Duke S. He uses his folly like a stalking-horse, and under the presentation of that, he shoots his wit. Enter HYMEN, leading ROSALIND in woman's clothes; and CELIA. Still Music. Hym. Then is there mirth in hearen, When earthly things made eren Atone together? Yea, brought her hither, Whose heart within her bosom is '. Ros. [To Duke S.] To you I give myself, for I am your's. [To ORLANDO.] To you I give myself, for I am your's. Duke S. If there be truth in sight, you are my daughter. Orl. If there be truth in sight, you are my Rosalind. Phe. If sight and shape be true, Why then, my love adieu ! Ros. [To Duke S.] I'll have no father, if you be not he: [To ORLANDO.] I'll have no husband, if you be not he:[To PHEBE.] Nor ne'er wed woman, if you be not she. Hym. Peace, ho! I bar confusion. 'Tis I must make conclusion Of these most strange events : If truth holds true contents. shall part : [TO OLIVER and CELIA.] You and you are heart in heart: ? Atone together.] i.e. Agree together, or are reconciled: from at one. The use of this word in this way is very frequent by the contemporaries of Shakespeare. That thou might'st join her hand with his, Whose heart within her bosom is.] The old copies read his for “her” in both these instances, which is evidently wrong: the error was again produced by the not unfrequent custom at that date, of spelling “ her," hir : see p. 391. The correction is made in MS. in the folio, 1632. [To PHEBE.) You to his love must accord, sure together, SONG. Wedding is great Juno's crown: O, blessed bond of board and bed ! High wedlock, then, be honoured: To Hymen, god of every town! mine; Enter Second Brother and these things finish.] The corr. fo. 1632 has this line more tersely “ How thus we met, and thus we finish ;" But we make no change in the text, because the old reading is authorized by all the old copies, and the sense is complete and intelligible. s To Hymen, god of every town!] “God in every town” is the questionable lection of the corr. fo. 1632. 6 Enter Second Brother.] So called in the old copies to avoid confusion with the “ melancholy Jaques.” The name of this " second brother” must have been also Jaques, and he is mentioned in the first scene as then “ at school.” He is in fact the third brother introduced in the play; but what is meant is, that he is second in point of age, younger than Oliver, and older than Orlando ; but this supposition would seem to make Orlando too much of a stripling at the wrestlingmatch to have had any chance against Charles. In Lodge's novel (which ends very differently), Fernandine, the second of the three brothers, is represented as "& scholar in Paris,” not " at school" there. He, like Jaques de Bois, arrives quite at the end of the story. Address'd a mighty power, which were on foot Welcome, young man ; Jaq. Sir, by your patience.—If I heard you rightly, 2 Bro. He hath. Jaq. To him will I: out of these convertites There is much matter to be heard and learn'd.You [To DUKE S.] to your former honour I bequeath; Your patience, and your virtue, well deserve it You [To ORLANDO] to a love, that your true faith doth merit: You [To OLIVER] to your land, and love, and great allies :You [To Silvius] to a long and well deserved bed :And you [To TOUCHSTONE] to wrangling; for thy loving voyage 7 – restor'd to them again,] The word in all the old editions is him for "them," and him may be reconciled to a meaning; but as the corr. fo. 1632 inserts "them " and erases him, we take it for granted that the latter is a misprint, and adopt so reasonable an emendation. Is but for two months victuall'd.So, to your pleasures : Duke S. Stay, Jaques, stay. Jaq. To see no pastime, I :what you would have, I'll stay to know at your abandon’d cave. [Exit. Duke S. Proceed, proceed: we will begin these rites, As we do trust they'll end, in true delights *. EPILOGUE. Ros. It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue; but it is no more unhandsome, than to see the lord the prologue. If it be true, that good wine needs no bush', 'tis true that a good play needs no epilogue; yet to good wine they do use good bushes, and good plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues. What a case am I in, then, that am neither a good epilogue, nor cannot insinuate with you in the behalf of a good play? I am not furnished like a beggar, therefore to beg will not become me: my way is, to conjure you; and I'll begin with the women. I charge you, O women ! for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this play as please you: and I charge you, O men! for the love you bear to women, (as I perceive by your simpering none of you hates them,) that between you and the women, the play may please. If I were a woman', I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me, complexions that liked me, and breaths that I defied not; and, I am sure, as many as have good beards, or good faces, or sweet breaths, will, for my kind offer, when I make curtsey, bid me farewell. [Exeunt. & As we do trust they'll end in true delights.] The universal modern stagedirection here is “a dance,” which perhaps followed the duke's speech : the ancient direction, however, is merely exit ; but there seems no sufficient reason why the duke should go out before the conclusion of the Epilogue-nevertheless, according to the custom of our old stage, he may have done so. Malone, Steevens, and other modern editors, Capell excepted, read And instead of “As” in this line, without reason for the change, and without attempting to assign any. 9 – no bush,] It was formerly the custom, says Steevens, to hang a tuft of iry at the door of a vintner. It is alluded to by many old writers, whom it would be very easy to quote, were they at all required. 1 If I were a woman,] The female characters in plays, it is hardly necessary to observe, were at this time, and until after the Restoration, performed by boys, or young men. VOL. II. Ff |