was instantaneous; the well known boast made by Cæsar in his despatch to the Senate after defeating Pharnaces, King of Pontus, B.C. 47, Veni, vidi, vici. Cp. ii. H. IV. iv. 3. 45, Cymb. iii.

1. 24.

35. in these degrees, proceeding by these degrees; with a pun on degrees in its radical sense of 'step' and stairs in the next line.

36. incontinent, immediately; literally without putting any restraint upon themselves; cp. R. II. v. 6. 48, "put on sullen black incontinent"; Oth. iv. 3. 12, "He says he will return incontinent."

37. in the very ... love, in the very frenzy of love; wrath, used for the sake of the joke in the next line: they will together, nothing can keep them from coming together.

38. clubs them,"clubs' was originally the popular cry to call forth the London apprentices, who employed their clubs for the preservation of peace (Dyce); cp. T. A. ii. 1. 37, " Clubs, clubs! these lovers will not keep the peace.'

ور

39. bid, invite; literally to pray.

40. nuptial, singular, as generally (perhaps always, for the exceptions are of doubtful authority) in Shakespeare. On the other hand we have in J. C. iv. 3. 105, "his funerals," corresponding with the Lat. funera, F. funerailles.

40, 1. how bitter... eyes, how bitter it is to see a man in the enjoyment of a happiness denied to oneself.

41, 2. By... more, in proportion to the bitterness of seeing, etc. 45. cannot serve your turn, cannot do for a bride in the place of her you love so dearly.

47. I can thinking, no, for I can no longer live on imagina

tion.

...

50. of good conceit, "of good intelligence or mental capacity" (Wright).

52. insomuch say, because I say, for saying: know, emphatic.

53, 4. draw a belief... me, induce you to believe something the result of which will be to do, etc.

56. three year, see note on iii. 2. 284: conversed, associated; in which sense the substantive conversation occurs frequently.

57. damnable, deserving of condemnation, like most magicians. 58. gesture, bearing, outward demeanour.

59. cries it, for this indefinite use of it, see Abb. § 226. 62. inconvenient, displeasing, disagreeable.

63. human... danger, "that is, not a phantom, but the real Rosalind, without any of the danger generally conceived to attend the rites of incantation" (Johnson).

65. tender dearly, hold very precious; tender, in this sense, from F. tendre, adjective, tender, soft, delicate.

65, 6. though... magician, though my confession of being a magician exposes me to such dangers. Wright gives the purport of two severe statutes, 5 Elizabeth, cp. 16, and 1 James I., ch. 12, passed against magicians.

66, 7. put you...array, dress yourself in your best; put on the wedding garment.

72. study, aim.

74. followed, sc. as a suitor.

75. Look upon him, let your regard be given to him, not to me.

87. fantasy, fancy or imagination, with its unaccountable anticipations and apprehensions, as opposed to the calculations of reason" (Craik, on J. C. ii. 1. 197).

89. observance, readiness, anxiety, to meet the wishes of the loved one.

90. all impatience, all patience in enduring caprice, all impatience in longing for the reciprocation of love.

6

91. observance, for this word, which can hardly have been repeated by Shakespeare, obeisance,' ' obedience,' endurance,' deservance,' have been variously conjectured.

96. to love, for loving; the indefinite infinitive.

Why has been

99. Why... too, how come you also to say, etc. unnecessarily altered to 'who' or 'whom,' and too to 'to.'

102, 3. 'tis like... moon, Malone says that this is borrowed from Lodge's Novel, "I tell thee, Montanus, in courting Phoebe, thou barkest with the wolves of Syria against the moone ; but, as Caldecott remarks, in Lodge the phrase "imports an aim at impossibilities," while here it seems to mean nothing more than that Orlando's words are as discordant to her ears as the monotonous howling of wolves. Why Irish, no one has discovered. In i. H. IV. iii. 1. 240, 1, Hotspur says, "I had rather hear Lady, my brach, howl in Irish," as though the language were very discordant, and possibly there may be an allusion to Irish disaffection.

SCENE III.

...

4. dishonest, immodest, unchaste; cp. H. V. i. 2. 49, "holding in disdain the German women For some dishonest manners of their life"; so "dishonesty," M. W. iv. 2. 140, "Heaven be my witness you do, if you suspect me in any dishonesty," said by Mrs. Ford: to be world, "to be married, to commence housekeeper" (Dyce). Cp. M. A. ii. 1. 330, 1, "Thus goes every one to the world but I, ... I may sit in a corner and cry heigh-ho for a husband"; A. W. i. 3. 19, 20, "if I may have your ladyship's good will to go to the world, Isbel the woman and I will do as we may.'

8. We are for you, agreed.

وو

9. clap into 't roundly, go to work without more ado; cp. M. M. iv. 3. 43, "I would desire you to clap into your prayers, for, look you, the warrant 's come,' i.e. and you have no time to lose if you wish to make your peace with heaven; so, transitively, to 'clap on,' to put on hastily, A. C. iii. 10. 20; to 'clap to,' to shut hastily, Cor. i. 4. 51; to clap up,' to arrange hastily, T. S. ii. 1. 327: roundly, straightforwardly; cp. i. H. IV. i. 2. 24, T. S. iv. 4. 108: hawking, clearing the throat.

