AS YOU LIKE IT

ACT I SCENE I. An Orchard near OLIVER'S house

[Enter ORLANDO and ADAM.]

ORLANDO
1. As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by
2. will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou say'st, charged my
3. brother, on his blessing, to breed me well: and there begins my
4. sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report speaks
5. goldenly of his profit: for my part, he keeps me rustically at
6. home, or, to speak more properly, stays me here at home unkept:
7. for call you that keeping for a gentleman of my birth that
8. differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses are bred
9. better; for, besides that they are fair with their feeding, they
10. are taught their manage, and to that end riders dearly
11. hired; but I, his brother, gain nothing under him but growth;
12. for the which his animals on his dunghills are as much bound to
13. him as I. Besides this nothing that he so plentifully gives me,
14. the something that nature gave me, his countenance seems to take
15. from me: he lets me feed with his hinds, bars me the place of a
16. brother, and as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with
17. my education. This is it, Adam, that grieves me; and the spirit
18. of my father, which I think is within me, begins to mutiny
19. against this servitude; I will no longer endure it, though yet I
20. know no wise remedy how to avoid it.

ADAM
21. Yonder comes my master, your brother.

ORLANDO
22. Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear how he will shake me up.

[ADAM retires]

[Enter OLIVER.]

OLIVER
23. Now, sir! what make you here?

ORLANDO
24. Nothing: I am not taught to make anything.

OLIVER
25. What mar you then, sir?

ORLANDO
26. Marry, sir, I am helping you to mar that which God made, a
27. poor unworthy brother of yours, with idleness.

OLIVER
28. Marry, sir, be better employed, and be naught awhile.

ORLANDO
29. Shall I keep your hogs, and eat husks with them? What
30. prodigal portion have I spent that I should come to such penury?

OLIVER
31. Know you where you are, sir?

ORLANDO
32. O, sir, very well: here in your orchard.

OLIVER
33. Know you before whom, sir?

ORLANDO
34. Ay, better than him I am before knows me. I know you are
35. my eldest brother: and in the gentle condition of blood, you
36. should so know me. The courtesy of nations allows you my better
37. in that you are the first-born; but the same tradition takes not
38. away my blood, were there twenty brothers betwixt us: I have as
39. much of my father in me as you, albeit; I confess, your coming
40. before me is nearer to his reverence.

OLIVER
41. What, boy!

ORLANDO
42. Come, come, elder brother, you are too young in this.

OLIVER
43. Wilt thou lay hands on me, villain?

ORLANDO
44. I am no villain: I am the youngest son of Sir Rowland de
45. Bois: he was my father; and he is thrice a villain that says such
46. a father begot villains. Wert thou not my brother, I would not
47. take this hand from thy throat till this other had pulled out
48. thy tongue for saying so: thou has railed on thyself.

ADAM
49. Sweet masters, be patient; for your father's remembrance, be at accord.

OLIVER
50. Let me go, I say.

ORLANDO
51. I will not, till I please: you shall hear me. My father
52. charged you in his will to give me good education: you have
53. trained me like a peasant, obscuring and hiding from me all
54. gentleman-like qualities: the spirit of my father grows strong in
55. me, and I will no longer endure it: therefore, allow me such
56. exercises as may become a gentleman, or give me the poor
57. allottery my father left me by testament; with that I will go
58. buy my fortunes.

OLIVER
59. And what wilt thou do? beg, when that is spent? Well, sir,
60. get you in; I will not long be troubled with you: you shall
61. have some part of your will: I pray you leave me.

ORLANDO
62. I will no further offend you than becomes me for my good.

OLIVER
63. Get you with him, you old dog.

ADAM
64. Is "old dog" my reward? Most true, I have lost my teeth in
65. your service.;God be with my old master! he would not have
66. spoke such a word.

[Exeunt ORLANDO and ADAM.]

OLIVER
67. Is it even so? begin you to grow upon me? I will physic
68. your rankness, and yet give no thousand crowns neither.
69. Holla, Dennis!

[Enter DENNIS.]

DENNIS
70. Calls your worship?

OLIVER
71. Was not Charles, the duke's wrestler, here to speak with me?

DENNIS
72. So please you, he is here at the door and importunes access to
73. you.

OLIVER
74. Call him in.

[Exit DENNIS.]

75. 'Twill be a good way; and to-morrow the wrestling is.

[Enter CHARLES.]

CHARLES
76. Good morrow to your worship.

OLIVER
77. Good Monsieur Charles! What's the new news at the new court?

CHARLES
78. There's no news at the court, sir, but the old news; that
79. is, the old duke is banished by his younger brother the new duke;
80. and three or four loving lords have put themselves into voluntary
81. exile with him, whose lands and revenues enrich the new duke;
82. therefore he gives them good leave to wander.

OLIVER
83. Can you tell if Rosalind, the duke's daughter, be banished
84. with her father?

CHARLES
85. O, no; for the duke's daughter, her cousin, so loves her, being
86. ever from their cradles bred together, that she would have
87. followed her exile, or have died to stay behind her. She is at
88. the court, and no less beloved of her uncle than his own
89. daughter; and never two ladies loved as they do.

OLIVER
90. Where will the old duke live?

CHARLES
91. They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many
92. merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood
93. of England: they say many young gentlemen flock to him every day,
94. and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.

OLIVER
95. What, you wrestle to-morrow before the new duke?

CHARLES
96. Marry, do I, sir; and I came to acquaint you with a matter. I am
97. given, sir, secretly to understand that your younger brother,
98. Orlando, hath a disposition to come in disguis'd against me to
99. try a fall. To-morrow, sir, I wrestle for my credit;
100. and he that escapes me without some broken limb shall acquit him
101. well. Your brother is but young and tender; and, for your love, I
102. would be loath to foil him, as I must, for my own honour, if he
103. come in: therefore, out of my love to you, I came hither to
104. acquaint you withal; that either you might stay him from his
105. intendment, or brook such disgrace well as he shall run into; in
106. that it is thing of his own search, and altogether against my
107. will.

OLIVER
108. Charles, I thank thee for thy love to me, which thou shalt
109. find I will most kindly requite. I had myself notice of my
110. brother's purpose herein, and have by underhand means laboured to
111. dissuade him from it; but he is resolute. I'll tell thee,
112. Charles, it is the stubbornest young fellow of France; full of
113. ambition, an envious emulator of every man's good parts, a secret
114. and villainous contriver against me his natural brother:
115. therefore use thy discretion: I had as lief thou didst break his
116. neck as his finger. And thou wert best look to't; for if thou
117. dost him any slight disgrace, or if he do not mightily grace
118. himself on thee, he will practise against thee by poison, entrap
119. thee by some treacherous device, and never leave thee till he
120. hath ta'en thy life by some indirect means or other: for, I
121. assure thee, and almost with tears I speak it, there is not one
122. so young and so villainous this day living. I speak but brotherly
123. of him; but should I anatomize him to thee as he is, I must
124. blush and weep, and thou must look pale and wonder.

CHARLES
125. I am heartily glad I came hither to you. If he come
126. to-morrow I'll give him his payment. If ever he go alone again
127. I'll never wrestle for prize more: and so, God keep your worship!

[Exit.]

OLIVER
128. Farewell, good Charles. Now will I stir this gamester: I
129. hope I shall see an end of him: for my soul, yet I know not
130. why, hates nothing more than he. Yet he's gentle; never schooled
131. and yet learned; full of noble device; of all sorts enchantingly
132. beloved; and, indeed, so much in the heart of the world, and
133. especially of my own people, who best know him, that I am
134. altogether misprised: but it shall not be so long; this
135. wrestler shall clear all: nothing remains but that I kindle the
136. boy thither, which now I'll go about.

[Exit.]



SCENE II. A Lawn before the DUKE'S Palace

[Enter ROSALIND and CELIA.]

CELIA
1. I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry.

ROSALIND
2. Dear Celia, I show more mirth than I am mistress of; and would
3. you yet I were merrier? Unless you could teach me to forget a
4. banished father, you must not learn me how to remember any
5. extraordinary pleasure.

CELIA
6. Herein I see thou lov'st me not with the full weight that I
7. love thee; if my uncle, thy banished father, had banished thy
8. uncle, the duke my father, so thou hadst been still with me,
9. I could have taught my love to take thy father for mine; so
10. wouldst thou, if the truth of thy love to me were so righteously
11. tempered as mine is to thee.

ROSALIND
12. Well, I will forget the condition of my estate, to rejoice in
13. yours.

CELIA
14. You know my father hath no child but I, nor none is like to
15. have; and, truly, when he dies thou shalt be his heir: for what
16. he hath taken away from thy father perforce, I will render thee
17. again in affection: by mine honour, I will; and when I break that
18. oath, let me turn monster; therefore, my sweet Rose, my dear
19. Rose, be merry.

ROSALIND
20. From henceforth I will, coz, and devise sports: let me see; what
21. think you of falling in love?

CELIA
22. Marry, I prithee, do, to make sport withal: but love no man
23. in good earnest, nor no further in sport neither than with
24. safety of a pure blush thou mayst in honour come off again.

ROSALIND
25. What shall be our sport, then?

CELIA
26. Let us sit and mock the good housewife Fortune from her
27. wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally.

ROSALIND
28. I would we could do so; for her benefits are mightily
29. misplaced: and the bountiful blind woman doth most mistake in
30. her gifts to women.

CELIA
31. 'Tis true; for those that she makes fair she scarce makes
32. honest; and those that she makes honest she makes very
33. ill-favouredly.

ROSALIND
34. Nay; now thou goest from Fortune's office to Nature's: Fortune
35. reigns in gifts of the world, not in the lineaments of Nature.

CELIA
36. No; when Nature hath made a fair creature, may she not by
37. Fortune fall into the fire? Though Nature hath given us wit to
38. flout at Fortune, hath not Fortune sent in this fool to cut off
39. the argument?

[Enter TOUCHSTONE.]

ROSALIND
40. Indeed, there is Fortune too hard for Nature, when
41. Fortune makes Nature's natural the cutter-off of Nature's wit.

CELIA
42. Peradventure this is not Fortune's work neither, but
43. Nature's, who perceiveth our natural wits too dull to reason of
44. such goddesses, and hath sent this natural for our whetstone: for
45. always the dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.
46. How now, wit? whither wander you?

TOUCHSTONE
47. Mistress, you must come away to your father.

CELIA
48. Were you made the messenger?

TOUCHSTONE
49. No, by mine honour; but I was bid to come for you.

ROSALIND
50. Where learned you that oath, fool?

TOUCHSTONE
51. Of a certain knight that swore by his honour they were
52. good pancakes, and swore by his honour the mustard was naught:
53. now, I'll stand to it, the pancakes were naught and the
54. mustard was good: and yet was not the knight forsworn.

CELIA
55. How prove you that, in the great heap of your knowledge?

ROSALIND
56. Ay, marry; now unmuzzle your wisdom.

TOUCHSTONE
57. Stand you both forth now: stroke your chins, and swear
58. by your beards that I am a knave.

CELIA
59. By our beards, if we had them, thou art.

TOUCHSTONE
60. By my knavery, if I had it, then I were: but if you swear by that
61. that is not, you are not forsworn: no more was this knight,
62. swearing by his honour, for he never had any; or if he had, he
63. had sworn it away before ever he saw those pancackes or that
64. mustard.

CELIA
65. Prithee, who is't that thou mean'st?

TOUCHSTONE
66. One that old Frederick, your father, loves.

CELIA
67. My father's love is enough to honour him enough: speak
68. no more of him: you'll be whipp'd for taxation one of these days.

TOUCHSTONE
69. The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what
70. wise men do foolishly.

CELIA
71. By my troth, thou sayest true: for since the little wit that
72. fools have was silenced, the little foolery that wise men
73. have makes a great show. Here comes Monsieur Le Beau.

ROSALIND
74. With his mouth full of news.

CELIA
75. Which he will put on us as pigeons feed their young.

ROSALIND
76. Then shall we be news-crammed.

CELIA
77. All the better; we shall be the more marketable.

[Enter LE BEAU.]

78. Bon jour, Monsieur Le Beau. What's the news?

LE BEAU
79. Fair princess, you have lost much good sport.

CELIA
80. Sport! of what colour?

LE BEAU
81. What colour, madam? How shall I answer you?

ROSALIND
82. As wit and fortune will.

TOUCHSTONE
83. Or as the destinies decrees.

CELIA
84. Well said: that was laid on with a trowel.

TOUCHSTONE
85. Nay, if I keep not my rank,

ROSALIND
86. Thou losest thy old smell.

LE BEAU
87. You amaze me, ladies; I would have told you of good
88. wrestling, which you have lost the sight of.

ROSALIND
89. Yet tell us the manner of the wrestling.

LE BEAU
90. I will tell you the beginning, and, if it please your
91. ladyships, you may see the end; for the best is yet to do;
92. and here, where you are, they are coming to perform it.

CELIA
93. Well, the beginning, that is dead and buried.

LE BEAU
94. There comes an old man and his three sons,

CELIA
95. I could match this beginning with an old tale.

LE BEAU
96. Three proper young men, of excellent growth and presence, with
97. bills on their necks.

ROSALIND
98. "Be it known unto all men by these presents,"

LE BEAU
99. The eldest of the three wrestled with Charles, the duke's
100. wrestler; which Charles in a moment threw him, and broke three of
101. his ribs, that there is little hope of life in him: so he served
102. the second, and so the third. Yonder they lie; the poor old man,
103. their father, making such pitiful dole over them that all the
104. beholders take his part with weeping.

ROSALIND
105. Alas!

TOUCHSTONE
106. But what is the sport, monsieur, that the ladies have lost?

LE BEAU
107. Why, this that I speak of.

TOUCHSTONE
108. Thus men may grow wiser every day! It is the first time
109. that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies.

CELIA
110. Or I, I promise thee.

ROSALIND
111. But is there any else longs to see this broken music
112. in his sides? is there yet another dotes upon rib-breaking?
113. Shall we see this wrestling, cousin?

LE BEAU
114. You must, if you stay here: for here is the place
115. appointed for the wrestling, and they are ready to perform it.

CELIA
116. Yonder, sure, they are coming: let us now stay and see it.

[Flourish. Enter DUKE FREDERICK, Lords, ORLANDO, CHARLES, and
Attendants.]

DUKE FREDERICK
117. Come on; since the youth will not be entreated, his own peril on
118. his forwardness.

ROSALIND
119. Is yonder the man?

LE BEAU
120. Even he, madam.

CELIA
121. Alas, he is too young: yet he looks successfully.

