Orl. Then love me, Rosalind. Orl. I must attend the duke at dinner; by two o'clock I will be with thee again. Ros. Ay, go your ways, go your ways; -- . I knew what you would prove; my friends told me as much, and I thought no less: that flattering tongue of Ros. Yes, faith will I, Fridays, and Saturdays, yours won me : —' -'tis but one cast away, and so, and all. Ros. Say a day, without the ever: No, no, Orlando; men are April when they woo, December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives. I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cockpigeon over his hen; more clamorous than a parrot against rain; more new-fangled than an ape; more giddy in my desires than a monkey: I will weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain, and I will do that when you are disposed to be merry; I will laugh like a hyen, and that when thou art inclined to sleep. Orl. But will my Rosalind do so? Ros. Or else she could not have the wit to do this the wiser, the waywarder: Make the doors upon a woman's wit, and it will out at the casement; shut that, and 'twill out at the key-hole; stop that, 'twill fly with the smoke out at the chimney. Orl. A man that had a wife with such a wit, he might say, Wit, whither will? Ros. Nay, you might keep that check for it, till you met your wife's wit going to your neighbour's bed. Orl. And what wit could wit have to excuse that? Ros. Marry, to say, she came to seek you there. You shall never take her without her answer, unless you take her without her tongue. O, that woman that cannot make her fault her husband's occasion, let her never nurse her child herself, for she will breed it like a fool. Orl. For these two hours, Rosalind, I will leave thee. Ros. Alas, dear love, I cannot lack thee two hours. come, death. Two o'clock is your hour? Orl. Ay, sweet Rosalind. Ros. By my troth, and in good earnest, and so God mend me, and by all pretty oaths that are not dangerous, if you break one jot of your promise, or come one minute behind your hour, I will think you the most pathetical break-promise, and the most hollow lover, and the most unworthy of her you call Rosalind, that may be chosen out of the gross band of the unfaithful: therefore beware my censure, and keep your promise. Orl. With no less religion, than if thou wert indeed my Rosalind: So, adieu. Ros. Well, time is the old justice that examines all such offenders, and let time try: Adieu! [Exit ORLANDO. Cel. You have simply misus'd our sex in your love-prate we must have your doublet and hose plucked over your head, and show the world what the bird hath done to her own nest. : Ros. O coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz, that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love! But it cannot be sounded; my affection hath an unknown bottom, like the bay of Portugal. Cel. Or, rather, bottomless; that as fast as you pour affection in, it runs out. Ros. No, that same wicked bastard of Venus. that was begot of thought, conceived of spleen and born of madness; that blind rascally boy, that abuses every one's eyes, because his own are out, let him be judge, how deep I am in love: - I'll tel! thee, Aliena, I cannot be out of the sight of Orlando: I'll go find a shadow, and sigh till he come. Cel. And I'll sleep. [Exeunt. SCENE II. - - Another part of the Forest. Enter JAQUES and Lords, in the habit of Foresters. Jaq. Which is he that killed the deer? 1 Lord. Sir, it was I. Jaq. Let's present him to the duke, like a Ro. man conqueror; and it would do well to set the deer's horns upon his head, for a branch of victory - Have you no song, forester, for this purpose? 2 Lord. Yes, sir. Jaq. Sing it; 'tis no matter how it be in tune, so it make noise enough. Or else by him my love deny, And then I'll study how to die. Cel. I warrant you, with pure love, and troubled brain, he hath ta'en his bow and arrows, and is gone forth to sleep : :- - Look, who comes here. Enter SILVIUS. Sil. Call you this chiding? Cel. Alas, poor shepherd! Ros. Do you pity him? no, he deserves no pity. Wilt thou love such a woman? - What, to make thee an instrument, and play false strains upon thee! not to be endured! Well, go your way to her, (for I see, love hath made thee a tame snake,) and say this to her; That if she love me, I charge her to love thee if she will not, I will never have her, unless thou entreat for her. If you be a true lover, hence, and not a word; for here comes more company. [Exit SILVIUS. -- Enter OLIVER. Oli. Good-morrow, fair