SIL. Call you this chiding? CEL. Alas, poor shepherd!

Ros. Do you pity him? no, he deserves no pity. Wilt thou love such a woman? What, to make thee an instrument, and play false strains upon thee! not to be endured!-Well, go your way to her, (for I see love hath made thee a tame snake,) and say this to her ;-that if she love me, I charge her to love thee: if she will not, I will never have her, unless thou entreat for her. If you be a true lover, hence, and not a word; for here comes more company. [Exit SILVIUS.

Enter OLIVER.

OLI. Good morrow, fair ones. you know,

Pray you, if

Where in the purlicus of this forest stands
A sheep-cote, fene'd about with olive-trees?
CEL. West of this place, down in the neigh-
bour bottom,

The rank of osiers, by the murmuring stream,
Left on your right hand, brings you to the place:
But at this hour the house doth keep itself.
There's none within.

OLI. If that an eye may profit by a tongue, Then I should know you by description; Such garments, and such years :—The boy is fair, Of female favour, and bestows himself Like a ripe sister:a the woman low, And browner than her brother. Are not you The owner of the house I did inquire for? CEL. It is no boast, being ask'd, to say we are. OLI. Orlando doth commend him to you both, And to that youth he calls his Rosalind, He sends this bloody napkin :-ar are you he?

Ros. I am what must we understand by this? OLI. Some of my shame; if you will know of

And high top bald with dry antiquity,
A wretched ragged man, o'ergrown with hair,
Lay sleeping on his back: about his neck
A green and gilded snake had wreath'd itself,
Who with her head, nimble in threats, approach'd
The opening of his mouth; but suddenly
Seeing Orlando, it unlink'd itself,
And with indented glides did slip away
Into a bush: under which bush's shade
A lioness, with udders all drawn dry,
Lay couching, head on ground, with cat-like
When that the sleeping man should stir; for 't is
The royal disposition of that beast,

[watch,

To
prey on nothing that doth seem as dead:
This seen, Orlando did approach the man,
And found it was his brother, his elder brother.
CEL. O, I have heard him speak of that same
brother;

And he did render him the most unnatural
That liv'd 'mongst men.

OLI.

And well he might so do, For well I know he was unnatural. Ros. But, to Orlando: did he leave him there, Food to the suck'd and hungry lioness?

OLI. Twice did he turn his back, and purpos'd

SO:

But kindness, nobler ever than revenge,
And nature, stronger than his just occasion,
Made him give battle to the lioness,
Who quickly fell before him; in which hurtling
From miserable slumber I awak'd.(1)
CEL. Are you his brother?

Ros.
Was 't you he rescu❜d?
CEL. Was't you that did so oft contrive to kill

him?

OLI. 'T was I, but 't is not I: I do not shame To tell you what I was, since my conversion So sweetly tastes, being the thing I am. Ros. But, for the bloody napkin? OLI. By and by. When from the first to last, betwixt us two, Tears our recountments had most kindly bath'd, As, how I came into that desert place ;In brief, he led me to the gentle duke, Who gave me fresh array and entertainment, Committing me unto my brother's love; Who led me instantly unto his cave, There stripp'd himself, and here The lioness had torn some flesh away, Which all this while had bled; and now he fainted, And cried, in fainting, upon Rosalind.

*

(*) First folio, I.

upon

his arm

Chewing the cud-] The old text has food, undoubtedly a misprint. "To chew the cud," metaphorically, to ruminate, to revolve in the mind, is an expression of frequent occurrence in

our old authors.

e Hustling-] Justling. So in "Julius Cæsar," Act II. Sc. 2:"The noise of battle hurtled in the air."

Ros. I do so, I confess it. Ah, sirrah, a body would think this was well counterfeited: I pray you, tell your brother how well I counterfeited.Heigh-ho!

OLI. This was not counterfeit; there is too great testimony in your complexion, that it was a passion of earnest.

Ros. Counterfeit, I assure you.

OLI. Well then, take a good heart, and counterfeit to be a man.

Ros. So I do: but, i' faith I should have been a woman by right.

CEL. Come, you look paler and paler; pray you, draw homewards.-Good sir, go with us.

OLI. That will I, for I must bear answer back, how you excuse my brother, Rosalind.

Ros. I shall devise something: but, I pray you commend my counterfeiting to him.-Will you go? [Exeunt.

Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY.

TOUCH. We shall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Audrey.

AUD. Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old gentleman's saying.

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 ус good even, William.

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; 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.

Enter CORIN.

[Exit.

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 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.

lady.

Ros. Did your brother tell you how I counterfeited to swoon, 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 *for of-I came, saw, and overcame: 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 no longer then 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 meanings?

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.

PIE. 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:
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 all made of sighs and tears ;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 adoration, duty, and observance;
All humbleness, all patience, and impatience,
All purity, all trial, all observance; b
And so am I for Phebe.

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?

Ros. Who do you speak to, 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 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 tomorrow. I will satisfy you, [To ORLANDO.] if ever I satisfied man, and you shall be married tomorrow.—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 SILVIUS.] love Phebe, meet; and as I love no woman, I'll meet.-Sɔ, fare you well; I have left you commands. SIL. I'll not fail, if I live.

a Bid your friends :] See note (c), p. 165.

b All purity, all trial, all observance;] The same word having been employed just before, observance is here probably a misprint for obedience, or obeisance.

(*) Old text, why; altered by Rowe.

A woman of the world.] That is, a married woman.