DUKE FREDERICK
122. How now, daughter and cousin? are you crept hither to see the
123. wrestling?

ROSALIND
124. Ay, my liege; so please you give us leave.

DUKE FREDERICK
125. You will take little delight in it, I can tell you,
126. there is such odds in the man. In pity of the challenger's youth
127. I would fain dissuade him, but he will not be entreated.
128. Speak to him, ladies; see if you can move him.

CELIA
129. Call him hither, good Monsieur Le Beau.

DUKE FREDERICK
130. Do so; I'll not be by.

LE BEAU
131. Monsieur the challenger, the princesses call for you.

ORLANDO
132. I attend them with all respect and duty.

ROSALIND
133. Young man, have you challenged Charles the wrestler?

ORLANDO
134. No, fair princess; he is the general challenger: I come
135. but in, as others do, to try with him the strength of my youth.

CELIA
136. Young gentleman, your spirits are too bold for your years.
137. You have seen cruel proof of this man's strength: if you saw
138. yourself with your eyes, or knew yourself with your judgment,
139. the fear of your adventure would counsel you to a more equal
140. enterprise. We pray you, for your own sake, to embrace your
141. own safety and give over this attempt.

ROSALIND
142. Do, young sir; your reputation shall not therefore be
143. misprised: we will make it our suit to the duke that the
144. wrestling might not go forward.

ORLANDO
145. I beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts: wherein I
146. confess me much guilty to deny so fair and excellent ladies
147. anything. But let your fair eyes and gentle wishes go
148. with me to my trial: wherein if I be foiled there is but one
149. shamed that was never gracious; if killed, but one dead that is
150. willing to be so: I shall do my friends no wrong, for I have none
151. to lament me: the world no injury, for in it I have nothing; only
152. in the world I fill up a place, which may be better supplied
153. when I have made it empty.

ROSALIND
154. The little strength that I have, I would it were with you.

CELIA
155. And mine to eke out hers.

ROSALIND
156. Fare you well. Pray heaven, I be deceived in you!

CELIA
157. Your heart's desires be with you.

CHARLES
158. Come, where is this young gallant that is so desirous to lie with his mother earth?

ORLANDO
159. Ready, sir; but his will hath in it a more modest working.

DUKE FREDERICK
160. You shall try but one fall.

CHARLES
161. No; I warrant your grace, you shall not entreat him to
162. a second, that have so mightily persuaded him from a first.

ORLANDO
163. You mean to mock me after; you should not have mocked me before;
164. but come your ways.

ROSALIND
165. Now, Hercules be thy speed, young man!

CELIA
166. I would I were invisible, to catch the strong fellow by the leg.

[CHARLES and ORLANDO wrestle.]

ROSALIND
167. Excellent young man!

CELIA
168. If I had a thunderbolt in mine eye, I can tell who should down.

[CHARLES is thrown. Shout.]

DUKE FREDERICK
169. No more, no more.

ORLANDO
170. Yes, I beseech your grace; I am not yet well breathed.

DUKE FREDERICK
171. How dost thou, Charles?

LE BEAU
172. He cannot speak, my lord.

DUKE FREDERICK
173. Bear him away.

[CHARLES is borne out.]

174. What is thy name, young man?

ORLANDO
175. Orlando, my liege; the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Bois.

DUKE FREDERICK
176. I would thou hadst been son to some man else.
177. The world esteem'd thy father honourable,
178. But I did find him still mine enemy:
179. Thou shouldst have better pleas'd me with this deed
180. Hadst thou descended from another house.
181. But fare thee well; thou art a gallant youth;
182. I would thou hadst told me of another father.

[Exeunt DUKE FREDERICK, Train, and LE BEAU.]

CELIA
183. Were I my father, coz, would I do this?

ORLANDO
184. I am more proud to be Sir Rowland's son,
185. His youngest son; and would not change that calling
186. To be adopted heir to Frederick.

ROSALIND
187. My father loved Sir Rowland as his soul,
188. And all the world was of my father's mind:
189. Had I before known this young man his son,
190. I should have given him tears unto entreaties
191. Ere he should thus have ventur'd.

CELIA
192. Gentle cousin,
193. Let us go thank him, and encourage him:
194. My father's rough and envious disposition
195. Sticks me at heart. Sir, you have well deserv'd:
196. If you do keep your promises in love
197. But justly, as you have exceeded promise,
198. Your mistress shall be happy.

ROSALIND
199. Gentleman,
[Giving him a chain from her neck.]

200. Wear this for me; one out of suits with fortune,
201. That could give more, but that her hand lacks means.
202. Shall we go, coz?

CELIA
203. Ay. Fare you well, fair gentleman.

ORLANDO
204. Can I not say, I thank you? My better parts
205. Are all thrown down; and that which here stands up
206. Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.

ROSALIND
207. He calls us back: my pride fell with my fortunes:
208. I'll ask him what he would. Did you call, sir?
209. Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown
210. More than your enemies.

CELIA
211. Will you go, coz?

ROSALIND
212. Have with you. Fare you well.

213. [Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIA.]

ORLANDO
214. What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?
215. I cannot speak to her, yet she urg'd conference.
216. poor Orlando! Thou art overthrown:
217. Or Charles, or something weaker, masters thee.


[Re-enter LE BEAU.]

LE BEAU
218. Good sir, I do in friendship counsel you
219. To leave this place. Albeit you have deserv'd
220. High commendation, true applause, and love,
221. Yet such is now the duke's condition,
222. That he misconstrues all that you have done.
223. The Duke is humorous; what he is, indeed,
224. More suits you to conceive than I to speak of.

ORLANDO
225. I thank you, sir: and pray you tell me this;
226. Which of the two was daughter of the duke
227. That here was at the wrestling?

LE BEAU
228. Neither his daughter, if we judge by manners;
229. But yet, indeed, the smaller is his daughter:
230. The other is daughter to the banish'd duke,
231. And here detain'd by her usurping uncle,
232. To keep his daughter company; whose loves
233. Are dearer than the natural bond of sisters.
234. But I can tell you that of late this duke
235. Hath ta'en displeasure 'gainst his gentle niece,
236. Grounded upon no other argument
237. But that the people praise her for her virtues
238. And pity her for her good father's sake;
239. And, on my life, his malice 'gainst the lady
240. Will suddenly break forth. Sir, fare you well!
241. Hereafter, in a better world than this,
242. I shall desire more love and knowledge of you.

ORLANDO
243. I rest much bounden to you: fare you well!

[Exit LE BEAU.]

244. Thus must I from the smoke into the smother;
245. From tyrant duke unto a tyrant brother:
246. But heavenly Rosalind!

[Exit.]



SCENE III. A Room in the Palace

[Enter CELIA and ROSALIND.]

CELIA
1. Why, cousin; why, Rosalind; Cupid have mercy! Not a word?

ROSALIND
2. Not one to throw at a dog.

CELIA
3. No, thy words are too precious to be cast away upon curs, throw
4. some of them at me; come, lame me with reasons.

ROSALIND
5. Then there were two cousins laid up; when the one should
6. be lamed with reasons and the other mad without any.

CELIA
7. But is all this for your father?

ROSALIND
8. No, some of it is for my child's father. O, how full
9. of briers is this working-day world!

CELIA
10. They are but burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday
11. foolery; if we walk not in the trodden paths, our very
12. petticoats will catch them.

ROSALIND
13. I could shake them off my coat: these burs are in my heart.

