15

dunghills are as much bound to him as I. Besides
this nothing that he so plentifully gives me, the
something that nature gave me, his countenance
seems to take from me: he lets me feed with his
hinds, bars me the place of a brother, and as much
as in him lies, mines my gentility with my education.
This is it, Adam, that grieves me, and the spirit of
my father, which I think is within me, begins to
mutiny against this servitude. I will no longer en-

dure it, though yet I know no wise remedy how to
avoid it.

Adam. Yonder comes my master, your brother.

Orl. Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear how he will

20

25

shake me up.

Enter OLIVER.

Oli. Now, sir! what make you here?

Orl. Nothing: I am not taught to make any thing.
Oli. What mar you then, sir?

30

Orl. Marry, sir, I am helping you to mar that which God
made, a poor unworthy brother of yours, with idleness.
Oli. Marry, sir, be better employed, and be naught awhile.
17. countenance] discountenance Warburton. 28. Enter. ] Collier; after
line 20 Ff. 34. be naught] do aught Hanmer; be nought Warburton.

17. countenance] Walker cites Selden, Table Talk, art. Fines: "I will show you the best countenance I can; that is, not the best face, but the best entertainment." Compare Spenser, Shepheards Calender, Maye, 81:"They must provide for meanes of maintenaunce,

And to continue their wont countenaunce: " and Faerie Queene, v. ix. 38: "A Ladie of great countenance and place," for "countenance as meaning "style of living." Wright reads " favour, regard, patronage," referring to Coriolanus, v. vi. 40, and Hamlet, IV. ii. 16. New Eng. Dict. cites Malory, Mort Darthur, vii. 21: They had goodely langage and lovely countenance to gyder. Fair syster I have well aspyed your countenance betwixe you and this knyght."

66

19. hinds] menials, as in Romeo and Juliet, I. i. 73.

19. bars me the place] For omission of preposition compare Merchant of

i

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

35

come to such penury?

Oli. Know you where you are, sir?

Orl. O sir, very well: here in your orchard.
Oli. Know you before whom, sir?

40

Orl. Ay, better than him I am before knows me. I 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 45 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; I am the youngest son of Sir

50

Rowland de Boys; he was my father, and he is thrice
a villain that says such a father begot villains; wert 55
thou not my brother I would not take this hand from
thy throat, till this other had pulled thy tongue out
for saying so thou has rail'd on thyself.

40. whom] home F 3. 41. Ay, better] Rowe; I, better Ff. him] he Pope. 48-49. your... reverence] you coming before me are nearer to his revenue Hanmer. 54. Boys] F 1; Boyes Ff 2-4; Bois Steevens.

Steevens refers, and Peele, Edward I.:

"Let go and be naught, I say."

35. hogs. husks] St. Luke xv. 36. prodigal portion] Continuing the idea in line 35, read a genitive in apposition, "prodigal's portion," or a case of prolepsis, "what portion have I prodigally spent?" For other cases, vide Schmidt, p. 1420.

41. him] Compare Hamlet, II. i. 42, and vide Abbott, 208, for instances of this attraction.

41-43. I know me] I know, and acknowledge you as my eldest brother; you in return should acknowledge the bond of brotherhood, in accordance with gentle usage.

43, 44. courtesy of nations] The acceptance of primogeniture in all nations. This passage gives colour to Theobald's conjectured emendation "courtesy for " curiosity in King Lear, 1. ii. 4 :—

of

For that I am some twelve or four-
teen moonshines
Lag of a brother."

49. reverence] Schmidt (s.v.), "your being older than I gives you a nearer claim to the respect which was due to him." Hanmer's emendation, followed by Warburton and Capell, seems beside the point.

51. elder brother] After line 49, Oliver attempts to strike Orlando, with the words "What, boy." Orlando resists, stung by the words, and asserts the greater strength of youth. "In this," i.e. in the struggle.

52. villain] There is much the same idea in King Lear, III. vii. 79:

"Corn. My villain! [They draw and fight.

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

Oli. Let me go, I say.

60

Orl. I will not till I please: you shall hear me. My
father charged you in his will to give me a good
education: you have train'd me like a peasant, ob-
scuring and hiding from me all gentleman-like 65
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 testa-
ment; 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.

70

Orl. I will no further offend you than becomes me for my 75

good.

Oli. Get you with him, you old dog.
Adam. Is "old dog" my reward?

80

Most true, I have lost
my teeth in your service. God be with my old
master, he would not have spoke such a word!
[Exit Orlando and Adam.
Oli. Is it even so? begin you to grow upon me?
I will

physic your rankness, and yet give no thousand
crowns neither. Holla, Dennis.

59. Adam] Adam (coming forward) Collier. masters] F 1; Master Ff 2-4. 64. me] me up Ff 3, 4. 65. from me] me from Pope. 71. do? beg] do-beg?- Dyce iii.

A

Ist Serv. Nay, then, come on, and take the chance of anger. Reg. Give me thy sword. peasant stand up thus !" 69. allottery] portion; the " lottery" of Antony and Cleopatra, II. ii. 243.

70. go buy] Compare post, 1. ii. 226, and Hamlet, 1. v. 132, for omission of preposition after verbs of motion.

