276 But I can tell you, that of late this Duke But that the people praise her for her vertues, I fhall defire more loue and knowledge of you. 277. tane] ta'en Rowe. Neece] Neice F 279. her vertues] vertues F„. 280 285 Exit. 288 284. Exit. Rowe. 285. fare you well] fareyouwell F 283. better world] STEEVENS: So in Cor. III, iii, 135: 'There is a world elsewhere.' WRIGHT: That is, in a better age or state of things. [Wordsworth (p. 300) interprets this as an expression of faith and hope, and as an allusion to the world beyond the grave. To me Wright's interpretation is decidedly the true one; Wordsworth's interpretation (which is undoubtedly a mere oversight on the part of the gentle and reverend author), would be singularly inappropriate under the circumstances.-ED.] 286. smother] WRIGHT: Out of the frying-pan into the fire. 'Smother' is the thick, stifling smoke of a smouldering fire. Bacon uses 'to pass in smother,' for to be stifled, in Essay xxvii, p. 112; and 'to keep in smother' for to stifle, in Essay xxxi, P. 134. 288. MOBERLY: These words are said and prolonged with a burst of enthusiasm which sweeps away all his gloomy reflections. Scena Tertius. Enter Celia and Rofaline. Cel. Why Cofen, why Rofaline: Cupid haue mercie, Not a word? Rof. Not one to throw at a dog. Cel. No, thy words are too precious to be caft away vpon curs, throw fome of them at me; come lame mee with reasons. Rof. Then there were two Cofens laid vp, when the one should be lam'd with reasons, and the other mad without any. Cel. But is all this for your Father? Rof. No, fome of it is for my childes Father: Oh how full of briers is this working day world. 5 ΤΟ 13 12. childes Father] father's child Rowe ii, Pope, Han. Warb. Johns. Knt, Dyce, Coll. (MS) ii, Clke, Ktly, Huds. Coll. iii, Wh. ii. 13. day world] day-world F. 1, 2. Rosaline] This spelling, and where it again occurs in this scene, lines 93 and 101, Walker (Crit. ii, 66) attributes to the frequent confusion in the Folio of the final d and e. It may be so; but the frequency with which it occurs (for these are not the only instances) indicates that, as was natural, in common pronunciation the final d was somewhat slurred. That the name was Rosalind is made sure by Orlando's verses and Touchstone's doggerel in the Third Act.-ED. 9. mad] Is this word quite above suspicion? Is it not somewhat early for Rosalind to confess herself madly in love? Or is it that she is mad, thus to love without reason?-ED. 11. Father] MOBERLY: The reason which Rosalind had given for her sadness in Scene ii. Imagine the ironical accent on this word. 12. my childes Father] THEOBALD: That is, 'some of it is for my Sweetheart, whom I hope to marry and have children by.' COLERIDGE (p. 108): Who can doubt that this is a mistake for my father's child,' meaning herself? According to Theobald's note, a most indelicate anticipation is put into the mouth of Rosalind without reason; and besides, what a strange thought and how out of place and unintelligible! [I do not care to discuss this passage. It is enough to give, as above, the two most eminent advocates on the opposing sides. Further discussion cannot but emphasise the thought, whereof the purity or impurity will depend on the bias of the reader; 'the worm, look you, will bite after its kind.' It is well, however, in this case, and Cel. They are but burs, Cofen, throwne vpon thee in holiday foolerie, if we walke not in the trodden paths our very petty-coates will catch them. Rof. I could fhake them off my coate, these burs are in my heart. Cel. Hem them away. Rof. I would try if I could cry hem, and haue him. Cel. O, a good wifh vpon you: you will trie in time in dispight of a fall: but turning these iests out of feruice, let vs talke in good earnest: Is it poffible on such a sodaine, you should fall into so strong a liking with old Sir Roulands yongest sonne? 15 20 25 28 27. ftrong] strange F2F1, Rowe. 28. Roulands] F.. in all similar cases (which will, hereafter, in this play receive, in the Commentary, no notice at my hands), to bear in mind that modes of thought and of speech, as well as of manners, shift and change from age to age as widely as do the costumes, and that every age must be measured by its own standard. Moberly says, 'Shakespeare would have smiled' at Rowe's emendation. Mrs Jameson says wisely: If the freedom of some of the expressions used by Rosalind or Beatrice be objected to, let it be remembered that this was not the fault of Shakespeare or the women, but generally of the age. Portia, Beatrice, Rosalind, and the rest, lived in times when more importance was attached to things than to words; now we think more of words than of things; and happy are we in these later days of super-refinement, if we are to be saved by our verbal morality.'-ED.] 6 20. cry hem, and haue him] According to WARBURTON, this is a proverbial expression signifying 'having for asking'; WALKER also (Crit. ii, 168) thinks that it must be a proverbial expression,' and adds, though I cannot find it in Ray,' wherein the present editor also has looked for it in vain. MOBERLY surmises that it is 'a game like hunt-the-slipper.' Is it, however, necessary, after all, to find any deeper meaning than the merest play on words in 'hem' and 'him'?-ED. 24. a good wish upon you] Used where my blessing on you' would be too strong.-ED. 25. The page in the Folio, which begins with this line, is wrongly numbered 187; It should be 189.-ED. 26, 27. such a sodaine] WRIGHT: Shakespeare uses on a sudden,' of a sudden,' and 'on the sudden,' elsewhere, but not on such a sudden.' 