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ough! fpeak no more of him, you'll be whipt for exation one of these days.

Clo. The more pity, that fo's may not fpeak wifely what wife men do foolishly.

Cel. By my troth, thou fay'ft true; for fince the little wit that fools have was filenc'd', the little foolery that wife men have makes a great Show: here comes Monfieur Le Beu.

SCENE V.

Enter Le Beu.

Rof. With his mouth full of news.

Cel. Which he will put on us, as pigeons feed their young.

Rof. Then fhall we be news-cram'd.

Cel. All the better, we shall be the more marketable. Bonjour, Monfieur le Beu; what news?

Le Beu. Fair Princefs, you have loft much good Sport.

Cel. Sport; of what colour?

Le Beu. What colour, Madam? How fhall I an{wer you?

Rof. As wit and fortune will.

Clo. Or as the deftinies decree.

Cel. Well faid; that was laid on with a trowel.
Clo. Nay, if I keep not my rank,-

Rof. Thou lofeft thy old smell.

Le Beu. You amaze me, ladies. I would have

-fince the little wit that feels have was filenc'd.] Shake peare probably alludes to the ufe of fools or jefters, who for fome ages had been allowed in all courts an unbridled liberty of cenfure and mockery, and about this time began to be less tolerated.

laid on with a trowel.]

I fuppofe the meaning is, that there is too heavy a mafs of big words laid upon a flight fubject.

3 You amaze me, ladies.] To amaze, here, is not to aftonish or ftrike with wonder, but to perplex; to confufe; as, to put out of the intended narrative.

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told you of good wrestling, which you have lof enf fight of. tat,

Rof. Yet tell us the manner of the wrestling.

Le Beu. I will tell you the beginning, and, if it pleate your Ladyfhips, you may fee the end, for the best is yet to do; and here where you are, they are coming to perform it.

Cel. Well the beginning that is dead and buried.

Le Beu. There comes an old man and his three

fons,

Cel. I could match this beginning with an old tale. Le Beu. Three proper young men, of excellent growth and prefence ;

Rof. With bills on their necks: Be it known unto all men by these presents 4,

Le Beu. The eldest of the three wrestled with Charles the Duke's Wrestler; which Charles in a moment threw him, and broke three of his ribs, and there is little hope of life in him: fo he ferv'd the Second, and fo the Third. Yonder they lie, the poor old man their father making fuch pitiful Dole over them, that all the beholders take his his part with weeping. Rof. Alas!

+ With BILLS on their necks: Be it known unto all men by these prefents;] The ladies and the fool, according to the mode of wit at that time, are at a kind of cross purposes. Where the words of one speaker are wrefted by another, in a repartee, to a different meaning. As where the Clown fays juft before- - Nay, if I keep not my rank. Rofalind replies thou loff thy old smell. So here when Rofalind had faid, With bills on their necks, the Clown, to be quits with her, puts in, Know all men by these pre. fents. She spoke of an initru

ment of war, and he turns it to an inftrument of law of the fame name, beginning with these words: So that they must be given to him. WARBURTON.

This conjecture is ingenious. Where meaning is fo very thin, as in this vein of jocularity, it is hard to catch, and therefore I know not well what to deter mine; but I cannot fee why Rofalind should fuppofe, that the competitors in a wrestling match carried bills on their shoulders, and I believe the whole conceit is in the poor resemblance of prefence and prefents,

Clo. But

Clo. But what is the Sport, Monfieur, that the ladies have loft?

Le Beu. Why this, that I fpeak of.

Clo. Thus men may grow wifer every day! It is the first time that ever I heard breaking of ribs was fport for ladies.

Cel. Or I, I promise thee.

Rof. But is there any elfe longs to fee this broken mufick in his fides? is there yet another doats upon rib-breaking? Shall we fee this wrestling, Coufin?

Le Beu. You must if you stay here; for here is the place appointed for the wrestling, and they are ready to perform it.

Cel. Yonder, fure, they are coming. Let us now stay and see it.

SCENE VI.

Flourish. Enter Duke Frederick, Lords, Orlando, Charles, and Attendants.

Duke. Come on. Since the Youth will not be entreated, his own peril on his forwardness. Rof. Is yonder the man?