73. will] Oliver, with a side-glance at lines 69, 70, plays upon "wish" and "testament" here.

81. grow upon] Collier's suggested emendation "growl upon " is disposed of by Julius Cæsar, II. i. 107:

"the sun arises,

Which is a great way growing on the south."

i.e. encroaching upon, with the further

idea of taking liberties.
New Eng.
Dict. cites Bishop Hall, Sermons
(1603), v. 9: "How shamefully is this
latter vice especially grown upon us
with years," and for the further idea,
not again before 1723, True Briton,
xxxiii. 1: "Having in my last letter
taken Notice by what steps the Quakers
have grown upon the indulgence of the
government."

82. rankness] overgrowth, hence in-
solence. Compare Troilus and Cres-
sida, 1. iii. 318, and A. Scott, Poems
(c. 1560), in Scottish Text Society's
Publications:-
"This yeir..
sall aryse
Rowtis of the rankest that in Europ
ringis." (New Eng. Dict.)

Enter DENNIS.

Den. Calls your worship?

Oli. Was not Charles, the Duke's wrestler, here to speak 85

with me?

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

access to you.

Oli. Call him in. [Exit Dennis.] '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.

90

Cha. There's no news at the court, sir, but the old news: that is, the old Duke is banished by his younger 95 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.

Oli. Can you tell if Rosalind, the Duke's daughter, be 100 banished with her father?

Cha. O no; for the Duke's daughter, 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 105 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, and

85. wrestler] Rowe; wrastler Ff 1, 3, 4; wrastle F 2. Johnson; omitted Ff. 97. into] Ff 1, 2; into a Ff 3, 4. Duke's Hanmer. 102. Duke's] new Duke's Hanmer. (an obvious misprint); she Ff 3, 4.

85. wrestler] The Folio spelling gives the pronunciation, still surviving colloquially. Compare "wrast " wrest, in Spenser, Faerie Queene, v. xii.

21

=

"But, byting deepe therein did sticke so fast

That by no meanes it backe againe he forth could wrast." and Cotgrave, s.v. wrastle."

89. Exit Dennis] 100. Duke's] old 104. she] he Ff 1, 2

her] Ff 1, 2; their Ff 3, 4.

99. good leave] permission easily granted. Compare Merchant of Venice, III. ii. 326.

109. Forest of Arden] Vide Rosalynde, ante, p. xxv. Geographically, the ancient forest of Ardennes on the Belgian border of France, which gives its name to a modern department. Compare Spenser, Astrophel,

Luicter, to 95:

92. Good Monsieur] Walker (Crit. Exam. ii. 263) suggests the insertion of "morrow," unnecessarily.

"So wide a forest, and so waste as
this

Nor famous Ardeyn, nor fowle
Arlo, is."

a many merry men with him; and there they live 110 like the old Robin Hood of England; they say many young gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet 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 of a 115 matter. I am given, sir, secretly to understand, that your younger brother Orlando hath a disposition to come in disguised against me to try a fall. Tomorrow, sir, I wrestle for my credit, and he that escapes me without some broken limb, shall acquit 120 him well. Your brother is but young and tender, and for your love I would be loath to foil him, as I must for my own honour if he come in: therefore, out of my love for you, I came hither to acquaint you withal, that either you might stay his intend- 125 ment, or brook such disgrace well as he shall run into, in that it is a thing of his own search, and altogether against my will.

Oli. Charles, I thank thee for thy love to me, which thou shalt find I will most kindly requite. I had myself 130 notice of my brother's purpose herein, and have by underhand means laboured to dissuade him from it, but he is resolute. I'll tell thee, Charles, it is the stubbornest young fellow of France, full of ambition, an envious emulator of every man's good parts, a 135 115. came] Ff 1-3; come F 4. 132. him] them F 4. 133. I'll] Ile Ff 1, 2 (and throughout the Ff); I Ff 3, 4.

IIO. a many] For numerous instances of this construction, see Schmidt, s.v. 66 many."

112, 113. fleet the time] The intransitive use is fairly common in Shakespeare. Compare Sonnet 97: "from thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year"; 2 Henry VI. II. iv. 4: "So cares and joys abound, as seasons fleet." The transitive use is, however, here unique, the New Eng. Dict. giving no other example before 1858, in an obvious adaptation from this passage.

113. the golden world] Ovid, Metamorphoses, 1. passim.

114. What used with some idea of impatience underlying. Vide Schmidt, s.v., for several examples. Oliver wishes to come quickly to business.

115, 116. a matter] For this use of the indefinite article to mean "6 a certain," see Abbott, 81.

125, 126. intendment] intention, as in Venus and Adonis, 222; Othello, IV. ii. 206. Compare also Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1. xii. 31:

"Till well ye wote by grave intendi

ment

What woman, and wherefore, doth

me upbrayd."

132. underhand] indirect, not insidious or fraudulent; implying that open advice would have been useless with "the stubbornest young fellow of France."

133. it is] With various ideas of familiarity or contempt (as here), "it" is frequently used for "he" or "she." Compare Merchant of Venice, III. iii. 18: "It is the most impenetrable cur that ever kept with men.'

135. emulator] in a worse sense; compare Julius Cæsar, II. iii. 14; Troilus and Cressida, 11. ii. 212; and