Therefore heaven nature charg'd.] From the picture of Apel les, or the accomplishments of Pandora. Πανδώρην, ὅτι πάνλει ὀλύμπια δώματ' ἔχοντες So before, But thou So perfect, and fo peerless art created Tempeft. Perhaps from this paffage Swift had his hint of Biddy Floyd. JOHNSON. 3 Atalanta's better part.] I know not well what could be the better part of Atalanta here afcribed to Rofalind. Of the Atalanta most celebrated, and who therefore must be intended here where fhe has no epithet of difcrimination, the better part seems to have been her heels, and the worse part was so bad that Rosalind would not thank her lover for the comparison. There is a more obfcure Atalanta, a huntress and a heroine, but of her nothing bad is recorded, and therefore I know not which was the better part. Shakespeare was no defpicable mythologist, yet he seems here to have mistaken fome other character for that of Atalanta. JOHNSON. ↑ Sad] is grave, feber, not light. JOHNSON, Of Of many faces, eyes, and hearts, To have the touches dearest priz❜d. Heaven would that fhe thefe gifts fhould have, And I to live and die ber flave. Rof. O moft gentle Jupiter!-what tedious homily of love have you wearied your parishioners withal, and never cry'd, Have patience, good people! Cel. How now! back-friends-fhepherd, go off a little-go with him, firrah. Clo. Come, fhepherd, let us make an honourable retreat; tho' not with bag and baggage, yet with scrip and fcrippage. [Exit Corin and Clown. Cel. Didft thou hear these verses? Rof. O yes, I heard them all, and more too; for fome of them had in them more feet than the verses would bear. Cel. That's no matter; the feet might bear the verses. Rof. Ay, but the feet were lame, and could not bear themselves without the verfe, and therefore stood lamely in the verse. Cel. But didft thou hear, without wondring how thy name fhould be hang'd and carv'd upon these trees? Rof. I was feven of the nine days out of wonder, before you came; for, look here, what I found on a palm-tree: I was never fo be-rhimed fince Pytha • The touches.] The features; les traits. JOHNSON. goras's I was never fo be-rhymed fince Pythagoras's time, that I was an Irish rat.] Rofalind is a very learned lady. She alludes to the Pythagorean doctrine, which teaches that fouls tranfmigrate from one animal to another, and relates that in his time she was an Irish rat, and by fome metrical charm was rhymed to death. The power of killing rats with rhymes Donne mentions in his Satires, and Temple in his Treatifes. Dr. Gray has produced a fimilar paffage from Randolph. My goras's time, that I was an Irish rat, which I can hardly remember. Cel. Trow you, who hath done this? Rof. Is it a man? Cel. And a chain, that you once wore, about his neck change you colour? Ro I pr'ythee, who? Cel. O Lord, Lord! it is a hard matter for friends to meet; but mountains may be remov'd with earthquakes, and fo encounter. Rof. Nay, but who is it? Rof. Nay, I pry'thee now, with most petitionary vehemence, tell me who it is. Cel. O wonderful, wonderful, and moft wonderful wonderful, and yet again wonderful, and after that out of all whooping Rof. Good my complexion! doft thou think, though I am caparison'd like a man, I have a doublet and hose in my difpofition? One inch of delay more -My poets Shall with a faytire fleeped in vinegar So in Dr. Dodypoll, a comedy, 1600: JOHNSON. -he rhyme de grand rats from my house." is STEEVENS. 7 Good my complexion!] This is a mode of expreffion, Mr. Theobald fays, which he cannot reconcile to common fenfe. Like enough: and fo too the Oxford editor. But the meaning is, Hold good my complexion, i. e. let me not blufh. WARBURTON. 8 One inch of delay more is a South-fea of discovery.] This is ftark nonfenfe; we must read-off discovery, i. e. from difcovery." If you delay me one inch of time longer, I fhall think this fecret as far from difcovery as the South-fa is." WARBURTON. This fentence is rightly noted by the commentator as nonfenfe, but not fo happily restored to fenfe. I read thus: One is a South-fea of discovery. I pr'ythee, tell me, who is it: quickly, and speak apace. I would thou couldft ftammer, that thou might'ft pour this concealed man out of thy mouth, as wine comes out of a narrowmouth'd bottle; either too much at once, or none at all. I pr'ythee take the cork out of thy mouth, that may drink thy tidings. I Cel. So you may put a man in your belly. Rof. Is he of God's making? What manner of man? Is his head worth a hat, or his chin worth a beard? Cel. Nay, he hath but a little beard. Ref. Why, God will fend more, if the man will be thankful: let me ftay the growth of his beard, if thou delay me not the knowledge of his chin. Cel. It is young Orlando, that tripp'd up the wreftler's heels, and your heart, both in an inftant. Ref. Nay, but the devil take mocking; speak, fad brow, and true maid. Cel. I'faith, coz, 'tis he. Cel. Orlando. Rof. Alas the day! what fhall I do with my doublet and hole! What did he, when thou faw'ft him? What faid he? How look'd he? Wherein went he? What makes he here? Did he afk for me? Where One inch of delay more is a South-fea. Difcover, I pr'ythee; tell me who is it quickly!- -When the transcriber had once made difcovery from difcover, I, he eafily put an article after Southfea. But it may be read with ftill lefs change, and with equal probability. Every inch of delay more is a South-fea discovery: Every delay, however fhort, is to me tedious and irksome as the longest voyage, as a voyage of difcovery on the South-fea. How much voyages to the South-fea, on which the English had then firft ventured, engaged the converfation of that time, may be easily imagined. JOHNSON. re remains he? How parted he with thee? and when fhalt thou fee him again? Answer me in one word. Cel. You must borrow me Garagantua's mouth firft; 'tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's fize. To say, ay, and no, to thefe particulars, is more than to answer in a catechifm. Rof. But doth he know that I am in this foreft, and in man's apparel? Looks he as freshly as he did the day he wrestled ? Cel. It is as easy to count atoms, as to refolve the propofitions of a lover :-but take a taste of my finding him, and relish it with good obfervance. I found him under a tree like a dropp'd acorn. Rof. It may well be call'd Jove's tree, when it drops forth fuch fruit. Cel. Give me audience, good madam. Rof. Proceed. Cel. There lay he, ftretch'd along, like a wounded knight. Rof. Tho' it be pity to see such a sight, it well becomes the ground. Cel. Cry, holla! to thy tongue, I pr'ythee; it curvets unfeasonably. He was furnish'd like a hunter. Rof. Oh, ominous! he comes to kill my heart. Cel. I would fing my fong without a burden: thou bring'ft me out of tune. ·Garagantua's mouth.] Rofalind requires nine questions to be answered in one word. Celia tells her that a word of fuch magnitude is too big for any mouth but that of Garagantua the giant of Rabelais. JOHNSON. —I found him under a tree like a dropp'd acorn.] We should read, Under an AN OAK tree. This appears from what follows-like a dropp'd acorn. For how did he look like a dropp'd acorn unless he was found under an oak tree. And from Rofalind's reply, that it might well be called Jove's tree: for the oak was facred to Jove. WARBURTON. What tree but an oak was ever known to drop an acorn? STEEVENS. Rof. |