Orl. Shall I keep your hogs, and eat husks with them? What prodigal portion have I spent, that I should come to such penury?

Oli. Know you where you are, sir?
Orl. (), sir, very well: here in your orchard.
Oli. Know you before whom, sir?
Orl. Ay, better than he I am before knows me. I

But what the Oxford editor could not explain, he would amend, and reads:

and do aught a while. Warburton. If be nought awhile has the signification here given it, the reading may certainly stand; but tiil I learned its meaning from this note, I read:

Be better employed, and be naught a while. In the same sense as we say-It is better to do mischief, than to do nothing. Fohnson.

Notwithstanding Dr. Warburton's far-fetched explanation, I believe that the words be naught awhile, mean no more than this: “ Be content to be a cypher, till I shall think fit to elevate you into consequence."

This was certainly a proverbial saying. I find it in The Storie of King Darius, an interlude, 1565:

“ Come away, and be nought a whyle,

“Or surely I will you both defyle.' Again, in K. Henry IV, P.II, Falstaff says to Pistol: “ Nay, if he do nothing but speak nothing, he shall be nothing here.” Steevens.

Naught and nought are frequently confounded in old English books. I once thought that the latter was here intended, in the sense affixed to it by Mr. Steevens: “ Be content to be a cypher, till I shall elevate you into consequence." But the following passage in Swetnam, a comedy, 1620, induces me to think that the reading of the old copy (naught) and Dr. Johnson's explanation are right:

- get you both in, and be naught a while." The speaker is a chamber-maid, and she addresses herself to her inistress and her lover. Malone.

Malone says that nought (meaning nothing) was formerly spelled with an a, naught, which is clearly the manner in which it ought still to be spelled, as the word aught, (any thing) from whence it is derived, is spelled so.

A similar expression occurs in Bartholomew Fair, where Ursula says to Mooncalf: “Leave the bottle behind you, and be curs'd awhile;" which seems to confirm Warburton's explana. tion. M. Mason.

6 Ay, better than he I am before knows me.] The first folio reads -better than him - But, litt. respect is due to the anomalies of the play-louse editors; and o. this comedy there is no quarto edition. Steevens.

know, you are my eldest brother; and, in the gentle condition of blood, you should so know me: The courtesy of nations allows you my better, in that you are the first-born; but the same tradition takes not away my blood, were there twenty brothers betwixt us: I have as much of my father in me, as you; albeit, I confess, your coming before me is nearer to his reverence.?

Oli. What, boy!

Orl. Come, come, elder brother, you are too young in this.

Oli. Wilt thou lay hands on me, villain?

Orl. I am no villain:8 I am the youngest son of sir Rowland de Bois; he was my father; and he is thrice a villain, that says, such a father begot villains: Wert thou not my brother, I would not take this hand from thy throat till this other had pulled out thy tongue for saying so; thou hast railed on thyself.

Adam. Sweet masters, be patient; for your father's remembrance, be at accord.

Oli. Let me go, I say.
Orl. I will not, till I please: you shall hear me. My

7

Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors read-he I am before; more correctly, but without authority. Our author is equally irregular in The Winter's Tale :

“I am appointed him to murder you.” Malone. Of The Winter's Tale also there is none but the play-house copy.

Steevens.

- albeit, I confess, your coming before me is nearer to his reverence.] This is sense indeed, and may be thus understood. The reverence due to my father is, in some degree, derived to you, as the first-born. But I am persuaded that Orlando did not here mean to compliment his brother, or condemn himself; something of both which there is in that sense. I rather think he intended a satirical reflection on his brother, who by letting him feed with his hinds, treated him as one not so nearly related to old Sir Rowland as himself was. I imagine therefore Shakspeare might write-Albeit your coming before me is nearer his revenue, i. e. though you are no nearer in blood, yet it must be owned, indeed, you are nearer in estate. Warburton.

This, I apprehend, refers to the courtesy of distinguishing the eldest son of a knight, by the title of esquire. Henley.

8 I am no villain:] The word villain is used by the elder brother, in its present meaning, for a worthless, wicked, or bloody man; by Orlando, in its original signification, for a fellow of base extraction. Fohnson.

father charged you in his will to give me good education: you have trained me like a peasant, obscuring and hiding from me all gentleman-like qualities: the spirit of my father grows strong in me, and I will no longer endure it: therefore allow me such exercises as may become a gentleman, or give me the poor allottery my father left me by testament; with that I will go buy my fortunes.

Oli. And what wilt thou do? beg, when that is spent? Well, sir, get you in: I will not long be troubled with you: you shall have some part of your will: I pray you, leave me.

Orl. I will no further offend you than becomes me for my good.

