comes off well and excellent.) The meaning is, the figure rises well from the canvas. C'eft bien relevé. JOHNSON.

What is meant by this term of applause I do not exaâly know. It occurs again in The Widow, by Ben joulon, Fletcher, and Middleton :

" It comes off very fair yet.
Again, in A Trick to catch the old One, 1608: “Put a good tale
in his ear, so that it comes off cleanly, and tbere's a horse and man
for us. I warrant thee, Again, in the firåt part of Marston's
Antonio and Mellida :

• Fla. Faith, the long will seem to come off hardly.
" Catz. Troth, not a whit, if you seem to come off quickly."

STEEVENS,

7

PAIN. Indifferent.
POET.

Admirable: How this grace
Speaks his own standing!! what a mental power
This eye shoots forth! how big imagination
Moves in this lip! to the dumbness of the gesture
One might' interpret.

9

/

How this grace
Speaks his own standing!] This relates to the attitude of the
figure, and means that it stands judiciously on its own centre. And
not only so, but that it has a graceful standing likewise. Of which
the poet in Hamlet, speaking of another piąure, says:

• A station like the herald, Mercury

" New.lighted on a heaveu-killing hill."
which lines Milion seems to have had in view, where he says of
Raphael :

" At once on th' eastern cliff of Paradise
" He lights, and to his proper shape returns.

Like Maia's son he food.". WARBURTON.
This sentence seems to me obscure, and, however explained, noi
very forcible. This grace Speaks his own ftanding, is only, The grace-
fulness of this figure hoops how it Hands. I am inclined to think
fomething corrupted. It would be more natural and clear thus :

How this Atanding
Speaks his own graces!
How this posture displays its own gracefulness. But I will indulge
conje&ure further, and propose to read :

How this grace
Speaks understanding! what a mental power

This eye fools forth! JOHNSON.
The •assage, to my apprehenfion at leaf, speaks its own meaning,
which is, how the graceful attitude of this figure proclaims that it
Atauds firm on its center, or gives evidence in favour of its own
fixure. Grace is introduced as bearing wito ess to propriety. A
fimilar expression occurs in Cymbeline, A& II. sc. iv:

never saw I figures
“ So likely to report themselves." STEEVENS.
- to the dumbness of the gosure

One might interpret. ] The figure, though dumb, seems to
have a capacity of speech. The allusion is to the puppet-shows,
or motions, as they were termed in our author's time. The person

9

Pain. It is a pretty mocking of the life.
Here is a touch ; Is't good ?
PoET.

l'll say of it,
It tutors nature: artificial strife
Lives in these touches, livelier than life.

2

who spoke for the puppets was called an interpreter. See a note on Hamlet, Ad Ill. sc. v. MALONE.

Rather--one might venture to supply words to such intelligible adion. Such figuificant gelture ascertains the sentiments that should accompany it.

STEEVENS.
artificial frife — ] Strife for a&ion or motion.

WARBURTON.
Strife is either the couteft of art with nature:

Hic ille eft Raphael, timuit, quo sosoite vinci

Rerum magna parens, de moriente mori.
or it is the contraft of forms or opposition of colours. JOHNSON.
So, under the print of Noah Bridges, by Faithoroe:

" Faithorne, with nature at a noble ftrife,
" Hath paid the author a great share of life. " &c.

STEEVENS.
And Ben Jonson, on the head of Shakspeare by Droelhout:

" This figure which thou here seeft put,
" It was for gentle Shakspeare cut:
" Wherein the graver had a Arife

" With nature, to out-doo the life. Henley,
That artificial frise means, as Dr. Johnson has explained 'it, the
conlest of art with nature, aud not the contraße of forms or oppofition
of colours, may appear from our author's Venus and Adonis, wher:
the same thought is more clearly expressed :

“ Look, when a painter would surpass the life,
" lo limning out a well-proportion'd steed,
" His art with nature's workmanship at frife,
" As if the dead the living thould exceed ;

" So did this horse excell," &c.
Io Drayton's Mortimeriados, printed I believe in 1596, (afterwards
entitled The Baron's Wars,) there are two lines nearly resembling
these :

“ Done for the last with such exceeding life,
“ As art therein with nature were at Arife. MALONE.