you take her without her tongue. O, that woman that cannot make her fault her husband's occasion,' let her never nurse her child herself, for she will breed it like

a fool.

me:

Orl. For these two hours Rosalind, I will leave thee. Ros. Alas, dear love, I cannot lack thee two hours.

Orl. I must attend the duke at dinner; by two o'clock I will be with thee again.

l'os. Ay, go your ways, go your ways;-I knew what you would prove; my friends told me as much, and I thought no less:—that flattering tongue of yours won

—'tis but one cast away, and so,~come, death.Two o'clock is your hour?

Orl. Ay, sweet Rosalind.

Ros. By my troth, and in good earnest, and so God mend me, and by all pretty oaths that are not dangerous, if you break one jot of your promise, or come one minute behind your hour, I will think you the most pathetical break-promise, and the most hollow lover, and the most unworthy of her you call Rosalind, that

1

“ Ye, sire, quod Proserpine, and wol ye so?
“Now by my modre Ceres soule I swere,
“ That I'shail yeve hire suffisant answere,
“ And alle women after for hire sake;
“ That though they ben in any gilt ytake,
“ With face bold they shul hemselve excuse,
" And bere hem doun that wolden hem accuse.
“For lack of answere, non of us shall dien.
“ Al had ye seen a thing with bothe youre eyen,
“ Yet shul we so visage it hardely,
“ And wepe and swere and chiden subtilly,
s That ye shul ben as lewed as ben gees.” Tyrwhitt.
- make her fault her husband's occasion,]

That is represent her fault as occasioned by her husband. Sir T. Hanmer reads, her husband's accusation. Johnson.

I will think you the most pathetical break-promise,] The same epithet occurs again in Love's Labour's Lost, and with as little apparent meaning:

most pathetical nit.” Again, in Greene's Never too late, 1590: " — having no patheticall impression in my head, I had fiat fallen into a slumber.”

Steevens. I believe, by pathetical break-promise, Rosalind means a lorer whose falsehood would most deeply affect his mistress. Malone.

9

may be chosen out of the gross band of the unfaithful: therefore beware my censure, and keep your promise.

Orl. With no less religion, than if thou wert indeed my Rosalind: So, adieu.

Ros. Well, time is the old justice that examines all such offenders, and let time try:2 Adieu! [Exit ORL.

Cel. You have simply misus’d our sex in your loveprate: we must have your doublet and hose plucked over your head, and show the world what the bird hath done to her own nest. 3

Ros. O coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz, that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love! But it cannot be sounded; my affection hath an unknown bottom, like the bay of Portugal.

Cel. Or rather, bottomless; that as fast as you pour affection in, it runs out.

Ros. No, that same wicked bastard of Venus, that was begot of thought,* conceived of spleen, and born of madness; that blind rascally boy, that abuses every one's eyes, because his own are out, let him be judge, how deep I am in love: I'll tell thee, Aliena, I cannot be out of the sight of Orlando: I'll go find a shadow, and sigh till he come.5 Cel. And I 'll sleep.

[Exeunt.

2

3

time is the old justice that examines all such offenders, and let time try:) So, in Troilus and Cressida :

" And that old common arbitrator, Time,
“ Will one day end it.” Steevens.

to her own nest.] So, in Lodge's Rosalynde: And “I pray you (quoth Aliena) if your own robes were off, what mettal are you made of, that you are so satyricall against women ? Is it not a foule bird defiles her owne nest?” Steevens.

4-begot of thought,] i. e. of melancholy. So, in Fulius Cesar : " take thought, and die for Cæsar.” Steevens.

I'll go find a shadow, and sigh till he come,] So, in Macbeth:

“ Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there
“ Weep our sad bosoms empty.” Steevens.

5

SCENE II.

Another Part of the Forest.
Enter JAQUES and Lords, in the habit of Foresters.
Jaq. Which is he that killed the deer?
1 Lord. Sir, it was I.

Jaq. Let 's present him to the duke, like a Roman conqueror; and it would do well to set the deer's horns upon his head, for a branch of victory:-Have you no song, forester, for this purpose?

2 Lord. Yes, sir,

Jaq. Sing it; 'tis no matter how it be in tune, so it make noise enough.

SONG.
1. What shall he have, that kill'd the deer?
2. His leather skin, and horns to wear.6

1. Then sing him home:
Take thou no scorn, to wear the horn;7
It was a crest ere thou wast born.

1. Thy father's father wore it ;

2. And thy father bore it: All. The horn, the horn, the lusty horn, Is not a thing to laugh to scorn.

[Exeunt.