Oli. Get you with him, you old dog.

Adam. Is old dog my reward? Most true, I have lost my teeth in your service. God be with my old master! he would not have spoke such a word.

[Exeunt ORL, and ADAM. Oli. Is it even so? begin you to grow upon me? I will physick your rankness, and yet give no thousand crowns neither. Hola, Dennis!

Enter DENNIS. Den. Calls your w

worship? Oli. Was not Charles, the duke's wrestler, here to speak with me?

Den. So please you he is here at the door, and importunes access to you.

Oli. Call him in. [Exit Den.]—'Twill be a good way; and to-morrow the wrestling is.

Enter CHARLES. Cha. Good morrow to your worship.

Oli. Good monsieur Charles!—what's the new news at the new court?

Cha. There 's no news at the court, sir, but the old news: that is, the old duke is banished by his younger brother the new duke; and three or four loving lords have put themselves into voluntary exile with him, whose lands and revenues enrich the new duke; therefore he gives them good leave to wander.

9 —good leave - ] As often as this phrase occurs, it means a ready assent. So, in King John:

Oli. Can you tell, if Rosalind, the duke's daughter, be banished with her father.

Cha. O, no; for the duke's daughter, 2 her cousin, so loves her,-being ever from their cradles bred together, --that she would have followed her exile, or have died to stay behind her. She is at the court, and no less beloved of her uncle than his own daughter; and never two ladies loved as they do.

Oli. Where will the old duke live?

Cha. They say, he is already in the forest of Arden, 3 and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England: they say, many young gentlemen flock to him every day; and feet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.

Oli. What, you wrestle to-morrow before the new duke?

Cha. Marry, do I, sir; and I came to acquaint you with a matter. I am given, sir, secretly to understand, that your younger brother, Orlando, hath a disposition to come in disguis'd against me to try a fall: To-morrow, sir, I wrestle for my credit; and he that escapes

a

1

2

“ Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile ? “Gur. Good leave, good Philip.” Steevens.

-the duke's daughter,] The words old and new [inserted by Sir T. Hanmer) seem necessary to the perspicuity of the dialogue. Fohnson. -the duke's daughter,] i. é. the banished duke's daughter.

Malone. The author of The Revisal is of opinion, that the subsequent words-her cousin, sufficiently distinguish the person intended.

Steevens: - for the duke's daughter,] i. e. the usurping duke's daughter. Sir T. Hanmer reads here—the new duke's; and in the preceding speech-the old duke's daughter; but in my opinion unnecessarily. The ambiguous use of the word duke in these passages is much in our author's manner. Malone.

in the forest of Arden,] Ardenne is a forest of considerable extent in French Flanders, lying near the Meuse, and between Charlemont and Rocroy. It is mentioned by Spenser, in his Colin Clout 's come home again, 1595:

“ Into a forest wide and waste he came,
“ Where store he heard to be of savage prey;
“ So wide a forest, and so waste as this,

“Not famous Ardeyn, nor foul Arlo is.” But our author was furnished with the scene of his play by Lodge's novel. Malone.

3

father charged you in his will to give me good education: you have trained me like a peasant, obscuring and hiding from me all gentleman-like qualities: the spirit of my father grows strong in me, and I will no longer endure it: therefore allow me such exercises as may become a gentleman, or give me the poor allottery my er left me by testament; with that I will go buy my fortunes.

Oli. And what wilt thou do? beg, when that is spent? Well, sir, get you in: I will not long be troubled with you: you shall have some part of your will: I pray you, leave me.

Orl. I will no further offend you than becomes me for my good.

Oli. Get you with him, you old dog.

Adam. Is old dog my reward? Most true, I have lost my teeth in your service. God be with my old master! he would not have spoke such a word.

[Exeunt ORL. and ADAM. Oli. Is it even so? begin you to grow upon me? I will physick your rankness, and yet give no thousand crowns neither. Hola, Dennis!

Enter DENNIS. Den. Calls your worship?

Oli. Was not Charles, the duke's wrestler, here to speak with me?

Den. So please you he is here at the door, and importunes access to you.

Oli. Call him in. [Exit Den.]—'Twill be a good way; and to-morrow the wrestling is.

Enter CHARLES. Cha. Good morrow to your worship.

Oli. Good monsieur Charles-what's the new news at the new court?

Cha. There 's no news at the court, sir, but the old news: that is, the old duke is banished by his younger brother the new duke; and three or four loving lords have put themselves into voluntary exile with him, whose lands and revenues enrich the new duke; therefore he gives them good leave to wander.

- good leave ---} As often as this phrase occurs, it means a ready assent. So, in King Fohn: