Orla. A man that had a wife with fuch a wit, he might fay,-Wit, whither wilt 9 ? Rf. Nay, you might keep that check for it, 'till you met your wife's wit going to your neighbour's bed. Orla. And what wit could wit have to excufe that? Rof. Marry, to fay,-fhe came to feek you there. You fhall never take her without her anfwer', unless you 9 -Wit, whither wilt?] This must be fome allufion to a ftory well known at that time, though now perhaps irretrievable. JOHNSON. This was an exclamation much in ufe, when any one was either talking nonfenfe, or ufurping a greater fhare in converfation than justly belonged to him. So, in Decker's Satiromaffix, 1602; "My fweet, Wit whither wilt thou, my delicate poetical fury, &c." Again, in Heywood's Royal King, 1637: "Wit-is the word ftrange to you? Wit? "Whither wilt thou?" And again, in More Diffemblers than Women, a comedy by Mid dleton. Again, in the Preface to Greene's Groatsworth of Wit, 1621: "Wit whither wilt thou? woe is me, "Th' haft brought me to this miferie." The fame expreffion occurs more than once in Taylor the waterpoet, and feems to have been the title of fome ludicrous performance. STEEVENS. Probably the allufion may be to the following performance: "The Wil of Wit, Wits Will or Wil's Wit, chufe you whether containing five difcourfes, the effects whereof follow: Reade and Judge Newly corrected and amended, being the fift time imprinted. Compiled by Nicholas Breton, gentleman, 4to. 1606." EDITOR. You all never take her without her anfwer,] See Chaucer's Marchantes Tale, ver. 10138-10149: "Ye, fire, quod Proferpine, and wol ye fo? "For you take her without her tongue. O that woman that cannot make her fault her husband's occafion", let her never nurfe her child herfelf, for fhe will breed it like a fool! Orla. For thefe two hours Rofalind, I will leave thee. Rof. Alas, dear love, I cannot lack thee two hours. Orla. I must attend the duke at dinner; by two o'clock I will be with thee again. Rof. Ay, go your ways, go your ways;-I knew what you would prove; my friends told me as much, and I thought no lefs that flattering tongue of yours won me :-'tis but one caft away, and fo,come, death.-Two o'the clock is your hour? Orla. Ay, fweet Rofalind. Rof. By my troth, and in good earnest, and so God mend me, and by all pretty oaths that are not dangerous, if you break one jot of your promife, or come one minute behind your hour, I will think you the moft pathetical break-promife, and the most hollow lover, and the moft unworthy of her you call Rofalind, that may be chofen out of the grofs band of the unfaithful: therefore beware my cenfure, and keep your promise. Orla. With no lefs religion, than if thou wert indeed my Rofalind: So, adieu. 2 "For lacke of anfwere, non of us fliul dien. "Al had ye feen a thing with bothe youre eyen, "And wepe and fwere and chiden fubtilly, ye "TYRWHITT. -make her fault her husband's occafion.] That is, reprefent her fault as occafioned by her husband. Sir T. Hanmer reads, ber bufband's accufation. JOHNSON. 3 I will think you the most pathetical break-promife.] The fame epithet occurs again in Love's Labour Loft, and with as little apparent meaning: moft pathetical nit." STEEVENS. Rof. Rof. Well, time is the old juftice that examines all fuch offenders, and let time try: Adieu ! [Exit Orlando. Cel. You have fimply mifus'd our fex in your loveprate we must have your doublet and hose pluck'd over your head, and fhew the world what the bird hath done to her own neft 4. Rof. O coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz, that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love! But it cannot be founded; my affection hath an unknown bottom, like the bay of Portugal. Cel. Or rather, bottomlefs; that as faft as you pour affection in, it runs out. Rof. No, that fame wicked baftard of Venus, that was begot of thought, conceiv'd of ipleen, and born of madness; that blind rafcally boy, that abuses every one's eyes, because his own are out, let him be judge, how deep I am in love --I'll tell thee, Aliena, I cannot be out of fight of Orlando : I'll go a fhadow, and figh 'till he come. Cel. And I'll fleep. SCENE II. Enter Jaques, Lords, and Forefters. Faq. Which is he that kill'd the deer? find [Exeunt. Jaq. Let's prefent him to the duke, like a Roman conqueror; and it would do well to fet the deer's horns upon his head, for a branch of victory :-Have you no fong, forefter for this purpose? For. Yes, fir. " And I 4 to her own neft.] So, in Lodge's Rofalynde. pray you (quoth Aliena) if your own robes were off, what metal are you made of that you are fo fatyricall against women? Is it mot a foule bird defiles the owne neft?" STEEVENS. Faq. Faq. Sing it 'tis no matter how it be in tune, so it make noise enough. Mufick, Song. 1. What shall he have, that kill'd the deer? Take thou no fcorns The rest fhall bear this bur den. [Exeunt. 4 His leather skin and horns to wear.] Shakspeare feems to have formed this fong on a hint afforded by the novel which furhifhed him with the plot of his play. "What news, Forrester? Haft thou wounded fome deere, and lot him in the fall? Care not, man, for fo fmall a loffe; thy fees was but the skinne, the shoulders, and the horns." Lodge's Rofalynd, or Euphues's Golden Legacie, 1592. For this quotation the reader is indebted to Mr. Malone. STEEVENS. 5 Take thou no fcorn] In former editions: Then fing him home, the reft fhall bear this burden. This is an admirable inftance of the fagacity of our preceding editors, to fay nothing worse. One fhould expect, when they were poets, they would at least have taken care of the rhimes, and not foilted in what has nothing to answer it. Now, where is the rhime to, the reft fhall bear this burden? Or, to ask another question, where is the fenfe of it? Does the poet mean, that He, that kill'd the deer, fhall be fung home, and the rest shall bear the deer on their backs? This is laying a burden on the poet, that we must help him to throw off. In fhort, the mystery of the whole is, that a marginal note is wifely thrust into the text: the fong being defign'd to be fung by a fingle voice, and the ftanzas to clofe with a burden to be fung by the whole company. THEOBALD. This note I have given as a fpecimen of Mr. Theobald's jocularity, and the eloquence with which he recommends his emendations. JOHNSON, SCENE 6 SCENE III. Enter Rofalind, and Celia. Rof. How fay you now? Is it not past two o'clock? and here's much Orlando ?! Cel. I warrant you, with pure love, and troubled brain, he hath ta'en his bow and arrows, and is gone forth to fleep: Look, who comes here." Enter Silvius. Sil. My errand is to you, fair youth;My gentle Phebe bid me give you this: [Giving a letter. I know not the contents; but, as I guefs, By the ftern brow, and wafpifh action Which the did ufe as fhe was writing of it, It bears an angry tenour: pardon me, I am but as a guiltlefs meflenger. Rof. [reading.] Patience herself would startle at And play the fwaggerer; bear this, bear all: 6 The foregoing noify fcene was introduced only to fill up an interval, which is to reprefent two hours. This contraction of the time we might impute to poor Rofalind's impatience, but that a few minutes after we find Orlando fending his excufe. I do not fee that by any probable divifion of the acts this abfurdity can be obviated. JOHNSON. 7 And here's much Orlando!] Thus the old copy. The modern editors read, but without the leaft authority. I wonder much, Orlando is not here. STEEVENS. The word much fhould be explained. It is an expreffion of latitude, and taken in various fenfes. Here's much Orlando-i. e. Here is no Orlando, or we may look for him. We have fill this use of it, as when we fay, fpeaking of a perfon who we fufpect will not keep his appointment, Ay, you will be fure to fee him there much! WHALLEY. Why |