46, 7. to reason... goddesses, to discuss such a question as the gifts of herself and Fortune: for our whetstone, that in talking with him our wits may be sharpened; he, dull as he is, giving an edge to our wits as the blunt whetstone does to the razor.

49. the wits, sc. of people generally.

How now... .you? "Wit, whither wilt?" was a proverbial exclamation at any eccentricity or wandering thoughts. Here the Fool is addressed.

56. was naught, was worthless, not worth eating: stand to it, maintain by argument; cp. R. J. ii. 4. 157, "A gentleman..... that... will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month."

57, 8. and yet... forsworn, Caldecott compares R. III. iv. 4. 368, where Richard having sworn by his 'George,' his 'garter,' and his 'crown,' Elizabeth answers, "By nothing; for this is no oath," he having "profaned" the first, "blemished" the second, and "usurped" the third.

59, 60. in the great..... knowledge, out of the vast stores of your knowledge.

61. unmuzzle your wisdom, give free play to your wisdom.

71. old Frederick, in the folios the next speech is given to Rosalind, but it was Celia's father whose name was Frederick, as we find in v. 4. 146, and to her therefore the speech must be given, as Theobald conjectured, unless Frederick is here altered to some other name (Capell conjectured "Ferdinand, which Collier adopts); in the former case old can only be regarded, as Steevens says, 66 as an unmeaning term of familiarity. It is still in use and has no reference to age." To me this is not satisfactory. The speech looks much more like Rosalind's than Celia's, and it is quite possible that the name was an inadvertence of Shakespeare's.

73. for taxation, for your impudence in satirizing people.

75. The more pity, the greater the pity; all the more is it to be regretted.

81. put on us, force upon us, thrust into our hearing as pigeons thrust food into the mouths of their young; cp. W. T. i. 2. 91, 2, cram's with praise, and make's As fat as tame things."

83. the more marketable, sc. as being plumper.

86. of what colour, Collier supposes that Le Beau affectedly pronounced sport as spot, and hence Celia's answer; Wright takes colour as = kind, nature, as in Lear, ii. 2. 145, "This is a fellow of the self-same colour Our sister speaks of"; if so, Le Beau did not recognize this use of the word.

90. laid... trowel, a proverbial phrase for doing a thing with no light hand, no delicacy; dabbing something down, whether flattery or, as here, a forcible remark, with the swish and volume with which a mason dabs down the mortar when laying a course of bricks.

91. if I keep not my rank, seems to mean, if I am jostled out of my place as I am marching, i. e. if I am so interrupted that I cannot relate what I have to tell. For the pun in the next line upon rank in the sense of offensively scented, cp. Cymb. ii. 1. 17, 8.

93. amaze, bewilder, confuse, confound.

97, 8. to do, for the infinitive active where we now more commonly use the passive, see Abb. § 350.

99. that is... buried, that's a thing of the past with which we have nothing more to do.

100. There comes, for the inflection in -s preceding a plural subject, see Abb. § 335.

102. proper, comely, fine looking; Lat. proprius, own, that which belongs to a person, then, what becomes him.

103. presence, personal appearance, mien.

104, 5. With bills... presents.', Le Beau's description of the three young men resembling legal phraseology, Rosalind banters him by continuing it in the form in which legal advertisements ran, Know all men,' etc., with a pun upon presence and presents, i.e. legal writings, and a further pun upon bills, advertisements, and bills, weapons carried by foresters and watchmen. Farmer points out that the phrase was suggested by a passage in Lodge's Rosalynde, the novel from which the plot of the play is taken, "Ganimede on a day sitting with Aliena (the assumed names as in the play), cast up her eye and saw where Rosader came pacing towards them with his forest-bill on his necke."

107. which Charles, and the said Charles; on which with the repeated antecedent, see Abb. § 269.

110. dole, lamentation; cp. M. N. D. v. 1. 283, "What dreadful dole is here!"

111. take ..... weeping, show their sympathy with him by tears. 119. I promise thee, I assure you.

120. any else longs, any one else who desires; for the omission of the relative, see Abb. § 244: to see, to experience; if the text is genuine. Johnson conjectured feel, which Dyce and Walker adopt: broken music, Wright gives the following explanation communicated to him by Chappell: "Some instruments, such as viols, violins, flutes, etc., were formerly made in sets of four,

consort.' If one or

which when played together formed a inore of the instruments of one set were substituted for the corresponding ones of another set, the result is no longer a 'consort,' but 'broken music.""

122. Shall... cousin? Clarke suggests that Shall should be slightly emphasized in order to indicate Rosalind's reluctance to witness sport of so dangerous a nature.

125. now, i.e. since it is too late for us to escape.

128. his own... forwardness, he may thank his own persistency for the danger into which he has run.

131. looks successfully, looks like one likely to succeed, if one may trust to his proud bearing.

134. so please you, if it so please you as to, etc.

