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curb, and the faulcon his bells, fo man hath his defire, and as pigeons bill, fo wedlock would be nibling.

Jaq. And will you, being a man of your breeding, be married under a bush like a beggar? get you to church, and have a good priest that can tell you what marriage is; this fellow will but join you together as they join wainscot; then one of you will prove a fhrunk pannel, and, like green timber, warp, warp.

Clo. I am not in the mind, but I were better to be married of him than of another; for he is not like to marry me well; and not being well married, it will be a good excuse for me hereafter to leave my wife.

Jaq. Go thou with me, and let me counfel thee. Clo. Come, fweet Audrey, we must be married, or we must live in bawdry. Farewel, good Sir Oliver; not O fweet Oliver, Ó brave Oliver, leave me not behind thee, but wind away, begone, I fay, I will not to wedding with thee.

5

Sir Oli. Tis no matter; ne'er a fantaftical knave of them all shall flout me out of my Calling. [Exeunt.

5 Not Ofweet Oliver, O brave, &c.] Some words of an old ballad. WARBURTON.

Of this fpeech, as it now appears, I can make nothing, and think nothing can be made. In the fame breath he calls his miftrefs to be married, and fends away the man that should marry them. Dr.Warburtonhas very happily obferved, that Ofweet Oliver is a quotation from an old fong; I believe there are two quotations put in oppofition to each other. For wind I read wend, the old word for go. Perhaps the whole paffage may be regulated thus,

Clo. I am not in the mind, but it were better for me to be married of him than of another, for he

is

F

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SCENE X.

Changes to a Cottage in the Foreft.

Enter Rofalind and Celia.

EVER talk to me-I will weep.

Rof: NEV

Cel. Do, I pr'ythee; but yet have the grace to confider, that tears do not become a man. Rof. But have I not caufe to weep?

Cel. As good caufe as one would defire; therefore

weep.

Rof. His very hair is of the diffembling colour. Cel. Something brówner than Judas's: marry his kiffes are Judas's own children.

Rof. I'faith, his hair is of a good colour.

Cel. An excellent colour: your chefnut was ever the only colour.

Rof. And his kiffing is as full of fanctity, as the touch of holy Beard'.

8

Cel. He hath bought a pair of caft lips of Diana; a nun of Winter's fifterhood kiffes not more religioufly; the very ice of chastity is in them.

6 There is much of nature in this petty perverfeness of Rojalind; he finds faults in her lover, in hope to be contradicted; and when Celia in fportive malice too readily feconds her accufations, fhe contradicts herself, rather than fuffer her favourite to want a vindication.

7 --as the touch of holy bread.] We should read beard, that is, as the kifs of an holy faint or hermit, called the kifs of charity: This makes the comparison just and decent; the other impious a abfurd. WARBURTON.

Rof.

8 -a nun of Winter's fifter hood] This is finely expreffed. But Mr. Theobald fays, the words give him no idea. And 'tis certain, that words will never give men what nature has denied them. However, to mend the matter, he fubftitutes Winifred's fifterhood. And, after fo happy a thought, it was to no purpofe to tell him there was no religious order of that denomination. The plain truth is, Shakespeare meant an unfruitful fiflerbood, which had devoted itfelf to chastity. For as thofe who were of the fifterhood

of

Rof. But why did he fwear he would come this morning, and comes not?

Cel. Nay, certainly, there is no truth in him.
Rof. Do you think fo?

Cel. Yes. I think he is not a pick-purse nor a horseftealer, but for his verity in love, I do think him as concave as a cover'd goblet, or a worm-eaten nut. Rof. Not true in love?

Cel. Yes, when he is in; but, I think, he is not in. Rof. You have heard him fwear downright, he was, Cel. Was, is not is; befides, the oath of a lover is no stronger than the word of a tapfter; they are both the confirmers of falfe reckonings. He attends here in the Foreft on the Duke your Father.

Rof. I met the Duke yesterday, and had much quef tion with him: he afked me, of what parentage I was; I told him of as good as he; fo he laugh'd, and let me go. But what talk we of fathers, when there is fuch a man as Orlando?

Cel. O, that's a brave man! he writes brave verfes, speaks brave words, fwears brave oaths, and breaks them bravely, quite travers, athwart the heart of his lover;

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lover; as a puifny tilter, that fpurs his horse but on one fide, breaks his ftaff like a noble goofe; but all's brave that youth mounts, and folly guides; who comes here?

Enter Corin.

Cor. Miftrefs and mafter, you have oft enquired
After the fhepherd that complain'd of love;
Whom you faw fitting by me on the turf,
Praifing the proud difdainful fhepherdess
That was his miftrefs.

Cel. Well, and what of him?

Cor. If you will fee a pageant truly play'd,
Between the pale complexion of true love,
And the red glow of fcorn and proud disdain
Go hence a little, and I fhall conduct you,
If you will mark it.

Rof. Come, let us remove;

The fight of lovers feedeth thofe in love:

Mis Lance broken acrofs, as it was a mark either of want of Courage or Addrefs. This happen'd when the horfe flew on one fide, in the career: And hence, I fuppofe, arofe the jocular proverbial phrafe of Spurring the horse only on one fide. Now as breaking the Lance against his Adverfary's breast, in a direct line, was honourable, fo the breaking it across against his breaft was, for the reafon above, difhonourable; Hence it is, that Sidney, in his Arcadia, fpeaking of the mockcombat of Clinias and Dametas fays, The wind took juch hold of bis Staff that it croft quite over his breaft, &c.And to break across was the ufual phrafe, as appears from fome wretched verfes of the fame author, fpeaking of

an unfkilful Tilter,

Me bought fome Staves be mift:
if fo, not much amifs:
For when he most did bit, be ever
yet did mifs.

One faid he brake across, full

well it fo might be, &c. This is the allufion. So that Orlando, a young Gallant, affecting the fashion (for brave is here ufed, as in other places, for fafhionable) is reprefented either unskilful in courtship, or timorous. The Lover's meeting or appointment correfponds to the Tilter's Carreer: And as the one breaks Staves, the other breaks Oaths. The bufinefs is only meeting fairly, and doing both with Addrefs: And 'tis for the want of this, that Orlando is blamed.

WARBURTON.

Bring us but to this fight, and you fhall fay
I'll prove a bufy Actor in their Play.

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[Exeunt.

Sil.

Changes to another part of the Forest.

Swa

Enter Silvius and Phebe,

Weet Phebe, do not fcorn me-do not, Phebe Say, that you love me not; but fay not fo In bitterness; the common executioner,

Whofe heart th' accuftom'd fight of death makes hard
Falls not the ax upon the humbled neck,

But firft begs pardon: will you fterner be2
Than he that dies and lives by bloody drops?

Enter Rofalind, Celia and Corin.

Phe. I would not be thy executioner ;
I fly thee, for I would not injure thee.
Thou tell'ft me, there is murder in mine eyes;
'Tis pretty, fure, and very probable,

That eyes, that are the frail'ft and foftest things,
Who fhut their coward gates on atomies,

2

will you flerner be, Than he that dies and lives by

bloody drops ?] This is fpoken of the executioner. He lives indeed, by bloody Drops, if you will: but how does he die by bloody Drops? The poet muft certainly have wrote that deals and lives, &c. i. e. that gets his bread by, and makes a trade of cutting off heads: But the Ox ford Editor makes it plainer. He reads,

Than be that lives and thrives by bloody drops.

WARBURTON.

Either Dr. Warburton's emendation, except that the word deals wants its proper conftruction, or that of Sir T Hanmer may ferve the purpose; but I believe they have fixed corruption upon the wrong word, and should ra ther read,

Than be that dies his lips by bloody drops?

Will you speak with more fterpnefs than the executioner, whofe iips are used to be Sprinkled with blood? The mention of drops implies fome part that must be fprinkled rather than dipped. F 4 Should

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