Clo. Nay, if I keepe not my ranke. 103 Rof. Thou loofeft thy old fmell. Le Beu. You amaze me Ladies : I would haue told you of good wraftling, which you haue loft the fight of. Rof. Yet tell vs the manner of the Wraftling. Le Beu. I wil tell you the beginning and if it please your Ladiships, you may see the end, for the best is yet to doe, and heere where you are, they are comming to performe it. : Cel. Well, the beginning that is dead and buried. 103. ranke.] rank― Rowe et seq. 104. loofeft] lofeft F 113. fons.] sons,— Theob. et seq. The phrase carries its own explanation to every man, woman, or child who has ever watched a mason at work. TIECK (p. 309), premising that the phrase, 'be it proverbial or not, is incomprehensible,' wonders if there be not herein a malicious allusion to Ben Jonson, who, as all the world knew, had been, in his youth, a mason.' It is to be feared that Gifford would have emptied the printer's case of exclamation-marks after this suggestion of Tieck's, had he ever seen it.—ED.] 103. ranke] CALDECOTT: Rank' is quality or place. The unsavory perversion of Rosalind's is obvious. So also in Cym. II, i, 17. COWDEN-CLARKE: Touchstone as the professional jester, uses this word 'rank' to express 'rate of talking,' 'way of following up one joke with another;' while Rosalind puns upon it in the sense of ' rancid,' 'offensively scented.' 104. old smell] NEIL: Holinshed says: The making of new gentlemen bred great strife sometimes among the Romans, I meane when those which were Novi homines were more allowed of for their virtues newlie seene and shewed, than the old smell of ancient race latelie defaced,' &c.-Description of England, chap v. [p. 162, ed. 1574]. Rosalind banters Touchstone by taking 'rank,' meaning own place, to signify true station in one sense, and strong-scented in another, and so employs this equivoque. 105. amaze] JOHNSON: This is not to astonish or strike with wonder, but to perplex, to confuse, so as to put out of the intended narrative. WRIGHT: The word amazement' was originally applied to denote the confusion of mind produced by any strong emotion, as in Mark xiv, 33: 'And they began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy.' 110. to doe] ABBOTT, § 359: The infinitive active is often found where we use the passive, as in such a storm As oft 'twixt May and April is to see,' Lov. Com. 102. This is especially common in 'what's to do' (Twel. N. III, iii, 18) for 'what's to be done.' So in Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust.'—Sonn. 129, that is, not to be trusted. 113. There comes] ABBOTT, § 335: When the subject is as yet future, and, as it were, unsettled, the third person singular might be regarded as the normal inflection. Such passages are very common, particularly in the case of "There is.' See Oth. I, i, 188: Is there not charms.' See also V, 11, 76 of the present play. Cel. I could match this beginning with an old tale. Le Beu. Three proper yong men, of excellent growth and prefence. 115 Rof. With bils on their neckes: Be it knowne vnto all men by these presents. 118 115. proper] CALDECOTT: That is, of good figure and proportion. 117, 118. WARBURTON supposes that Rosalind and Touchstone are playing 'at a kind of cross purposes,' and to serve out Rosalind for catching him up in line 104, Touchstone now, 'to be quits with her, puts in-" Know all men by these presents." She spoke of an instrument of war, and he turns it to an instrument of law of the same name, beginning with these words: So that they must be given to him.' FARMER says, "With bills on their necks” should be the conclusion of Le Beau's speech.' [Thus between Warburton and Farmer no word of the speech is left to Rosalind at all.] Farmer continues: 'Mr Edwards ridicules Dr Warburton, "As if people carried such instruments of war as bills and guns on their necks, not on their shoulders " But unluckily the ridicule falls upon himself. Lassels, in his Voyage of Italy, says of tutors, "Some persuade their pupils that it is fine carrying a gun upon their necks." But what is still more, the expression is taken immediately [from Lodge's novel.' See Appendix, p. 362]. JOHNSON: Where meaning is so very thin as in this vein of jocularity it is hard to catch, and therefore I know not well what to determine; but I cannot see why Rosalind should suppose that competitors in a wrestling match carried bills on their shoulders, and I believe the whole conceit is in the poor resemblance of presence and presents. CAPELL: The humour of Rosalind's speech, such as it is, took it's rise from Le Beu's word 'presence.' 