He said, mine eyes were black, and my hair black; I marvel, why I answer'd not again; But that's all one; omittance is no quittance. I'll write to him a very taunting letter, And thou shalt bear it; Wilt thou, Silvius ? I'll write it straight; ACT IV. SCENE 1. The same. [Exeunt. Enter Rosalind, Celia, and Jaques. Jaq. I pr'ythee, pretty youth, let me be better acquainted with thee. Ros. They say, you are a melancholy fellow. Jaq. I am so; I do love it better than laughing. Ros. Those, that are in extremity of either, are abominable fellows; and betray themselves to every modern censure, worse than drunkards. Jaq. Why, 'tis good to be sad and say nothing. Ros. Why then, 'tis good to be a post. Jaq. I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician's, which is fantastical; nor the courtier's, which is proud; nor the soldier's, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer's, which is politic; nor the lady's, which is nice; nor the lover's, which is all these but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects and, indeed, the sundry plation of my travels, in which my often rumination wraps me, is a most humorous sadness. out, they will spit; and for lovers, lacking (God warn us!) matter, the cleanliest shift is to kiss. Orl. How if the kiss be denied? Ros. Then she puts you to entreaty, and there begins new matter. Orl. Who could be out, being before his beloved mistress? Ros. Marry, that should you, if I were your mistress; or I should think my honesty ranker than my wit. Orl. What, of my suit? Ros. Not out of your apparel, and yet out of your suit. Am not I your Rosalind? Orl. I take some joy to say you are, because I would be talking of her. Ros. Well, in her person, I say-I will not have you. Ros. No, faith, die by attorney. The poor world is almost six thousand years old, and in all this time there was not any man died in his own person, videlicet, in a love-canse. Troilus had his brains dashed out with a Grecian club; yet he did what he could to die before; and he is one of the patterns of love. Leander, he would have lived many a fair year, though Hero had turned nun, if it had not been for a hot midsummer night: for, good youth, he went but forth to wash him in the Hellespont, and, being taken with the cramp, was drowned; and the foolish chroniclers of that age found it was-Hero of Sestos. But these are all lies; men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love. Orl. I would not have my right Rosalind of this mind; for, I protest, her frown might kill me. Ros. By this hand, it will not kill a fly. But come, now I will be your Rosalind in a more coming-on discontem-position; and ask me what you will, I will grant it. Orl. Then love me, Rosalind. Ros. Yes, faith will I, Fridays, and Saturdays, and Orl. And wilt thou have me? Ros. Ay, and twenty such. Ros. Are you not good? marry us.-Give me your hand, Orlando :-What do you say, sister? Ros. And your experience makes you sad: I had Ros. Why then, can one desire too much of a good rather have a fool to make me merry, than experi-thing?-Come, sister, you shall be the priest, and ence to make me sad; and to travel for it too. Orl. Good day, and happiness, dear Rosalind! Jaq. Nay, then, God be wi' you, an you talk in blank verse. [Exit. Ros. Farewell, monsieur traveller: Look, you lisp, and wear strange suits; disable all the benefits of your own country; be out of love with your nativity, and almost chide God for making you that countenance you are; or I will scarce think you have swam in a gondola.-Why, how now, Orlando! where have you been all this while? You a lover?-An you serve me such another trick, never come in my sight more. Orl. My fair Rosalind, I come within an hour of my promise. Orl. Pray thee, marry us. -Will you, Orlando, Cel. Go to:Will you, Orlando, have to wife this Rosalind? Orl. I will. Ros. Av, but when? Orl. Why now; as fast as she can marry us. Ros. Then you must say,-I take thee, Rosalind, for wife. Orl. I take thee, Rosalind, for wife. Ros. I might ask you for your commission; bat-I do take thee, Orlando, for my husband: There a giri goes before the priest; and, certainly, a woman's thought runs before her actions. Ros. Break an hour's promise in love? He that will divide a minute into a thousand parts, and break but a part of the thousandth part of a minute in the affairs of love, it may be said of him, that Cupid hath clapp'd him o'the shoulder, but I warrant him heart-after you have possessed her? whole. Orl. Pardon me, dear Rosalind. Ros. Nay, an you be so tardy, come no more in my sight; I had as lief be woo'd of a snail! Orl. Of a snail? Ros. Why, horns; which such as you are fain to be beholden to your wives for but he comes armed in his fortune, and prevents the slander of his wife. Orl. Virtue is no horn-maker; and my Rosalind is virtuous. Ros. And I am your Rosalind. Cel. It pleases him to call you so; but he hath a Rosalind of a better leer than you. Ros. Come, woo me, woo me; for now I am in a holiday humour, and like enough to consent: What would you say to me now, an I were your very very Rosalind? Orl. I would kiss, before I spoke. Ros. Nay, you were better speak first; and when you were gravelled for lack of matter, you might take occasion to kiss. Very good orators, when they are Orl. So do all thoughts; they are winged. Orl. For ever and a day. 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 cock-pigeon 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 wilt? 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. thee. Orl. For these two hours, Rosalind, I will leave Ros. Alas, dear love, I cannot lack thee two hours. 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 yours won me 'tis but one cast away, and so,-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 thon wert indeed my Rosalind: So, adien. 