Audrey.
Clown.
We shall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Audrey:
Aud.
Faith, the Priest was good enough,
for all the old Gentleman's saying.
Clo.
A most wicked Sir Oliver, Audrey; a most vile
Mar-text! but, Audrey, there is a youth here in the
Forest lays claim to you.
Aud.
Ay, I know who 'tis, he hath no interest in
Me in the world; here comes the man you mean.
Enter William.
Clo.
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 ev'n, Audrey.
Aud.
God ye good ev'n, William.
-- 256 --
Will.
And good ev'n to you, Sir.
Clo.
Good ev'n, gentle friend. Cover thy head,
cover thy head; nay, pr'ythee, be cover'd. How old
are you, friend?
Will.
Five and twenty, Sir.
Clo.
A ripe age: is thy name William?
Will.
William, Sir.
Clo.
A fair name. Wast born i'th' forest here?
Will.
Ay, Sir, I thank God.
Clo.
Thank God: a good answer: art rich?
Will.
'Faith, Sir, so, so.
Clo.
So so, is good, very good, very excellent good;
and yet it is not; it is but so, so. Art thou wise?
Will.
Ay, Sir, I have a pretty wit.
Clo.
Why, thou say'st well: I do now remember
a Saying; the fool doth think he is wise, but the wise
man knows himself to be a fool. (25) noteThe 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.
Clo.
Give me your hand: art thou learned?
Will.
No, Sir.
Clo.
Then learn this of me; to have, is to have.
For it is a figure in rhetorick, that drink being poured
out of a cup into a glass, by filling the one doth empty
the other. For all your writers do consent, that
ipse is he: now you are not ipse; for I am he.
Will.
Which he, Sir?
Clo.
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;
-- 257 --
which together is, abandon the society of this female;
or Clown, thou perishest; or, to thy better understanding,
diest; or, 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.
Clo.
Trip, Audrey; trip, Audrey; I attend, I attend.
[Exeunt.
Enter Orlando and Oliver.
Orla.
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 persevere to enjoy her?
Oli.
Neither call the giddiness of it in question, the
poverty of her, the small acquaintance, my sudden
wooing, nor her sudden consenting; but say with me,
I love Aliena; say with her, that she loves me; consent
with both, that we may enjoy each other; it shall
be to your Good; for my father's house, and all the
revenue that was old Sir Rowland's, will I estate upon
you, and here live and die a shepherd.
Enter Rosalind.
Orla.
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 Aliena;
for, look you, here comes my Rosalind.
Ros.
God save you, brother.
Oli.
And you, fair sister.
Ros.
Oh, my dear Orlando, how it grieves me to
see thee wear thy heart in a scarf.
-- 258 --
Orla.
It is my arm.
Ros.
I thought, thy heart had been wounded with
the claws of a lion.
Orla.
Wounded it is, but with the eyes of a lady.
Ros.
Did your brother tell you how I counterfeited
to swoon, when he shew'd me your handkerchief?
Orla.
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: for your brother and my sister no
sooner met, but they look'd; no sooner look'd, but
they lov'd; no sooner lov'd, but they sigh'd; no
sooner sigh'd, but they ask'd 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.
Orla.
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.
Orla.
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
what you are; neither do I labour for a greater esteem
than may in some little measure draw a belief
from you to do your self good, and not to grace me.
Believe then, if you please, that I can do strange
things; I have, since I was three years old, converst
-- 259 --
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, you shall marry her. I know into
what streights 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.
Orla.
Speak'st thou in sober meanings?
Ros.
By my life, I do; which I tender dearly, tho'
I say, I am a magician: therefore put you on your
best array, bid your friends, for if you will be married
to morrow, you shall; and to Rosalind, if you
will.
Enter Silvius and Phebe.
Look, here comes a lover of mine, and a lover of hers.
Phe.
Youth, you have done me much ungentleness,
To shew 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:
You are there follow'd by a faithful shepherd;
Look upon him, love him; he worships you.
Phe.
Good shepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to love.
Sil.
It is to be made all of sighs and tears,
And so am I for Phebe.
Phe.
And I for Ganymed.
Orla.
And I for Rosalind.
Ros.
And I for no woman.
Sil.
‘It is to be made all of faith and service;
‘And so am I for Phebe.
Phe.
And I for Ganymed.
Orla.
And I for Rosalind.
Ros.
And I for no woman.
Sil.
It is to be all made of fantasie,
All made of passion, and all made of wishes,
All adoration, duty and observance,
All humbleness, all patience, and impatience,
All purity, all trial, all observance;
-- 260 --
And so am I for Phebe.
Phe.
And so am I for Ganymed.
Orla.
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 Ros.
Sil.
If this be so, why blame you me to love you?
[To Phe.
Orla.
If this be so, why blame you me to love you?
Ros.
Who do you speak to, why blame you me to love you?
Orla.
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
if I can; I would love you, if I could: to morrow
meet me all together; I will marry you, if ever I
marry woman, and I'll be married to morrow; [To
Phe.] I will satisfy you, if ever I satisfy'd man, and
you shall be married to morrow; [To Orl.] I will
content you, if, what pleases you, contents you; and
you shall be married to morrow. [To Sil.] As you
love Rosalind, meet; as you 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.
Phe.
Nor I.
Orla.
Nor I.
[Exeunt.
Enter Clown and Audrey.
Clo.
To morrow is the joyful day, Audrey: to
morrow we will 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.
Clo.
By my troth, well met: come, sit, sit, and a Song.
2 Page.
We are for you, sit i'th' middle.
-- 261 --
1 Page.
Shall we clap into't roundly, without hawking,
or spitting, or saying we are hoarse, which are
the only prologues to a bad voice?
2 Page.
I'faith, i'faith, and both in a tune, like two
Gypsies on a horse.
SONG.
It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o'er the green corn-field did pass
In the spring time; the pretty spring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding,
Sweet lovers love the spring.
And therefore take the present time,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino;
For love is crowned with the prime.
In the spring time, &c.
Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country-folks would lye,
In the spring time, &c.
The Carrol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that a life was but a flower,
In the spring time, &c.
Clo.
Truly, young gentleman, though there was no
great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untimeable.(26) note
1 Page.
You are deceiv'd, Sir, we kept time, we
lost not our time.
Clo.
By my troth, yes: I count it but time lost to
hear such a foolish Song. God b'w'y you, and God
mend your voices. Come, Audrey.
[Exeunt.
-- 262 --
Lewis Theobald [1733], The works of Shakespeare: in seven volumes. Collated with the Oldest Copies, and Corrected; With notes, Explanatory and Critical; By Mr. Theobald (Printed for A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch [and] J. Tonson [etc.], London) [word count] [S11201].
