Ros. He calls us back: My pride fell with my for

tunes:

I'll ask him what he would:- Did you call, sir?

Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown

More than your enemies.

Cel.

Will you go, coz?

R0s. Have with you:-Fare you well.

[Exeunt Ros. and CEL.

Orl. What passion hangs these weights upon my

tongue?

I cannot speak to her, yet she urg'd conference.

Re-enter LE BEAU.

O poor Orlando! thou art overthrown;

Or Charles, or something weaker, masters thee.

Le Beau. Good sir, I do in friendship counsel you To leave this place: Albeit you have deserv'd High commendation, true applause, and love; Yet such is now the duke's condition, 1

That he misconstrues all that you have done.

hung a shield and other trophies of war, at which they shot, darted, or rode, with a lance. When the shield and the trophies were all thrown down, the quintain remained. Without this information how could the reader understand the allusion of

Mr. Malone has disputed the propriety of Mr. Guthrie's animadversions; and Mr. Douce is equally dissatisfied with those of Mr. Malone.

The phalanx of our auxiliaries, as well as their circumstantiality, is so much increased, that we are often led (as Hamlet observes) to

fight for a spot

"Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause."

The present strictures, therefore, of Mr. Malone and Mr. Douce, (which are too valuable to be omitted, and too ample to find their place under the text of our author) must appear at the conclusion of the play. Steevens.

For a more particular description of a quintain, see a note on a passage in Jonson's Underwoods, Whalley's edit. Vol. VII, p. 55.

M. Mason.

A humorous description of this amusement may also be read in Laneham's Letter from "Killingworth Castle." Henley.

1- the duke's condition,] The word condition means character, temper, disposition. So, Antonio, the merchant of Venice, is called by his friend the best condition'd man. Johnson.

The duke is humorous; what he is, indeed,
More suits you to conceive, than me to speak of.2

Orl. I thank you, sir: and, pray you, tell me this;

Which of the two was daughter of the duke
That here was at the wrestling?

Le Beau. Neither his daughter, if we judge by man

ners;

But yet, indeed, the shorter3 is his daughter:
The other is daughter to the banish'd duke,
And here detain'd by her usurping uncle,
To keep his daughter company; whose loves
Are dearer than the natural bond of sisters.
But I can tell you, that of late this duke
Hath ta'en displeasure 'gainst his gentle niece;
Grounded upon no other argument,
But that the people praise her for her virtues,
And pity her for her good father's sake;
And, on my life, his malice 'gainst the lady
Will suddenly break forth.-Sir, fare you well;
Hereafter, in a better world than this,

I shall desire more love and knowledge of you.
Orl. I rest much bounden to you: fare you well!

2

[Exit LE BEAU.

than me to speak of.] The old copy has-than I. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

3

- the shorter-] Thus Mr. Pope. The old copy readsthe taller. Mr. Malone-the smaller. Steevens.

Some change is absolutely necessary, for Rosalind, in a subsequent scene, expressly says that she is "more than common tall," and assigns that as a reason for her assuming the dress of a man, while her cousin Celia retained her female apparel. Again, in Act IV, sc. iii, Celia is described by these words--"the woman low, and browner than her brother;" i. e. Rosalind. Mr. Pope reads "the shorter is his daughter;" which has been admitted in all the subsequent editions: but surely shorter and taller could never have been confounded by either the eye or the ear. The present emendation, it is hoped, has a preferable claim to a place in the text, as being much nearer to the corrupted reading.

Malone.

Shakspeare sometimes speaks of little women, but I do not recollect that he or any other writer, has mentioned small ones. Otherwise, Mr. Malone's conjecture should have found a place

in our text. Steevens.

4in a better world than this,] So, in Coriolanus; Act III sotiii: "There is a world elsewhere." Steevens. SID

1

Thus must I from the smoke into the smother;
From tyrant duke, unto a tyrant brother:
But heavenly Rosalind!

SCENE III.

A Room in the Palace.

Enter CELIA and ROSALIND.

[Exit.

Cel. Why, cousin; why, Rosalind; -Cupid have mercy!-Not a word?

Ros. Not one to throw at a dog.

Cel. No, thy words are too precious to be cast away upon curs, throw some of them at me; come, lame me with reasons.

Ros. Then there were two cousins laid up; when the one should be lamed with reasons, and the other mad without any.

Cel. But is all this for your father?

Ros. No, some of it is for my child's father: 5 O, how full of briars is this working-day world!

Cel. They are but burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday foolery; if we walk not in the trodden paths, our very petticoats will catch them.

