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II.

Between the acres of the rye,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country folks would lie,

In spring time, &c.

III.

This carol they began that hour,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,

How that a life was but a flower

In spring time, &c.

IV.

And therefore take the present time,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino;

For love is crowned with the prime

In spring time, &c.

Touch. Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable.5

The same transposition of these stanzas is made by Dr. Thirlby, in a copy containing some notes on the margin, which I have perused by the favour of Sir Edward Walpole. Johnson.

the only pretty rank time,] Thus the modern editors. The old copy reads:

In the spring time, the onely pretty rang time. I think we should read:

In the spring time, the only pretty ring time.

i. e. the aptest season for marriage; or, the word only, for the sake of equality of metre, may be omitted. Steevens.

The old copy reads-rang time. The emendation was made by Dr. Johnson. Mr. Pope and the three subsequent editors read-the pretty spring time. Mr. Steevens proposes-"ring time, i. e. the aptest season for marriage." The passage does not deserve much consideration. Malone.

In confirmation of Mr. Steevens's reading, it appears from the old calendars that the spring was the season of marriage. Douce.

5 Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable.] Though it is thus in all the printed copies, it is evident, from the sequel of the dialogue, that the poet wrote as I have reformed in my text, untimeable.Time and tune, are frequently misprinted for one another in the old editions of Shakspeare. Theobald.

This emendation is received, I think, very undeservedly, by Dr. Warburton. Johnson.

The reply of the Page proves to me, beyond any possibility of doubt, that we ought to read untimeable, instead of untuneable,

1 Page. You are deceived, sir; we kept time, we lost not our time.

Touch. By my troth, yes; I count it but time lost to hear such a foolish song. God be with you; and God mend your voices! Come, Audrey. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Another Part of the Forest.

Enter Duke senior, AMIENS, JAQUES, ORLANDO,
OLIVER, and CELIA.

Duke S. Dost thou believe, Orlando, that the boy
Can do all this that he hath promised?

Orl. I sometimes do believe, and sometimes do not; As those that fear they hope, and know they fear.6

notwithstanding Johnson rejects the amendment as unnecessary. A mistake of a similar nature occurs in Twelfth Night.

M. Mason. The sense of the old reading seems to be -Though the words of the song were trifling, the musick was not (as might have been expected) good enough to compensate their defect. Steevens.

6 As those that fear they hope, and know they fear.] This strange nonsense should be read thus:

As those that fear their hap, and know their fear.

i. e. As those that fear the issue of a thing when they know their fear to be well grounded. Warburton.

The depravation of this line is evident, but I do not think the learned commentator's emendation very happy. I read thus: As those that fear with hope, and hope with fear.

Or thus, with less alteration:

As those that fear, they hope, and now they fear. The author of The Revisal would read:

Johnson.

As those that fear their hope, and know their fear. Steevens. Perhaps we might read:

As those that feign they hope, and know they fear. Blackstone. I would read:

As those that fear, then hope: and know, then fear.

I have little doubt but it should run thus:

Musgrave.

As those who fearing hope, and hoping fear. This strongly expresses the state of mind which Orlando was in at that time; and if the words fearing and hoping were contracted in the original copy, and written thus:-fear-hop3) a practice not unusual at this day) the g might easily have been mistaken for y, a common abbreviation of they. M. Mason.

I believe this line requires no other alteration than the addition of a semi-colon:

Enter ROSALIND, SILVIUS, and PHEBE.

Ros. Patience once more, whiles our compact is

urg'd:

You say, if I bring in your Rosalind,

You will bestow her on Orlando here?

[To the Duke.

Duke S. That would I, had I kingdoms to give with

her.

Ros. And you say, you will have her, when I bring

her?

[To ORL.

Orl. That would I, were I of all kingdoms king.
Ros. You say, you'll marry me, if I be willing?

[To PHE.

Phe. That will I, should I die the hour after.
Ros. But, if you do refuse to marry me,
You'll give yourself to this most faithful shepherd?
Phe. So is the bargain.

Ros. You say, that, you'll have Phebe, if she will?
[To SIL.
Sil. Though to have her and death were both one thing.
Ros. I have promis'd to make all this matter even.
Keep you your word, O duke, to give your daughter;—
You yours, Orlando, to receive his daughter:-
Keep your word, Phebe,7 that you 'll marry me;
Or else, refusing me, to wed this shepherd:-
Keep your word, Silvius, that you 'll marry her,
If she refuse me :-and from hence I go,
To make these doubts all even.