136. there is... men, the two men are so unequally matched. The folios read man which Hanmer, who has been followed by nearly all modern editors, altered to men. A writer in Blackwood's Magazine, Aug. 1853, defends man, taking odds as= superiority, and Wright supports this view by comparing L. L. L. i. 2. 183, " Cupid's butt-shaft is too hard for Hercules' club; and therefore too much odds for a Spaniard's rapier. But it seems unlikely that the Duke not having yet spoken of Charles, should now call him "the man"; odds is used by Shakespeare both as a singular and a plural noun.

137. he will not be entreated, he will not listen to any entreaties.

140. I'll not be by, I will go aside, i.e. in order that Orlando may not refuse to listen to the ladies from a sense of shame at withdrawing his challenge in the presence of the Duke before whom he had made it.

141. the princesses call, the folios read the princesse,' or 'princess,' 'cals' or 'calls.' The reading in the text is Theobald's. The singular is defended by some who suppose that though Celia alone called him, Orlando, seeing Rosalind also, uses the plural them. Dyce gives "the princess' call," a form of the plural as he prints it in Temp. i. 2. 173.

143. attend, wait upon, am ready to receive their commands. 145, 6. I come but in, I merely enter the lists; for the transposition of but, cp. above, 1. 3.

148-50. if you saw... judgement, if you made a proper use of your senses, comparing Charles's superior strength with your own, and considering his well-known skill; cp. Cassius's remarks, J. C. i. 2. 51 et seqq., to Brutus on his inability to judge of his own merits. But there is no need to change your... your into our... our, as some editors do.

150. the fear... adventure, the fear of what would be the result of venturing to wrestle with Charles.

151. more equal, in which you would not be at such a disadvantage.

...

152. embrace safety, seize the opportunity offered you of avoiding the danger.

153. therefore, because of your withdrawing.

154. misprised, undervalued; cp. above, i. 1. 149.

154, 5. we will... forward, we will undertake to do our best to persuade the Duke to put a stop to the wrestling; i.e. so that the fact of his not encountering Charles might appear to be owing to the wrestling_being stopped, not to any shrinking on the part of Orlando. For other instances of the irregular sequence of tenses, see Abb. § 370; here might seems to indicate deference.

155. punish... thoughts, do not make me miserable by having so poor an opinion of my capacities.

157, 8. wherein... thing, it has been proposed to alter wherein to herein, or to omit the word altogether. Malone supposes an ellipse, which, however, I confess, I deserve to incur, for denying,' etc. Wright thinks we must supply as antecedent some such expression as 'in this business,' or, as Malone suggests, of my abilities.' As who is frequently equivalent to 'and he,' 'for he,' etc., so I think we may here take wherein as = though here, sc. in denying (to deny, the indefinite infinitive) anything to such ladies, I confess myself guilty of a great crime.

159. go with me, accompany me as encouragements.

160. gracious, graced by the favour of any; cp. T. A. i. 1. 429, "if ever Tamora Were gracious in those princely eyes of thine."

163. only... place, in the world I do but fill, etc. For the transposition of only, see Abb. §§ 420, 1.

167. to eke out, to add to and make sufficient; 2. 23, "To eke it and to draw it out in length.' augment.

cp. M. V. iii. A.S. écan, to

168. deceived in you, i.e. in the poor opinion she has of his strength and capability to encounter Charles.

174. You shall ... fall, I will only allow you one bout with Charles.

175. No, because the Duke's words are equivalent to 'you shall not try more,' etc.: you shall not entreat him, you will assuredly not be able to persuade him.

177. You mean..... after, you evidently mean to jeer at me when

I am beaten, as you take it for granted I shall be. Theobald inserted An before You.

178. come your ways, come along and let us begin; ways, the old genitive used adverbially, on your way; frequent in Shakespeare with come and go.

179. be thy speed, speed you, give you success; the old sense of the word.

180. to catch, so that I might catch.

183, 4. I can tell... down, I know whom I would crush with it.

186, 7. well breathed, sufficiently exercised to put forth all my strength; cp. T. S., Ind. ii. 50, "as swift As breathed stags, i.e. stags that having run some distance have got their full wind, and are now in a condition to put out their best powers.

195. still, ever.

196. shouldst, would have been sure to.

197. house, family, stock.

199. hadst told... father, had been able to say that you were somebody else's son.

200. would I do this? do you think I would speak in this way? i.e. you know well I should not speak, etc.

202. His youngest son,-, yes, even his youngest son; the sentence is broken off: calling, appellation; not elsewhere in this sense.

204. as his soul, as something beyond all measure precious to him.

205. of... mind, of the same opinion.

206. his son, i.e. to be his son.

207. unto, in addition to; cp. R. II. v. 3. 97, "Unto my mother's prayers I bend my knee," i.e. in support of.

209. Let us... him, the idea is not so much that of expressing gratitude as that of courteously trying to make up for her father's rude speech.

210. envious, spiteful, resentful.

211. Sticks me at heart, pierces me to my heart. Furness regards at heart as an instance of the absorption of the definite article in the dental termination of at."

212, 3. If you do... promise, if in matters of love your promises are fulfilled only as honourably as in this matter of the wrestling the expectation formed of you has been fulfilled and even exceeded. For the metre's sake I have followed Capell, Steevens, and others in omitting 'all' before promise.

214. shall, is certain to be.