Ros. I could shake them off my coat; these burs are in my heart.

Cel. Hem them away.

Ros. I would try; if I could cry hem, and have him.
Cel. Come, come, wrestle with thy affections.

Ros. O, they take the part of a better wrestler than myself.

Cel. O, a good wish upon you! you will try in time, in despite of a fall. But, turning these jests out of service, let us talk in good earnest: Is it possible, on such a sudden, you should fall into so strong a liking with old sir Rowland's youngest son?

Ros. The duke my father lov'd his father dearly. Cel. Doth it therefore ensue, that you should love his son dearly? By this kind of chase, I should hate him,

A

5 for my child's father:] i. e. for him whom I hope to marry, and have children by. Theobald.

6 By this kind of chase,] That is, by this way of following the argument. Dear is used by Shakspeare in a double sense for for my father hated his father dearly; yet I hate not Orlando.

Ros. No 'faith, hate him not, for my sake.

Cel. Why should I not? doth he not deserve well?" Ros. Let me love him for that; and do you love him, because I do: - Look, here comes the duke. Cel. With his eyes full of anger.

Enter Duke FREDERICK, with Lords.

Duke F. Mistress, despatch you with your safest haste,

And get you from our court.

Ros.

Duke F.

Me, uncle?

You, cousin:

Within these ten days if that thou be'st found
So near our publick court as twenty miles,

Thou diest for it.

Ros.

I do beseech your grace,

Let me the knowledge of my fault bear with me:

If with myself I hold intelligence,

Or have acquaintance with mine own desires;
If that I do not dream, or be not frantick,
(As I do trust I am not) then, dear uncle,
Never, so much as in a thought unborn,
Did I offend your highness.

Duke F.

Thus do all traitors;

If their purgation did consist in words,
They are as innocent as grace itself:-
Let it suffice thee, that I trust thee not.

Ros. Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor:

beloved, and for hurtful, hated, baleful. Both senses are authorised, and both drawn from etymology; but properly, beloved is dear, and hateful is dere. Rosalind uses dearly in the good, and Celia in the bad sense. Johnson.

7 Why should I not? doth he not deserve well?] Celia answers Rosalind, (who had desired her "not to hate Orlando, for her sake,") as if she had said-" love him, for my sake:" to which the former replies, "Why should I not [i. e. love him]?" So, in the following passage, in King Henry VIII:

66

Which of the peers

"Have uncontemn'd gone by him, or at least
"Strangely neglected?"

Uncontemn'd must be understood as if the author had writtennot contemn'd; otherwise the subsequent words would convey a meaning directly contrary to what the speaker intends. Malone.

Tell me, whereon the likelihood depends.

Duke F. Thou art thy father's daughter, there's enough.
Ros. So was I, when your highness took his dukedom;
So was I, when your highness banish'd him:
Treason is not inherited, my lord;

Or, if we did derive it from our friends,
What's that to me? my father was no traitor:
Then, good my liege, mistake me not so much,
To think my poverty is treacherous.

Cel. Dear sovereign, hear me speak.
Duke F. Ay, Celia; we stay'd her for your sake,
Else had she with her father rang'd along.

Cel. I did not then entreat to have her stay,
It was your pleasure, and your own remorse;8
I was too young that time to value her,
But now I know her: if she be a traitor,
Why so am I; we still have slept together,
Rose at an instant, learn'd, play'd, eat together;"
And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans,

Still we went coupled, and inseparable.

Duke F. She is too subtle for thee; and her smooth

ness,

Her very silence, and her patience,

Speak to the people, and they pity her.

Thou art a fool: she robs thee of thy name;

And thou wilt show more bright, and seem more virtu

ous, 1

When she is gone: then open not thy lips;

Firm and irrevocable is my doom

Which I have pass'd upon her; she is banish'd.

Cel. Pronounce that sentence then on me, my liege;

8-remorse;] i. e. compassion. So, in Macbeth:

9

"Stop the access and passage to remorse." Steevens.

- we still have slept together,

Rose at an instant, learn'd, play'd, eat together;] Youthful friendship is described in nearly the same terms in a book published the year in which this play first appeared in print:"They ever went together, plaid together, eate together, and usually slept together, out of the great love that was between them." Life of Guzman de Alfarache, folio, printed by Edward Blount, 1623, P. I, B. I, c. viii, p. 75. Reed.

1 And thou wilt show more bright, and seem more virtuous,] When she was seen alone, she would be more noted. Johnson.