CEL. Let us sit, and mock the good housewife, Fortune, from her wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally. Ros. I would we could do so; for her benefits are mightily misplaced and the bountiful blind woman doth most mistake in her gifts to women. CEL. 'Tis true: for those that she makes fair she scarce makes honest; and those that she makes honest she makes very ill-favouredly. Ros. Nay, now thou goest from fortune's office to nature's: fortune reigns in gifts of the world, not in the lineaments of nature. Enter TOUCHSTONE. CEL. No? When nature hath made a fair creature, may she not by fortune fall into the fire? Though nature hath given us wit to flout at fortune, hath not fortune sent in this fool to cut off the argument? Ros. Indeed, there is fortune too hard for nature; when fortune makes nature's natural the cutter off of nature's wit. b CEL. Peradventure, this is not fortune's work neither, but nature's; who perceiving our natural wits too dull to reason of such goddesses, hath sent this natural for our whetstone: for always the dulness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.-How now, wit? whither wander you? TOUCH. Mistress, you must come away to your father. CEL. Were you made the messenger? TOUCH. No, by mine honour; but I was bid to come for you. Ros. Where learned you that oath, fool? TOUCH. Of a certain knight, that swore by his honour they were good pancakes, and swore by his honour the mustard was naught: now, I'll stand to it, the pancakes were naught, and the mustard was good; and yet was not the knight forsworn d. CEL. How prove you that, in the great heap of your knowledge? Ros. Ay, marry; now unmuzzle your wisdom. TOUCH. Stand you both forth now: stroke your chins, and swear by your beards that I am a knave. CEL. By our beards, if we had them, thou art. TOUCH. By my knavery, if I had it, then I were: but if you swear by that that is not, you are not forsworn: no more was this knight, swearing by his honour, for he never had any; or if he had, he had sworn it away before ever he saw those pancakes or that mustard. ■ Cleopatra, in the presence of the dying Antony, uses the same image: "Let me rail so high, That the false housewife, Fortune, break her wheel.” 'Antony and Cleopatra,' Act IV., Scene 13. Perceiving. This is the reading of the second folio; the first has perceiveth. Malone reads, " and sent." • The wits. So the original copies;-in all the modern editions we have the arbitrary change of his wits. The propriety of the original meaning is obvious—our whetstone, the wits. When Richard III. (Act IV., Scene 4) swears "by my George, my garter, and my crown," Queen Elizabeth says he swears "by nothing: for this is no oath.” CEL. Prithee, who is 't that thou mean'st? TOUCH. One that old Frederick, your father, loves. CEL. My father's love is enough to honour him enough: speak no more of him; you'll be whipped for taxation, one of these days. TOUCH. The more pity, that fools may not speak wisely, what wise men do foolishly. CEL. By my troth, thou say'st true; for since the little wit that fools have was silenced, the little foolery that wise men have makes a great show. Here comes monsieur le Beau ". Enter LE BEAU. Ros. With his mouth full of news. CEL. Which he will put on us, as pigeons feed their young. Ros. Then shall we be news-crammed. CEL. All the better; we shall be the more marketable. Bon jour, monsieur le Beau: What's the news? LE BEAU. Fair princess, you have lost much good sport. CEL. Sport? Of what colour? Ros. As wit and fortune will. TOUCH. Or as the destinies decree. How shall I answer you? LE BEAU. You amaze me, ladies: I would have told you of good wrestling, which you have lost the sight of. Ros. Yet tell us the manner of the wrestling. LE BEAU. I will tell you the beginning, and, if it please your ladyships, you may see the end; for the best is yet to do; and here, where you are, they are coming to perform it. CEL. Well, the beginning, that is dead and buried. LE BEAU. There comes an old man, and his three sons, CEL. I could match this beginning with an old tale. LE BEAU. Three proper young men, of excellent growth and presence ;Ros. With bills on their necks,-"Be it known unto all men by these presents," f • Celia asks a question, to which the clown replies. The usurping Duke in the last scene is called duke Frederick. In the original this speech is given to Rosalind; but we have to choose between two mistakes-either that Shakspere in the last Act forgot the name of the Duke of the first Act, or that the printer gave a speech of Celia to Rosalind. We prefer to regulate the text upon the minor error. Taxation-satire. • The original has the instead of le. Laid on with a trowel-coarsely. A gross flatterer is still said to lay it on with a trowel. • Amaze-confuse. f It has been suggested that "with bills on their necks" should be spoken by Le Beau. The LE BEAU. The eldest of the three wrestled with Charles, the duke's wrestler; which Charles in a moment threw him, and broke three of his ribs, that there is little hope of life in him: so he served the second, and so the third: Yonder they lie; the poor old man, their father, making such pitiful dole over them, that all the beholders take his part with weeping. Ros. Alas! TOUCH. But what is the sport, monsieur, that the ladies have lost? LE BEAU. Why, this that I speak of. TOUCH. Thus men may grow wiser every day! it is the first time that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies. CEL. Or I, I promise thee. Ros. But is there any else longs to see this broken music in his sides? is there yet another dotes upon rib-breaking?