CELIA
14. Hem them away.

ROSALIND
15. I would try, if I could cry hem and have him.

CELIA
16. Come, come, wrestle with thy affections.

ROSALIND
17. O, they take the part of a better wrestler than myself.

CELIA
18. O, a good wish upon you! you will try in time, in despite of
19. a fall. But, turning these jests out of service, let us talk in
20. good earnest: is it possible, on such a sudden, you should fall
21. into so strong a liking with old Sir Rowland's youngest son?

ROSALIND
22. The duke my father loved his father dearly.

CELIA
23. Doth it therefore ensue that you should love his son dearly?
24. By this kind of chase I should hate him, for my father hated
25. his father dearly; yet I hate not Orlando.

ROSALIND
26. No, 'faith, hate him not, for my sake.

CELIA
27. Why should I not? doth he not deserve well?

ROSALIND
28. Let me love him for that; and do you love him because
29. I do. Look, here comes the duke.

CELIA
30. With his eyes full of anger.

[Enter DUKE FREDERICK, with Lords.]

DUKE FREDERICK
31. Mistress, dispatch you with your safest haste,
32. And get you from our court.

ROSALIND
33. Me, uncle?

DUKE FREDERICK
34. You, cousin:
35. Within these ten days if that thou be'st found
36. So near our public court as twenty miles,
37. Thou diest for it.

ROSALIND
38. I do beseech your grace,
39. Let me the knowledge of my fault bear with me:
40. If with myself I hold intelligence,
41. Or have acquaintance with mine own desires;
42. If that I do not dream, or be not frantic,
43. As I do trust I am not, then, dear uncle,
44. Never so much as in a thought unborn
45. Did I offend your highness.

DUKE FREDERICK
46. Thus do all traitors;
47. If their purgation did consist in words,
48. They are as innocent as grace itself:
49. Let it suffice thee that I trust thee not.

ROSALIND
50. Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor:
51. Tell me whereon the likelihood depends.

DUKE FREDERICK
52. Thou art thy father's daughter; there's enough.

ROSALIND
53. So was I when your highness took his dukedom;
54. So was I when your highness banish'd him:
55. Treason is not inherited, my lord:
56. Or, if we did derive it from our friends,
57. What's that to me? my father was no traitor!
58. Then, good my liege, mistake me not so much
59. To think my poverty is treacherous.

CELIA
60. Dear sovereign, hear me speak.

DUKE FREDERICK
61. Ay, Celia: we stay'd her for your sake,
62. Else had she with her father rang'd along.

CELIA
63. I did not then entreat to have her stay;
64. It was your pleasure, and your own remorse:
65. I was too young that time to value her;
66. But now I know her: if she be a traitor,
67. Why so am I: we still have slept together,
68. Rose at an instant, learn'd, play'd, eat together;
69. And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans,
70. Still we went coupled and inseparable.

DUKE FREDERICK
71. She is too subtle for thee; and her smoothness,
72. Her very silence, and her patience
73. Speak to the people, and they pity her.
74. Thou art a fool: she robs thee of thy name;
75. And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtuous
76. When she is gone: then open not thy lips;
77. Firm and irrevocable is my doom
78. Which I have pass'd upon her; she is banish'd.

CELIA
79. Pronounce that sentence, then, on me, my liege:
80. I cannot live out of her company.

DUKE FREDERICK
81. You are a fool. You, niece, provide yourself:
82. If you outstay the time, upon mine honour,
83. And in the greatness of my word, you die.

[Exeunt DUKE FREDERICK and Lords.]

CELIA
84. my poor Rosalind! Whither wilt thou go?
85. Wilt thou change fathers? I will give thee mine.
86. I charge thee be not thou more briev'd than I am.

ROSALIND
87. I have more cause.

CELIA
88. Thou hast not, cousin;
89. Prithee be cheerful: know'st thou not the duke
90. Hath banish'd me, his daughter?

ROSALIND
91. That he hath not.

CELIA
92. No! hath not? Rosalind lacks, then, the love
93. Which teacheth thee that thou and I am one:
94. Shall we be sund'red? shall we part, sweet girl?
95. No; let my father seek another heir.
96. Therefore devise with me how we may fly,
97. Whither to go, and what to bear with us:
98. And do not seek to take your charge upon you,
99. To bear your griefs yourself, and leave me out;
100. For, by this heaven, now at our sorrows pale,
101. Say what thou canst, I'll go along with thee.

ROSALIND
102. Why, whither shall we go?

CELIA
103. To seek my uncle in the Forest of Arden.

ROSALIND
104. Alas! what danger will it be to us,
105. Maids as we are, to travel forth so far?
106. Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.

CELIA
107. I'll put myself in poor and mean attire,
108. And with a kind of umber smirch my face;
109. The like do you; so shall we pass along,
110. And never stir assailants.

ROSALIND
111. Were it not better,
112. Because that I am more than common tall,
113. That I did suit me all points like a man?
114. A gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh,
115. A boar spear in my hand; and, in my heart
116. Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will,
117. We'll have a swashing and a martial outside,
118. As many other mannish cowards have
119. That do outface it with their semblances.

CELIA
120. What shall I call thee when thou art a man?

ROSALIND
121. I'll have no worse a name than Jove's own page,
122. And, therefore, look you call me Ganymede.
123. But what will you be call'd?

CELIA
124. Something that hath a reference to my state:
125. No longer Celia, but Aliena.

ROSALIND
126. But, cousin, what if we assay'd to steal
127. The clownish fool out of your father's court?
128. Would he not be a comfort to our travel?

CELIA
129. He'll go along o'er the wide world with me;
130. Leave me alone to woo him. Let's away,
131. And get our jewels and our wealth together;
132. Devise the fittest time and safest way
133. To hide us from pursuit that will be made
134. After my flight. Now go we in content
135. To liberty, and not to banishment.

[Exeunt.]




ACT II


SCENE I. The Forest of Arden

[Enter DUKE Senior, AMIENS, and other LORDS, in the dress of
foresters.]

DUKE SENIOR
1. Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
2. Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
3. Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
4. More free from peril than the envious court?
5. Here feel we not the penalty of Adam,
6. The seasons' difference: as the icy fang
7. And churlish chiding of the winter's wind,
8. Which when it bites and blows upon my body,
9. Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say,
10. "This is no flattery: these are counsellors
11. That feelingly persuade me what I am."
12. Sweet are the uses of adversity;
13. Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
14. Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
15. And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
16. Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
17. Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

AMIENS
18. I would not change it. Happy is your grace,
19. That can translate the stubbornness of fortune
20. Into so quiet and so sweet a style.

DUKE SENIOR
21. Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
22. And yet it irks me, the poor dappled fools,
23. Being native burghers of this desert city,
24. Should, in their own confines, with forked heads
25. Have their round haunches gor'd.

FIRST LORD
26. Indeed, my lord
27. The melancholy Jaques grieves at that;
28. And, in that kind, swears you do more usurp
29. Than doth your brother that hath banish'd you.
30. To-day my lord of Amiens and myself
31. Did steal behind him as he lay along
32. Under an oak, whose antique root peeps out
33. Upon the brook that brawls along this wood:
34. To the which place a poor sequester'd stag,
35. That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt,
36. Did come to languish; and, indeed, my lord,
37. The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans,
38. That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat
39. Almost to bursting; and the big round tears
40. Cours'd one another down his innocent nose
41. In piteous chase: and thus the hairy fool,
42. Much marked of the melancholy Jaques,
43. Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook,
44. Augmenting it with tears.

