Page:As You Like It (1919) Yale.djvu/126

114 gestion made by Furness, Orlando means that Rosalind is in her own person the microcosm of every delightful sprite.

 Atalanta's better part. To rid herself of her suitors, because an oracle had warned her not to marry, she challenged them in turn to a footrace. Overtaking them in the race she would smite them in the back with a spear, until Hippomenes finally conquered her with the aid of the three golden apples given him by Aphrodite. Her 'better part' clearly, therefore, is her swiftness of foot.

 Jupiter. Spedding altered 'Jupiter' to 'pulpiter' (i.e., preacher) and in this he has been followed by many recent editors. The change though ingenious is not absolutely required by the sense or context, and therefore, the present editor has returned to the reading of the First Folio.

 seven nine. There is an old proverbial saying that any marvelous event will cause 'a nine days' wonder' (Capell).

 palm-tree. The strange flora and fauna of the forest of Arden have already been commented upon.

 Pythagoras' rat. Pythagoras believed in the transmigration of men's souls into the bodies of animals. As for Irish rats, there are many references to the power of Irish witches and rhymers to rhyme rats to death.

 hard meet. Possibly an inverted reference to the proverb 'Friends may meet, but mountains never greet' (Steevens).

 Good my complexion. An exclamation of Rosalind's that has puzzled commentators. Rosalind swears by her woman's temperament which, she explains, naturally contains a large measure of feminine curiosity, or 'Rosalind appeals to her complexion not to betray her by changing color' (Wright).