I should not feek an abfent argument

Of my revenge, thou prefent: But look to it;
Find out thy brother, wherefoe'er he is;

Seek him with candle: bring him dead or living,
Within this twelvemonth, or turn thou no more
To feek a living in our territory.

Thy lands, and all things that thou doft call thine,
Worth feizure, do we feize into our hands;
'Till thou canst quit thee by thy brother's mouth,
Of what we think against thee.

Oli. Oh, that your highness knew my heart in this :
I never lov'd my brother in my life.

Duke. More villain thou.-Well, pufh him out of

doors;

And let my officers of fuch a nature

Make an extent upon his house and lands:

Do this expediently, and turn him going.

SCENE

The Foreft.

Enter Orlando.

[Exeunt.

II.

Orla. Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love:
And, thou, thrice-crowned queen of night furvey
With thy chafte eye, from thy pale sphere above,
Thy huntress' name, that my full life doth fway.
O Rofalind! these trees fhall be my books,

And in their barks my thoughts I'll character;
That every eye, which in this foreft looks,
Shall fee thy virtue witness'd every where.

Pabfent argument]—subject, the absent Orlando.

9 officers of fuch a nature &c.]-the proper officers estimate his effects at their full value, with all defpatch, and turn him adrift.

thrice-crowned queen of night,]-alluding to her triple character of

Proferpine, Cynthia, and Diana.

character;]-infcribe.

Run,

Run, run, Orlando; carve, on every tree,
The fair, the chaste, and 'unexpressive she.

Enter Corin and Clown.

[Exit.

Cor. And how like you this fhepherd's life, mafter Touchstone?

Clo. Truly, fhepherd, in refpect of itself, it is a good life; but in respect that it is a fhepherd's life, it is naught. In respect that it is folitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very vile life. Now in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in respect it is not in the court, it is tedious. As it is a spare life, look you, it fits my humour well; but as there is no more plenty in it, it goes much against my ftomach. Haft any philosophy in thee, shepherd?

Cor. No more, but that I know, the more one fickens, the worse at eafe he is; and that he that wants money, means, and content, is without three good friends: That the property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn: That good pasture makes fat sheep; and that a great cause of the night, is the lack of the fun: That he, that hath learned no wit by nature nor art, may complain "of good breeding, or comes of very dull kindred.

Clo. Such a one is a natural philofopher. Waft ever in court, fhepherd ?

Cor. No, truly.

Clo. Then thou art damn'd.

Cor. Nay, I hope,

Clo. Truly, thou art damn'd; "like an ill-roasted egg, all on one fide.

t

Cor. For not being at court? Your reafon.

unexpreffive]-inexpreffible.

of good breeding,]-of the lack of it; of the inefficacy of a good education. like an ill-roafted egg, all on one fide.]-for being but

half bred, as the egg for being but half roafted.

Clo.

Clo. Why, if thou never waft at court, thou never faw'st good manners; if thou never faw'st good manners, then thy manners must be wicked; and wickedness is fin, and fin is damnation: Thou art in a parlous ftate, fhep

herd.

x

Cor. Not a whit, Touchftone: thofe, that are good manners at the court, are as ridiculous in the country, as the behaviour of the country is most mockable at the court. You told me, you falute not at the court, but you kiss your hands; that courtesy would be uncleanly, if courtiers were fhepherds.

Clo. Inftance, briefly; come, inftance.

Cor. Why, we are ftill handling our ewes; and their fells you know are greafy.

Clo. Why, do not your courtiers' hands fweat? and is not the grease of a mutton as wholesome as the fweat of a man? Shallow, shallow: A better instance, I say; come. Cor. Befides, our hands are hard.

Clo. Your lips will feel them the fooner. Shallow again: A more founder inftance, come.

Cor. And they are often tarr'd over with the furgery of our heep; And would you have us kifs tar? The courtier's hands are perfumed with civet.

Clo. Moft fhallow man! Thou worms-meat, in respect of a good piece of flefh :-indeed!-Learn of the wife, and perpend: Civet is of a baser birth than tar; the very uncleanly flux of a cat. Mend the inftance, fhepherd.

Cor. You have too courtly a wit for me; I'll reft. Clo. Wilt thou reft damn'd? God help thee, shallow man! God make incifion in thee! thou art raw.

X

Cor. Sir, I am a true labourer; I earn that I eat, get

x parlous]-perilous.

Y make incifion in thee !]-grant thee more understanding; thou fhouldst be cut for the fimples.

that

that I wear; owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness ; glad of other men's good, content with my harm: and the greatest of my pride is, to fee my ewes graze, and my lambs fuck.

Clo. That is another fimple fin in you: to bring the ewes and rams together, and to offer to get your liv. ing by the copulation of cattle: to be bawd to a bellwether: and to betray a fhe-lamb of a twelvemonth to a crooked-pated, old, cuckoldly ram, out of all reasonable match. If thou be'ft not damn'd for this, the devil himfelf will have no fhepherds; I cannot fee elfe how thou fhouldft 'fcape.

Cor. Here comes young Mr. Ganimed, my new mistress's brother.

Enter Rofalind with a paper.

Rof. From the east to western Inde,
No jewel is like Rofalind.

Her worth, being mounted on the wind,
Through all the world bears Rofalind.
All the pictures, fairest limn'd,
Are but black to Rofalind.

Let no face be kept in mind,

But the fair of Rofalind.

Clo. I'll rhime you fo, eight years together; dinners, and fuppers, and fleeping hours excepted: it is the right a butter-women's rate to market.

a

the fair]-the beauty.

Demetrius loves your fair."

MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S DREAM, A&I, S. 1. Hel. "My decayed fair

"A funny look of his would foon repair."

COMEDY OF ERRORS, A& II, S. 1. Adr. butter-women's rate to market.]-ambling pace. at market-speed of tongue, flow, volubility. rant at market. rank to-order observed by them in travelling thither, all in one track, with their horfes at equal intervals; this resembles the formal jingle of Rofalind's verses.

Rof.

Rof. Out, fool!

Clo. For a tafte:

If a bart do lack a bind,
Let him feek out Rofalind.
If the cat will after kind,
So, be fure, will Rofalind.
Winter garments must be lin’d,
So must flender Rofalind.

They that reap, must sheaf and bind;
Then to cart with Rofalind.

Sweetest nut bath fowreft rind,

Such a nut is Rofalind.

He that fweeteft rofe will find,

Muft find love's prick, and Rofalind.

This is the very falfe gallop of verfes; Why do you infect yourself with them?

Rof. Peace, you dull fool; I found them on a tree.
Clo. Truly, the tree yields bad fruit.

Rof. I'll graff it with you, and then I fhall graff it with a medler: then it will be the earliest fruit i'the country; for you'll be rotten ere you be half ripe, and that's the right virtue of the medler.

Clo. You have faid; but whether wifely or no, let the foreft judge.

Rof. Peace!

Enter Celia, with a writing.

Here comes my fifter, reading; stand aside.

Cel. Why should this defert filent be?

For]-Becaufe.

civil fayings fhow.]-relate ferious, grave maxims.

That