Sir Oli. Is there none here to give the woman? Clo. I will not take her on gift of any man. Sir Oli. Truly, the must be given, or the marriage is not lawful. Faq. [difcovering himself] Proceed, proceed; I'll give her. Clo. Good even, good master What ye çall'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 co vered. Faq. Will you be married, motley? Clo. 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 nibling. Jaq. And will you, being a man of your breeding, be married under a bufh, like a beggar? Get you to church, and have a good prieft that can tell you what marriage is this fellow will but join you together as they join wainscot; then one of you will prove a fhrunk pannel, and, like green timber, warp, warp. Clo. 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. Again "We'll all go to church together, and fo fave Sir John a labour." See Notes on The Merry Wives of Windfor, act i. fc. 1. STEEVENS. Degrees were at this time confidered as the highest dignities; and it may not be improper to obferve, that a clergyman, who hath not been educated at the Univerfities, is ftill diftinguished 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. 9-God'ild you] i e. God yield you, God reward Notes on Macbeth, act i. fc. 6. STEEVENS. 1cbis bow,] i, e. his yoke. STEEVENS. A a 3 you. See Jaq. faq. Go thou with me, and let me counsel thee, Clo. Come, fweet Audrey; We must be married, or we must live in bawdry. Farewell, good master Oliver! Not-O fweet Oliver, O brave Oliver, Leave me not behind thee ; But 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 miftrefs to be married, and fends away the man that fhould 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 vend, 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, fweet Audrey, we must be married, or we must live in bavdry. 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 arway, 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 fong 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. STEVEENS. Mr. Steevens's explanation is fully fupported by the fubfequent dialogue, between the Clown and Audrey, act v. fc. I. Clo But-Wind away, Begone, I fay, I will not to wedding with thee. Sir Oli. 'Tis no matter; ne'er a fantastical knave of them all fhall flout me out of my calling. [Exeunt. Clo. We fhall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Audrey. Aud. 'Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old gentleman's faying. MALONE. Ofweet Oliver. The epithet of feet feems to have been peculiarly appropriated to Oliver, for which perhaps he was origi nally obliged to the old fong before us. No more of it, however, than these two lines has as yet been produced. See Ben Jonfon's Underwood: "All the mad Rolands and fewest Olivers." And, in Every Man in his Humour, p 88, is the fame allufion : "Do not stink, fiveet Oliver." TYRWHITT. In the books of the Stationers' Company, Aug. 6, 1594, was entered by Richard Jones the ballad of, "Ojaveete Olyver "Leave me not behinde thee." Again, "The answere of O fweete Olyver." Again, in 1586: "O faveet Oliver 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, difcovering 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 ftill used provincially: and I believe, nothing but the provincial pronunciation is wanting to join the parts together. I read: "Not-O-fweet Oliver! "O brave Oliver! "Leave me not behi' thee. "But-wind away, "Begone, I fay, "I will not to wedding wi thee." FARMER. Wind is used for end in Cafar and Pompey, 1607: A a 4 STEEVENS. SCENE SCENE IV. A cottage in the foreft, Enter Rofalind and Celia. Rof. 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. Rof. But have I not cause to weep? Cel. As good caufe as one would defire; therefore weep. Rof. His very hair is of the diffembling colour. Cel. Something browner than Judas's: marry, his kiffes are Judas's own children. Ref. I'faith, his hair is of a good colour3.. Cel. An excellent colour: your chefnut was ever the only colour. Rof. And his kiffing is as full of fanctity as the touch of holy beard 4. Cel. He hath bought a pair of caft lips of Diana; a nun of winter's fifterhood kiffes not more religioufly; the very ice of chastity is in them, - Rof 2 Something browner than Judas's ;-] See notes on The Merry Wives of Windfor, act i. fc. 4. STEEVENS. 3 I faith, his hair is of a good colour.] There is much of nature in this petty perverfenefs of Rofalind; fhe finds fault in her lover, in hope to be contradicted, and when Celia in fportive malice too readily feconds her accufations, the contradicts herself rather than fuffer her favourite to want a vindication. JOHNSON. 4-as the touch of holy bread.] We fhould read beard, that is, as the kiss of an holy faint or hermit, called the kifs of charity. This makes the comparison juft and decent; the other impious and abfurd. WARBURTON. 5 a nun of winter's fifterhood] This is finely expreffed. But Mr. Theobald fays, the words give him no ideas. And 'tis certain, that words will never give men what nature has denied them. However, to mend the matter, he fubftitutes Winifred's fifterhood. And after so happy a thought, it was to no purpose to tell him there was no religious order of that denomination. The plain truth is, Shakspeare meant an unfruitful fifterhood, which had Rof. But why did he fwear he would cometh is morning, and comes not? Cel. Nay certainly, there is no truth in him, Cel. Yes: I think he is not a pick-purfe, nor a horse-stealer; but for his verity in love, I do think him as concave as a cover'd goblet, or a worm eaten nut. Rof. Not true in love? Cel. Yes, when he is in; but, I think, he is not in. Ref. You have heard him fwear downright, he was, Cel. Was, is not is: befides, the oath of a lover is no ftronger than the word of a tapfter; they are both the confirmers of falfe reckonings: He attends here in the foreft on the duke your father. Rof. I met the duke yesterday, and had much queftion with him: He asked me, of what parentage had devoted itself to chastity. For as those who were of the fisterhood of the spring, were the votaries of Venus; thofe of fummer, the votaries of Ceres; thofe of autumn, of Pomona: fo these of the fifterhood of winter were the votaries of Diana; called, of winter, because that quarter is not, like the other three, productive of fruit or increafe. On this account it is, that when the poet fpeaks of what is most poor, he inftances it in winter, in these fine lines of Othello: 39 "But riches endless is as poor as winter "To him that ever fears he hall be poor." The other property of winter that made him term them of its fifterhood is its coldnefs. So, in the Midsummer Night's Dream : "To be a barren fifter all your life, "Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitlefs moon." WARBURTON. There is certainly no need of Theobald's conjecture, as Dr. Warburton has moft effectually fupported the old reading. In one circumstance, however, he may have been miftaken. The Golden Legend, p. ccci, &c. gives a full account of St. Winifred and her filterhood. Edit. by Wynkyn de Worde, 1527. STEEVENS. 6 -às concave as a cover'd goblet,] Why a cover'd? Because a goblet is never kept cover'd but when empty. Shakspeare never throws out his expreffions at random. WARBURTON. 7much question] i. c. converfation. See vol. ii. p. 69. STEEVENS. |