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III.

This carol they began that hour,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that a life was but a flower
In fpring time, &c.

IV.

And therefore take the prefent time,
With a bey, and a bo, and a hey nonino;
For love is crowned with the prime
In Spring time, &c.

Touch. Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable." 1 Page. You are deceiv'd, fir; we kept time, we loft not our time.

Touch. By my troth, yes; I count it but time loft to hear fuch a foolish fong. God be with you; and God mend your voices!-Come, Audrey.

The old copy reads:

in the jpring time, the onely pretty rang time.

I think we fhould read:

In the fpring time, the only pretty ring time.

[Exeunt.

i. e. the aptest feafon for marriage; or, the word only, for the fake of equality of metre, may be omitted. STEEVENS.

In confirmation of Mr. Steevens's reading, it appears from the old calendars that the spring was the season of marriage. DOUCE.

9 Though it is thus in all the printed copies, it is evident from the fequel of the dialogue, that the poet wrote as I have reform'd in my text, untimeable.-Time and tune, are frequently misprinted for one another in the old editions of Shakspeare. THEOBALD.

This emendation is received, I think very undefervedly, by Dr. Warburton. JOHNSON.

The reply of the Page proves to me, beyond any poffibility of doubt, that we ought to read untimeable, instead of untuneable, notwith tanding Johnson rejects the amendment as unneceffary. A mistake of a similar nature occurs in Twelfth Night. M. MASON.

The fenfe of the old reading feems to be-Though the words of the fung were trifling, the mufic was not (as might have been expected) good enough is compenfate their defect. STEEVENS.

SCENE

SCENE IV.

Another part of the Foreft.

Enter Duke fenior, AMIENS, JAQUES, ORLANDO, OLIVER, and CELIA.

Duke S. Doft thou believe, Orlando, that the boy
Can do all this that he hath promifed?

Orl. I fometimes do believe, and fometimes do not;
As those that fear they hope, and know they fear.

2 This ftrange nonfenfe fhould be read thus:

As thofe that fear their hap, and know their fear.

Enter

i. e. As thofe that fear the issue of a thing when they know their fear to be well grounded. WARBURTON.

The depravation of this line is evident, but I do not think the learned Commentator's emendation very happy. I read thus:

As thofe that fear with bope, and bope with fear.

Or thus, with lefs alteration:

As thofe that fear, they bope, and now they fear.
The author of The Revifal would read:

As thofe that fear their bope, and know their fear.
Perhaps we might read:

As thofe that feign they bope, and know they fear.

I would read:

JOHNSON.

STEEVENS.

BLACKSTONL.

As thofe that fear, then hope; and know, then fear.

I have little doubt but it fhould run thus:

MUSGRATE,

As thofe who fearing hope, and hoping fear. This ftrongly expreffes the ftate of mind which Orlando was in at that time; and if the words fearing and boping were contracted in the original copy, and written thus-fears-bops (a practice not unusual at this day) the g might easily have been mistaken for y, a common abbreviation of they. M. MASON.

I believe this line requires no other alteration than the addition of a femi-colon:

As thofe that fear; they hope, and know they fear. HENLEY. The meaning, I think, is, As those who fear, they, even thofe very perfons, entertain hopes, that their fears will not be realized; and yet at the fame time they well know that there is reafon for their fears.

MALONE.

line ru After all the line ray bay. well be persented to stand as it is;" "fear they trope" meaning fean they she too the too sangmãe!

Enter ROSALIND, SILVIUS, and PHIBE.

Rof. Patience once more, whiles our compact is urg'd:You fay, if I bring in your Rofalind, [To the DUKE. You will beftow her on Orlando here?

Duke S. That would I, had I kingdoms to give with her.
Rof. And you fay, you will have her, when I bring her?
[TO ORLANDO.
Orl. That would I, were I of all kingdoms king.
Rof. You fay, you'll marry me, if I be willing?

[To PHEBE

Phe. That will I, fhould I die the hour after.
Rof. But, if you do refufe to marry me,
You'll give yourself to this most faithful shepherd ?
Phe. So is the bargain.

Rof. You fay, that you'll have Phebe, if she will ?

[TO SILVIUS. Sil. Though to have her and death were both one thing. Rof. I have promis'd to make all this matter even. Keep you your word, Oduke, to give your daughter;You yours, Orlando, to receive his daughter: Keep your word, Phebe, that you'll marry me ; Or elfe, refufing me, to wed this fhepherd :Keep your word, Silvius, that you'll marry her, If the refufe me :-and from hence I go, To make thefe doubts all even.

[Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIA. Duke S. I do remember in this fhepherd-boy Some lively touches of my daughter's favour. Orl. My lord, the first time that I ever faw him, Methought he was a brother to your daughter : But, my good lord, this boy is forest-born; And hath been tutor'd in the rudiments Of many defperate ftudies by his uncle, Whom he reports to be a great magician, Obfcured in the circle of this forest.

Enter

Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY.

Jaq. There is, fure, another flood toward, and thefe couples are coming to the ark! Here comes a pair of very ftrange beafts, which in all tongues are call'd focls.3 Touch. Salutation and greeting to you all!

Jaq. Good my lord, bid him welcome: This is the motley-minded gentleman, that I have fo often met in the foreft: he hath been a courtier, he swears,

Touch. If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation. I have trod a measure; 4 I have flatter'd a lady; I have been politick with my friend, fmooth with mine enemy; I have undone three tailors; I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought one.

Jaq. And how was that ta'en up?

Touch. 'Faith, we met, and found the quarrel was upon the feventh caufe.5

Jaq. How feventh caufe?-Good my lord, like this fellow. Duke S. I like him very well.

6

Touch. God'ild you, fir; " I defire you of the like. I

prefs

3 What frange beafts? and yet fuch as have a name in all languages? Noah's ark is here alluded to; into which the clean beats entered by Sevens, and the unclean by two, male and female. It is plain then that Shakspeare wrote, bere come a pair of unclean beafts, which is highly humorous. WARBURTON.

Strange beafts are only what we call odd animals. There is no need of any alteration. JOHNSON.

4

trod a meafure ;] So, in Love's Labour's Loft, A& V. fc. ii: "To tread a measure with you on this grafs." REED. Touchstone to prove that he has been a courtier, particularly mentions a meafure, because it was a very ftately folemn dance. So, in Much ado about Nothing: "the wedding mannerly modeft, as a measure full of ftate and ancientry." MALONE.

5 So all the copies; but it is apparent from the fequel that we must read-the quarrel was not upon the feventh caufe. JOHNSON.

By the feventh caufe, Touchstone, I apprehend, means the lie fives times removed; i. e. the retort courteous, which is removed feven times (counting backwards) from the lie direct, the last and most aggravated fpecies of lie. See the fubfequent note on the words a lie feven

times removed." MALONE.

6 i. e. God yield you, reward you. STEEVENS. ? We should read-I def.re of you the like.

On the Duke's faying,

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prefs in here, fir, amongst the rest of the country copulatives, to fwear, and to forfwear; according as marriage binds, and blood breaks :8-A poor virgin, fir, an ill-favour'd thing, fir, but mine own; a poor humour of mine, fir, to take that that no man else will: Rich honefty dwells like a mifer, fir, in a poor houfe; as your pearl, in your foul oyfter.

Duke. S. By my faith, he is very fwift and fententious. Touch. According to the fool's bolt, fir, and fuch dulcet difeafes.9

Jaq. But, for the feventh caufe; how did you find the quarrel on the feventh caufe?

Touch. Upon a lie feven times removed; 2-Bear your body

I like him very well, he replies, I defire you will give me cause, that I may like you too.

WARBURTON.

I have not admitted the alteration, because there are other examples of this mode of expreffion. JoHNSON.

8 To fwear according as marriage binds, is to take the oath enjoined in the ceremonial of marriage. JOHNSON.

A man by the marriage ceremony SWEARS that be will keep only to bis wife; when therefore, to gratify bis luft, he leaves ber for another, BLOOD BREAKS his matrimonial obligation, and he is FORSWORN.

HENLEY.

This I do not understand. For difeafes it is eafy to read difcourfes but, perhaps, the fault may lie deeper. JOHNSON.

Perhaps he calls a proverb a difeafe. Proverbial fayings may appear to him as the furfeiting difeafes of converfation. They are often the plague of commentators.

Dr. Farmer would read-in fuch dulcet diseases; i. e. in the sweet uneafineffes of love, a time when people usually talk nonsense.

STEEVENS.

Without ftaying to examine how far the pofition laft advanced is founded in truth, I fhall only add, that I believe the text is right, and that this word is capriciously used for sayings, though neither in its primary or figurative fenfe it has any relation to that word. In The Merchant of Venice the Clown talks in the fome ftyle, but more intelligibly :-" the young gentleman (according to the fates and deftinies, and fuch odd fayings, the filters three, and fucb branches of learning) is indeed deceased." MALONE.

2 Touchstone here enumerates seven kinds of lies, from the Retort courteous to the feventh and most aggravated fpecies of lie, which he calls the lie direct. The courtier's anfwer to his intended affront, he expressly tells us, was the Retort courteous, the firft fpecies of lie. When therefore he fays, that they found the quarrel was on the lie feven times REMOVED, we muft understand by the latter word, the lie removed feven times, counting backwards, (as the word removed feems to intimate,) from the last and

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