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Thou offer'st fairly to thy brothers' wedding:
To one his lands withheld, and to the other
A land itself at large, a potent dukedom.
First, in this forest let us do those ends

That here were well begun and well begot:
And after, every of this happy number

That have endured shrewd days and nights with us.

Shall share the good of our returned fortune,
According to the measure of their states.
Meantime, forget this new-fallen dignity
And fall into our rustic revelry.

180

Play, music! And you, brides and bridegrooms all, With measure heap'd in joy, to the measures fall. Jaq. Sir, by your patience. If I heard you rightly, The Duke hath put on a religious life

And thrown into neglect the pompous court?

Jaq. de B. He hath.

Jaq. To him will I: out of these convertites

There is much matter to be heard and learn'd. [To Duke.] You to your former honour I bequeath;

Your patience and your virtue well deserves it : [To Orl.] You to a love, that your true faith doth

merit:

[To Oli.] You to your land and love and great allies: [To Sil.] You to a long and well-deserved bed:

190

[To Touch.] And you to wrangling; for thy loving voyage Is but for two months victuall'd. So, to your

pleasures:

I am for other than for dancing measures.

Duke. Stay, Jaques, stay.

Jaq. To see no pastime I: what you would have

I'll stay to know at your abandon'd cave.

200

[Exit.

Duke. Proceed, proceed: we will begin these rites,
As we do trust they 'll end, in true delights.

[A dance.

EPILOGUE.

Ros. It is not the fashion to see the lady the epilogue; but it is no more unhandsome than to see the lord the prologue. If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 'tis true that a good play needs no epilogue: yet to good wine they do use good bushes; and good plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues. What a case am I in then, that am neither a good epilogue, nor cannot insinuate with you in the behalf of a good play! I am not furnished like a beggar, therefore to beg will not become me my way is to conjure you; and I'll begin with the women. I charge you, O women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this play as please you and I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women— as I perceive by your simpering, none of you hates them that between you and the women the play may please. If I were a woman I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me, complexions that liked me and breaths that I defied not: and, I am sure, as many as have good beards or good faces or sweet breaths will, for my kind offer, when I make curtsy, bid me farewell.

ΙΟ

20

[Exeunt.

Notes

ACT I

I. i. 2. Bequeathed me by will, etc.; this sentence has been much criticised by commentators. There are two nominatives to "bequeathed," and, as a matter of fact, none to " charged"; and various ways have been proposed to bring the sentence into correct shape. As it stands, it may perhaps be read thus:-"it was . . . bequeathed me . . . and (it was) charged my brother on his (i.e., my brother's) blessing, to breed me," etc.

I. i. 2. But poor a thousand; only a poor thousand. Note the transposition of the definite article, which is common in Shakespeare. Cf. "So new a fashioned robe" (King John, IV. ii. 27); "Too hard a keeping oath" (Love's Labour's Lost, I. i. 65).

I. i. 4. On his blessing; usually taken to be the father's blessing; possibly for "On his having been blessed by his father." Cf. "On thy love, I charge thee" (Othello, II. iii. 178).

I. i. 4. Breed; bring up, educate. Cf. "well" and "ill-bred."
Cf. Hamlet, I. ii. 113. Cf. "the

I. i. 6. School; for university.

Medical School of a University.'

وو

I. i. 6. Goldenly; the adverb does not occur elsewhere in Shakespeare; but golden, in the same sense, is a favourite word. Cf. Macbeth, I. vii. 33, and many other examples. Cf. also Lodge's Rosalynde-the use of the word in Golden Legacie, and "A golden sentence. world of treasure."

worth a

I. i. 7. Rustically; like a rustic. Cf. the use of the adverb here with "goldenly" just referred to.

I. i. 13. Manage; the breaking in and training of horses. Fr. manége. Cf. "Wanting the manage of unruly jades" (Richard II., III. iii. 179).

I. i. 14. Dearly hired; are understood. The figure of ellipsis, particularly as regards the verb "to be" is one of frequent occurrence in Shakespeare. Cf. Julius Cæsar, II. i. 2; Macbeth, IV. iii. 16; The Tempest, III. i. 172.

I. i. 19. Countenance; favour, or inclination. Some commentators take the word as meaning "whim." Cf. Taming of the Shrew, V. i. 129. I. i. 20. Hinds; farm-servants, labourers. C. Merry Wives of Windsor, III. v. 99. It also means a boor or peasant, The Comedy of Errors, III. i. 77.

I. i. 20. Bars; shuts out from. Cf. "debars."

I. i. 21. Mines; undermines. "My upbringing is undermining my manners and my education." Some critics take the word as meaning "nullifies," or "renders of no avail." Cf. Hamlet, III. iv. 148.

I. i. 31. What make you; what are you doing. Cf. Ger. Was machst du? The repetition of make allows of the play on the words make and

mar.

I. i. 34. Marry; an oath, corrupted from the name of the Virgin, and here used as a further play on the word mar.

I. i. 37. Be naught awhile; an old phrase in common use, which, from contemporary example, seems to have been equivalent to our slang "make yourself scarce," or "take a back seat."

I. i. 39. Eat husks, etc.; refers to the parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke xv. ii.

I. i. 40. Prodigal portion; prodigal's portion, or portion spent prodigally. Cf. Merchant of Venice, II. vi. 17.

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I. i. 45. Him I am before; he before whom I am. "Him" often stands for "he" in Shakespeare by attraction to "whom understood for "he whom " Cf. Abbott, Shakespearian Grammar, par. 208, and Antony and Cleopatra, III. i. 15.

I. i. 48. The courtesy of nations; national custom or tradition.

I. i. 53. Nearer to his reverence; you, as next him in descent, should feel even nearer than I am to the reverence due to him.

I. i. 57. Villain; means a serf, as well as a rascal, here. Cf. Titus Andronicus, IV. iii. 73.

I. i. 74. Exercises; occupations and recreations. Cf. Two Gentlemen of Verona, I. iii. 32.

I. i. 75. Allottery; share, portion.

I. i. 87. Spoke; for " 'spoken": note the curtailed form of the past participle. Cf. Coriolanus, II. iii. 163 ("Have you chose this man?").

I. i. 89. To grow upon; to encroach upon, get the better of.

ance.

I. i. 90. Rankness; insolence from sense of overgrowth, over-luxuriGabriel Harvey, in Pierce's Supererogation, uses the word "rankminded" in the same sense, in the sentence "I know none so rank-minded to enter on your proper possessions by-riot."

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