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 releve._ 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 salutantum totis vomit aedibus undam_. I.1.46 (275,5) Halts not particularly] My design does not stop at any single characters. I.1.47 (276,7) no levell'd malice Infects one comma in the course I hold; But flies an eagle-flight, bold, and forth on, Leaving no tract behind] To _level_ is to _aim_, to point the shot at a mark. Shakespeare's meaning is, my poem is not a satire written with any particular view, or _levelled_ at any single person; I fly like an eagle into the general expanse of life, and leave not, by any private mischief, the trace of my passage. I.i.51 (276,8) I'll unbolt] I'll open, I'll explain. I.i.53 (276,9) glib and slippery creatures] Hanmer, and Warburton after him, read, _natures_. _Slippery_ is _smooth_, unresisting. I.i.58 (276,1) glass-fac'd flatterer] That shows in his own look, as by reflection, the looks of his patron. I.i.65 (277,3) rank'd with all deserts] _Cover'd with ranks_ of all kinds of men. I.i.67 (277,4) To propagate their states] To advance or improve their various conditions of life. I.i.72 (277,5) conceiv'd to scope] Properly imagined, appositely, to the purpose. I.i.82 (278,8) through him/Drink the free air] That is, catch his breath in affected fondness.