Touch. A most wicked Sir Oliver, Audrey, a most vile Martext. 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. 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. Enter WILLIAM. Will. Good even, Audrey. Aud. God ye good even, William. Touch. Good even, gentle friend. Cover thy head, cover thy head; nay, prithee, be covered. How old are you, friend? Will. Five and twenty, sir. Touch. A ripe age. Is thy name William? Will. William, sir. Touch. A fair name. Wast born i' the forest here? Will. Ay, sir, I thank God. 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. Why, thou sayest well. I do now remember a saying, "The fool doth think he is wise; but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." The heathen philosopher, when he had a desire to eat a grape, would open his lips when he put it into his mouth; meaning thereby, that grapes were made to eat, and lips to open. You do love this maid? Will. I do, sir. 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 rhetoric, 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,(139) 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;(140) I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways: therefore tremble, and depart. Aud. Do, good William. Enter CORIN. [Exit. Cor. Our master and mistress seek you; come, away, away! Touch. Trip, Audrey, trip, Audrey.-I attend, I attend. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Another part of the forest. (141) Enter ORLANDO and OLIVER. 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(142) 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 Roland's, will I estate upon you, and here live and die a shepherd. Orl. You have my consent. Let your wedding be tomorrow: thither will I invite the duke, and all's contented followers. Go Go you and prepare Aliena; for, look you, here comes my Rosalind. Enter ROSALIND. Ros. God save you, brother. Oli. And you, fair sister, (143) [Exit. Ros. O, my dear Orlando, how it grieves me to see 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(144) when he showed me your handkercher? 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 overcame:' (145) 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, 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. Believe, then, if you please, that I can do strange things: I have, since I was three year old, conversed with a magician, most profound in his art, and yet not 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 meaning ?(146) 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 to-morrow, you shall; and to Rosalind, if you will.-Look, here comes a lover of mine, and a lover of hers. Enter SILVIUS and PHEBE. 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 To seem despiteful and ungentle to you: Phe. Good shepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to love. And so am I for Phebe. Phe. And I for Ganymede. Orl. And I for Rosalind. Ros. And I for no woman. Sil. It is to be all made of faith and service; And so am I for Phebe. Phe. And I for Ganymede. Orl. And I for Rosalind. Ros. And I for no woman. Sil. It is to be all made of fantasy, All made of passion, and all made of wishes; All humbleness, all patience, and impatience, Phe. And so am I for Ganymede. Orl. And so am I for Rosalind. Ros. And so am I for no woman. Phe. If this be so, why blame you me to love you? [To Rosalind. 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? 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 satisfy (149) 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 Silrius] love Phebe, meet: and as I love no woman, I'll meet.— So, fare you well: I have left you commands. Sil. I'll not fail, if I live. Touch. To-morrow is the joyful day, Audrey; to-morrow 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 banished duke's pages. Enter two Pages. First Page. Well met, honest gentleman. Touch. By my troth, well met. Come, sit, sit, and a song. |