Cel. Yes, when he is in; but, I think he is not in. Ros. You have heard him swear downright, he was. Cel. Was is not is: besides, the oath of a lover' is no stronger than the word of a tapster; they are both the confirmers of false reckonings. He attends here in the forest on the duke your father. Ros. I met the duke yesterday, and had much question with him. He asked me, of what parentage I was? I told him, of as good as he; so he laughed, and let me go. But what talk we of fathers, when there is such a man as Orlando? Cel. O, that's a brave man! he writes brave verses, speaks brave words, swears brave oaths, and breaks them bravely, quite traverse, athwart the heart of his lover; as a puny tilter, that spurs his horse but on one side, breaks his staff like a noble goose. But all's brave, that youth mounts, and folly guides.—Who comes here? Enter CORIN. Cor. Mistress, and master, you have oft inquir'd After the shepherd that complain'd of love, Who you saw sitting by me on the turf, Praising the proud disdainful shepherdess Cel. Well; and what of him? Cor. If you will see a pageant truly play'd, 7 Ros. O! come, let us remove: besides, the oath of a lover] The folio, 1623, omits a, and in the next line but one has confirmer for "confirmers." The folio, 1632, corrects only the first error. breaks his staff like a noble goose.] The humour of this simile depends upon its allusion to tilting, in which it was a disgrace for any knight to break his lance across, and not directly against the breast of his adversary: "quite traverse, athwart the heart of his lover," means, unskilfully across the breast of the lady with whom he was in love. VOL. III. F The sight of lovers feedeth those in love.- SCENE V. say [Exeunt. Another Part of the Forest. Enter SILVIUS and PHEBE. Sil. Sweet Phebe, do not scorn me; do not, Phebe : Say that you love me not; but say not so In bitterness. The common executioner, Whose heart th' accustom'd sight of death makes hard, But first begs pardon: will you sterner be Enter ROSALIND, CELIA, and CORIN, behind. Thou tell'st me, there is murder in mine eye : 'Tis pretty, sure, and very probable, That eyes, that are the frail'st and softest things, And, if mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee; Now show the wound mine eye hath made in thee: 9 Bring us to this sight,] Malone altered "to" to unto. Shakespeare, perhaps, preferred the natural and hasty mode of expression to the mere observation of ten-syllable metre. The folio of 1632 follows that of 1623. 10 Than he that dies and lives by bloody drops ?] Possibly we ought to read, "lives and dies ;" but there is no change here in the folio of 1632 from the text of that of 1623, although "As You Like It" seems to have been one of the plays best corrected by the editor of the second folio. Steevens suspected a quibble upon the word "dies," but apparently without any reason. Some scar of it; lean but upon a rush", The cicatrice and capable impressure Thy palm some moment keeps, but now mine eyes, Nor, I am sure, there is no force in eyes That can do hurt. Sil. O! dear Phebe, If ever, (as that ever may be near,) You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy, Then shall you know the wounds invisible That love's keen arrows make. Phe. But till that time Come not thou near me; and when that time comes Afflict me with thy mocks, pity me not, As till that time I shall not pity thee. Ros. [Advancing.] And why, I pray you? Who might be your mother, That you insult, exult, and all at once, Over the wretched? What though you have no beauty', Than without candle may go dark to bed, Why, what means this? Why do you look on me? 11 lean BUT upon a rush,] The folio of 1632 inserts but. 1 What though you have No beauty,] This passage very needlessly puzzled Malone and Steevens; the meaning seems quite clear. Rosalind intends, throughout her speech, to check the vanity of Phebe, and begins by telling her that she has no beauty, and therefore no excuse for being "proud and pitiless." The difficulty seems to be to understand the passage when, varying from the old copies, mo is substituted for "no." Mo, or more, indicates comparison, but with whom was Phebe here to be compared in point of beauty? Not with Silvius, because Rosalind says he was a properer man." You foolish shepherd, wherefore do you follow her, Phe. Sweet youth, I pray you, chide a year together: I had rather hear you chide, than this man woo. Ros. He's fallen in love with your foulness, and she'll fall in love with my anger. If it be so, as fast as she answers thee with frowning looks, I'll sauce her with bitter words. Why look you so upon me? Phe. For no ill will I bear you. Ros. I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine: Besides, I like you not.-If you will know my house, "Tis at the tuft of olives, here hard by. Will you go, sister?-Shepherd, ply her hard.— Come, to our flock. [Exeunt ROSALIND, CELIA, and CORIN. Phe. Dead shepherd! now I find thy saw of might; 2 He's fallen in love with YOUR foulness, and she'll fall in love with my anger.] This is the text of the old copies, though changed by modern editors: it is correct, and only supposes the first part of the sentence to be addressed to Phebe, and the second to Silvius, as the continuation shows that it was. Here again Rosalind tells Phebe pretty plainly that she has " no beauty." "Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?" Sil. Sweet Phebe,― Phe. Ha! what say'st thou, Silvius? Sil. Sweet Phebe, pity me. Phe. Why, I am sorry for thee, gentle Silvius. Sil. Wherever sorrow is, relief would be: If you do sorrow at my grief in love, By giving love, your sorrow and my grief Phe. Thou hast my love: is not that neighbourly? Phe. And yet it is not that I bear thee love; Than thine own gladness that thou art employ'd. That I shall think it a most plenteous crop To glean the broken ears after the man That the main harvest reaps: loose now and then 3 Dead shepherd! now I find thy saw of might; "Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?"] The "dead shepherd" was Christopher Marlowe, who was killed in 1593, and whose paraphrase of "Hero and Leander," from Musaus, was not printed until 1598: he did not finish the work, but it was completed by Geo. Chapman, and published entire in 1600. The line above quoted concludes a passage in the first Sestiad, the whole of which Shakespeare seems to have had in his mind when he wrote this scene, and it runs thus :- "It lies not in our power to love or hate, For will in us is over-ruled by fate. When two are stripp'd, long ere the course begin, We wish that one should lose, the other win : And one especially we do affect Of two gold ingots, like in each respect. The reason no man knows: let it suffice, What we behold is censur'd by our eyes. |