5-is there any elfe longs to SEE this broken mufic in his fides?] A ftupid error in the copies. They are talking here of fome who had their ribs broke in wrestling: and the pleasantry of Rofalind's repartee must confift in the allufion The makes to compofing in mufick. It neceffarily follows therefore, that the poet wrote S&T this broken mufick in his fides.

WARBURTON. If any change were neceffary I fhould write, feel this broken mufick, tor fee. But fee is the colloquial term for perception or experiment. So we fay every

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day, fee if the water be hot; I will fee which is the best time; the has tried, and fees that fhe cannot lift it. In this fenfe fee may be here used. The fufferer can, with no propriety, be faid to fet the mufick; neither is the allufion to the act of tuning an inftrument, or pricking a tune, one of which must be meant by fetting mufick. Rofalind hints at awhimfical fimilitude between the feries of ribs gradually shortening, and fome mufical inftruments, and therefore calls broken ribs, broken mufick

Le Beu.

Le Beu. Even he, Madam.

Cel. Alas, he is too young; yet he looks fucceflfully.

Duke. How now, Daughter and Coufin; are you crept hither to fee the wrestling?

Rof. Ay, my liege, so please you give us leave.

Duke. You will take little delight in it, I can tell you, there is fuch odds in the men: in pity of the challenger's youth, I would feign diffuade him, but he will not be entreated. Speak to him, ladies, fee if you can move him.

Cel. Call him hither, good Monfieur Le Beu.
Duke. Do fo. I'll not be by.

[Duke goes apart. Le Beu. Monfieur the Challenger, the Princeffes call for you.

Örla. I attend them with all respect and duty.

Rof. Young man, have you challeng'd Charles the wrestler?

Orla. No, fair Princefs; he is the general challenger: I come but in, as others do, to try with him the ftrength of my youth.

Cel. Young Gentleman, your fpirits are too bold for your years. You have feen cruel proof of this man's ftrength. If you faw yourself with your own eyes, or knew yourself with your judgment, the fear of your adventure would counfel you to a more equal enterprize. We pray you, pray you, for your own fake, to embrace your own fafety, and give over this attempt.

Sir T. Hanmer. In the old Editions, the man.

If you faw yourself with YOUR eyes, or knew yourself with YOUR judgment.] Abfurd! The fenfe requires that we should read, our eyes, and OUR judgment. The argument is, Your fpirits are too bold, and therefore your judgment deceives you; but did you fee and know yourself with our more

impartial judgment you would forbear. WARBURTON.

I cannot find the absurdity of the prefent reading. If you were not blinded and intoxicated, fays the princess, with the Spirit of enterprise, if you could use your own eyes to fee, or your own judgment to know yourself, the fear of your adventure would counfel you.

Rof

Rof. Do, young Sir; your reputation shall not therefore be mifprifed. We will make it our fuit to the Duke, that the wrestling might not go forward.

Orla. I befeech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts, wherein I confefs me much guilty, to deny fo fair and excellent ladies any thing. But let your fair eyes and gentle wifhes go with me to my trial, wherein if I be foil'd, there is but one fham'd that was never gracious; if kill'd, but one dead that is willing to be fo. I fhall do my friends no wrong, for I have none to lament me; the world no injury, for in it I have nothing; only in the world I fill up a place, which may be better fupplied when I have made it empty.

Ref. The little ftrength that I have, I would it were with you.

Cel. And mine to eke out hers.

Rof. Fare you well. Pray heav'n, I be deceiv'd in

you.

Cel. Your heart's defires be with you!

Cha. Come, where is this young Gallant, that is fo defirous to lie with his mother earth?

Orla. Ready, Sir. But his Will hath in it a more modeft working.

Duke. You fhall try but one Fall.

Cha. No warrant your Grace; you fhall not entreat him to a fecond, that have fo mightily perfuaded him from a firft.

Orla. You mean to mock me after; you should not have mocked me before; but come your ways.

Rof. Now Hercules be thy fpeed, young man!

Cel. I would I were invifible, to catch the ftrong fellow by the leg! [they wrestle.

&c.

Rof. O excellent young man!

"I beseech you, punish me uot, confefs myself much guilty to deny 1 fhould wish to read, I fo fair and excellent ladies ang beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts. Therein I

VOL. II.

thing.

C

Gel.

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