Ros. Why then, to-morrow I cannot serve your turn for Rosalind? ORL. I can live no longer by thinking. Ros. I will weary you no longer then with idle talking. Know of me then, (for now I speak to some purpose,) that I know you are a gentleman of good conceit: I speak not this, that you should bear a good opinion of my knowledge, insomuch, I say, I know you are; neither do I labour for a greater esteem than may in some little measure draw a belief from you, to do yourself good, and not to grace me. Believe then, if you please, that I can do strange things: I have, since I was three years old, conversed with a magician, most profound in this art, and yet not damnable. If you do love Rosalind so near the heart as your gesture cries it out, when your brother marries Aliena, shall you marry her: I know into what straits of fortune she is driven; and it is not impossible to me, if it appear not inconvenient to you, to set her before your eyes tomorrow, human as she is, and without any danger. 4 ORL. Speakest thou in sober meanings? Ros. By my life, I do; which I tender dearly, though I say I am a magician: Therefore, put you 4 5 human as she is,] That is, not a phantom, but the real Rosalind, without any of the danger generally conceived to attend the rites of incantation. JOHNSON. 5 which I tender dearly, though I say I am a magician:] Though I pretend to be a magician, and therefore might be supposed able to elude death. MALONE. This explanation cannot be right, as no magician was ever supposed to possess the art of eluding death. Dr. Warburton properly remarks, that this play "was written in King James's time, when there was a severe inquisition after witches and magicians." It was natural therefore for one who called herself in your best array, bid your friends; for if you will be married to-morrow, you shall; and to Rosalind, if you will. Enter SILVIUS and PHEBE. Look, here comes a lover of mine, and a lover of hers. PHE. Youth, you have done me much ungentle ness, To show the letter that I writ to you. Ros. I care not, if I have: it is my study, PHE. Good shepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to love. SIL. It is to be all made of sighs and tears;And so am I for Phebe. PHE. And I for Ganymede. ORL. And I for Rosalind. Ros. And I for no woman. SIL. It is to be all made of faith and service;And so am I for Phebe. PHE. And I for Ganymede. ORL. And I for Rosalind. Ros. And I for no woman. a magician, to allude to the danger, in which her avowal, had it been a serious one, would have involved her. STEEVENS. 6 bid your friends ;] i. e. invite your friends. REED. So, in Titus Andronicus: "I am not bid to wait upon this bride." STEEVENs. SIL. It is to be all made of fantasy, All made of passion, and all made of wishes; All humbleness, all patience, and impatience, PHE. And so am I for Ganymede. Ros. And so am I for no woman. PHE. If this be so, why blame you me to love you? [TO ROSALIND. SIL. If this be so, why blame you me to love you? [TO PHERE. ORL. If this be so, why blame you me to love you? Ros. Who do you speak to, why blame you me to love you? ORL. To her, that is not here, nor doth not hear. Ros. Pray you, no more of this; 'tis like the howling of Irish wolves against the moon."—I will help you, [To SILVIUS] if I can :-I would love 7 all trial, all observance ;] I suspect our author wroteall obedience. It is highly probable that the compositor caught observance from the line above; and very unlikely that the same word should have been set down twice by Shakspeare so close to each other. MALONE. Read-obeisance. The word observance is evidently repeated by an error of the press. RITSON. • Who do you speak to,] Old copy-Why do you speak too. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALone. 9'tis like the howling of Irish wolves against the moon.] This is borrowed from Lodge's Rosalynde, 1592: "I tell thee, Montanus, in courting Phoebe, thou barkest with the wolves of Syria, against the moone." MALONE. you, [To PHEBE] if I could.-To-morrow meet me all together. I will marry you, [To PHEBE] if ever I marry woman, and I'll be married tomorrow :-I will satisfy you, [To ORLANDO] if ever I satisfied man, and you shall be married to-morrow:-I will content you, [TO SILVIUS] if what pleases you contents you, and you shall be married to-morrow.-As you [To ORLANDO] love Rosalind, meet;-as you, [To SILVIUS] love Phebe, meet; And as I love no woman, I'll meet.-So, fare you well; I have left you commands. SIL. I'll not fail, if I live. TOUCH. To-morrow is the joyful day, Audrey; to-morrow will we be married. AUD. I do desire it with all my heart: and I hope it is no dishonest desire, to desire to be a woman of the world.' Here comes two of the banished duke's pages. 1 a woman of the world.] To go to the world, is to be married. An anonymous writer supposes, that in this phrase there is an allusion to Saint Luke's Gospel, xx. 34: "The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage." STEEVens. Enter two Pages. 1 PAGE. Well met, honest gentleman. TOUCH. By my troth, well met: Come, sit, sit, and a song. 2 PAGE. We are for you: sit i'the middle. 1 PAGE. Shall we clap into't roundly, without hawking, or spitting, or saying we are hoarse ; which are the only prologues to a bad voice? 2 PAGE. I'faith, i'faith; and both in a tune, like two gypsies on a horse. SONG.2 I. It was a lover, and his lass, With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, That o'er the green corn-field did pass In the spring time, the only pretty rank time,3 When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding; Sweet lovers love the spring. The stanzas of this song are in all the editions evidently transposed: as I have regulated them, that which in the former copies was the second stanza is now the last. 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. 3 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. |