'Tis at the tuft of olives, here hard by:- [Exeunt ROSALIND, CELIA, and CORIN. PHE. Dead fhepherd! now I find thy faw of might; Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first fight? 3 If SIL. Sweet Phebe, PHE. Ha! what say'st thou, Silvius? SIL. Sweet Phebe, pity me. PHE. Why, I am sorry for thee, gentle Silvius. SIL. Wherever forrow is, relief would be: you do forrow at my grief in love, By giving love, your forrow and my grief though all the world could fee, None could be fo abus'd in fight as he.] Though all mankind could look on you, none could be fo deceived as to think you beautiful but he. JOHNSON. 3 Dead Shepherd! now I find thy faw of might; Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first fight?] The fecond of thefe lines is from Marlowe's Hero and Leander, 1637, fig. Bb. where it ftands thus: "Where both deliberate, the love is flight: "Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first fight?" This line is likewife quoted in Belvidere, or the Garden of the Muses, 1610, p. 29, and in England's Parnaffus, printed in 1600, p. 261. STEEVENS. This poem of Marlowe's was fo popular, (as appears from many of the contemporary writers,) that a quotation from it must have been known at once, at least by the more enlightened part of the audience. Our author has again alluded to it in the Two Gentlemen of Verona.-The "dead fhepherd," Marlowe, was killed in a brothel in 1593. Two editions of Hero and Leander, I believe, had been published before the year 1600; it being entered in the Stationers Books, Sept. 28, 1593, and again in 1597. MALONE. PHE. Thou haft my love; Is not that neighbourly? SIL. I would have you. PHE. Why, that were covetoufnefs. Silvius, the time was, that I hated thee; And yet it is not, that I bear thee love: That I fhall think it a moft plenteous crop That the main harvest reaps: loofe now and then PHE. Know'st thou the youth that spoke to me ere while? SIL. Not very well, but I have met him oft; And he hath bought the cottage, and the bounds, That the old carlot once was mafter of.+ PHE. Think not I love him, though I afk for him; 'Tis but a peevish boy: 5-yet he talks well;But what care I for words? yet words do well, When he that speaks them pleases those that hear. It is a pretty youth:-not very pretty: 3 To glean the broken ears after the man That the main harveft reaps: loose now and then A fcatter'd fmile,] Perhaps Shakspeare owed this image to the fecond chapter of the book of Ruth :—“ Let fall fome handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them that she may glean them." STEEVENS. That the old carlot once was mafter of.] i. e. peafant, from carl or churl; probably a word of Shakspeare's coinage. DOUCE. a peevith boy:] Peevish, in ancient language, fignifics weak, filly. So, in King Richard III: 5 When Richmond was a little peevish boy." STEEVENS. But, fure, he's proud; and yet his pride becomes him: Than that mix'd in his cheek; 'twas juft the difference 8 I have more caufe to hate him than to love him: For what had he to do to chide at me? He said, mine eyes were black, and my hair black; And, now I am remember'd, fcorn'd at me: I marvel, why I anfwer'd not again: But that's all one; omittance is no quittance. I'll write it straight; PHE. [Exeunt. 6 He is not tall; yet for his years he's tall:] The old copy He is not very tall, &c. reads: For the fake of metre, I have omitted the useless adverb-very. STEEVENS, 66 7the conftant red, and mingled damak.] "Conftant red" is uniform red. Mingled damak" is the filk of that name, in which, by a various direction of the threads, many lighter fhades of the fame colour are exhibited. STEEVENS. 8 I have more cause-] I, which feems to have been inadvertently omitted in the old copy, was inferted by the editor of the fecond folio. MALONE. ACT IV. SCENE I. Enter ROSALIND, CELIA, and JAQUES. F42. I pr'ythee, pretty youth, let me be better* acquainted with thee. Ros. They fay, you are a melancholy fellow. FAQ. I am fo; I do love it better than laughing. Ros. Thofe, that are in extremity of either, are abominable fellows; and betray themselves to every modern cenfure, worse than drunkards. F42. Why, 'tis good to be fad and say nothing. Ros. Why then, 'tis good to be a post. F42. I have neither the fcholar's melancholy, which is emulation; nor the mufician's, which is fantastical; nor the courtier's, which is proud; nor the foldier's, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer's, which is politick; nor the lady's, which is nice; nor the lover's, which is all thefe: but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many fimples, extracted from many objects: and, indeed, the fundry contemplation of my travels, in which my often rumination wraps me, is a moft humorous fadnefs." Ros. A traveller! By my faith, you have great reason to be fad: I fear, you have fold your own 7 let me be better-] Be, which is wanting in the old copy, was added by the editor of the fecond folio. MALONE, which is nice;] i.e. filly, trifling. So, in K. Richard III : "But the refpects thereof are nice and trivial." See note on Romeo and Juliet, Act V, sc. ii: 8 9 my often rumination wraps me, is a moft humorous sadness.] copy reads-in a moft, &c. STEEVENS. The old The old copy has-by often. Corrected by the editor of the fecond folio. Perhaps we should rather read" and which, by often rumination, wraps me in a most humorous fadnefs." MALONE. lands, to fee other men's; then, to have seen much, and to have nothing, is to have rich eyes and poor hands. F42. Yes, I have gain'd my experience. Enter ORLANDO. Ros. And your experience makes you fad: I had rather have a fool to make me merry, than experience to make me fad; and to travel for it too. ORL. Good day, and happiness, dear Rofalind! J42. Nay then, God be wi' you, an you talk in blank verfe. [Exit. Ros. Farewel, monfieur traveller: Look, you lifp, and wear strange fuits; difable' all the benefits of your own country; be out of love with your nativity, and almost chide God for making you that countenance you are; or I will fcarce think you have swam in a gondola.—Why, how now, Orlando! where have you been all this while? You a lover?-An you ferve me fuch another trick, never come in my fight more. As this fpeech concludes with a sentence at once ungrammatical and obfcure, I have changed a fingle letter in it; and instead of " in a moft humorous fadness," have ventured to read-" is a most humorous fadness." Jaques firft informs Rofalind what his melancholy was not; and naturally concludes by telling her what the quality of it is. To obtain a clear meaning, a less degree of violence cannot be employed. STEEVENS. difable-] i. e. undervalue. So afterwards :-" he dif abled my judgement." STEEVENS. 2 -fwam in a gondola.] That is, been at Venice, the feat at that time of all licentioufnefs, where the young English gentlemen wafted their fortunes, debased their morals, and fometimes loft their religion. The fashion of travelling, which prevailed very much in our author's time, was confidered by the wifer men as one of the principal caufes of corrupt manners. It was therefore gravely cenfured by Afcham in his Schoolmafter, and by bishop Hall in his Quo Vadis; and is here, and in other paffages, ridiculed by Shakfpeare. JOHNSON. |