་་ Touch. Well, praised be the gods for thy foulness! sluttishness may come hereafter. But be it as it may be, I will marry thee: and to that end, I have been with Sir Oliver Mar-text, the vicar of the next village; who hath promised to meet me in this place of the forest, and to couple us. Jaq. I would fain see this meeting. [Aside. Touch. Amen. A man may, if he were of a fearful heart, stagger in this attempt; for here we have no temple but the wood, no assembly but horn-beasts. But what though? Courage! As horns are odious, they are necessary. It is said,-Many a man knows no end of his goods: right; many a man has good horns, and knows no end of them. Well that is the dowry of his wife; 'tis none of his own getting." Horns? Even so: -Poor men alone? No, no; the noblest deer hath them as huge as the rascal.3 Is the single man therefore blessed? No: as a wall'd town is more worthier than a village, so is the forehead of a married man more honourable than the bare brow of a bachelor: and by how much defence is better than no skill, by so much is a horn more precious than to want. Enter Sir OLIVER MAR-TEXT. 2 what though?] What then? Johnson. 3 the rascal.] Lean, poor deer, are called rascal deer. 4— Harris. defence-] Defence, as here opposed to "no skill," signifies the art of fencing. Thus, in Hamlet: "-- and gave you such a masterly report, for arts and exercise in your defence." Steevens. 5 sir Oliver:] He that has taken his first degree at the university, is in the academical style called Dominus, and in common language was heretofore termed Sir. This was not always a word of contempt; the graduates assumed it in their own writings; so Trevisa the historian writes himself Syr John de Trevisa. Johnson. We find the same title bestowed on many divines in our old comedies. So, in Wily Beguiled: Sir John cannot tend to it at evening prayer; for there comes a company of players to town on Sunday in the afternoon, and Sir John is so good a fellow, that I know he 'll scarce leave their company, to say evening prayer." Are horns given to poor men alone?" This correct. of the Md. fol. make, Malone's curious arrangement unnecessary well met: Will you despatch us here under this tree, or shall we go with you to your chapel? Sir Oli. Is there none here to give the woman? Sir Oli. Truly, she must be given, or the marriage is not lawful. Jaq. [discovering himself] Proceed, proceed; I'll give her. Touch. Good even, good master What ye call 't: How do you, sir? You are very well met: God 'ild you for your last company: I am very glad to see you:-Even a toy in hand here, sir:-Nay; pray, be cover❜d. Jaq. Will you be married, motley? 7 Touch. As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his curb, and the faulcon her bells, so man hath his desires; and as pigeons bill, so wedlock would be nibbling. Jaq. And will you, being a man of your breeding, be married under a bush, like a beggar? Get you to church, and have a good priest 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 shrunk pannel, and, like green timber, warp, warp. Touch. 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 excuse for me hereafter to leave my wife. [Aside. Again: "We'll all go to church together, and so save Sir John a labour." See notes on The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act I, sc. i. Steevens. Degrees were at this time considered as the highest dignities; and it may not be improper to observe, that a clergyman, who hath not been educated at the Universities, is still distinguished in some 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 History of the Guedir Family. Nichols. 6 God 'ild you] i. e. God yield you, God reward you. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "And the gods yield you for 't!" See notes on Macbeth, Act I, sc. vi. 7 Steevens. his bow,] i. e. his yoke. The ancient yoke in form resembled a bow. See note on The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act V. Steevens. Jaq. Go thou with me, and let me counsel thee. We must be married, or we must live in bawdry. Not-O sweet Oliver, O brave Oliver,8 Leave me not behi' thee; But-Wind away, Begone, I say, I will not to wedding "wi' thee. Not-O sweet Oliver, [Exeunt JAQ. TOUCH. and AUD. O brave &c.] Some words of an old ballad. Warburton. Of this speech as it now appears, I can make nothing, and think nothing can be made. In the same breath he calls his mistress to be married, and sends away the man that should marry them. Dr. Warburton has very happily observed, that O sweet Oliver is a quotation from an old song; I believe there are two quotations put in opposition to each other. For wind I read wend, the old word for go. Perhaps the whole passage may be regu lated 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 excuse for me hereafter to leave my wife.