I should have given him tears unto entreaties,
Ere he should thus have ventur'd.

CEL.

Gentle cousin, Let us go thank him, and encourage him:

My father's rough and envious difpofition Sticks me at heart.-Sir, you have well deferv'd: you do keep your promises in love,

If

But justly, as you have exceeded promise,"

Your mistress shall be happy.

[Giving him a chain from her neck. Wear this for me; one out of fuits with fortune;" That could give more, but that her hand lacks

means.

Shall we go, coz?

CEL.

Ay:-Fare you well, fair gentleman. ORL. Can I not fay, I thank you? My better parts Are all thrown down; and that which here ftands up, Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block."

as you have exceeded promife,] The old copy, without regard to the measure, reads-all promise. STEEVENS.

6

one out of fuits with fortune;] This seems an allufion to cards, where he that has no more cards to play of any particular fort, is out of fuit. JOHNSON.

Out of fuits with fortune, I believe means, turned out of her fervice, and ftripped of her livery. STEVENS.

So afterwards Celia fays, "but turning these jefts out of fervie, let us talk in good earneft." MALONE.

7 Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.] A quintain was a poft or butt fet up for feveral kinds of martial exercifes, against which they threw their darts and exercised their arms. The allufion is beautiful. I am, fays Orlando, only a quintain, a lifeless block on which love only exercifes his arms in jeft; the great dif parity of condition between Rofalind and me, not fuffering me to hope that love will ever make a ferious matter of it. The famous fatirift Regnier, who lived about the time of our authour, uses the fame metaphor, on the fame fubject, though the thought be dif

ferent:

Ros. He calls us back: My pride fell with my fortunes:

I'll ask him what he would:-Did you call, fir?Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown, More than your enemies.

CEL.

Will you go, coz?

Ros. Have with you :-Fare you well.

[Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIA. ORL. What paffion hangs these weights upon my

tongue?

I cannot speak to her, yet fhe urg'd conference.

"Et qui depuis dix ans jufqu'en fes derniers jours,

"A foutenu le prix en l' efcrime d'amours;

Laffe en fin de fervir au peuple de quintaine, "Elle" &c. WARBURTon.

This is but an imperfect (to call it no worfe) explanation of a beautiful paffage. The quintain was not the object of the darts and arms it was a stake driven into a field, upon which were hung a fhield and other trophies of war, at which they fhot, darted, or rode, with a lance. When the fhield and the trophies were all thrown down, the quintain remained. Without this information. how could the reader understand the allufion of

Mr. Malone has difputed the propriety of Mr. Guthrie's animadverfions; and Mr. Douce is equally dissatisfied with those of Mr.

Malone.

The phalanx of our auxiliaries, as well as their circumftantiality, is fo much increased, that we are often led (as Hamlet obferves) to fight for a spot

66

"Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause."

The prefent ftrictures therefore of Mr. Malone and Mr. Douce, (which are too valuable to be omitted, and too ample to find their place under the text of our author,) muft appear at the conclufion of the play. STEEVENS.

For a more particular description of a quintain, see a note on a paffage in Jonfon's Underwoods, Whalley's edit. Vol.

VII. p. 55.

M. MASON. also be read in

A humourous defcription of this amusement may Laneham's Letter from "Killingwoorth Caftle." HENLEY.

Re-enter LE BEAU.

0 poor Orlando! thou art overthrown;
Or Charles, or fomething weaker, masters thee.
LE BEAU. Good fir, I do in friendship counsel you
To leave this place: Albeit you have deferv'd
High commendation, true applaufe, and love;
Yet fuch is now the duke's condition, 8

That he mifconftrues all that you have done.
The duke is humorous; what he is, indeed,
More fuits you to conceive, than me to speak of."
ORL. I thank you, fir: and, pray you, tell me this;
Which of the two was daughter of the duke
That here was at the wrestling?

LE BEAU. Neither his daughter, if we judge by

But

8

manners;

2

yet, indeed, the fhorter is his daughter:

the duke's condition,] The word condition means character, temper, difpofition. So Antonio, the merchant of Venice, is called by his friend the best condition'd man. JOHNSON.