The rest shall bear this burden,

6 His leather skin, and horns to wear.] Shakspeare seems to have formed this song on a hint afforded by the novel which furnished him with the plot of his play. “What news, Forrester? Hast thou wounded some deere, and lost him in the fall? Care not, man, for so small a losse; thy fees was but the skinne, the shoulders, and the horns." Lodge's Rosalynde, or Euphues's Golilen Legacie, 1592. For this quotation the reader is indebted to Mr. Malone.

So likewise in an ancient MS. entitled The Boke of Huntyng, that is cleped Mayster of Game: “ And as of fees, it is to wite that what man that smyte a dere atte his tree with a dethes stroke, and he be recouered by sonne going doune, he shall haue the skyn,” &c.

Steevens. 7 Take thou no scorn, to wear the horn;] In King Fohn in two parts, 1591, a play which our author had, without doubt, at. tentively read, we find these lines:

« But let the foolish Frenchman take no scorn,

“ If Philip front him with an English horn." Malone. Thus also, in the old comedy of Grim the Collier of Croydon, (date unknown,)

SCENE III.8

The Forest.

Enter ROSALIND and CELIA. Ros. Ilow say you now? Is it not past two o'clock? and here much Orlando !9

Cel. I warrant you, with pure love, and troubled brain, he hath ta'en his bow and arrows, and is gone forth-to sleep: Look, who comes here.

Enter Silvius. Sil. My errand is to you, fair youth;My gentle 'hebe bid mel give you this: [Giving a letter.

a

9

Unless your great infernal majesty
“ Do solemnly proclaim, no devil shall scorn

“ Hereafter still to wear the goodly horn."'. To take scorn is a phrase that occurs again in King Henry VI, P. I, Act IV, sc. iv:

" And take foul scorn, to fawn on him by sending.” Steevens. 8 The foregoing noisy scene was introduced only to fill up an interval, which is to represent two hours. This contraction of the time we might impute to poor Rosalind's impatience, but that a few minutes after we find Orlando sending his excuse. I do not see that by any probable division of the Acts this absurdity can be obviated. Johnson.

and here much Orlando!] Thus the old copy. Some of the modern editors read, but without the least authority : I wonder much, Orlando is not here.

Steevens. The word should be explained. It is an expression of latitude, and taken in various senses. Here 's much Orlandoi. e. Here is no Orlando, or we may look for him. We have still this use of it, as when we say, speaking of a person who we suspect will not keep his appointment, “ Ay, you will be sure to see him there much !” Whalley.

So the vulgar yet say, “I shall get much by that no doubt," meaning that they shall get nothing: Malone.

Here much Orlando! is spoken ironically on Rosalind perceiving that Orlando had failed in his engagement. H. White.

Much, in our author's time, was an expression denoting admiration. So, in King Henry IV, P.II, Act II, sc. iv:

“What, with two points on your shoulder? much!” Again, in The Taming of a Shrew:

“'Tis much !-Servant, leave me and her alone.” Malone. Much! was more frequently used to indicate disdain. See notes on the first of the two passages quoted by Mr. Malone.

Steevens. bid me —-] The old copy redundantly reads_did bid me.

Steevens.

1

I know not the contents; but, as I guess,
By the stern brow, and waspish action
Which she did use as she was writing of it,
It bears an angry tenour: pardon me,
I am but as a guiltless messenger.

Ros. Patience herself would startle at this letter,
And play the swaggerer;2 bear this, bear all:
She says, I am not fair; that I lack manners;
She calls me proud; and that she could not love me
Were man as rare as phænix; Od's my will!
Her love is not the hare that I do hunt:
Why writes she so to me?-Well, shepherd, well,
This is a letter of your own device.

Sil. No, I protest: I know not the contents;
Phebe did write it.
Ros,

Come, come, you are a fool,
And turn’d into the extremity of love.
I saw her hand; she has a leathern hand,
A freestone-colour'd hand ;3 I verily did think
That her old gloves were on, but 'twas her hands;
She has a huswife's hand: but that's no matter:
I

say, she never did invent this letter; This is a man's invention, and his hand.

Sil. Sure, it is hers.
Ros. Why, 'tis a boisterous and a cruel style,

a
A style for challengers; why, she defies me,
Like Turk to Christian; woman's gentle brain *
Could not drop forth such giant-rude invention,

SAW

2 Patience herself would startle at this letter,
And play the swaggerer;] So, in Measure for Measure:
“ This would make mercy swear, and play the tyrant."

Steevens. s Phebe did write it.

Ros. Come, come, you are a fool.
1 her hand : she has a leathern hand,

A freestone-colourd hand;} As this passage now stands, the mețre of the first line is imperfect, and the sense of the whole ; for why should Rosalind dwell so much upon Phebe's hands, unless Silvius had said something about them ?--I have no doubt but the line originally ran thus:

Phebe did write it with her own fair land.
And then Rosalind's reply will naturally follow. M. Mason.

woman's gentle brain - ] Old copy-women’s. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

L 2