DUKE SENIOR
45. But what said Jaques?
46. Did he not moralize this spectacle?

FIRST LORD
47. O, yes, into a thousand similes.
48. First, for his weeping into the needless stream;
49. "Poor deer," quoth he "thou mak'st a testament
50. As worldlings do, giving thy sum of more
51. To that which had too much:" then, being there alone,
52. Left and abandoned of his velvet friends;
53. "'Tis right"; quoth he; "thus misery doth part
54. The flux of company:" anon, a careless herd,
55. Full of the pasture, jumps along by him
56. And never stays to greet him; "Ay," quoth Jaques,
57. "Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens;
58. 'Tis just the fashion; wherefore do you look
59. Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there?"
60. Thus most invectively he pierceth through
61. The body of the country, city, court,
62. Yea, and of this our life: swearing that we
63. Are mere usurpers, tyrants, and what's worse,
64. To fright the animals, and to kill them up
65. In their assign'd and native dwelling-place.

DUKE SENIOR
66. And did you leave him in this contemplation?

SECOND LORD
67. We did, my lord, weeping and commenting
68. Upon the sobbing deer.

DUKE SENIOR
69. Show me the place:
70. I love to cope him in these sullen fits,
71. For then he's full of matter.

FIRST LORD
72. I'll bring you to him straight.

[Exeunt.]


SCENE II. A Room in the Palace


[Enter DUKE FREDERICK, Lords, and Attendants.]

DUKE FREDERICK
1. Can it be possible that no man saw them?
2. It cannot be: some villains of my court
3. Are of consent and sufferance in this.

FIRST LORD
4. I cannot hear of any that did see her.
5. The ladies, her attendants of her chamber,
6. Saw her a-bed; and in the morning early
7. They found the bed untreasur'd of their mistress.

SECOND LORD
8. My lord, the roynish clown, at whom so oft
9. Your grace was wont to laugh, is also missing.
10. Hesperia, the princess' gentlewoman,
11. Confesses that she secretly o'erheard
12. Your daughter and her cousin much commend
13. The parts and graces of the wrestler
14. That did but lately foil the sinewy Charles;
15. And she believes, wherever they are gone,
16. That youth is surely in their company.

DUKE FREDERICK
17. Send to his brother; fetch that gallant hither:
18. If he be absent, bring his brother to me,
19. I'll make him find him: do this suddenly;
20. And let not search and inquisition quail
21. To bring again these foolish runaways.

[Exeunt.]



SCENE III. Before OLIVER'S House

[Enter ORLANDO and ADAM, meeting.]

ORLANDO
1. Who's there?

ADAM
2. What, my young master? O my gentle master!
3. my sweet master! O you memory
4. Of old Sir Rowland! why, what make you here?
5. Why are you virtuous? why do people love you?
6. And wherefore are you gentle, strong, and valiant?
7. Why would you be so fond to overcome
8. The bonny prizer of the humorous duke?
9. Your praise is come too swiftly home before you.
10. Know you not, master, to some kind of men
11. Their graces serve them but as enemies?
12. No more do yours; your virtues, gentle master,
13. Are sanctified and holy traitors to you.
14. O, what a world is this, when what is comely
15. Envenoms him that bears it!

ORLANDO
16. Why, what's the matter?

ADAM
17. O unhappy youth,
18. Come not within these doors; within this roof
19. The enemy of all your graces lives:
20. Your brother, no, no brother; yet the son
21. Yet not the son; I will not call him son
22. Of him I was about to call his father,
23. Hath heard your praises; and this night he means
24. To burn the lodging where you use to lie,
25. And you within it: if he fail of that,
26. He will have other means to cut you off;
27. I overheard him and his practices.
28. This is no place; this house is but a butchery:
29. Abhor it, fear it, do not enter it.

ORLANDO
30. Why, whither, Adam, wouldst thou have me go?

ADAM
31. No matter whither, so you come not here.

ORLANDO
32. What, wouldst thou have me go and beg my food?
33. Or with a base and boisterous sword enforce
34. A thievish living on the common road?
35. This I must do, or know not what to do:
36. Yet this I will not do, do how I can:
37. I rather will subject me to the malice
38. Of a diverted blood and bloody brother.

ADAM
39. But do not so. I have five hundred crowns,
40. The thrifty hire I sav'd under your father,
41. Which I did store to be my foster-nurse,
42. When service should in my old limbs lie lame,
43. And unregarded age in corners thrown;
44. Take that: and He that doth the ravens feed,
45. Yea, providently caters for the sparrow,
46. Be comfort to my age! Here is the gold;
47. All this I give you. Let me be your servant;
48. Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty:
49. For in my youth I never did apply
50. Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood;
51. Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo
52. The means of weakness and debility;
53. Therefore my age is as a lusty winter,
54. Frosty, but kindly: let me go with you;
55. I'll do the service of a younger man
56. In all your business and necessities.

ORLANDO
57. good old man; how well in thee appears
58. The constant service of the antique world,
59. When service sweat for duty, not for meed!
60. Thou art not for the fashion of these times,
61. Where none will sweat but for promotion;
62. And having that, do choke their service up
63. Even with the having: it is not so with thee.
64. But, poor old man, thou prun'st a rotten tree,
65. That cannot so much as a blossom yield
66. In lieu of all thy pains and husbandry:
67. But come thy ways, we'll go along together;
68. And ere we have thy youthful wages spent
69. We'll light upon some settled low content.

ADAM
70. Master, go on; and I will follow thee
71. To the last gasp, with truth and loyalty.
72. From seventeen years till now almost fourscore
73. Here lived I, but now live here no more.
74. At seventeen years many their fortunes seek;
75. But at fourscore it is too late a week:
76. Yet fortune cannot recompense me better
77. Than to die well and not my master's debtor.

[Exeunt.]



SCENE IV. The Forest of Arden

[Enter ROSALIND in boy's clothes, CELIA dressed like a
shepherdess, and TOUCHSTONE.]

ROSALIND
1. Jupiter! How weary are my spirits!

TOUCHSTONE
2. I care not for my spirits, if my legs were not weary.

ROSALIND
3. I could find in my heart to disgrace my man's apparel,
4. and to cry like a woman; but I must comfort the weaker vessel, as
5. doublet and hose ought to show itself courageous to petticoat;
6. therefore, courage, good Aliena.

CELIA
7. I pray you bear with me; I can go no further.

TOUCHSTONE
8. For my part, I had rather bear with you than bear you:
9. yet I should bear no cross if I did bear you; for I think you
10. have no money in your purse.

ROSALIND
11. Well, this is the forest of Arden.

TOUCHSTONE
12. Ay, now am I in Arden: the more fool I; when I was at
13. home I was in a better place; but travellers must be content.

ROSALIND
14. Ay, be so, good Touchstone. Look you, who comes here?, a
15. young man and an old in solemn talk.

[Enter CORIN and SILVIUS.]

CORIN
16. That is the way to make her scorn you still.

SILVIUS
17. Corin, that thou knewst how I do love her!

CORIN
18. I partly guess; for I have lov'd ere now.

SILVIUS
19. No, Corin, being old, thou canst not guess;
20. Though in thy youth thou wast as true a lover
21. As ever sigh'd upon a midnight pillow:
22. But if thy love were ever like to mine,
23. As sure I think did never man love so,
24. How many actions most ridiculous
25. Hast thou been drawn to by thy fantasy?