10, 1. which are... voice, which are only the tricks and excuses with which those conscious of a poor voice preface their singing; for the transposition of only, see Abb. § 420.

12. I'faith, certainly, by all means.

12, 3. and both in a tune, and both as one, in thorough unison.

14. It was, there was; for the singular verb preceding two plural substantives, see Abb. § 335.

15. With a hey... nonino, one of the unmeaning refrains common in old ballads.

17. the only ... time, "the aptest season for marriage (Steevens).

The

20. Between . rye, Ridgeway asks, "Is there not here a reference to the ancient system of open-field cultivation? The cornfield being in the singular implies that it was the special one of the common fields which is under corn for the year. common field being divided into acre-strips by balks of unploughed turf, doubtless on one of these green balks, Between the acres of the rye These pretty country folks would lie.'"

26. How that... flower, singing how a life faded as quickly as a flower; the verb is to be supplied from carol, 1. 24.

28. take, seize it before it eludes you.

30. For love... prime, for love attains its highest perfection. 32, 3. though there... untuneable, though the words of the songs had but little in them, the music was in keeping with the poverty of the thought. Instead of qualifying his unfavourable criticism by saying though the matter was worthless, the manner was good,' as the word though would imply that he was about to do, Touchstone unexpectedly condemns both ditty, literally anything dictated for writing, then a song, generally of a plaintive character; for untuneable Theobald conjectured 'untimeable,' which many editors adopt; but tune and time were formerly synonymous, and the page purposely substituted the one word for the other in order, as Wright says, "to give Touchstone an opening for another joke."

34. deceived, mistaken.

34, 5. we lost time, the page uses the words in the sense of singing in time.

36. time lost, time wasted.

SCENE IV.

4. As those... fear, like those who in hoping doubt whether they are not cherishing a phantom, but have no doubt as to the reality of their fear.

5. whiles... urged, while I again impress upon you the agreement made between each of you and myself; to urge is frequently used in Shakespeare simply as to mention, but here as a reiteration of the agreement made in Scene ii. it seems to mean 'impress.' 8. would I, I should be willing, desirous, to do.

11. be willing, the subjunctive implying doubt.

18. to make... even, to make everything smooth, to smooth away all difficulties; on 1. 25 below, Steevens compares M. M. iii. I. 41, "yet death we fear That makes these odds all even.”

22. Or else refusing me, or if you refuse me; to wed, that you will wed.

25. To make... even, to resolve, satisfy, all, etc.

27. lively, lifelike; cp. Tim. i. 1. 38, "livelier than life"; and the adverb in the same sense, Tim. v. 1. 85, W. T. v. 3. 19: touches, traits, as above, iii. 2. 131: favour, outward appearance.

32. desperate, in the sense that magicians, having made a compact with the devil, had no hope of salvation; cp. Temp., Epilogue, 15, 6, " And my ending is despair Unless I be relieved by prayer," said by Prospero in the character of a magician.

34. Obscured... forest, hidden somewhere within the recesses

of this forest; Obscured, with an allusion to the power of magicians in making themselves invisible, and perhaps in circle to the magic rings drawn by them in the practice of their art.

35. toward, in course of preparation; cp. M. N. D. iii. 1. 81, Haml. v. 2. 376.

36. coming to the ark, see Genesis, vii. 2.

39. motley-minded, like a Fool in mind, if not in dress.

42, 3. put me to my purgation, call upon me to clear myself of the doubt cast upon me: a measure, a grave and solemn dance resembling the minuet of later days.

44. politic, artful, cunning, diplomatic.

45, 6. and like... one, and was near having to go out' in one of them; like, on the point; cp. M. W. iv. 5. 119, "I was like to be apprehended for the witch of Brainford."

47. ta'en up, taken up, made up, accommodated; cp. below, 1. 91.

48, 9. was upon ... cause, had its basis in the seventh of those provocations to a quarrel recognized among gentlemen; see note on 1. 64, below: like, take into your good favour.

52. God 'ild you, a phrase used in returning thanks, corrupted from God yield you'; cp. above, iii. 3. 62: I desire... like, I have the same good wishes in respect to you; for of, in this sense, cp. M. V. iv. I. 402, “I do desire your grace of pardon."

53. country copulatives, rustics who are anxious to be coupled in marriage.

53-5. to swear... breaks, to take the binding oath of marriage and to break it afterwards: an ill-favoured thing, a wench plain enough in looks.

56. humour, fancy, caprice.
57. honesty, modesty, chastity.
58. your, see note on iii. 4. 10.

59. very

partees.

...

sententious, very ready and pithy in his re

60. According to, in the way of the fool's bolt, cp. H. V. iii. 7. 132, "A fool's bolt is soon shot," i.e. he is ready to aim his shafts (his words) at any mark.

60, 1. and such dulcet diseases, possibly means 'and such pleasant freaks of irrelevancy as a fool indulges in'; unless Touchstone is intended here to overshoot himself in aiming at wit.

...

64. Upon removed, "in Touchstone's calculation," says Halliwell, the quarrel really was, or rather depended upon, the