III.

This carol they began that hour,

With a bey, 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 ho, and a hey nonino;
For love is crowned with the prime
In fpring time, &c.

TOUCH. Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable.+

I 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. [Exeunt,

4 Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable.] 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 ny text, untimeable.-Time and tune, are frequently mifprinted 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, inftead of untuneable, notwithstanding Johnfon rejects the amendment as unneceffary. A miftake of a fimilar nature occurs in Twelfth Night. M. MASON.

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

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 promised?

ORL. I fometimes do believe, and fometimes do

not;

As those that fear they hope, and know they fear."

As thofe that fear they hope, and know they fear.] This ftrange nonfenfe fhould be read thus:

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

i. e. As thofe that fear the iffue 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 hope, and hope with fear.

Or thus, with lefs alteration:

As thofe that fear, they hope, and now they fear.

The author of The Revifal would read :

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

Perhaps we might read:

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

I would read:

JOHNSON.

STEEVENS,

BLACKSTONE,

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

I have little doubt but it should run thus:

MUSGRAVE.

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 hoping were contracted in the original copy, and written thus:-fear-hops (a practice not unufual at this day) the g might eafily have been mistaken for y, a common abbreviation of they. M. MASON.

Enter ROSALIND, SILVIUS, and PHEBE.

Ros. 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.

Ros. And you fay, you will have her, when I bring her? [TO ORLANDO, ORL. That would I, were I of all kingdoms king. Ros. You fay, you'll marry me, if I be willing? [TO PHEBE.

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

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

[To SILVIUS.

SIL. Though to have her and death were both one thing.

Ros. 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;

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 thofe who fear,—they, even those 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.

6 Keep your word, Phebe,] The old copy reads-Keep you your word; the compofitor's eye having probably glanced on the line next but one above. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

Or elfe, refusing 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 these 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 foreft-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 foreft.

Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY.

742. There is, fure, another flood toward, and these couples are coming to the ark! Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are call'd fools."

TOUCH. Salutation and greeting to you all!

F42. 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 fwears.

To make thefe doubts all even.] Thus, in Measure for Measure: yet death we fear,

66

"That makes thefe odds all even."

STEEVENS.

Here comes a pair of very ftrange beafts, &c.] 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, here 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

TOUCH. If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation. I have trod a measure; 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.

J42. And how was that ta'en up?

TOUCH. 'Faith, we met, and found the quarrel was upon the feventh cause."

742. How feventh cause?-Good my lord, like this fellow.

DUKE S. I like him very well.

TOUCH. God'ild you, fir; I defire you of the like. I prefs in here, fir, amongst the rest of the

trod a measure;] So, in Love's Labour's Loft, A&t V. fc. ii: "To tread a measure with you on this grass.'

See note on this paffage. REED.

Touchstone to prove that he has been a courtier, particularly mentions a measure, 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 and found the quarrel was upon the feventh caufe.] So all the copies; but it is apparent from the fequel that we must readthe quarrel was not upon the feventh caufe. JOHNSON.

By the feventh caufe, Touchftone, I apprehend, means the lie feven 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 66 a lie feven times removed." MALONE.

6 God'ild you, fir;] i. e. God yield you, reward you. So, in the Collection of Chefter Myfteries Mercer's play, p. 74, b. MS. Harl. Brit. Muf. 2013:

"The high father of heaven, I pray,

"To yelde you your good deed to day.” See note on Macbeth, Act I. fc. vi. STEEVENS.

7

you the like.

-I defire you of the like.] We fhould read-I defire of On the Duke's faying, I like him very well, he replies, I defire you will give me caufe, that I may like you too.

WARBURTON.