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 loveprate 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 horn 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 tell 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 Roman 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. And play the swaggerer; bear this, bear all; Ros. Ros. Why, 'tis a boisterous and a cruel style, A style for challengers; why, she defies me, Like Turk to Christian: woman's gentle brain Could not drop forth such giant rude invention, Such Ethiop words, blacker in their effect Than in their countenance :-Will you hear the letter? Sil. So please you, for I never heard it yet; Yet heard too much of Phebe's cruelty. Ros. She Phebes me; Mark how the tyrant writes. Art thou god to shepherd turn'd, [Reads. That a maiden's heart hath burn'd? Can a woman rail thus! Sil. Call you this railing? Warr'st thou with a woman's heart? Whiles the eye of man did woo me, If the scorn of your bright eyne 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, Jaq. Sing it; 'tis no matter how it be in tune, so it love hath made thee a tame snake), and say this to her: make noise enough. -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. If that an eye may profit by a tongue, Cel. It is no boast, being ask'd, to say, we are. 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, A wretched, ragged man, o'ergrown with hair, A green and gilded snake had wreath'd itself, Lay couching, head on ground, with catlike watch, To prey on nothing that doth seem as dead: Oli. Twice did he turn his back, and purpos'd so: Ros. Was it you he rescu'd ? Who gave me fresh array, and entertainment, Ros. I would I were at home. Cel. We'll lead you thither: I pray you, will you take him by the arm? Oli. Be of good cheer, youth :-You a man?-You lack a man's heart. Ros I do so, I confess it. Ah, sir, a body would think this was well counterfeited: I pray you tell your brother how well I counterfeited.-Heigh ho!Oli. This was not counterfeit; there is too great testimony in your complexion, that it was a passion of earnest. Touch. It is meat and drink to me, to see a clown: By my troth, we that have good wits, have much to answer for; we shall be flouting; we cannot hold. Will. Good even, Audrey. Aut. God ye good even, William. Will. And good even to you, sir. 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? Touch. Thank God;-a good answer: Art rich! Will. Faith, sir, so, so. Touch. So, so, is good, very good, very excellent good and yet it is not; it is but so, so. Art thou wise? Touch. Give me your hand: Art thou learned? Will. No, sir. Touch. Then learn this of me; To have, is to have: For it is a figure in rhetoric, that drink being poured out of a cap 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, thy liberty into bondage: I will deal in poison with thee, or in bastinado, or in steel, I will bandy with thee in faction; I will o'er-run thee with policy; I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways; therefore tremble, and depart. Aud. Do, good William. Will. God rest you merry, sir. [Exit. Enter Corin. Cor. Our master and mistress seek you; come, away, away. Touch. Trip, Audrey, trip, Audrey;-I attend, I attend. [Exeust. SCENE II. The same should like her? that, but seeing, you should love her? Orl. Is't possible, that on so little acquaintance you and, loving, woo! and, wooing, she should grant? and will you persevere to enjoy her? Oh. 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. Enter Rosalind. Orl. You have my consent. Let your wedding be to-morrow: thither will I invite the duke, and all his contented followers: Go, you, and prepare Alicaa; for, look you, here comes my Rosalind. Ros. God save you, brother. Ros. Who do you speak to, Why blame you me to Oli. And you, fair sister. Ros. O, my dear Orlando, hew it grieves me to see love you? thee wear thy heart in a scarf! Orl. It is my arm. 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 counterfeited to swoon, when he showed me your handkerchief? 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 Caesar's thrasonical brag of-I came, saw, and overcame: 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. Bot, 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. Be Ros. I will weary you then no longer 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. lieve 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 his art, and yet not damuable. If you do love Rosalind so near the heart as your gesture cries it out, when your brother marries Aliena, you shall marry her: I know into what straights 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 life, 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 tomorrow, you shall; and to Rosalind, if you will. Ros. And I for no woman. Sil. It is to be all made of phantasy, All made of passion, and all made of wishes; Phe. And so am I for Ganymede. Sil. If this be so, why blame you me to love you? [To Phebe. Orl. If this be so, 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 man, and you shall be married to-morrow:-I will content you, [To Silvius] if what pleases you contents you, and you shall be married to-morrow. As you [To Orlando] love Rosalind, meet; as you [To Silvius] love Phebe, meet; And, as I love no woman, I'll meet.-So fare you well, 1 have left you commands. Sil. I'll not fail, if I live. Phe. Orl. Nor I. Nor I. [Exeunt. SCENE III. The same. Enter Touchstone and Audrey. Touch. To-morrow is the joyful day, Audrey; tomorrow will we be married. Aud. I do desire it with all my heart: and I hope it is no dishonest desire, to desire to be a woman of the world. Here come two of the banish'd duke's pages. Enter Two Pages. 1 Page. Well met, honest gentleman. Touch. By my troth, well met: Come, sit, sit, and a song. 2 Page. We are for you: sit i'the middle. ing, or spitting, or saying we are hoarse; which are 1 Page. Shall we clap into't roundly, without hawkthe only prologues to a bad voice! 2 Page. I'faith, i'faith; and both in a tune, like two gipsies on a horse. Touch. Truly, young gentlemen, thongh there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable. 1 Page. You are deceived, sir; we kept time, we lost not our time. Touch. By my troth, yes; I count it but time lost to hear such a foolish song. God be with you; and God mend your voices! Come, Audrey. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. Another Part of the Forest. Enter Duke Senior, Amiens, Jaques, Orlando, Oliver, and Celia. Duke S. Dost thou believe, Orlando, that the boy Can do all this that he hath promised? Orl. I sometimes do believe, and sometimes do not; As those that fear they hope, and know they fear. Enter Rosalind, Silvius, and Phebe. Ros. Patience once more, whiles our compact iurg'd: You say if I bring in your Rosalind, [To the Duke. You will bestow her on Orlando here? [her. Duke S. That would I, had I kingdoms to give with Ros. And you say, you will have her, when I bring her? [To Orlando. Orl. That would I, were I of all kingdoms king. Ros. You say, you'll marry me, if I be willing! [To Phebe |