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

in

CEL. And mine, to eke out hers.

Ros. Fare you well. Pray heaven, I be deceived 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?

ORL. Ready, fir; but his will hath in it a more modeft working.

DUKE F. You fhall try but one fall.

CHA. No, I warrant your grace; you shall not entreat him to a fecond, that have fo mightily perfuaded him from a first.

ORL. You mean to mock me after; you should not have mocked me before: but come your ways. Ros. Now, Hercules be thy speed, young man! CEL. I would I were invifible, to catch the ftrong fellow by the leg.

[CHARLES and ORLANDO wrestle.

Ros. O excellent young man!

CEL. If I had a thunderbolt in mine eye, I can

tell who fhould down.

[CHARLES is thrown. Shout.

DUKE F. No more, no more.

ORL. Yes, I befeech your grace; I am not yet well breathed.

DUKE F. How doft thou, Charles?

LE BEAU. He cannot speak, my lord.

DUKE F. Bear him away. [CHARLES is borne out.] What is thy name, young man ?

ORL. Orlando, my liege; the youngest son of fir Rowland de Bois.

DUKE F. I would, thou hadft been fon to fome man else.

The world esteem'd thy father honourable,
But I did find him ftill mine enemy:

Thou shouldst have better pleas'd me with this deed,
Hadft thou defcended from another house.
But fare thee well; thou art a gallant youth;
I would, thou hadft told me of another father.

[Exeunt Duke FRED. Train, and LE BEAU. CEL. Were I my father, coz, would I do this? ORL. I am more proud to be fir Rowland's fon, His youngest fon; 5-and would not change that calling,

To be adopted heir to Frederick.

Ros. My father lov'd fir Rowland as his foul,
And all the world was of my father's mind:
Had I before known this young man his fon,
I should have given him tears unto entreaties,
Ere he fhould thus have ventur'd.

CEL.
Gentle coufin,
Let us go thank him, and encourage him:
My father's rough and envious difpofition
Sticks me at heart.—Sir, you have well deserv'd:
If
you do keep your promises in love,

5 His youngest fon;] The words " than to be descended from any other house, however high," must be understood. Orlando is replying to the duke, who is just gone out, and had faid

"Thou should'ft have better pleas'd me with this deed, "Hadft thou defcended from another house." MALONE.

that calling,] i. e. appellation; a very unusual, if not unprecedented sense of the word. STEEVENS.

But juftly, as you have 'exceeded promife,"
Your mistress fhall be happy.

Ros.

Gentleman,

[Giving him a chain from her neck. Wear this for me; one out of fuits with fortune; & That could give more, but that her hand lacks

means.

Shall we go, coz ?

CEL.

Ay:-Fare you well, fair gentleman. ORL. Can I not fay, I thank you? My better

parts

Are all thrown down; and that which here ftands
Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.9

7

up,

as you have exceeded promife,] The old copy, without regard to the measure, reads-all promife. STEEVENS.

8

one out of fuits with fortune;] This seems an allufion to cards where he that has no more cards to play of any particular fort, is out of fuit. JOHNSON.

Out of fuits with fortune, I believe, means, turned out of her service, and stripped of her livery. STEEVENS.

So afterwards Celia fays, "but turning thefe jefis out of fervice, let us talk in good earneft." MALONE.

Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.] A quintain was a poft or butt fet up for several kinds of martial exercises, against which they threw their darts and exercised their arms. The allufion is beautiful. I am, fays Orlando, only a quintain, a lifeless block on which love only exercifes his arms in jeft; the great disparity of condition between Rofalind and me, not fuffering me to hope that love will ever make a serious matter of it. The famous fatirift Regnier, who lived about the time of our author, uses the fame metaphor, on the fame fubject, though the thought be different :

"Et qui depuis dix ans jufqu'en fes derniers jours,

A foutenu le prix en l' efcrime d' amours;

Laffe en fin de fervir au peuple de quintaine,

"Elle" &c. WARBURTON.

This is but an imperfect (to call it no worfe) explanation of a beautiful paffage. The quintain was not the object of the

Ros. He calls us back: My pride fell with my fortunes:

I'll ask him what he would :-Did you call, fir?Sir, you have wrefiled well, and overthrown

More than your enemies.

CEL.

Will you go, coz?

Ros. Have with you :-Fare you well.

Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIA. ORL. What paffion hangs these weights upon my

tongue ?

I cannot speak to her, yet fhe urg'd conference.

darts and arms: it was a stake driven into a field, upon which were hung a fhield and other trophies of war, at which they fhot, darted, or rode, with a lance. When the fhield and the trophies were all thrown down, the quintain remained. Without this information how could the reader understand the allu fion of

My better parts

Are all thrown down? Guthrie.

Mr. Malone has difputed the propriety of Mr. Guthrie's animadverfions; and Mr. Douce is equally diffatisfied with those of Mr. Malone.

The phalanx of our auxiliaries, as well as their circumftantiality, is so much increased, that we are often led (as Hamlet obferves) to

"Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause."

The prefent ftrictures, therefore, of Mr. Malone and Mr. Douce, (which are too valuable to be omitted, and too ample to find their place under the text of our author,) must appear at the conclufion of the play. STEEVENS.

For a more particular description of a quintain, fee a note on a paffage in Jonfon's Underwoods, Whalley's edit. Vol. VII. p. 55. M. MASON.

A humorous description of this amusement may also be read in Laneham's Letter from "Killingwoorth Caftle." HENLEY.

Re-enter LE BEAU.

O poor Orlando! thou art overthrown;
Or Charles, or something weaker, mafters thee.
LE BEAU. Good fir, I do in friendship counsel

you

To leave this place: Albeit you have deferv'd
High commendation, true applaufe, and love;
Yet fuch is now the duke's condition,1

That he misconftrues all that you have done.
The duke is humorous; what he is, indeed,
More fuits you to conceive, than me to speak of.2
ORL. I thank you, fir: and, pray you, tell me
this;

Which of the two was daughter of the duke
That here was at the wrestling?

LE BEAU. Neither his daughter, if we judge by

manners;

But yet, indeed, the shorter3 is his daughter:

I

the duke's condition,] The word condition means character, temper, difpofition. So, Antonio, the merchant of Venice, is called by his friend the best condition'd man.

JOHNSON.

than me to fpeak of.] The old copy has-than I. Corrected by Mr, Rowe. MALONE.

3

the fhorter-] Thus Mr. Pope. The old copy reads→→→→ the taller, Mr. Malone-the smaller. STEEVENS.

Some change is abfolutely neceffary, for Rofalind, in a subsequent scene, exprefsly fays that he is "more than common tall," and affigns that as a reason for her affuming the dress of a man, while her coufin Celia retained her female apparel. Again, in A& IV. fc. iii. Celia is described by these words"the woman low, and browner than her brother;" i. e. Rofalind. Mr. Pope reads" the Shorter is his daughter;" which has been admitted in all the subsequent editions: but surely