[Exeunt Ros. and CEL. Duke S. I do remember in this shepherd-boy Some lively touches of my daughter's favour. Orl. My lord, the first time that I ever saw him, Methought he was a brother to your daughter:

As those that fear; they hope, and know they fear. Henley. The meaning, think, is, As those who fear,-they, even those very persons, entertain hopes, that their fears will not be realized; and yet at the same time they well know that there is reason for their fears. Malone.

7 Keep your word, Phebe,] The old copy reads-Keep you your word; the compositor's eye having probably glanced on the line next but one above. Corrected by Mr. Pope. Malone.

8 To make these doubts all even.] Thus, in Measure for Measure yet death we fear,

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"That makes these odds all even." Steevens.

But, my good lord, this boy is forest-born;
And hath been tutor'd in the rudiments
Of many desperate studies by his uncle,
Whom he reports to be a great magician,
Obscured in the circle of this forest.

Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY.

Jaq. There is, sure, another flood toward, and these couples are coming to the ark! Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools.9 Touch. Salutation and greeting to you all!

Jaq. Good my lord, bid him welcome; This is the motley-minded gentleman, that I have so often met in the forest: he hath been a courtier, he swears.

Touch. If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation. I have trod a measure;1 I have flattered a lady; I have been politick with my friend, smooth with mine enemy; I have undone three tailors; I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought one.

Jaq. And how was that ta'en up?

Touch. 'Faith, we met, and found the quarrel was upon the seventh cause.2

9 Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, &c.] What strange beasts? and yet such as have a name in all languages? Noah's ark is here alluded to; into which the clean beasts entered by sevens, and the unclean by two, male and female. It is plain then that Shakspeare wrote, here come a pair of unclean beasts, which is highly humorous. Warburton.

Strange beasts are only what we call odd animals. There is no need of any alteration. Johnson.

A passage, somewhat similar, occurs in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "Here come two noble beasts in, a moon and a lion."

1

sc. ii:

Steevens.

trod a measure;] So, in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V,

"To tread a measure with you on this grass."

See note on this passage. Reed.

Touchstone, to prove that he has been a courtier, particularly mentions a measure, because it was a very stately solemn dance. So, in Much Ado about Nothing: " the wedding mannerly mo

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dest, as a measure full of state and ancientry." Malone.

2

and found the quarrel was upon the seventh cause.] So all the copies; but it is apparent, from the sequel, that we must read-the quarrel was not upon the seventh cause. Johnson.

By the seventh cause, Touchstone, I apprehend, means the lie seven times removed; i. e. the retort courteous, which is removed

Jaq. How seventh cause?-Good my lord, like this fellow.

Duke S. I like him very well.

Touch. God 'ild you, sir;3 I desire you of the like. I press in here, sir, amongst the rest of the country copulatives, to swear, and to forswear; according as marriage binds, and blood breaks: 5 —A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favoured thing, sir, but mine own; a poor humour of mine, sir, to take that that no man else will: Rich honesty dwells like a miser, sir, in a poor-house; as your pearl, in your foul oyster.

Duke S. By my faith, he is very swift and sententious. Touch. According to the fool's bolt, sir, and such dulcet diseases."

seven times (counting backwards) from the lie direct, the last and most aggravated species of lie. See the subsequent note on the words" a lie seven times removed." Malone.

3 God 'ild you, sir;] i. e. God yield you, reward you. So, in the Collection of Chester Mysteries, Mercer's play, p. 74, b. MS. Harl. Brit. Mus. 2013.

4

"The high father of heaven, I pray,

"To yelde you your good deed to day." Steevens.

- I desire you of the like.] We should read-I desire of you the like. On the Duke's saying, I like him very well, he replies, I desire you will give me cause, that I may like you too.

Warburton.

I have not admitted the alteration, because there are other examples of this mode of expression. Johnson.

See a note on the first scene of the third Act of A Midsummer Night's Dream, where many examples of this phraseology are given.

So also, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. II, c. ix :

"If it be I of pardon I you pray.”

Again, B. IV, c. xiii:

"She dear besought the prince of remedy." Again, in Heywood's Play of the Wether:

5

66

Besechynge your grace of wynde continual." Steevens. · according as marriage binds, and blood breaks:] To swear according as marriage binds, is to take the oath enjoined in the ceremonial of marriage. Johnson.

to swear, and to forswear; according as marriage binds and blood breaks:] A man by the marriage ceremony, SWEARS that he will keep only to his wife; when therefore, to gratify his lust, he leaves her for another, BLOOD BREAKS his matrimonial obligation, and he is FORSWORN. Henley.

6

dulcet diseases.] This I do not understand. For diseases

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