ones: Pray you, if you know Where, in the purlieus of this forest, stands Cel. West of this place, down in the neighbour bottom, The rank of osiers, by the murmuring stream, Left on your right hand, brings you to the place: But at this hour the house doth keep itself, There's none within. Oli. If that an eye may profit by a tongue, Then I should know you by description; Such garments, and such years: The boy is fair, Of female favour, and bestows himself Like a ripe sister: but the woman low, And browner than her brother. Are not you The owner of the house I did inquire for? Cel. It is no boast, being ask'd, to say, we are. Oli. Orlando doth commend him to you both; And to that youth, he calls his Rosalind, He sends this bloody napkin; Are you he? Ros. I am what must we understand by this? Oli. Some of my shame; if you will know of me What man I am, and how, and why, and where This handkerchief was stain'd. Cel. I pray you, tell it. Oli. When last the young Orlando parted from you, He left a promise to return again Lo, what befel! he threw his eye aside, Under an oak, whose boughs were moss'd with age, And high top bald with dry antiquity, A wretched ragged man, o'ergrown with hair, A green and gilded snake had wreath'd itself, Into a bush: under which bush's shade A lioness, with udders all drawn dry, Lay couching, head on ground, with cat-like watch, When that the sleeping man should stir, for 'tis The royal disposition of that beast, To prey on nothing that doth seem as dead: This seen, Orlando did approach the man, Cel. O, I have heard him speak of that same When from the first to last, betwixt us two, Who gave me fresh array, and entertainment, There stripp'd himself, and here upon his arm Which all this while had bled; and now he fainted, To tell this story, that you might excuse ACT V. SCENE I. The same. Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY. Touch. We shall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Audrey. Aud. 'Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old gentleman's saying. Touch. A most wicked sir Oliver, Audrey, a most vile Mar-text. But, Audrey, there is a youth here in the forest lays claim to you. Aud. Ay, I know who 'tis ; he hath no interest in me in the world: here comes the man you mean. Enter WILLIAM. Touch. It is meat and drink to me to see a clown: Aud. God ye good even, William. Touch. Good even, gentle friend: Cover thy head, cover thy head; nay, pr'ythee, be covered. How old are you, friend? Will. Five and twenty, sir. Touch. A ripe age: Is thy name William ? Touch. A fair name: Wast born i' the forest here? Will. Ay, sir, I thank God. I do now re The Will. Ay, sir, I have a pretty wit. Touch. Give me your hand: Art thou learned? Touch. Then learn this of me; To have, is to have: For it is a figure in rhetorick, that drink, being poured out of a cup into a glass, by filling the one doth empty the other: For all your writers do consent, that ipse is he; now you are not ipse, for I am he. Will. Which he, sir? Touch. He, sir, that must marry this woman: Therefore, you clown, abandon, which is in the vulgar, leave, the society, which in the boorish is company, of this female,—which in the common is, -woman, which together is, abandon the society of this female; or clown, thou perishest; or, to thy better understanding, diest; to wit, I kill thee, make thee away, translate thy life into death, Touch. Thank God; -a good answer: Art rich? thy liberty into bondage: I will deal in poison with Will. 'Faith, sir, so, so. thee, or in bastinado, or in steel; I will bandy with Orl. Is't possible, that on so little acquaintance you should like her? that, but seeing, you should love her? and, loving, woo? and, wooing, she should grant? and will you perséver to enjoy her? Oli. Neither call the giddiness of it in question, the poverty of her, the small acquaintance, my sudden wooing, nor her sudden consenting; but say with me, I love Aliena; say, with her, that she loves me; consent with both, that we may enjoy each other; it shall be to your good; for my father's house, and all the revenue that was old sir Rowland's, will I estate upon you, and here live and die a shepherd. Ros. I thought, thy heart had been wounded with the claws of a lion. Orl. Wounded it is, but with the eyes of a lady. Ros. Did your brother tell you how I cow .erfeited to swoon, when he show'd me your har ikerchief? Orl. Ay, and greater wonders than that. Ros. O, I know where you are: - Nay, 'tis