'Bills' are-labels. STEEVENS added others to Farmer's proof from Lodge's novel, of the practice of wearing bills on the neck; in Sidney's Arcadia [book i, p. 68, ed. 1598] 'Dametus. ... with a sword by his side, a Forrest bill on his necke.' Again in Rowley's When You See Me You Know Me, a stage direction conveys almost the same idea 'Enter King and Compton with bills on their backs' [p. 28, ed. Elze]. M. MASON (p. 81) believed that neither an instrument of war, nor one of law, was meant by 'bill,' but merely a label or advertisement, as we say a play-bill, a hand-bill. CALDECOTT: From the [foregoing] instances it is highly probable that an allusion is here made to the undoubted usage of bills, forest-bills, and bats' being carried on the neck; although the leading idea holden out is manifestly that of 'scrolls or labels,' with an inscription running in a legal form, and for the purpose of a conceit between 'presence' and 'presents.' 'The watchman's weapon,' says DOUCE (ii, 51), was the bill; but Stowe (Annal. p. 1040, ed. 1631) informs us that when prentizes and journeymen attended upon their masters and mistresses in the night, they went before them carrying a lanthorne and candle in their hands and a great long club on their necks.' COLLIER (ed. i) is inclined to accept Farmer's distribution of the speeches. 'Lodge calls the father "a lustie Franklin of the country" with "two tall men that were his sonnes," and they would properly be furnished "with bills on their necks." DYCE adopted Farmer's emendation in his first edition, and remained constant to it in his Le Beu. The eldest of the three, wraftled with Charles the Dukes Wraftler, which Charles in a moment threw him, and broke three of his ribbes, that there is little hope of life in him: So he seru'd the second, and so the third yonder they lie, the poore old man their Father, making fuch pittiful dole ouer them, that all the beholders take his part with weeping. : Rof. Alas. Clo. But what is the sport Monfieur, that the Ladies haue loft? 120 125 Le Beu. Why this that I fpeake of. Clo. Thus men may grow wifer euery day. It is the first time that euer I heard breaking of ribbes was sport for Ladies. 130 Cel. Or I, I promise thee. Rof. But is there any elfe longs to fee this broken 134 127. Monfieur] Mounfieur Ff. 129. this] this is F, Rowe i. 134. fee] set Theob. Han. Warb. Cap. feel Johns. conj. Walker, Dyce iii, Huds. Coll. iii. subsequent editions, pronouncing it undoubtedly right; for if they [i. e. the words "with bills on their necks"] are spoken by Rosalind, the whole humour of the passage evaporates.' [This, I think, is somewhat too strongly expressed. And yet Farmer's suggestion is so ingenious that I am inclined to say 'Ditto to Dr Johnson,' and confess that I know not well what to determine.'-ED.] 120. which Charles] ABBOTT, § 269: Which being an adjective frequently accompanies the repeated antecedent, where definiteness is desired or where care must be taken to select the right antecedent. This repetition is, perhaps, more common with the definite the which.' See post II, i, 36; II, vii, 125. 121. that] For the frequent omission of so before that, see Abbott, § 283. 126. Alas] CoWDEN-CLARKE: It is often by such apparently slight touches as these that Shakespeare depicts the moral perfection of his characters and gives them their crowning charm. By this single word he shows us Rosalind pausing in the full career of her sportive word-bandying, struck with pity for the poor old father's grief. His women are always true women; not mere heedless, heartless wits, but witty from the very depths of their sweet and sensitive natures. 134-136. But... Cosin] In the Cambridge Edition there is recorded an Anonymous conjecture whereby this speech is given to Touchstone as far as 'rib-breaking.' To Rosalind is given the rest: 'Shall we see this wrastling, Cosin ?' 134. any else longs] For the omission of the relative in this very elliptical phrase ('any one else who longs'), see ABBOTT, § 244, where many parallel instances are given. 134. see this broken Musicke] WARBURTON asserts that the pleasantry of Rosalind's repartee must consist in the allusion she makes to composing in music. It Musicke in his fides? Is there yet another doates vpon rib-breaking? Shall we fee this wraftling Cofin? 135 Le Beu. You must if you stay heere, for heere is the place appointed for the wraftling, and they are ready to performe it. 138. for the] for Ff, Rowe. 139 necessarily follows, therefore,' so he says, 'that the poet wrote-set this broken music.' This emendation received CAPELL's approval. HEATH (p. 145): Possibly it might be 'get this broken music.' JOHNSON: If any change were necessary, I should write 'feel this broken music.' But 'see' is the colloquial term for perception or experiment. So we say every day: see if the water be hot; I will see which is the best time; she has tried, and sees that she cannot lift it. In this sense'see' may be here used. CALDECOTT paraphrases: witness the crash made by his broken bones; get so rough a handling. WALKER (Crit. ii, 299): Feele, surely; and so Johnson conjectures, although he doubts whether any change is required. DYCE (ed. iii) adopted this emendation, remarking that the error 'see' was evidently derived from the close of the speech,Shall we see this wrestling, cousin ?' It may be as Dyce says, but I always mistrust these 'errors of anticipation.' What has once passed through a compositor's mind, and under his fingers, may, it is conceivable, readily recur. But the case is altered when the error is in the future. Why is it not simpler to take Walker's explanation that the error arose from the confusion, a confusion very, very common, of the long s and ƒ? Rosalind repeats her question with a variation; since the second time she refers to the wrestler, and not to a spectator, it seems but natural that she should have referred in the first question also to the wrestler-an additional reason for adopting Dr Johnson's emendation.