8 TOUCH. Amen. A man may, if he were of a fearful heart, ftagger in this attempt; for here we have no temple but the wood, no affembly but horn-beafts. But what though? Courage! As horns are odious, they are neceffary. It is faid,Many a man knows no end of his goods: right; many a man has good horns, and knows no end of them. Well, that is the dowry of his wife; 'tis none of his own getting. Horns? Even fo: Poor men alone?—No, no; the nobleft deer hath them as huge as the rafcal. Is the fingle man therefore bleffed? No: as a wall'd town is more worthier than a village, fo is the forehead of a married man more honourable than the bare brow of a bachelor: and by how much defence' is better than no skill, by fo much is a horn more precious than to want. Enter Sir OLIVER MAR-TEXT. Here comes fir Oliver: -Sir Oliver Mar-text, you are well met: Will you defpatch us here under this tree, or fhall we go with you to your chapel? what though?] What then? JOHNSON. 9 -defence-] Defence, as here oppofed to "no fkill," fignifies the art of fencing. Thus, in Hamlet: " and gave you fuch a mafterly report, for arts and exercise in your defence." STEEVENS. -fir Oliver:] He that has taken his first degree at the univerfity, is in the academical ftyle called Dominus, and in common language was heretofore termed Sir. This was not always a word of contempt; the graduates affumed it in their own writings; fo Trevifa the hiftorian writes himself Syr John de Trevifa. JOHNSON. We find the fame title beftowed on many divines in our old comedies. So, in Wily Beguiled: Sir John cannot tend to it at evening prayer; for there comes a company of players to town on Sunday in the afternoon, and Sir John is fo good a fellow, that I know he'll fcarce leave their company, to say evening prayer." SIR OLI. Is there none here to give the woman? TOUCH. I will not take her on gift of any man. SIR OLI. Truly, fhe must be given, or the marriage is not lawful. F42. [Difcovering himself.] Proceed, proceed; I'll give her. TOUCH. Good even, good mafter What ye call't: How do you, fir? You are very well met: God'ild you' for your laft company: I am very glad to fee you :-Even a toy in hand here, fir:-Nay; pray, be cover'd. J42. Will you be married, motley? TOUCH. As the ox hath his bow, fir, the horse his curb, and the faulcon her bells, fo man hath his defires; and as pigeons bill, fo wedlock would be nibbling. F42. 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 Again, "We'll all go to church together, and fo fave Sir John a labour." See notes on The Merry Wives of Windsor, A&t I. sc. i. STEEVENS. Degrees were at this time confidered as the higheft dignities; and it may not be improper to obferve, that a clergyman, who hath not been educated at the Universities, is ftill distinguished in fome parts of North Wales, by the appellation of Sir John, Sir William, &c. Hence the Sir Hugh Evans of Shakspeare is not a Welsh knight who hath taken orders, but only a Welsh clergyman without any regular degree from either of the Universities. See Barrington's Hiftory of the Guedir Family. NICHOLS. 3 God'ild you] i. e. God yield you, God reward you. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "And the gods yield you for't!" See notes on Macbeth, A&t I. fc. vi. STEEVENS. 4 his bow,] i. e. his yoke. The ancient yoke in form refembled a bow. See note on The Merry Wives of Windsor, A&t V. Vol. III. p. 493.. STEEVENS. together as they join wainscot; then one of you will prove a fhrunk pannel, and, like green timber, warp, warp. TOUCH. 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 excufe for me hereafter to leave my wife. [Afide. F42. Go thou with me, and let me counsel thee. TOUCH. Come, fweet Audrey; We must be married, or we must live in bawdry. Farewell, good master Oliver! Not-O fweet Oliver, Leave me not behi' thee; I will not to wedding wi' thee. [Exeunt JAQUES, TOUCHSTONE, and AUDREY. SIR OLI. 'Tis no matter; ne'er a fantastical knave of them all shall flout me out of my calling. [Exit. 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 mistress to be married, and fends away the man that should marry them. Dr. Warburton has very happily obferved, that O fweet 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 not like to marry me well, and not being well married, it will be a good excufe for me hereafter to leave my wife.-Come, feet Audrey; we must be married, or we muft live in bawdry. SCENE IV. The fame. Before a Cottage. Enter ROSALIND and CELIA. Ros. Never talk to me, I will weep. CEL. Do, I pr'ythee; but yet have the grace to confider, that tears do not become a man. Jaq. Go thou with me, and let me counsel thee. [They whisper. Clo. Farewel, good fir Oliver, not O fweet Oliver, O brave Oliver, leave me not behind thee, Wend away, -but I will not to wedding with thee to-day. Of this conjecture the reader may take as much as fhall appear neceffary to the fenfe, or conducive to the humour. I have received all but the additional words. The song feems to be complete without them. JOHNSON. The Clown difmiffes fir Oliver only because Jaques had alarmed his pride, and raised his doubts, concerning the validity of a marriage folemnized by one who appears only in the character of an itinerant preacher. He intends afterwards to have recourse to fome other of more dignity in the fame profeffion. Dr. Johnson's opinion, that the latter part of the Clown's fpeech is only a repetition from fome other ballad, or perhaps a different part of the fame, is, I believe, juft. O brave Oliver, leave me not behind you, is a quotation at the beginning of one of N. Breton's Letters, in his Packet, &c. 1600. STEEVENS. That Touchstone is influenced by the counfel of Jaques, may be inferred from the fubfequent dialogue between the former and Audrey, A& V. sc. i: Touch. We fhall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Audrey. Aud. 'Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old gentleman's faying. MALONE. O fweet Oliver. The epithet of faveet feems to have been liarly appropriated to Oliver, for which perhaps he was originally obliged to the old fong before us. No more of it, however, than Ros. But have I not cause to weep? CEL. As good caufe as one would defire; therefore weep. Ros. His very hair is of the diffembling colour. CEL. Something browner than Judas's: " marry, his kiffes are Judas's own children. thefe two lines has as yet been produced. See Ben Jonfon's Underwood: "All the mad Rolands and fweet Olivers." And, in Every man in his Humour, p. 88, is the fame allufion: "Do not ftink, Sweet Oliver." TYRWHITT. In the books of the Stationers' Company, Aug. 6, 1584, was entered by Richard Jones, the ballad of, "Ofweete Olyver "Leave me not behinde thee." Again, "'The answere of O fweete Olyver." Again, in 1586: "Ofweete Olyver altered to the Scriptures." STEEVENS. I often find a part of this fong applied to Cromwell. In a paper. called, A Man in the Moon, dijcovering a World of Knavery under the Sun," the juncto will go near to give us the bagge, if O brave Oliver come not fuddenly to relieve them." The fame allufion is met with in Cleaveland. Wind away, and wind off are still used provincially: and, I believe, nothing but the provincial pronunciation is wanting to join the parts together. I read : Not-Ofweet Oliver! O brave Oliver! But wind away, I will not to wedding wi' thee. FARMER. To produce the neceffary rhyme, and conform to the pronunciation of Shakspeare's native county, I have followed Dr. Farmer's direction. Wind is ufed for wend in Cafar and Pompey, 1607: "Winde we then, Antony, with this royal queen." STEEVENS. 6 Something browner than Judas's :] See Mr. Tollet's note and mine, on a passage in the fourth fcene of the first Act of The Merry Wives of Windfor, from both which it appears that Judas was con |