-Come, sweet Audrey; we must be married, or we must live in bawdry. Jaq. Go thou with me, and let me counsel thee. [They whisper. Clo. Farewel, good sir Oliver, not O sweet Oliver, O brave Oliver, leave me not behind thee,-but Wend away, I will not to wedding with thee to-day. Of this conjecture the reader may take as much as shall appear necessary to the sense, or conducive to the humour. I have received all but the additional words. The song seems to be complete without them. Johnson. The Clown dismisses Sir Oliver only because Jaques had alarmed his pride, and raised his doubts, concerning the validity of a marriage solemnized by one who appears only in the character of an itinerant preacher. He intends afterwards to have recourse to some other of more dignity in the same profession. Dr. Johnson's opinion, that the latter part of the Clown's speech is only a repetition from some other ballad, or perhaps a different part of the same, is, I believe, just. O brave Oliver, leave me not behind you, is a quotation at the beginning of one of N. Breton's Letters, in his Packet, &c. 1600. Steevens. Sir Oli. 'Tis no matter; ne'er a fantastical knave of them all shall flout me out of my calling. [Exit. That Touchstone is influenced by the counsel of Jaques, may be inferred from the subsequent dialogue between the former and Audrey, Act V, sc. i: Touch. We shall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Aud rey. Aud. 'Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old gentleman's saying. Malone. O sweet Oliver. The epithet of sweet seems to have been pe culiarly appropriated to Oliver, for which, perhaps, he was originally obliged to the old song before us. No more of it, however, than these two lines has as yet been produced. See Ben Jonson's Underwood: "All the mad Rolands and sweet Olivers." And, in Every Man in his Humour, p. 88, is the same allusion: "Do not stink, sweet Oliver." Tyrwhitt. In the books of the Stationers' Company, Aug. 6, 1584, was entered, by Richard Jones, the ballad of "sweete Olyver "Leave me not behinde thee." Again: "The answere of O sweete Olyver." Again, in 1586: “O sweete Olyver altered to the Scriptures." Steevens. I often find a part of this song applied to Cromwell. In a pa-per called, A Man in the Moon, discovering a World of Knavery under the Sun, "the juncto will go near to give us the bagge, if O brave Oliver come not suddenly to relieve them." The same allusion is met with in Cleveland. Wind away and wind off are still used provincially: and, I believe, nothing but the provincial pronunciation is wanting to join the parts together. I read: Not-O sweet Oliver! To produce the necessary rhyme, and conform to the pronunciation of Shakspeare's native county, I have followed Dr. Farmer's direction. Wind is used for wend in Cæsar and Pompey, 1607: "Winde we then, Antony, with this royal queen." Again, in the MS. romance of the Sowdon of Babyloyne, p. 63: "And we shalle to-morrowe as stil as stoon, "The Saresyns awake e'r ye wynde." Steevens. SCENE IV. The same. Before a Cottage. Enter ROSALIND and CELIA. Ros. Never talk to me, I will weep. Cel. Do, I pr'ythee; but yet have the grace to consider, that tears do not become a man. Ros. But have I not cause to weep? Cel. As good cause as one would desire; therefore weep. Ros. His very hair is of the dissembling colour. kisses are Judas's own children. Ros. I' faith, his hair is of a good colour.1 marry, his Cel. An excellent colour: your chesnut was ever the only colour. Ros. And his kissing is as full of sanctity as the touch of holy bread.2 Cel. He hath bought a pair of cast lips of Diana: 3 a nun of winter's sisterhood kisses not more religiously; the very ice of chastity is in them. 9 Something browner than Judas's:] See Mr. Tollet's note and mine, on a passage in the fourth scene of the first Act of The Merry Wives of Windsor, from both which it appears that Judas was constantly represented in ancient painting or tapestry, with red hair and beard. So, in The Insatiate Countess, 1613: "I ever thought by his red beard he would prove a Judas." Steevens. 1 I' faith, his hair is of a good colour.] There is much of nature in this petty perverseness of Rosalind: she finds fault in her lover, in hope to be contradicted, and when Celia in sportive malice too readily seconds her accusations, she contradicts herself rather than suffer her favourite to want a vindication. 2 Johnson. as the touch of holy bread.] We should read beard, that is, as the kiss of an holy saint or hermit, called the kiss of charity. This makes the comparison just and decent; the other impious and absurd. Warburton. 3 — a pair of cast lips of Diana:] i. e. a pair left off by DiTheobald. ana. a nun of winter's sisterhood-] This is finely expressed. But Mr. Theobald says, the words give him no ideas. And it is certain, that words will never give men what nature has denied them. However, to mend the matter, he substitutes Winifred's |