If ever sat at any good man's feast; Orl. Then but forbear your food a little while, Duke S. Go find him out, And we will nothing waste till you return. Orl. I thank ye; and be bless'd for your good comfort! Duke S. Thou see'st we are not all alone unhappy : This wide and universal theatre Presents more woeful pageants than the scene Wherein we play in. Jaq. All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: [Exit. 17 "Take as you may choose to order, at your will and pleasure." In Lodge's tale we have it thus: "Gerismond tooke him by the hand and badde him welcome, willing him to sit downe in his place, and not onely to eat his fill, but be lord of the feast." And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.18 As, first, the infant, Made to his mistress' eyebrow: Then the soldier, Even in the cannon's mouth: And then the justice, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, 18 Totus mundus agit histrionem, an observation occurring in one of the fragments of Petronius, is said to have been the motto over Shakespeare's theatre, the Globe, and was probably a familiar apothegm in his day. The division of human life into certain stages, or epochs, had also a classical origin. In some Greek verses attributed to Solon, — and, whether written by him or not, certainly as old as the middle of the first century, the life of man is divided into ten ages of seven years each. Other Greek authors distributed it into seven parts, and Varro the Roman into five. A Hebrew doctor of the ninth century, and a Hebrew Poet of the twelfth, have made a similar distribution. 19 Pard is one of the old names for leopard. 20 Saws are sayings; often so used. Modern is trite, common, familiar. Men may still be seen overflowing with stale, threadbare proverbs and phrases, and imagining themselves wondrous wise. Instances, here, is examples, illustrations, anecdotes, such as many an official wiseacre is fond of repeating on all occasions. 21 The pantaloon was a stereotyped character in the old Italian farces: it represented a thin, emaciated old man, in slippers. For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing. Re-enter ORLANDO, with ADAM. Duke S. Welcome. Set down your venerable burden, I scarce can speak to thank you for myself. As yet, to question you about your fortunes. SONG. Ami. Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art foreseen, Although thy breath be rude. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly : This life is most jolly. Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, As benefits forgot: 22 His for its, the latter not being then in use. Though thou the waters warp,23 As friend remember'd not. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! &c. Duke S. If that you are the good Sir Roland's son, As you have whisper'd faithfully you are, And as mine eye doth his effigies witness Most truly limn'd 24 and living in your face, Be truly welcome hither: I'm the Duke, That loved your father: the residue of your fortune, [Exeunt. Enter Duke FREDERICK, OLIVER, Lords, and Attendants. Duke F. Not seen him since? Sir, sir, that cannot be : But, were I not the better part made mercy, I should not seek an absent argument 1 23 In the Poet's time the verb warp was sometimes used for weave, -a sense now retained only in the substantive. Thus in Sternhold's version of the Psalms: "While he doth mischief warp," and "Such wicked wiles to warp"; where we should say weave. In Hickes' Thesaurus is found a Saxon proverb, "Winter shall warp water." And Propertius has a line containing the same figure: " Africus in glaciem frigore nectit aquas." The appropriateness of the figure may be seen in the fine network appearance which water assumes in the first stages of crystallization. 24 Limn'd is lined, or depicted. — It is hardly needful to say that effigies is the same in sense as image. 1 Argument was used in a good many senses: here it means object. Of my revenge, thou present. But look to it: Find out thy brother, wheresoe'er he is; Seek him with candle; bring him dead or living Thy lands, and all things that thou dost call thine Till thou canst quit 2 thee by thy brother's mouth Oli. O, that your Highness knew my heart in this! I never loved my brother in my life. Duke F. More villain thou. Well, push him out of doors; And let my officers of such a nature Make an extent 3 upon his house and lands: Do this expediently, and turn him going. SCENE II. The Forest of Arden. [Exeunt. Enter ORLANDO, with a paper, which he hangs on a tree. Orl. Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love : And thou, thrice-crowned Queen of Night,5 survey With thy chaste eye, from thy pale sphere above, 2 Quit here is acquit. The Poet has it repeatedly in that sense. So in Measure for Measure, v. 1: “Thou'rt condemn'd: but, for those earthly faults, I quit them all." And in Henry V., ii. 1: “God quit you in His mercy!" 3 A law phrase, thus explained by Blackstone: "The process hereon is usually called an extent or extendi facias, because the Sheriff is to cause the lands, &c., to be appraised to their full extended value, before he delivers them to the plaintiff." 4 Expediently for expeditiously. So the Poet uses expedient for expeditious. 5 Luna Queen of Night, Proserpine Queen of Hades, and Diana the Goddess of Chastity, were all three sometimes identified in classical mythology; hence the epithet thrice-crowned. In Chapman's Hymns to Night and to |