true: there was never any thing so sudden, but the fight of two rams, and Cæsar's thrasonical brag of -I came, saw, and vercame: For your brother and my sister no sooner met, but they looked; no sooner looked, but they loved; no sooner loved, but they sighed; no sooner sighed, but they asked one another the reason; no sooner knew the reason, but they sought the remedy: and in these degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage, which they will climb incontinent, or else be incontinent before marriage: they are in the very wrath of love, and they will together; clubs cannot part them. Orl. They shall be married to-morrow; and I will bid the duke to the nuptial. But O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes! By so much the more shall I to-morrow be at the height of heart-heaviness, by how much I shall think my brother happy, in having what he wishes for. Ros. Why then, to-morrow I cannot serve your turn for Rosalind? Orl. I can live no longer by thinking. Ros. I will weary you no longer then with idle talking. Know of me then (for now I speak to some purpose,) that I know you are a gentleman of good conceit: I speak not this, that you should bear a good opinion of my knowledge, insomuch, I say, I know you are; neither do I labour for a greater esteem than may in some little measure draw a belief from you, to do yourself good, and not to grace me. Believe then, if you please, that I can do strange things: I have, since I was three years old, conversed with a magician, most profound in this art, and not yet damnable. If you do love Rosalind so near the heart as your gesture cries it out, when your brother marries Aliena, shall you marry her: I know into what straits of fortune she is driven; and it is not impossible to me, if it appear not inconvenient to you, to set her before your eyes to-morrow, human as she is, and without any danger. Orl. Speakest thou in sober meanings? Ros. By my 'ife, I do; which I tender dearly, though I say I am a magician: Therefore, put you in your best array, bid your friends; for if you will be married to-morrow, you shall; and to Rosalind, if you will. Enter SILVIUS and PHEBE. Look, here comes a lover of mine, and a lover of hers. Phe. Youth, you have done me much ungentleness, To show the letter that I writ to you. Ros. I care not, if I have: it is my study, Phe. Good shepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to love. Sil. It is to be all made of sighs and tears; And so am I for Phebe. Phe. And I for Ganymede Ros. And I for no woman. Sil. It is to be all made of faith and service; Phe. And I for Ganymede. Ros. And I for no woman. Sil. It is to be all made of fantasy, Phe. And so am I for Ganymede. Orl. If this be so, why blame you me to love you? Ros. Who do you speak to, why blame you me to love you? Orl. To her that is not here, nor doth not hear. Ros. Pray you, no more of this; 'tis like the howling of Irish wolves against the moon. - I will help you, [to SILVIUS] if I can: - I would love you, [to PHEBE] if I could.- To-morrow meet me all together. - I will marry you, [to PHEBE] if ever I marry woman, and I'll be married to-morrow: -- I will satisfy you, [to ORLANDO] if ever I satisfied shall be married to-morrow: — - I will man, and you Keep you your word, O duke, to give your daughter; You yours, Orlando, to receive his daughter: [Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIS. Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY. Jaq. There is, sure, another flood toward, and these couples are coming to the ark! Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools. Touch. Salutation and greeting to you all! Jaq. Good my lord, bid him welcome; This is the motley-minded gentleman, that I have so often met in the forest: he hath been a courtier he swears. Touch. If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation. I have trod a measure; I have flattered a lady; I have been politick with my friend, smooth with mine enemy; I have undone three tailors; I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought one. Jaq. And how was that ta'en up? Touch. 'Faith, we met, and found the quarrel was upon the seventh cause. Jaq. How seventh cause? Good my lord, like this fellow. Duke S. I like him very well. Touch. God'ild you, sir; I desire you of the Duke S. Dost thou believe, Orlando, that the boy like. I press in here, sir, amongst the rest of the Can do all this that he hath promised ว country copulatives, to swear, and to forswear. |