CORIN
26. Into a thousand that I have forgotten.

SILVIUS
27. O, thou didst then never love so heartily:
28. If thou remember'st not the slightest folly
29. That ever love did make thee run into,
30. Thou hast not lov'd:
31. Or if thou hast not sat as I do now,
32. Wearing thy hearer in thy mistress' praise,
33. Thou hast not lov'd:
34. Or if thou hast not broke from company
35. Abruptly, as my passion now makes me,
36. Thou hast not lov'd: O Phebe, Phebe, Phebe!

[Exit Silvius.]

ROSALIND
37. Alas, poor shepherd! searching of thy wound,
38. I have by hard adventure found mine own.

TOUCHSTONE
39. And I mine. I remember, when I was in love, I broke my
40. sword upon a stone, and bid him take that for coming a-night to
41. Jane Smile: and I remember the kissing of her batler, and the
42. cow's dugs that her pretty chapp'd hands had milk'd: and I
43. remember the wooing of a peascod instead of her; from whom I took
44. two cods, and giving her them again, said with weeping tears,
45. "Wear these for my sake." We that are true lovers run into
46. strange capers; but as all is mortal in nature, so is all nature
47. in love mortal in folly.

ROSALIND
48. Thou speak'st wiser than thou art 'ware of.

TOUCHSTONE
49. Nay, I shall ne'er be 'ware of mine own wit till I break my shins
50. against it.

ROSALIND
51. Jove, Jove! this shepherd's passion
52. Is much upon my fashion.

TOUCHSTONE
53. And mine: but it grows something stale with me.

CELIA
54. I pray you, one of you question yond man
55. If he for gold will give us any food:
56. I faint almost to death.

TOUCHSTONE
57. Holla, you clown!

ROSALIND
58. Peace, fool; he's not thy kinsman.

CORIN
59. Who calls?

TOUCHSTONE
60. Your betters, sir.

CORIN
61. Else are they very wretched.

ROSALIND
62. Peace I say.
63. Good even to you, friend.

CORIN
64. And to you, gentle sir, and to you all.

ROSALIND
65. I prithee, shepherd, if that love or gold
66. Can in this desert place buy entertainment,
67. Bring us where we may rest ourselves and feed:
68. Here's a young maid with travel much oppress'd,
69. And faints for succour.

CORIN
70. Fair sir, I pity her.
71. And wish, for her sake more than for mine own,
72. My fortunes were more able to relieve her:
73. But I am shepherd to another man,
74. And do not shear the fleeces that I graze:
75. My master is of churlish disposition,
76. And little recks to find the way to heaven
77. By doing deeds of hospitality:
78. Besides, his cote, his flocks, and bounds of feed,
79. Are now on sale; and at our sheepcote now,
80. By reason of his absence, there is nothing
81. That you will feed on; but what is, come see,
82. And in my voice most welcome shall you be.

ROSALIND
83. What is he that shall buy his flock and pasture?

CORIN
84. That young swain that you saw here but erewhile,
85. That little cares for buying anything.

ROSALIND
86. I pray thee, if it stand with honesty,
87. Buy thou the cottage, pasture, and the flock,
88. And thou shalt have to pay for it of us.

CELIA
89. And we will mend thy wages. I like this place,
90. And willingly could waste my time in it.

CORIN
91. Assuredly the thing is to be sold:
92. Go with me: if you like, upon report,
93. The soil, the profit, and this kind of life,
94. I will your very faithful feeder be,
95. And buy it with your gold right suddenly.

[Exeunt.]


SCENE V. Another part of the Forest

[Enter AMIENS, JAQUES, and others.]

AMIENS

[SONG]

1. Under the greenwood tree,
2. Who loves to lie with me,
3. And turn his merry note
4. Unto the sweet bird's throat,
5. Come hither, come hither, come hither;
6. Here shall he see
7. No enemy
8. But winter and rough weather.

JAQUES
9. More, more, I prithee, more.

AMIENS
10. It will make you melancholy, Monsieur Jaques.

JAQUES
11. I thank it. More, I prithee, more. I can suck melancholy
12. out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs. More, I prithee, more.

AMIENS
13. My voice is ragged; I know I cannot please you.

JAQUES
14. I do not desire you to please me; I do desire you to sing.
15. Come, more: another stanza. Call you them stanzas?

AMIENS
16. What you will, Monsieur Jaques.

JAQUES
17. Nay, I care not for their names; they owe me nothing.
18. Will you sing?

AMIENS
19. More at your request than to please myself.

JAQUES
20. Well then, if ever I thank any man, I'll thank you: but
21. that they call compliment is like the encounter of two dog-apes;
22. and when a man thanks me heartily, methinks have given him a
23. penny, and he renders me the beggarly thanks. Come, sing; and
24. you that will not, hold your tongues.

AMIENS
25. Well, I'll end the song. Sirs, cover the while: the duke will
26. drink under this tree: he hath been all this day to look you.

JAQUES
27. And I have been all this day to avoid him. He is too
28. disputable for my company: I think of as many matters as he;
29. but I give heaven thanks, and make no boast of them. Come,
30. warble, come.

[SONG.]

31. Who doth ambition shun,
32. And loves to live i' the sun,
33. Seeking the food he eats,
34. And pleas'd with what he gets,
35. Come hither, come hither, come hither.
36. Here shall he see
37. No enemy
38. But winter and rough weather.

JAQUES
39. I'll give you a verse to this note that I made
40. yesterday in despite of my invention.

AMIENS
41. And I'll sing it.

JAQUES
42. Thus it goes:

43. If it do come to pass
44. That any man turn ass,
45. Leaving his wealth and ease
46. A stubborn will to please,
47. Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame;
48. Here shall he see
49. Gross fools as he,
50. An if he will come to me.

AMIENS
51. What's that "ducdame?"

JAQUES
52. 'Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into a circle. I'll
53. go sleep, if I can; if I cannot, I'll rail against all the
54. first-born of Egypt.

AMIENS
55. And I'll go seek the duke; his banquet is prepared.

[Exeunt severally.]



SCENE VI. Another part of the Forest

[Enter ORLANDO and ADAM.]

ADAM
1. Dear master, I can go no further: O, I die for food! Here
2. lie I down, and measure out my grave. Farewell, kind master.

ORLANDO
3. Why, how now, Adam! no greater heart in thee? Live a
4. little; comfort a little; cheer thyself a little. If this uncouth
5. forest yield anything savage, I will either be food for it or
6. bring it for food to thee. Thy conceit is nearer death than thy
7. powers. For my sake be comfortable: hold death awhile at the
8. arm's end: I will here be with thee presently; and if I bring
9. thee not something to eat, I'll give thee leave to die: but if
10. thou diest before I come, thou art a mocker of my labour. Well
11. said! thou look'st cheerily: and I'll be with thee quickly. Yet
12. thou liest in the bleak air: come, I will bear thee to some
13. shelter; and thou shalt not die for lack of a dinner if there
14. live anything in this desert. Cheerily, good Adam!

[Exeunt.]



SCENE VII. Another part of the Forest

[A table set. Enter DUKE Senior, AMIENS, and others.]

DUKE SENIOR
1. I think he be transform'd into a beast;
2. For I can nowhere find him like a man.

