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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?

Ros. Who do you speak to16 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 SILV.] if I can. I would love you, [To PHE.] if I could. To-morrow meet me all together. I will marry you, [To PHE.] if ever I marry woman, and I'll be married to-morrow; I will satisfy you, [To ORL.] if ever I satisfied man, and you shall be married to-morrow; I will content you, [To SILV.] if what pleases you contents you, and you shall be married to-morrow. As you [To ORL.] love Rosalind, meet; as you [To SILV.] 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.

Orl.

Nor I.

Nor I.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. The same.

Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY.

Touchstone.

morrow will we be married.

day, Audrey; to

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 comes 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.

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 gipsies on a horse.

SONG.

1.

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 only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

II.

Between the acres of the rye,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country folks would lie,
In spring-time, &c.

III.

This carol they began that hour,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that a life was but a flower

In spring-time, &c.

IV.

And therefore take the present time,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino;
For love is crowned with the prime,

In spring-time, &c.

Touch. Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untunable.

1 Page. You are deceiv'd, 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.

Do

Duke S.

OST 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 their hope, and hope their fear.17

Enter ROSALIND, SILVIUS, and Phebe.

Ros. Patience once more, whiles our compact is urg'd.

You say, if I bring in your Rosalind, [To the Duke. You will bestow her on Orlando here?

Duke S. That would I, had I kingdoms to give with

her.

Ros. And you say, you will have her, when I bring her?

[TO ORL. Orl. That would I, were I of all kingdoms king. Ros. You say, you'll marry me, if I be willing? [TO PHE. Phe. That will I, should I die the hour after. Ros. But if you do refuse to marry me, You'll give yourself to this most faithful shepherd? Phe. So is the bargain.

Ros. You say, that you'll have Phebe, if she will?

[TO SILV. Sil. Though to have her and death were both one

thing.

Ros. I have promis'd to make all this matter even. Keep you your word, O Duke, to give your daughter; You yours, Orlando, to receive his daughter: Keep your word, Phebe, that you'll marry me ; Or else, refusing me, to wed this shepherd: Keep your word, Silvius, that you'll marry her, If she refuse me:-and from hence I go,

To make these doubts all even.

[Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIA. Duke S. I do remember in this shepherd-boy Some lively touches of my daughter's favour. Orl. My lord, the first time that I ever saw him, Methought he was a brother to your daughter. But, my good lord, this boy is forest-born; And hath been tutor❜d in the rudiments Of many desperate studies by his uncle, Whom he reports to be a great magician, Obscured in the circle of this forest.

Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY.

Jaq. There is, sure, another flood toward, and these couples are coming to the ark. Here comes a pair of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called fools.

Touch. Salutation and greeting to you all!

Jaq. Good my lord, bid him welcome. This is the motley-minded gentleman, that I have so often met in the forest. He hath been a courtier, he swears.

Touch. If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation. I have trod a measure; I have flattered a lady; I have been politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy; I have undone three tailors; I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought one.

Jaq. And how was that ta'en up?

Touch. 'Faith, we met, and found the quarrel was upon the seventh cause.

Jaq. How seventh cause? Good my lord, like this fellow.

Duke S. I like him very well.

Touch. God'ild you, sir; I desire you of the like. I press in here, sir, amongst the rest of the country copulatives, to swear, and to forswear; according as marriage binds, and blood breaks. A poor virgin, sir, an ill-favoured thing, sir, but mine own; a poor humour of mine, sir, to take that that no man else

will. Rich honesty dwells like a miser, sir, in a poor house; as your pearl, in your foul oyster.

Duke S. By my faith, he is very swift and senten

tious.

Touch. According to the fool's bolt, sir, and such dulcet diseases.

Jaq. But, for the seventh cause; how did you find the quarrel on the seventh cause?

Touch. Upon a lie seven times removed.-Bear your body more seeming, Audrey!-As thus, sir. I did dislike the cut of a certain courtier's beard; he sent me word, if I said his beard was not cut well, he was in the mind it was: this is called the Retort Courteous. If I sent him word again, it was not well cut, he would send me word, he cut it to please himself: this is called the Quip Modest. If again, it was not well cut, he disabled my judgement: this is call'd the Reply Churlish. If again, it was not well cut, he would answer, I spake not true: this is call'd the Reproof Valiant. If again, it was not well cut, he would say, I lie: this is called the Countercheck Quarrelsome and so to the Lie Circumstantial, and the Lie Direct.

:

Jaq. And how oft did you say, his beard was not well cut?

Touch. I durst go no further than the Lie Circumstantial, nor he durst not give me the Lie Direct; and so we measured swords, and parted.

Jaq. Can you nominate in order now the degrees of the lie?

Touch. Oh! sir, we quarrel in print, by the book; as you have books for good manners. I will name you the degrees. The first, the Retort Courteous; the second, the Quip Modest; the third, the Reply Churlish; the fourth, the Reproof Valiant; the fifth, the Countercheck Quarrelsome; the sixth, the Lie with Circumstance; the seventh, the Lie Direct. All these you may avoid, but the Lie Direct; and you may avoid that too, with an If. I knew when seven

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