And sat at good men's feasts and wiped our eyes
Of drops that sacred pity hath engender'd:
And therefore sit you down in gentleness
And take upon command what help we have
That to your wanting may be minister'd.
Orl. Then but forbear your food a little while,
Whiles, like a doe, I go to find my fawn
And give it food. There is an old poor man,
Who after me hath many a weary step
Limp'd in pure love: till he be first sufficed,
Oppress'd with two weak evils, age and hunger,
I will not touch a bit.

Duke S.

Go find him out,

And we will nothing waste till you return.

Orl. I thank ye; and be blest for your good comfort!
Duke S. Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy
This wide and universal theatre

Jaq.

Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in.

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players :
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

124. command] demand Johnson; commend Collier MS.

F 4.

125

130

[Exit. 135

140

129. a] omitted 131. Oppress'd . . . hunger] To follow line 129, Anon. conj. ap. Cambridge edd. 134. Exit] Rowe; omitted Ff. 138. Wherein we play in] Wherein we play Rowe; Which we do play in Capell conj. Wherein... Jaq. All] Wherein we play. Jaq. Why, all Steevens conj.; Wherein we play. Jaq. Ay, all Anon. conj. ap. Cambridge edd. 140. exits] in italics Ff. 142. At first]

As first Capell conj.; Act first or First

66

124. command] not, as Collier suggests, "commend "; upon command means "in answer to your command, at your pleasure." Wright quotes Taming of the Shrew, IV. iii. 5, where upon entreaty" is equivalent to "in answer to entreaty."

131. weak evils] proleptically, evils causing weakness. See Abbott, 4.

138. All the world's a stage] Steevens quotes Petronius, Frag. X.: "Non duco contentionis funem, dum constet inter nos, quod fere totus mundus exerceat histrioniam"; the motto of the Globe Theatre being traditionally "Totus mundus agit histrionem." Furness cites quotations showing the ervasiveness of the idea in Eliza

Anon. conj. ap. Cambridge edd.

bethan literature, which it is hardly necessary to reproduce.

142. His acts being seven ages] Malone quotes from The Treasury of Ancient and Modern Times (1613) the division of a man's life by Proclus into seven stages, Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Young manhood, Mature manhood, Old manhood, and Decrepit age. For the division by Hippocrates, compare Browne, Pseudodoxia, IV. xii. The point is not particularly material, and a reader may take his choice among a rich variety of possible and impossible sources gathered in Archaologia (xxxv. 167) and Gentleman's Magazine, May, 1853.

Mewling and puking in his nurse's arms.
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.

And then the justice,

145

150

In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,

155

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,

160

144. Then] And then Rowe ii and edd.; Then there's Anon. conj. ap. Cambridge edd. 150. sudden] with comma Ff; without comma Halliwell; with semicolon Hunter conj. 151. reputation] Reputation Ff; with quotation marks Hunter conj. 160. shank] shanks Hanmer.

III. iv. 413: "a couplet or two of most sage saws.

155. modern] Compare post, IV. i. 6, and Antony and Cleopatra, v. ii. 167. Its meaning is trite, commonplace, though the present-day meaning is also found, for which Mr. Case quotes Jack Drum's Entertainment (1601), iv. 37 (in Simpson's School of Shakespeare, ii. 183): "Brother, how like you our modern wits? How like you our new poet Mellidus?"

157. pantaloon] A stock character of Italian comedy, which seems to have been known well to the Elizabethans. Capell quotes from The Travels of Three English Brothers, 1607, a dialogue between Harlequin [Harlaken] and Kemp the actor (see the Plays of John Day, ed. Bullen, Ist v., p. 57):Harl. Marry, sir, first we will have

-

an old Pantaloune. Kemp. Some jealous Coxcombe. Harl. Right, and that part will I play.

Torriano, Italian Dictionary (1659), gives "Pantalone, a Pantalone, a covetous and yet amorous old dotard, properly applyed in Comedies unto a Venetian " (Wright).

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

165

Re-enter ORLANDO, with ADAM.

Duke S. Welcome. Set down your venerable burthen,

And let him feed.

Orl. I thank you most for him.

Adam.