FIRST LORD
3. My lord, he is but even now gone hence;
4. Here was he merry, hearing of a song.

DUKE SENIOR
5. If he, compact of jars, grow musical,
6. We shall have shortly discord in the spheres.
7. Go, seek him; tell him I would speak with him.

FIRST LORD
8. He saves my labour by his own approach.

[Enter JAQUES.]

DUKE SENIOR
9. Why, how now, monsieur! what a life is this,
10. That your poor friends must woo your company?
11. What! you look merrily!

JAQUES
12. A fool, a fool! I met a fool i' the forest,
13. A motley fool; a miserable world!
14. As I do live by food, I met a fool,
15. Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun,
16. And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms,
17. In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.
18. "Good morrow, fool," quoth I: "No, sir," quoth he,
19. "Call me not fool till heaven hath sent me fortune."
20. And then he drew a dial from his poke,
21. And, looking on it with lack-lustre eye,
22. Says very wisely, "It is ten o'clock:
23. Thus we may see," quoth he, "how the world wags;
24. 'Tis but an hour ago since it was nine;
25. And after one hour more 'twill be eleven;
26. And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe,
27. And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot;
28. And thereby hangs a tale." When I did hear
29. The motley fool thus moral on the time,
30. My lungs began to crow like chanticleer,
31. That fools should be so deep contemplative;
32. And I did laugh sans intermission
33. An hour by his dial. O noble fool!
34. A worthy fool! Motley's the only wear.

DUKE SENIOR
35. What fool is this?

JAQUES
36. O worthy fool! One that hath been a courtier,
37. And says, if ladies be but young and fair,
38. They have the gift to know it: and in his brain,
39. Which is as dry as the remainder biscuit
40. After a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd
41. With observation, the which he vents
42. In mangled forms.-O that I were a fool!
43. I am ambitious for a motley coat.

DUKE SENIOR
44. Thou shalt have one.

JAQUES
45. It is my only suit,
46. Provided that you weed your better judgments
47. Of all opinion that grows rank in them
48. That I am wise. I must have liberty
49. Withal, as large a charter as the wind,
50. To blow on whom I please; for so fools have:
51. And they that are most galled with my folly,
52. They most must laugh. And why, sir, must they so?
53. The "why" is plain as way to parish church:
54. He that a fool doth very wisely hit
55. Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
56. Not to seem senseless of the bob; if not,
57. The wise man's folly is anatomiz'd
58. Even by the squandering glances of the fool.
59. Invest me in my motley; give me leave
60. To speak my mind, and I will through and through
61. Cleanse the foul body of the infected world,
62. If they will patiently receive my medicine.

DUKE SENIOR
63. Fie on thee! I can tell what thou wouldst do.

JAQUES
64. What, for a counter, would I do but good?

DUKE SENIOR
65. Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin;
66. For thou thyself hast been a libertine,
67. As sensual as the brutish sting itself;
68. And all the embossed sores and headed evils
69. That thou with license of free foot hast caught
70. Wouldst thou disgorge into the general world.

JAQUES
71. Why, who cries out on pride
72. That can therein tax any private party?
73. Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea,
74. Till that the weary very means do ebb?
75. What woman in the city do I name
76. When that I say, The city-woman bears
77. The cost of princes on unworthy shoulders?
78. Who can come in and say that I mean her,
79. When such a one as she, such is her neighbour?
80. Or what is he of basest function
81. That says his bravery is not on my cost,
82. Thinking that I mean him, but therein suits
83. His folly to the metal of my speech?
84. There then; how then? what then? Let me see wherein
85. My tongue hath wrong'd him: if it do him right,
86. Then he hath wrong'd himself; if he be free,
87. Why then, my taxing like a wild-goose flies,
88. Unclaim'd of any man. But who comes here?

[Enter ORLANDO, with his sword drawn.]

ORLANDO
89. Forbear, and eat no more.

JAQUES
90. Why, I have eat none yet.

ORLANDO
91. Nor shalt not, till necessity be serv'd.

JAQUES
92. Of what kind should this cock come of?

DUKE SENIOR
93. Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy distress:
94. Or else a rude despiser of good manners,
95. That in civility thou seem'st so empty?

ORLANDO
96. You touch'd my vein at first: the thorny point
97. Of bare distress hath ta'en from me the show
98. Of smooth civility: yet am I inland bred,
99. And know some nurture. But forbear, I say;
100. He dies that touches any of this fruit
101. Till I and my affairs are answered.

JAQUES
102. An you will not be answered with reason, I must die.

DUKE SENIOR
103. What would you have? your gentleness shall force
104. More than your force move us to gentleness.

ORLANDO
105. I almost die for food, and let me have it.

DUKE SENIOR
106. Sit down and feed, and welcome to our table.

ORLANDO
107. Speak you so gently? Pardon me, I pray you:
108. I thought that all things had been savage here;
109. And therefore put I on the countenance
110. Of stern commandment. But whate'er you are
111. That in this desert inaccessible,
112. Under the shade of melancholy boughs,
113. Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time;
114. If ever you have look'd on better days,
115. If ever been where bells have knoll'd to church,
116. If ever sat at any good man's feast,
117. If ever from your eyelids wip'd a tear,
118. And know what 'tis to pity and be pitied,
119. Let gentleness my strong enforcement be:
120. In the which hope I blush, and hide my sword.

DUKE SENIOR
121. True is it that we have seen better days,
122. And have with holy bell been knoll'd to church,
123. And sat at good men's feasts, and wip'd our eyes
124. Of drops that sacred pity hath engender'd:
125. And therefore sit you down in gentleness,
126. And take upon command what help we have,
127. That to your wanting may be minister'd.

ORLANDO
128. Then but forbear your food a little while,
129. Whiles, like a doe, I go to find my fawn,
130. And give it food. There is an old poor man
131. Who after me hath many a weary step
132. Limp'd in pure love: till he be first suffic'd,
133. Oppress'd with two weak evils, age and hunger,
134. I will not touch a bit.

DUKE SENIOR
135. Go find him out.
136. And we will nothing waste till you return.

ORLANDO
137. I thank ye; and be blest for your good comfort!

[Exit.]

DUKE SENIOR
138. Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy;
139. This wide and universal theatre
140. Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
141. Wherein we play in.

JAQUES
142. All the world's a stage,
143. And all the men and women merely players;
144. They have their exits and their entrances;
145. And one man in his time plays many parts,
146. His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
147. Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
148. Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
149. And shining morning face, creeping like snail
150. Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
151. Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
152. Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
153. Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
154. Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
155. Seeking the bubble reputation
156. Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
157. In fair round belly with good capon lin'd,
158. With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
159. Full of wise saws and modern instances;
160. And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
161. Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
162. With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
163. His youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
164. For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
165. Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
166. And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
167. That ends this strange eventful history,
168. Is second childishness and mere oblivion;
169. Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

[Re-enter ORLANDO with ADAM.]

DUKE SENIOR
170. Welcome. Set down your venerable burden,
171. And let him feed.

ORLANDO
172. I thank you most for him.

ADAM
173. So had you need;
174. I scarce can speak to thank you for myself.

DUKE SENIOR
175. Welcome; fall to: I will not trouble you
176. As yet, to question you about your fortunes.
177. Give us some music; and, good cousin, sing.

[AMIENS sings.]

SONG

I.

178. Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
179. Thou art not so unkind
180. As man's ingratitude;
181. Thy tooth is not so keen,
182. Because thou art not seen,
183. Although thy breath be rude.
184. Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
185. Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
186. Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
187. This life is most jolly.

