ROSALIND: Marry,* he trots hard* with a young maid between the contract of her marriage and the day it is solemnised: if the interim be but a se’nnight, Time’s pace is so hard that it seems the length of seven year.
Orlando: Who ambles Time withal?
Rosalind: With a priest that lacks Latin and a rich man that hath not the gout, for the one sleeps easily because he cannot study,* and the other lives merrily because he feels no pain, the one lacking the burden of lean and wasteful learning, the other knowing no burden of heavy tedious penury; these Time ambles withal.
Orlando: Who doth he gallop withal?
Rosalind: With a thief to the gallows, for though he go as softly as foot can fall, he thinks himself too soon there.
Orlando: Who stays it still withal?
Rosalind: With lawyers in the vacation, for they sleep between term and term and then they perceive not how Time moves.*
An archaic interjection, an exclamation of surprise or emphasis. It it a polite modification of ‘Mary’, that is, an invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has no connection with marriage, despite the context here.
A hard trot is a gait above a walk which jolts the rider and can be difficult to master; ‘hard’ in this context means jarring rather than fast. It is not so much that time passes too slowly for the bride, but that the bumpy ride makes it seem interminable.
‘As You Like It’ was written in 1599, fifty years after the Church of England began to read her services in English (translations of psalms, prayers and the Gospels had been around for centuries). Latin was however still essential for theological and historical study.
The legal year is divided into four terms: Hilary (January-April), Easter (April-May), Trinity (June-July), and Michaelmas (October-December).
Précis
Rosalind, challenged to provide examples of time’s varying pace, tells Orlando that it trots jarringly with a bride-to-be, ambles with a lazy priest or a man of leisure and gallops with the condemned man facing execution, but it stands still with lawyers out of Term, as they sleep and do not notice time at all. (55 / 60 words)
Rosalind, challenged to provide examples of time’s varying pace, tells Orlando that it trots jarringly with a bride-to-be, ambles with a lazy priest or a man of leisure and gallops with the condemned man facing execution, but it stands still with lawyers out of Term, as they sleep and do not notice time at all.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, besides, despite, may, otherwise, ought, since.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Detect. Soft. Travel.
2 Groan. Hard. Trot.
3 I. Heavy. Know.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Confusables Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that are similar to one another, but not exactly the same. Compose your own sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between them, whether in meaning, grammar or use.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
trn (6+4)
tarn. tern. torn. train. trainee. turn.
outran. outrun. tureen. uterine.
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