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Ros. To you I give myself, for I am yours.

To you I give myself, for I am yours.
Duke S. If there be truth in sight,

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:-
Nor ne'er wed woman, if you be not she.
Hym. Peace, ho! I bar confusion:

"Tis I must make conclusion

Of these most strange events:
Here's eight that must take hands,
To join in Hymen's bands,

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,
"The which, by Cupid's bow she doth protest,
"He carried thence incaged in his breast.”

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:
"Helen's cheek, but not his heart." Malone.

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,
Or have a woman to your lord:-
You and you are sure together,

[To TOUCH. and AUD.

As the winter to foul weather.
Whiles a wedlock-hymn we sing,
Feed yourselves with questioning; a
That reason wonder may diminish,
How thus we met, and these things finish.
SONG.

Wedding is great Juno's crown;'
O blessed bond of board and bed!
'Tis Hymen peoples every town;
High wedlock then be honoured:
Honour, high honour and renown,
To Hymen, god of every town!

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
Terra finibus: at queat
Te volente. Quis huic deo

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 Frederick,2 hearing how that every day
Men of great worth resorted to this forest,
Address'd a mighty power; which were on foot,
In his own conduct, purposely to take
His brother here, and put him to the sword:
And to the skirts of this wild wood he came;
Where, meeting with an old religious man,
After some question with him, was converted
Both from his enterprize, and from the world:
His crown bequeathing to his banish'd brother,
And all their lands restor❜d to them again
That were with him exil'd: This to be true,
I do engage my life.

Duke S.
Welcome, young man;
Thou offer'st fairly to thy brothers' wedding:
To one, his lands with-held; and to the other,
A land itself at large, a potent dukedom.
First, in this forest, let us do those ends
That here were well begun, and well begot:
And after, every of this happy number,

That have endur'd shrewd days and nights with us,
Shall share the good of our returned fortune,
According to the measure of their states,
Meantime, forget this new-fall'n dignity,
And fall into our rustick revelry:—

Play, musick;-and you brides and bridegrooms all,
With measure heap'd in joy, to the measures fall.
Jaq. Sir, by your patience; If I heard you rightly,
The duke hath put on a religious life,

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. de B. He hath.

Jaq. To him will I: out of these convertites
There is much matter to be heard and learn'd.-
You to your former honour I bequeath; [To Duke S.
Your patience, and your virtue, well deserves it:-
You [to ORL.] to a love, that your true faith doth merit:-
You [to OLI.] to your land, and love, and great allies:-
You [to SIL.] to a long and well deserved bed ;-
And you [to TOUCH.] to wrangling; for thy loving voy-
age

-

Is but for two months victual'd:-So to your pleasures;
I am for other than for dancing measures.
Duke S. Stay, Jaques, stay.

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.

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6 furnished like a beggar,] That is, dressed: so before, he was furnished like a huntsman. Johnson.

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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.

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