II.

188. Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
189. That dost not bite so nigh
190. As benefits forgot:
191. Though thou the waters warp,
192. Thy sting is not so sharp
193. As friend remember'd not.
194. Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
195. Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
196. Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
197. This life is most jolly.


DUKE SENIOR
198. If that you were the good Sir Rowland's son,
199. As you have whisper'd faithfully you were,
200. And as mine eye doth his effigies witness
201. Most truly limn'd and living in your face,
202. Be truly welcome hither: I am the duke
203. That lov'd your father. The residue of your fortune,
204. Go to my cave and tell me. Good old man,
205. Thou art right welcome as thy master is;
206. Support him by the arm. Give me your hand,
207. And let me all your fortunes understand.

[Exeunt]




ACT III


SCENE I. A Room in the Palace

[Enter DUKE FREDERICK, OLIVER, Lords and Attendants.]

DUKE FREDERICK
1. Not see him since? Sir, sir, that cannot be:
2. But were I not the better part made mercy,
3. I should not seek an absent argument
4. Of my revenge, thou present. But look to it:
5. Find out thy brother wheresoe'er he is:
6. Seek him with candle; bring him dead or living
7. Within this twelvemonth, or turn thou no more
8. To seek a living in our territory.
9. Thy lands, and all things that thou dost call thine
10. Worth seizure, do we seize into our hands,
11. Till thou canst quit thee by thy brother's mouth
12. Of what we think against thee.

OLIVER
13. O that your highness knew my heart in this!
14. I never lov'd my brother in my life.

DUKE FREDERICK
15. More villain thou. Well, push him out of doors,
16. And let my officers of such a nature
17. Make an extent upon his house and lands:
18. Do this expediently, and turn him going.

[Exeunt.]



SCENE II. The Forest of Arden

[Enter ORLANDO, with a paper.]

ORLANDO
1. Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love;
2. And thou, thrice-crowned queen of night, survey
3. With thy chaste eye, from thy pale sphere above,
4. Thy huntress' name, that my full life doth sway.
5. Rosalind! These trees shall be my books,
6. And in their barks my thoughts I'll character,
7. That every eye which in this forest looks
8. Shall see thy virtue witness'd every where.
9. Run, run, Orlando; carve on every tree,
10. The fair, the chaste, and unexpressive she.

[Exit.]

[Enter CORIN and TOUCHSTONE.]

CORIN
11. And how like you this shepherd's life, Master Touchstone?

TOUCHSTONE
12. Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good
13. life; but in respect that it is a shepherd's life, it is naught.
14. In respect that it is solitary, I like it very well; but in
15. respect that it is private, it is a very vile life. Now in
16. respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in respect
17. it is not in the court, it is tedious. As it is a spare life,
18. look you, it fits my humour well; but as there is no more
19. plenty in it, it goes much against my stomach. Hast any
20. philosophy in thee, shepherd?

CORIN
21. No more but that I know the more one sickens, the worse at
22. ease he is; and that he that wants money, means, and content, is
23. without three good friends; that the property of rain is to wet,
24. and fire to burn; that good pasture makes fat sheep; and that a
25. great cause of the night is lack of the sun; that he that hath
26. learned no wit by nature nor art may complain of good breeding,
27. or comes of a very dull kindred.

TOUCHSTONE
28. Such a one is a natural philosopher. Wast ever in court,
29. shepherd?

CORIN
30. No, truly.

TOUCHSTONE
31. Then thou art damned.

CORIN
32. Nay, I hope,

TOUCHSTONE
33. Truly, thou art damned, like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side.

CORIN
34. For not being at court? Your reason.

TOUCHSTONE
35. Why, if thou never wast at court, thou never saw'st good
36. manners; if thou never saw'st good manners, then thy manners must
37. be wicked; and wickedness is sin, and sin is damnation. Thou art
38. in a parlous state, shepherd.

CORIN
39. Not a whit, Touchstone; those that are good manners at the
40. court are as ridiculous in the country as the behaviour of the
41. country is most mockable at the court. You told me you salute not
42. at the court, but you kiss your hands; that courtesy would be
43. uncleanly if courtiers were shepherds.

TOUCHSTONE
44. Instance, briefly; come, instance.

CORIN
45. Why, we are still handling our ewes; and their fells,
46. you know, are greasy.

TOUCHSTONE
47. Why, do not your courtier's hands sweat? and is not the
48. grease of a mutton as wholesome as the sweat of a man?
49. Shallow, shallow: a better instance, I say; come.

CORIN
50. Besides, our hands are hard.

TOUCHSTONE
51. Your lips will feel them the sooner. Shallow again: a more
52. sounder instance; come.

CORIN
53. And they are often tarred over with the surgery of our
54. sheep; and would you have us kiss tar? The courtier's hands
55. are perfumed with civet.

TOUCHSTONE
56. Most shallow man! thou worm's-meat in respect of a good
57. piece of flesh indeed! Learn of the wise, and perpend: civet is
58. of a baser birth than tar, the very uncleanly flux of a cat.
59. Mend the instance, shepherd.

CORIN
60. You have too courtly a wit for me: I'll rest.

TOUCHSTONE
61. Wilt thou rest damned? God help thee, shallow man!
62. God make incision in thee! thou art raw.

CORIN
63. Sir, I am a true labourer: I earn that I eat, get that I
64. wear, owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness, glad of other
65. men's good, content with my harm; and the greatest of my
66. pride is to see my ewes graze and my lambs suck.

TOUCHSTONE
67. That is another simple sin in you: to bring the ewes
68. and the rams together, and to offer to get your living by the
69. copulation of cattle; to be bawd to a bell-wether; and to betray
70. a she-lamb of a twelvemonth to crooked-pated, old, cuckoldly ram,
71. out of all reasonable match. If thou be'st not damned for this,
72. the devil himself will have no shepherds; I cannot see else how
73. thou shouldst 'scape.

CORIN
74. Here comes young Master Ganymede, my new mistress's brother.

[Enter ROSALIND, reading a paper.]

ROSALIND
75. "From the east to western Ind,
76. No jewel is like Rosalind.
77. Her worth, being mounted on the wind,
78. Through all the world bears Rosalind.
79. All the pictures fairest lin'd
80. Are but black to Rosalind.
81. Let no face be kept in mind
82. But the fair of Rosalind."

TOUCHSTONE
83. I'll rhyme you so eight years together, dinners, and
84. suppers, and sleeping hours excepted. It is the right
85. butter-women's rank to market.

ROSALIND
86. Out, fool!

TOUCHSTONE
87. For a taste:
88. If a hart do lack a hind,
89. Let him seek out Rosalind.
90. If the cat will after kind,
91. So be sure will Rosalind.
92. Winter garments must be lin'd,
93. So must slender Rosalind.
94. They that reap must sheaf and bind,
95. Then to cart with Rosalind.
96. Sweetest nut hath sourest rind,
97. Such a nut is Rosalind.
98. He that sweetest rose will find
99. Must find love's prick, and Rosalind.

100. This is the very false gallop of verses: why do you infect
101. yourself with them?

ROSALIND
102. Peace, you dull fool! I found them on a tree.

TOUCHSTONE
103. Truly, the tree yields bad fruit.

ROSALIND
104. I'll graff it with you, and then I shall graff it with a
105. medlar. Then it will be the