The motto is said to be derived from one of the fragments of Petronius, where the words are quor fere totus mundus exerceat histrioniam."* The idea, however, was common in Elizabethan literature, e.g. "Pythagoras said, that this world was like a stage, whereon many play their parts" (from the old play of Damon and Pythias); Shakespeare had himself already used the idea in The Merchant of Venice (I. i.):-" I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; A stage where every man must play a part."

(ii.) It should be noted that Jaques' moralising is but an enlargement of the text given out to him by the Duke:

'Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy:

This wide and universal theatre

Presents more woeful pageants than the scene

Wherein we play in.'

Now this wide and universal theatre' reminds one strongly of a famous book which Shakespeare may very well have known, viz. Boissard's Theatrum Vita Humana (published at Metz, 1596), the opening chapter of which is embellished with a remarkable emblem (here reproduced) representing a huge pageant of universal misery, headed with the lines:

'Vita Humana est tanquam

Theatrum omnium miseriarum';

beneath the picture are words to the same effect:—

'Vita hominis tanquam circus vel grande theatrum.'†

(iii.) The division of the life of man into fourteen, ten, or seven periods is found in Hebrew, Greek, and Roman literature (cp. Archæologia, Vol. xxxv. 167-189; Löw's Die Lebensalter in der Jüdischen Literatur; cp. also Sir Thomas Browne's Vulgar Errors, iv. 12). In the fifteenth

*The reading is variously given as histrionem and histrioniam. † Cp. Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers, by H. Green, 1870.

century the representation of the seven ages was a common theme in literature and art; e.g. (i.) in Arnold's Chronicle, a famous book of the period, there is a chapter entitled the vij ages of man living in the world'; (ii.) a block-print in the British Museum gives seven figures Infans, Pueritia,' 'Adolescentia,' Juventus,' 'Virili

tas,' 'Senectus,' 'Decrepitas,' which practically, in several cases, illustrate the words of Jaques; (iii.) the allegorical mosaics on the pavement of the Cathedral at Siena picture forth the same seven acts of life's drama.

There should be somewhere a Moral Play based on

Jaques' theme of life's progress: it might perhaps be said that the spirit of the dying Drama of Allegory lived on in the person of Monsieur Melancholy'; he may well be likened to the Presenter of some old Enterlude of Youth, Manhood, and Age'; Romantic Comedy was not for him; 'Everyman,' 'Lusty Juventus,' 'Mundus et Infans,' and such like endless moralisings on the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, were more to his taste.

The Scene of Action. The locality of the play is the Forest of Arden,' i.e. 'Ardennes,' in the north-east of France, between the Meuse and Moselle,' but Shakespeare could hardly help thinking of his own Warwickshire Arden, and there can be little doubt that his contemporaries took it in the same way. There is a beautiful description of this English Forest in Drayton's Polyolbion (Song xiii.), where the poet apostrophises Warwickshire as his own native country which so brave spirits hast bred.' The whole passage, as Mr. Furness admirably points out, probably serves to show the deep impression on him which his friend Shakespeare's As You Like It had made.' Elsewhere Drayton refers to 'Sweet Arden's Nightingales,' e.g. in his Matilda and in the Idea:

"Where nightingales in Arden sit and sing

Amongst the dainty dew-impearled flowers."

The Title of the Play. The title As You Like It was evidently suggested by a passage in Lodge's Address to the Gentlemen Readers': To be brief, gentlemen, room for a soldier and a sailor, that gives you the fruits of his labours that he wrote in the ocean, where every line was wet with the surge, and every humorous passion counterchecked with a storm. If you like it so; and yet I will be yours in duty, if you be mine in favour.' It was formerly believed (by Tieck and others) that the title alluded to the concluding lines of Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels:— "I'll only speak what I have heard him say, 'By 'tis good, and if you like 't you may.'

But Shakespeare's play must have preceded Jonson's dramatic satire, which was first acted in 1600.

Duration of Action. The time of the play, according to Mr. Daniel's Analysis (Trans. of New Shakespere Soc., 1877-79), may be taken as ten days represented on the stage, with necessary intervals:

Day 1, Act I. i. Day 2, Act I. ii. and iii., and Act II. i. [Act II. iii.]. Day 3, Act II. ii. [Act III. i.]; an interval of a few days; the journey to Arden. Day 4, Act II. iv. Day 5, Act II. v., vi. and vii.; an interval of a few days. Day 6, Act III. ii.; an interval. Day 7, Act III. iii. Day 8, Act III. iv. and v. ; Act IV. i., ii. and iii. ; and Act V. i. Day 9, Act V. ii. and iii. Day 10, Act V. iv. The scenes in brackets are out of their actual order. "The author seems to have gone back to resume these threads of the story which were dropped while other parts of the plot were in hand."

Critical Comments.

I.

Argument.

I. A Duke of France, being dispossessed of his dominions by his younger brother, Frederick, retires to the neighbouring forest of Arden with a few of his faithful followers. His daughter Rosalind remains at her usurping uncle's court as companion for her beloved cousin, Celia. The two maidens witness a wrestling-match between the Duke's wrestler and Orlando, an unknown youth, in which the latter comes off victorious. Duke Frederick is pleased with the young man's prowess and is disposed to show him favour until he discovers Orlando to be the son of one of the banished Duke's friends. But Rosalind is delighted to hear of this connection, since she has become favourably disposed towards Orlando.

The people are so fond of Rosalind because of her many accomplishments and for the sake of her father that Duke Frederick in alarm banishes her also from the court. For love of her, Celia accompanies her cousin into exile.

II. Rosalind assumes male attire and takes Celia to the Forest of Arden, where they purchase a country-place and reside as brother and sister. To the same wood comes Orlando, who has been forced to flee from home to escape the evil designs of his elder brother, Oliver, and joins the company of the banished Duke.

III. Rosalind is at first dismayed when she learns of the presence of Orlando in the forest, since she is dressed as a man. But presently her inventiveness leads her to