So had you need: I scarce can speak to thank you for myself. Duke S. Welcome; fall to: I will not trouble you As yet, to question you about your fortunes. Give us some music; and, good cousin, sing.

Ami.

Song.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,

Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen,

Because thou art not seen,

Although thy breath be rude.

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:

Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly :

Then, heigh-ho, the holly!

This life is most jolly.

170

175

180

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,

That dost not bite so nigh

As benefits forgot:

185

Though thou the waters warp,

166, 167. Welcome ...feed]

161. treble, pipes] Theobald; trebble pipes Ff.

As Rowe; Prose in Ff. 173. Ami.] Amiens sings Johnson; omitted Ff. 174-177. Thou .. seen] As Pope; two lines Ff. 177. Because seen,] Thou causest not that teen Hanmer; Because the heart's not seen Farmer conj.; Because thou art foreseen Staunton conj. 181. Then] Rowe; The Ff. 184. Freeze... nigh] As Pope; one line Ff. As Pope; one line Ff.

162. his] its. See Abbott, 228. 170. fall to] to begin, especially of eating. Compare Richard II. v. v. 98: "Will't please you to fall to?"

174. unkind] Perhaps the literal sense, "contrary to nature," as in Venus and Adonis, 205: "She had not brought forth thee, but died unkind." But the ordinary sense is equally admissible.

177. Because . seen] "Thy rudeness gives the less pain, as thou art not seen, as thou art an enemy that dost not brave us with thy presence, and

186, 187. Though .

...

183,

sharp]

whose unkindness is therefore not ex

aggerated by insult " (Johnson). Warburton reads "sheen," unhappily.

186. warp] wrinkle the surface, by frost; the idea being much the same as post, III. iii. 79, that of contortion. Wright's note is valuable: "In the A.S. weorpan, or wyrpan from which " warp " is derived, there are two ideas, of throwing and turning. The prominent idea of the English 'warp' is that of turning and changing, from which that of shrinking or contracting as wood does

...

Thy sting is not so sharp

As friend remember'd not.

Heigh-ho! sing, etc.

Duke S. If that thou were the good Sir Rowland's son, 190
As you have whisper'd faithfully you were,
And as mine eye doth his effigies witness
Most truly limn'd and living in your face,
Be truly welcome hither: I am the Duke

That loved your father: the residue of your fortune, 195
Go to my cave and tell me. Good old man,
Thou art right welcome as thy master is.
Support him by the arm. Give me your hand,
And let me all your fortunes understand.

188. remember'd] rememb'ring Hanmer. 197. master] masters F 1.

66

=

is a derivative." Warped' "distorted" in King Lear, III. vi. 56, Winter's Tale, 1. ii. 365, and All's Well that Ends Well, v. iii. 49. Caldecott quotes Golding's Ovid, Bk. ii. (fol. 22b, ed. 1603): "Her handes gan warpe and into pawes ylfavouredly to grow" as a translation of "Curvarique manus et aduncos crescere in ungues." A less probable idea than the effect of frost is that of ruffling into waves.

188. remember'd not] Hanmer's emendation is unnecessary. Surely the

[Exeunt.

190, 191. were] are Dyce conj.

ACT III

SCENE I-A room in the palace.

Enter DUKE FREDERICK, Lords, and OLIVER.

Duke F. Not see him since? Sir, sir, that cannot be:
But were I not the better part made mercy,

I should not seek an absent argument

Of my revenge, thou present. But look to it:
Find out thy brother, wheresoe'er he is;
Seek him with candle: bring him dead or living
Within this twelvemonth, or turn thou no more
To seek a living in our territory.

Thy lands and all things that thou dost call thine
Worth seizure, do we seize into our hands,
Till thou canst quit thee by thy brother's mouth
Of what we think against thee.

Oli. O that your Highness knew my heart in this!

I never loved my brother in my life.

5

ΙΟ

Duke F. More villain thou. Well, push him out of doors; 15
And let my officers of such a nature

Make an extent upon his house and lands:
Do this expediently and turn him going.

[Exeunt.

Аст III. Oliver] As Capell, subs.; Actus Tertius, Scena Prima F 1. I. see] seen Collier MS. 3. seek] seeke F1; see Ff 2-4.