27. strong] As far as I know, WALKER (Crit. iii, 23) is the only critic who approves of strange of F,F, for which, I think, much could be urged here, apart from the fact that confusion has elsewhere arisen between these two words (cf. ‘O strong and fasten'd villain' of Q, in Lear II, i, 77). Rosalind, by pleading the old mutual love of their parents, gives merely a reason for loving Orlando at all, and why Rof. The Duke my Father lou'd his Father deerelie. Cel. Doth it therefore ensue that you should loue his Sonne deerelie? By this kinde of chase, I should hate him, for my father hated his father deerely; yet I hate not Orlando. Rof. No faith, hate him not for my fake. Cel. Why fhould I not? doth he not deferue well? 34. not] nor F. 35. I not?] I? Cap. Dyce iii. 30 35 35. he not] not he FF, Rowe i. that love should not be strange, but she would scarcely urge this parental love in the past as a reason for vehemently loving him now.-ED. 29. MOBERLY: A line of much resource for a good actress; capable of being shaded from the purely sentimental into the convincingly logical. 31. chase] JOHNSON: That is, by this way of following the argument. WHITER (p. 93): Can the reader doubt that Shakespeare fell into this expression by a combination arising from the similar sounds of 'dear' and deer? That our ancient writers have sometimes quibbled on these words may be urged as an argument to convince the reader how easy and natural it is for our Author to be led into such an association; although, in the present instance, not the most distant allusion to this equivocal meaning was intended by the Poet. [To the unconscious association of ideas suggested by Whiter, I think there may be fairly added the association arising from the word 'ensue,' to which ALLEN calls attention in a brief marginal note: ensue pursue ("seek peace and ensue it"). Therefore Celia adds: "by this kind of chase": pursuing = following (= logical sequence, inference.)'—ED.] = 32. deerely] Cf. 'my dearest foe,' Ham. I, ii, 182, and notes in this edition, where CLARENDON'S concise statement is given: dear is used of whatever touches us nearly, either in love or hate, joy or sorrow.' 35. should I not] THEOBALD (Nichols, Lit. Illust. ii, 330): Either the negative should be expunged, or it would be clearer to read, 'Why should I hate.' [This remark, which was in a private letter to Warburton, was not subsequently repeated in Theobald's edition. Capell's omission of the negative was therefore original with him.] MALONE: Celia answers Rosalind (who had desired her not to hate Orlando, for her sake') as if she had said 'love him, for my sake:' to which the former replies, 'Why should I not [i. e. love him]?" So, in the following passage, in Hen. VIII: 'Which of the peers Have uncontemn'd gone by him, or at least Strangely neglected?' Uncontemn'd must be understood as if the author had written not contemn'd; otherwise the subsequent words would convey a meaning directly contrary to what the speaker intends. [It is to be feared that Malone's ingenuity is misplaced.] CALDECOTT: Meaning to be understood by reference to that which had preceded, i. e. upon a principle stated by yourself, because my father hated his father, does he not well deserve by me to be hated? while Rosalind, taking the words simply, and without any reference, replies, Let me love him for that,' i. e. for that he well deserves. DYCE (ed. iii) followed Capell in omitting the negative as a manifest error, in consequence of "not" occurring just before and just after.' The explanation given by WHITE (ed. i), that doth he not deserve well?' means doth he not deserve well to be hated, Dyce pronounces utterly inconsistent with the declaration in Celia's preceding speech, Looke, here comes the Duke. 36 Enter Duke with Lords. Rof. Let me loue him for that, and do you loue him. Because I doe. Cel. With his eies full of anger. Duk. Miftris, dispatch you with your safest haste, And get you from our Court. 40 Rof. Me Vncle. Duk. You Cofen, Within these ten daies if that thou beest found 45 So neere our publike Court as twentie miles, Rof. I doe befeech your Grace Let me the knowledge of my fault beare with me: 36. Scene IX. Pope +. 49 42, 43. me... You] me,... You, Rowe. 43. Cofen] Om. Han. "yet I hate not Orlando." [It must be confessed that by this omission of 'not' the text is rendered simpler, but at the cost of all archness or irony. Moreover, that most wholesome rule, as wholesome as it is venerable, should never be lost sight of: durior lectio preferenda'st, a necessity all the more urgent now-a-days, since it seems to be about the very last rule which occurs, if ever it does occur at all, to the minds of the emenders of Shakespeare's text.-ED.] 37. me... you] These are the emphatic words. 40. safest] SINGER suggests that this is probably a misprint for swiftest. COLLIER: The Duke means by this epithet to refer to the danger which would attend Rosalind if she delayed. The (MS) has fastest, but change seems undesirable. BLACKWOOD'S Magazine (1853, Aug., p. 197): ‘Safest haste '—that is, most convenient despatch— is much more probable than ‘fastest haste,' inasmuch as the lady to whom the words were addressed is allowed ten days to take herself off in. WHITE: In 'safest haste' there is an unconscious anticipation by the Duke of his subsequent threat. Besides, Shakespeare would not needlessly write 'fastest haste.' KEIGHTLEY: Safe is sure, certain, a sense which it retains in the Midland counties. MOBERLY: That is, the haste which is your best safety. 42. Vncle] ABBOTT, § 465, scans this line by dropping or softening' the le final in this word, thus: And gét | you fróm | our court. | Me, uncle? | You, coúsin. Unquestionably this dropping or softening of syllables containing a liquid, final or otherwise, in certain words, frequently takes place. But I do not think that we are to expect to find it in broken lines.-ED. 43. Cosen] SKEAT (Dict. s. v.): A near relative. Formerly applied to a kinsman generally, not in the modern restricted way. ....Low Latin cosinus, a contraction of Lat. consobrinus, the child of a mother's sister, a cousin, relation. 44, 51. if that] For other instances of that as a conjunctional affix see post, line 122; II, vii, 76; III, v, 99; IV, iii, 121; or Abbott, § 287, or Mer. of Ven. III, iii, 35; or Shakespeare passim. |