-Shall we see this wrestling, cousin? LE BEAU. You must, if you stay here: for here is the place appointed for the wrestling, and they are ready to perform it. CEL. Yonder, sure, they are coming: Let us now stay and see it. Flourish. Enter Duke FREDERICK, Lords, Orlando, Charles, and Attendants. DUKE F. Come on; since the youth will not be entreated, his own peril on his forwardness. Ros. Is yonder the man? LE BEAU. Even he, madam. CEL. Alas, he is too young: yet he looks successfully. DUKE F. How now, daughter and cousin? are you crept hither to see the wrestling? Ros. Ay, my liege; so please you give us leave. DUKE F. You will take little delight in it, I can tell you, there is such odds in the man. In pity of the challenger's youth I would fain dissuade him, but he will not be entreated: Speak to him, ladies; see if you can move him. CEL. Call him hither, good monsieur le Beau. DUKE F. Do so; I'll not be by. [Duke goes apart. LE BEAU. Monsieur the challenger, the princess calls for you. ORL. I attend them, with all respect and duty. Ros. Young man, have you challenged Charles the wrestler? ORL. No, fair princess; he is the general challenger: I come but in, as others do, to try with him the strength of my youth. CEL. Young gentleman, your spirits are too bold for your years: You have seen cruel proof of this man's strength: if you saw yourself with your eyes, or "bills" would then be the war-bills or the forest-bills. The double meaning may be as naturally employed by Rosalind, in giving the whole speech to her, as in the original. a Odds in the man. So the folio; in modern editions, men. The meaning would appear to be, the challenger is unequal. The princess, in the folio. The ordinary reading is the princesses. When Orlando answers "I attend them," he looks towards Celia and Rosalind, but Celia only has called him. knew yourself with your judgment a, the fear of your adventure would counsel you to a more equal enterprise. We pray you, for your own sake, to embrace your own safety, and give over this attempt. b Ros. Do, young sir; your reputation shall not therefore be misprised: we will make it our suit to the duke that the wrestling might not go forward. ORL. I beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts, wherein I confess me much guilty to deny so fair and excellent ladies anything. But let your fair eyes and gentle wishes go with me to my trial: wherein if I be foiled, there is but one shamed that was never gracious; if killed, but one dead that is willing to be so: I shall do my friends no wrong, for I have none to lament me; the world no injury, for in it I have nothing; only in the world I fill up a place which may be better supplied when I have made it empty. Ros. The little strength that I have, I would it were with you. CEL. And mine, to eke out hers. Ros. Fare you well. Pray heaven, I be deceived in you! CEL. Your heart's desires be with you. CHA. Come, where is this young gallant that is so desirous to lie with his mother earth? ORL. Ready, sir; but his will hath in it a more modest working. DUKE F. You shall try but one fall. CHA. No, I warrant your grace; you shall not entreat him to a second, that have so mightily persuaded him from a first. ORL. You mean to mock me after; you should not have mocked me before: but come your ways. Ros. Now, Hercules be thy speed, young man! CEL. I would I were invisible, to catch the strong fellow by the leg. Ros. O excellent young man! [CHARLES and ORLANDO wrestle. CEL. If I had a thunderbolt in mine eye, I can tell who should down. DUKE F. No more, no more. [CHARLES is thrown. Shout. ORL. Yes, I beseech your grace; I am not yet well breathed. DUKE F. How dost thou, Charles? DUKE F. Bear him away. LE BEAU. He cannot speak, my lord. What is thy name, young man? [CHARLES is borne out. ORL. Orlando, my liege; the youngest son of sir Rowland de Bois. a Your eyes, &c. It has been proposed to read our eyes and our judgment. But Dr. Johnson interprets the passage according to the original: if you used your own eyes to see, or your own judgment to know yourself, the fear of your adventure would counsel you. Some would read herein, some therein. M. Mason says, "The hard thoughts that he complains of are the apprehensions expressed by the ladies of his not being able to contend with the wrestler." Hard thoughts! The tender interest which the ladies take in his safety to be called hard thoughts-to be complained of? Surely the meaning is, punish me not with your hard thoughts because I confess me much guilty to deny what you ask. Wherein is decidedly used in the sense of in that. DUKE F. I would thou hadst been son to some man else. Thou shouldst have better pleas'd me with this deed I would thou hadst told me of another father. [Exeunt Duke FRED., Train, and LE BEAU. CEL. Were I my father, coz, would I do this? His youngest son;—and would not change that calling a, Ros. My father lov'd sir Rowland as his soul, And all the world was of my father's mind: CEL. Ros. Gentle cousin, But justly as you have exceeded all promise", Gentleman, [Giving him a chain from her neck. Wear this for me,-one out of suits with fortune, CEL. Ros. He calls us back: My pride fell with my CEL. fortunes: I'll ask him what he would :-Did you call, sir?— More than your enemies. Will you go, coz? Ros. Have with you:-Fare you well. [Exeunt ROSALind and Celia. ORL. What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue? I cannot speak to her, yet she urg'd conference. Calling-name. But justly, &c. In the degree that you have gone beyond all expectation; but as justly. |