9than me to speak of.] The old copy has-than I. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

2

the fhorter-] Thus Mr. Pope. The old copy readsthe taller. Mr. Malone-the fmaller. STEEVENS.

Some change is abfolutely neceffary, for Rofalind, in a subsequent fcene, exprefsly fays that he is more than common tall," and affigns that as a reafon for her affuming the drefs of a man, while her coufin Celia retained her female apparel. Again, in Act IV. fc. iii. Celia is defcribed by thefe words" the woman low, and browner than her brother;" i. e. Rofalind. Mr. Pope reads" the borter is his daughter;" which has been admitted in all the fubfequent editions: but furely shorter and taller could never have been confounded by either the eye or the ear. The prefent emendation, it is hoped, has a preferable claim to a place in the text, as being much nearer to the corrupted reading. MALONE.

Shakspeare fometimes fpeaks of little women, but I do not recollect that he, or any other writer, has mentioned small ones. Otherwife, Mr. Malone's conjecture fhould have found a place in our text. STEEVENS.

Vol. VIII. X-33.

The other is daughter to the banish'd duke,
And here detain'd by her ufurping uncle,
To keep his daughter company; whofe loves
Are dearer than the natural bond of fifters.
But I can tell you, that of late this duke
Hath ta'en difpleasure 'gainst his gentle niece;
Grounded upon no other argument,

But that the people praise her for her virtues,
And pity her for her good father's fake;
And, on my life, his malice 'gainst the lady

Will fuddenly break forth.-Sir, fare you well;

Hereafter, in a better world than this,"

I fhall defire more love and knowledge of you.

ORL. I reft much bounden to you: fare you well!

[Exit LE BEAU.
Thus muft I from the smoke into the fmother;
From tyrant duke, unto a tyrant brother:—
But heavenly Rosalind!

[Exit.

SCENE III.

A Room in the Palace.

Enter CELIA and ROSALIND.

CAL. Why, coufin; why, Rofalind ;-Cupid have mercy!-Not a word?

Ros. Not one to throw at a dog.

CEL. No, thy words are too precious to be caft away upon curs, throw fome of them at me; come, lame me with reafons.

Ros. Then there were two coufins laid up; when the one should be lamed with reafons, and the other mad without any.

2

in a better world than this,] So, in Coriolanus, A& III. fc. iii:" There is a world elfewhere." STEEVENS.

CEL. But is all this for your father?

Ros. No, fome of it is for my child's father: * O, how full of briars is this working-day world!

CEL. They are but burs, coufin, thrown upon thee in holyday foolery; if we walk not in the trodden paths, our very petticoats will catch them. Ros. I could shake them off my coat; these burs are in my heart.

CEL. Hem them away.

Ros. I would try; if I could cry hem, and have him. CEL. Come, come, wrestle with thy affections. Ros. O, they take the part of a better wrestler than myself.

CEL. O, a good with upon you! you will try in time, in defpite of a fall.-But, turning these jefts out of fervice, let us talk in good earneft: Is it poffible, on fuch a fudden, you fhould fall into fo ftrong a liking with old fir Rowland's youngeft fon?

Ros. The duke my father lov'd his father dearly. CEL. Doth it therefore enfue, that you fhould love his fon dearly? By this kind of chafe, I should hate him, for my father hated his father dearly; yet I hate not Orlando.

4

Ros. No 'faith, hate him not, for my fake.

CEL. Why fhould I not? doth he not deferve well?'

3 for my child's father:] marry, and have children by.

i. e. for him whom I hope to THEOBALD.

4 By this kind of chafe,] That is, by this way of following the argument. Dear is ufed by Shakspeare in a double fenfe for be loved, and for hurtful, hated, baleful. Both fenfes are authorised, and both drawn from etymology; but properly, beloved is dear, and hateful is dere. Rofalind ufes dearly in the good, and Celia in the bad fenfe. JOHNSON.

Why Should I not? doth he not deferve well?] Celia anfwers Rofalind, (who had defired her "not to hate Orlando, for her