—ED.] 134, 135. broken Musicke] WRIGHT: This was first explained by Mr Chappell (Popular Music, &c, p. 246) as the music of a string band. But he has since altered his opinion, and has kindly favoured me with the following explanation: Some instruments, such as viols, violins, flutes, &c., were formerly made in sets of four, which when played together formed a 'consort.' If one or more 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.' The expression occurs in Hen. V: V, ii, 263, 'Come, your answer in broken music; for thy voice is music and thy English broken.' And Bacon, Essay xxxvii, p. 156: 'I understand it, that the Song be in Quire, placed aloft, and accompanied with some broken musicke.' 136. Shall... Cosin] COWDEN-CLARKE suggests that this should be uttered in a tone to indicate the purpose not to see it. BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE (April, 1833, p. 549, qu. Campbell?): Ought Rosalind to have remained to see the wrestling after having been told by Le Beau that Charles had thrown the three sons of the old man, and left them lying on the ground with broken ribs and little hope of life? On hearing of the rib-breaking Rosalind only said, 'Alas!' Probably she would no have gone to see the wrestling, for she asks Celia's advice; but Celia replies, ‘Yonder, sure, they are coming; let us now stay and see it.' And there is Orlando. Is yonder the man?' asks Rosalind; and would you have had her to leave him, who, alas! is too young, but looks successfully,' in the hold of the Duke's wrestler, without sending strength to all his sinews from the sympathy shining in her troubled eyes? As for 140 Cel. Yonder fure they are comming. Let vs now stay and fee it. Flourish. Enter Duke, Lords, Orlando, Charles, Duke. Come on, fince the youth will not be intreated His owne perill on his forwardnesse. 145 Rof. Is yonder the man? Le Beu. Euen he, Madam. Cel. Alas, he is too yong yet he looks fucceffefully 150 Du. How now daughter, and Coufin: Are you crept hither to see the wraftling? Rof. I my Liege, so please you giue vs leaue. Du. You wil take little delight in it, I can tell you there is such oddes in the man: In pitie of the challen 142. Duke] Duke Frederick. Rowe. Duke junior. Cap. Scene VI. Pope +. 144. intreated] entreated FF. 149. Coufin] Cofin Ff. 151. ] Ay, Rowe. 152. you] you, Ff. 153 153. in the] on the Anon. (ap. Cam Ed.) man] men Han. Warb. Johns, Cap. Steev. Mal. Sing. Wh. i, Dyce, Sta, Coll. (MS) ii, iii, Ktly, Rlfe, Huds. the vulgarity of wrestling, 'tis a pretty pastime; and then Orlando could do nothing vulgar. 145. ALLEN (MS): Instead of 'his forwardness is at his own peril,' it is to be understood as his danger is based upon his own forwardness.' 150. Are you crept] For instances of some few intransitive verbs, mostly of motion, with which be and have are used, see ABBOTT, § 295. 153. oddes in the man] CAPELL pronounced Hanmer's change 'palpably neces sary.' CALDECOTT evidently refers 'man' to Orlando; and paraphrases: the chal lenger is so little of a match.' COLLIER, in his first edition, agrees with Caldecott, in his second and third he was overborne by his old Corrector.' BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE (Aug. 1853, p. 197): We take leave to say that Hanmer was not right in altering 'man' to men. What is meant to be said is, 'there is such superiority (of strength) in the man,' and 'odds' formerly signified superiority, as may be learnt from the following sentence of Hobbes: The passion of laughter,' says Hobbes, 'proceedeth from the sudden imagination of our own odds and eminency.' DYCE defends Hanmer's change: If Shakespeare had here written "man (meaning Orlando), he surely would not immediately after have written "In pity of the challenges youth," &c., but “In pity of his youth," &c. Nor, on carefully considering the passage, can I think more favourably of the old reading, because a critic in Blackwood's Magazine confidently maintains [as above]. A little above [line 146] "man" is applied to Orlando, and a little below [line 168] to Charles: here the two men, Charles and Orlando, are spoken of.' [Caldecott is the only editor, I think, who refers 'man' to Orlando. Clearly it refers to Charles. WRIGHT agrees substantially |