Who you saw sitting by me on the turf,
Praising the proud disdainful shepherdess
That was his mistress.

Cel.

Well, and what of him? Cor. If you will see a pageant truly play'd, Between the pale complexion of true love And the red glow of scorn and proud disdain, Go hence a little, and I shall conduct you, you will mark it.

If

Ros.

O, come, let us remove;
The sight of lovers feedeth those in love:-
Bring us unto this sight, and you shall say
I'll prove a busy actor in their play.

SCENE V.

Another Part of the Forest.

Enter SILVIUS and PHEBE.

[Exeunt.

Sil. Sweet Phebe, do not scorn me; do not, Phebe:

Say, that you love me not; but say not so

In bitterness: The common executioner,

Whose heart the accustom'd sight of death makes hard,

Falls not the axe upon the humbled neck,

But first begs pardon; Will you sterner be
Than he that dies and lives by bloody drops?

Enter ROSALIND, CELIA, and CORIN, at a distance.
Phe. I would not be thy executioner;
I fly thee, for I would not injure thee.
Thou tell'st me, there is murder in mine eye:
'Tis pretty, sure, and very probable,"

6 'Tis pretty, sure, and very probable,] Sure for surely.

That eyes, that are the frail'st and softest things,
Who shut their coward gates on atomies,―
Should be call'd tyrants, butchers, murderers!
Now I do frown on thee with all my heart;
And, if mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee;
Now counterfeit to swoon; why now fall down;
Or, if thou canst not, O, for shame, for shame,
Lie not, to say mine eyes are murderers.

Now show the wound mine eye hath made in thee:
Scratch thee but with a pin, and there remains
Some scar of it; lean but upon a rush,

The cicatrice and capable impressure'

Thy palm some moment keeps: but now mine eyes, Which I have darted at thee, hurt thee not;

Nor, I am sure, there is no force in eyes

That can do hurt.

Sil.

O dear Phebe,

If ever, (as that ever may be near,)

You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy, Then shall you know the wounds invisible

That love's keen arrows make.

Phe.

But, till that time,

Come not thou near me: and, when that time comes, Afflict me with thy mocks, pity me not;

As, till that time, I shall not pity thee. Ros. And why, I pray you? [Advancing.] Who might be your mother,

That you insult, exult, and all at once,

Over the wretched? What though you have more beauty,

7 The cicatrice and capable impressure-] Cicatrice is here not very properly used; it is the scar of a wound. Capable may mean here perceptible.

power of fancy.] Fancy is here used for love.

Who might be your mother,] It is common for the poets to express cruelty by saying, of those who commit it, that they were born of rocks, or suckled by tigresses. JOHNSON.

(As, by my faith, I see no more in you
Than without candle may go dark to bed,)
Must you be therefore proud and pitiless?
Why, what means this? Why do you look on

me?

I see no more in you, than in the ordinary
Of nature's sale-work:'-Od's my little life!
I think, she means to tangle my eyes too:-
No, 'faith, proud mistress, hope not after it;
'Tis not your inky brows, your black-silk hair,
Your bugle eye-balls, nor your cheek of cream,
That can entame my spirits to your worship.-
You foolish shepherd, wherefore do you follow
her,

Like foggy south, puffing with wind and rain?
You are a thousand times a properer man,
Than she a woman: "Tis such fools as you,
That make the world full of ill-favour'd children:
'Tis not her glass, but you, that flatters her;
And out of you she sees herself more proper,
Than any of her lineaments can show her.-
But, mistress, know yourself; down on your knees,
And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's love :
For I must tell you friendly in your ear,―
Sell when you can; you are not for all markets:
Cry the man mercy; love him; take his offer;
Foul is most foul, being foul to be a scoffer.2
So, take her to thee, shepherd;-fare you well.
Phe. Sweet youth, I pray you chide a year to-
gether;

I had rather hear you chide, than this man woo.
Ros. He's fallen in love with her foulness, and

1 Of nature's sale-work:] The allusion is to the practice of mechanicks, whose work bespoke is more elaborate than that which is made up for chance customers.

Foul is most foul, being foul to be a scoffer.] The sense is, The ugly seem most ugly, when, though ugly, they are scoffers.

she'll fall in love with my anger: If it be so, as fast as she answers thee with frowning looks, I'll sauce her with bitter words.-Why look you so upon me? Phe. For no ill will I bear you.

Ros. I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine:

Besides, I like you not: If you will know my house, 'Tis at the tuft of olives, here hard by :

Will you go, sister?-Shepherd, ply her hard:Come, sister-Shepherdess, look on him better, And be not proud: though all the world could

see,

None could be so abus'd in sight as he,3
Come, to our flock.

[Exeunt ROSALIND, CELIA, and CORIN. Phe. Dead shepherd! now I find thy saw of might;

Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?1

Sil. Sweet Phebe,—

Phe.

Ha! what say'st thou, Silvius?

Sil. Sweet Phebe, pity me.

Phe. Why, I am sorry for thee, gentle Silvius. Sil. Wherever sorrow is, relief would be;

If you do sorrow at my grief in love,

By giving love, your sorrow and my grief
Were both extermin'd.

Phe. Thou hast my love; Is not that neigh bourly?

Sil. I would have you.

Phe.

Why, that were covetousness.

Silvius, the time was, that I hated thee;

3

though all the world could see,

None could be so abus'd in sight as he.] Though all mankind could look on you, none could be so deceived as to think you beautiful but he. JOHNSON.

* Dead shepherd! now I find thy saw of might;

Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?] The second or these lines is from Marlowe's Hero and Leander, 1637.

And yet it is not, that I bear thee love:
But since that thou canst talk of love so well,
Thy company, which erst was irksome to me,
I will endure; and I'll employ thee too:
But do not look for further recompense,
Than thine own gladness that thou art employ'd.
Sil. So holy, and so perfect is my love,
And I in such a poverty of grace,

That I shall think it a most plenteous crop
To glean the broken ears after the man

That the main harvest reaps: loose now and then
A scatter'd smile, and that I'll live upon.

Phe. Know'st thou the youth that spoke to me ere while?

Sil. Not very well, but I have met him oft; And he hath bought the cottage, and the bounds, That the old carlot" once was master of.

Phe. Think not I love him, though I ask for him;

'Tis but a peevish boy:-yet he talks well;But what care I for words? yet words do well, When he that speaks them pleases those that hear.

It is a pretty youth:-not very pretty:

But, sure, he's proud; and yet his pride becomes

him:

He'll make a proper man: The best thing in him
Is his complexion; and faster than his tongue
Did make offence, his eye did heal it up.
He is not tall; yet for his years he's tall:
His leg is but so so; and yet 'tis well:
There was a pretty redness in his lip;
A little riper and more lusty red

3 That the old carlot-] i. e. peasant, from carl or churl; probably a word of Shakspeare's coinage.

6

a peevish boy:] Peevish, in ancient language, signifies weak, silly.