And with a kind of umber smirch my face, Ros. Were it not better, Because that I am more than common tall, A boar-spear in my hand; and (in my heart That do outface it with their semblances. CEL. What shall I call thee, when thou art a man? Ros. I'll have no worse a name than Jove's own And therefore look you call me Ganymede. CEL. Something that hath a reference to my state; No longer Celia, but Aliena. Ros. But, cousin, what if we assay'd to steal The clownish fool out of your father's court? Would he not be a comfort to our travel? CEL. He'll go along o'er the wide world with me; Leave me alone to woo him: Let's away, we in, [Exeunt. 1632. • And with a kind of umber smirch my face] Umber is a dusky yellow-coloured earth, brought from Umbria in Italy. MALONE. In the Chor. IV H. V. we have, "the battle's umber'd face." Smirch is soil, smear. "The smirchen worm-eaten tapestry." Much ado, &c. III. 3. Borach. bcurtle-axe] Cutlace, broadsword. JOHNSON. ACT II. SCENE I. The Forest of Arden. Enter Duke senior, AMIENS, and other Lords in the dress of Foresters. DUKE S. Now, my co-mates, and brothers in exíle, Hath not old custom made this life more sweet • Hath not old custom (1) Are not these woods-Here feel we not the penalty That feelingly persuade me what I am] Wherever the course of thought admits it, Shakespeare is accustomed to continue the form of speaking which he first falls upon; and the sense of this passage, in which he repeats the word not, appears to be The penalty here, properly speaking, is not, or scarce is, physically felt, because the suffering it occasions, sharp as it otherwise might be called, turns so much to account in a moral sense." The construction of" which, when it blows," is " at which, or which blowing." The modern editors, following Theobald, for not, read but: as we conceive, unnecessarily. Still the word " 'feelingly," used at the end of this passage in an affirmative sense, after "feel" had been brought forward, coupled with a negative, certainly makes a confusion, if it be not said to favour Theobald's alteration. And this our life, exempt from publick haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, (2 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. AMI. I would not change it: Happy is your grace, That can translate the stubbornness of fortune (3) (4) DUKE S. Come, shall we go and kill us venison ? And yet it irks me, the poor dappled fools,Being native burghers of this desert city,4 Should, in their own confínes, with forked heads, Have their round haunches gor'd. 1 LORD. Indeed, my lord, The melancholy Jaques grieves at that; DUKE S. But what said Jaques ? Did he not moralize this spectacle ? 1 LORD. O yes, into a thousand similes. First, for his weeping into the needless stream;" ⚫ needless stream] Stream, that needed not, that wanted no supply. Much in the sense in which Lear says, “age is unne Poor deer, quoth he, thoù mak'st a testament a To that which had too much: Then being alone, Left and abandon'd of his velvet friend ;b 'Tis right, quoth he; this misery doth part The flux of company: Anon, a careless herd, Full of the pasture, jumps along by him, And never stays to greet him; Ay, quoth Jaques, Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens; 'Tis just the fashion: Wherefore do you look Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there? Thus most invectively he pierceth through ao, 1632. The body of [the] country, city, court, Yea, and of this our life: swearing, that we (7) DUKE S. And did you leave him in this contemplation? 2 LORD. We did, my lord, weeping and commenting Upon the sobbing deer. DUKE S. Show me the place; cessary,” II. 4. i, e. superfluous lumber, what might be spared, needless. b "With tearful eyes add water to the sea, "And give more strength to that which hath too much.” III H. VI. (V. 4.) STEEVENS. friend] The modern editors have substituted friends: but Mr. Whiter observes, "the singular is often used for the plural with a sense more abstracted; and therefore in many instances more poetical." Specimen of a Commentary, 8vo. 1794, p. 15. с greasy citizens] "By other men's losses to enrich and greaze themselves." Newton's Lemnie's Touchstone of Complexions, 12mo. 1581, p. 58, b. I love to cope him" in these sullen fits, For then he's full of matter. 2 LORD. I'll bring you to him straight. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Room in the Palace. Enter Duke FREDERICK, Lords, and Attendants. DUKE F. Can it be possible, that no man saw them? It cannot be some villains of my court 1 LORD. I cannot hear of any that did see her. The ladies, her attendants of her chamber, Saw her a-bed; and, in the morning early, They found the bed untreasur'd of their mistress. 2 LORD. My lord, the roynish clown, (8) at whom so oft Your grace was wont to laugh, is also missing. Your daughter and her cousin much commend That did but lately foil the sinewy Charles; That youth is surely in their company. DUKE F. Send to his brother; fetch that gallant hither; If he be absent, bring his brother to me, cope him] Encounter. "Cope malicious censurers." H. VIII. I. 2. Wols. "Cope your wife," Othel. IV. 1. Iago. |