Ros. To you I give myself, for I am yours. To you I give myself, for I am yours. daughter. [To Duke S. [TO ORL. you are my Orl. If there be truth in sight, you are my Rosalind. Phe. If sight and shape be true, Why then, my love adieu! Ros. I'll have no father, if you be not he: I'll have no husband, if you be not he:- "Tis I must make conclusion Of these most strange events: If truth holds true contents.7 [To Duke S. [To ORL. [7% PHE. thought that emendation sufficient, and that whose might have referred not to the last antecedent his, but to her, i. e. Rosalind. Our author frequently takes such licenses. But on further consideration it appears to me probable, that the same abbreviation was used in both lines, and that as his was certainly a misprint in the first line for her, so it also was in the second, the construction being so much more easy in that way than the other. "That thou might'st join her hand with the hand of him whose heart is lodged in her bosom," i. e. whose affection she already possesses. So, in Love's Labour's Lost, the King says to the Princess: "Hence ever then my heart is in thy breast." Again, in our author's Venus and Adonis: "Bids him farewel, and look well to her heart, Again, in King Richard III: "Even so thy breast incloseth my poor heart." Again, in Romeus and Juliet, 1562: "Thy heart thou leav'st with her, when thou dost hence depart, "And in thy breast inclosed bear'st her tender friendly heart." In the same play we meet with the error that has happened here. The Princess addressing the ladies who attend her, says :: "But while 'tis spoke, each turn away his face." Again, in a former scene of the play before us: You and you no cross shall part: [To ORL. and Ros. You and you are heart in heart: [To OLI. and CEL. You [to PHE.] to his love must accord, [To TOUCH. and AUD. As the winter to foul weather. Wedding is great Juno's crown;' Duke S. O my dear niece, welcome thou art to me; Even daughter, welcome in no less degree. Phe, I will not eat my word, now thou art mine; Thy faith my fancy to thee doth combine.1 [To SIL. If there be truth in sight,] The answer of Phebe makes it probable that Orlando says: If there be truth in shape: that is, if a form may be trusted; if one cannot usurp the form of another. Johnson. 7 If truth holds true contents.] That is, if there be truth in truth, unless truth fails of veracity. Johnson. 8 with questioning;] Though Shakspeare frequently uses question for conversation, in the present instance questioning may have its common and obvious signification. Steevens. 9 Wedding is &c.] Catullus, addressing himself to Hymen, has this stanza: 1 Que tuis careat sacris, Non queat dare præsides Compararier ausit? Johnson. combine.] Shakspeare is licentious in his use of this Enter JAQUES de Bois. Jaq. de B. Let me have audience for a word, or two; I am the second son of old sir Rowland, That bring these tidings to this fair assembly:- Duke S. That have endur'd shrewd days and nights with us, Play, musick;-and you brides and bridegrooms all, verb, which here, as in Measure for Measure, only signifies to bind: "I am combined by a sacred vow, "And shall be absent." Steevens. 2 Duke Frederick, &c.] In Lodge's novel the usurping Duke is not diverted from his purpose by the pious counsels of a hermit, but is subdued and killed by the twelve peers of France, who were brought by the third brother of Rosader (the Orlando of this play) to assist him in the recovery of his right. Steevens. And thrown into neglect the pompous court? Jaq. To him will I: out of these convertites - Is but for two months victual'd:-So to your pleasures; Jaq. To see no pastime, I:—what you would have I'll stay to know at your abandon'd cave.3 [Exit. Duke S. Proceed, proceed: we will begin these rites, As we do trust they 'll end, in true delights. [A ́dance. EPILOGUE. Ros. It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue: but it is no more unhandsome, than to see the lord the prologue. If it be true, that good wine needs no bush,♦ 3 To see no pastime, I:—what you would have I'll stay to know at your abandon'd cave.] Amidst this general festivity, the reader may be sorry to take his leave of Jaques, who appears to have no share in it, and remains behind unreconciled to society. He has, however, filled with a gloomy sensibility the space allotted to him in the play, and to the last preserves that respect which is due to him as a consistent character, and an amiable, though solitary moralist. It may be observed, with scarce less concern, that Shakspeare has, on this occasion, forgot old Adam, the servant of Orlando, whose fidelity should have entitled him to notice at the end of the piece, as well as to that happiness which he would naturally have found, in the return of fortune to his master.. Steevens. It is the more remarkable, that old Adam is forgotten; since, at the end of the novel, Lodge makes him captaine of the king's guard. Farmer. 6 'tis true, that a good play needs no epilogue: Yet to good wine they do use good bushes; and good plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues. What a case am I in then, that am neither a good epilogue, nor cannot insinuate with you in the behalf of a good play? I am not furnished like a beggar, therefore to beg will not become me: my way is, to conjure you; and I'll begin with the women. I charge you, O women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this play as please them: and so I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women, (as I perceive by your simpering, none of you hate them) that between you and the women, the play may please. If I were a woman, 8 -no bush,] It appears formerly to have been the custom to hang a tuft of ivy at the door of a vintner. I suppose ivy was rather chosen than any other plant, as it has relation to Bacchus. So, in Gascoigne's Glass of Government, 1575: "Now a days the good wyne needeth none ivye garland.” Again, in The Rival Friends, 1632: ""Tis like the ivy-bush unto a tavern." Again, in Summer's Last Will and Testament, 1600: "Green ivy-bushes at the vintners' doors." Steevens. The practice is still observed in Warwickshire and the adjoining counties, at statute-hirings, wakes, &c. by people who sell ale at no other time. And hence, I suppose, the Bush tavern at Bristol, and other places. Ritson. 5 What a case am I in then, &c.] Here seems to be a chasm, or some other depravation, which destroys the sentiment here intended. The reasoning probably stood thus: Good wine needs no bush, good plays need no epilogue; but bad wine requires a good bush, and a bad play a good epilogue. What case am I in then? To restore the words is impossible; all that can be done, without copies, is to note the fault. Johnson. Johnson mistakes the meaning of this passage. Rosalind says, that good plays need no epilogue; yet even good plays do prove the better for a good one. What a case then was she in, who had neither presented them with a good play, nor had a good epilogue to prejudice them in favour of a bad one? M. Mason. 6 furnished like a beggar,] That is, dressed: so before, he was furnished like a huntsman. Johnson. I charge you, O women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this play as please them: and so I charge you, &c.] The old copy reads-I charge you, O women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this play as please you: and I charge you, Q men, for the love you bear to women,—— —that between you and the women, &c. Steevens. |