It may not be improperly observed here, that as there is only one copy
of this play, no help can be had from collation, and more liberty must
be allowed to conjecture.
I.i.10 (272,4) breath'd as it were/To an untirable and continuate
goodness] _Breathed_ is _inured by constant practice; so trained as not
to be wearied. To _breathe_ a horse, is to exercise him for the course.
I.i.20 (273,8) _Poet_.
A thing slipt idly from me.
Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes
From whence 'tis nourished. The fire i' the flint
Shews not, 'till it be struck: our gentle flame
Provokes itself, and, like the current flies
Each bound it chafes. What have you there!]
This speech of the poet is very obscure. He seems to boast the
copiousness and facility of his vein, by declaring that verses drop from
a poet as gums from odoriferous trees, and that his flame kindles itself
without the violence necessary to elicit sparkles from the flint. What
follows next? that it, _like a current, flies each bound it chafes_.
This may mean, that it expands itself notwithstanding all obstructions:
but the images in the comparison are so ill-sorted, and the effect so
obscurely expressed, that I cannot but think something omitted that
connected the last sentence with the former. It is well knovn that the
players often shorten speeches to quicken the representation; and it may
be suspected, that they sometimes performed their amputations with more
haste than judgment, (see 1765, VI, 169, 6)
I.i.27 (274,9) _Poet_. Upon the heels of my presentment, sir.] As soon
as my book has been presented to lord Timon.
I.i.29 (274,1) This comes off weil and excellent] [By this we are to
understand what the painters call the _goings off_ of a picture, which
requires the nicest execution. WARBURTON.] The note I understand less
than the text. The meaning is, This figure rises weil from the canvas.
_C'est bien relevè._
I.i.37 (275,3) artificial strife] _Strife_ is either the contest or act
with nature.
_Hic ille est_ Raphael, _timuit, quo aospite vinci
Rerum magna parens, & moriente, mori_.
Or it is the contrast of forms or opposition of colours.
I.i.43 (275,4) this confluence, this great flood of visitors] _Mane
salutantúm totis vomit aedibus undam_.
I.1.46 (275,5) Halts not particularly] My design does not stop at any
single characters.