SCENE II._As You Like It（#1786）

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1601

AS YOU LIKE IT

by William Shakespeare

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.

DUKE, living in exile

FREDERICK, his brother, and usurper of his dominions

AMIENS, lord attending on the banished Duke

JAQUES, " " " " " "

LE BEAU, a courtier attending upon Frederick

CHARLES, wrestler to Frederick

OLIVER, son of Sir Rowland de Boys

JAQUES, " " " " " "

ORLANDO, " " " " " "

ADAM, servant to Oliver

DENNIS, " " "

TOUCHSTONE, the court jester

SIR OLIVER MARTEXT, a vicar

CORIN, shepherd

SILVIUS, "

WILLIAM, a country fellow, in love with Audrey

A person representing HYMEN

ROSALIND, daughter to the banished Duke

CELIA, daughter to Frederick

PHEBE, a shepherdess

AUDREY, a country wench

Lords, Pages, Foresters, and Attendants

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SCENE:

OLIVER'S house; FREDERICK'S court; and the Forest of Arden

ACT I. SCENE I.

Orchard of OLIVER'S house

Enter ORLANDO and ADAM

ORLANDO. As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion

bequeathed

me by will but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou say'st,

charged my brother, on his blessing, to breed me well; and

there

begins my sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and

report speaks goldenly of his profit. For my part, he keeps

rustically at home, or, to speak more properly, stays me here

home unkept; for call you that keeping for a gentleman of my

birth that differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses

are

bred better; for, besides that they are fair with their

feeding,

they are taught their manage, and to that end riders dearly

hir'd; but I, his brother, gain nothing under him but growth;

for

the which his animals on his dunghills are as much bound to

him

as I. Besides this nothing that he so plentifully gives me,

the

something that nature gave me his countenance seems to take

from

me. He lets me feed with his hinds, bars me the place of a

brother, and as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with

education. This is it, Adam, that grieves me; and the spirit

my father, which I think is within me, begins to mutiny

against

this servitude. I will no longer endure it, though yet I know

wise remedy how to avoid it.

Enter OLIVER

ADAM. Yonder comes my master, your brother.

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

up. [ADAM retires]

OLIVER. Now, sir! what make you here?

ORLANDO. Nothing; I am not taught to make any thing.

OLIVER. What mar you then, sir?

ORLANDO. Marry, sir, I am helping you to mar that which God

made, a

poor unworthy brother of yours, with idleness.

OLIVER. Marry, sir, be better employed, and be nought awhile.

ORLANDO. Shall I keep your hogs, and eat husks with them? What

prodigal portion have I spent that I should come to such

penury?

OLIVER. Know you where you are, sir?

ORLANDO. O, sir, very well; here in your orchard.

OLIVER. Know you before whom, sir?

ORLANDO. Ay, better than him I am before knows me. I know you

are

my eldest brother; and in the gentle condition of blood, you

should so know me. The courtesy of nations allows you my

better

in that you are the first-born; but the same tradition takes

not

away my blood, were there twenty brothers betwixt us. I have

much of my father in me as you, albeit I confess your coming

before me is nearer to his reverence.

OLIVER. What, boy! [Strikes him]

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

OLIVER. Wilt thou lay hands on me, villain?

ORLANDO. I am no villain; I am the youngest son of Sir Rowland

Boys. He was my father; and he is thrice a villain that says

such

a father begot villains. Wert thou not my brother, I would

not

take this hand from thy throat till this other had pull'd out

thy

tongue for saying so. Thou has rail'd on thyself.

ADAM. [Coming forward] Sweet masters, be patient; for your

father's

remembrance, be at accord.

OLIVER. Let me go, I say.

ORLANDO. I will not, till I please; you shall hear me. My

father

charg'd you in his will to give me good education: you have

train'd me like a peasant, obscuring and hiding from me all

gentleman-like qualities. The spirit of my father grows

strong in

me, and I will no longer endure it; therefore allow me such

exercises as may become a gentleman, or give me the poor

allottery my father left me by testament; with that I will go

buy

my fortunes.

OLIVER. And what wilt thou do? Beg, when that is spent? Well,

sir,

get you in. I will not long be troubled with you; you shall

have

some part of your will. I pray you leave me.

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

OLIVER. Get you with him, you old dog.

ADAM. Is 'old dog' my reward? Most true, I have lost my teeth

your service. God be with my old master! He would not have

spoke

such a word.

Exeunt ORLANDO and ADAM

OLIVER. Is it even so? Begin you to grow upon me? I will physic

your rankness, and yet give no thousand crowns neither.

Holla,

Dennis!

Enter DENNIS

DENNIS. Calls your worship?

OLIVER. Was not Charles, the Duke's wrestler, here to speak

with

me?

DENNIS. So please you, he is here at the door and importunes

access

to you.

OLIVER. Call him in. [Exit DENNIS] 'Twill be a good way; and

to-morrow the wrestling is.

Enter CHARLES

CHARLES. Good morrow to your worship.

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

court?

CHARLES. There's no news at the court, sir, but the old news;

that

is, the old Duke is banished by his younger brother the new

Duke;

and three or four loving lords have put themselves into

voluntary

exile with him, whose lands and revenues enrich the new Duke;

therefore he gives them good leave to wander.

OLIVER. Can you tell if Rosalind, the Duke's daughter, be

banished

with her father?

CHARLES. O, no; for the Duke's daughter, her cousin, so loves

her,

being ever from their cradles bred together, that she would

have

followed her exile, or have died to stay behind her. She is

the court, and no less beloved of her uncle than his own

daughter; and never two ladies loved as they do.

OLIVER. Where will the old Duke live?

CHARLES. They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a

many

merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin

Hood

of England. They say many young gentlemen flock to him every

day,

and fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden

world.

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

CHARLES. Marry, do I, sir; and I came to acquaint you with a

matter. I am given, sir, secretly to understand that your

younger

brother, Orlando, hath a disposition to come in disguis'd

against

me to try a fall. To-morrow, sir, I wrestle for my credit;

and he

that escapes me without some broken limb shall acquit him

well.

Your brother is but young and tender; and, for your love, I

would

be loath to foil him, as I must, for my own honour, if he

come

in; therefore, out of my love to you, I came hither to

acquaint

you withal, that either you might stay him from his

intendment,

or brook such disgrace well as he shall run into, in that it

thing of his own search and altogether against my will.

OLIVER. Charles, I thank thee for thy love to me, which thou

shalt

find I will most kindly requite. I had myself notice of my

brother's purpose herein, and have by underhand means

laboured to

dissuade him from it; but he is resolute. I'll tell thee,

Charles, it is the stubbornest young fellow of France; full

ambition, an envious emulator of every man's good parts, a

secret

and villainous contriver against me his natural brother.

Therefore use thy discretion: I had as lief thou didst break

his

neck as his finger. And thou wert best look to't; for if thou

dost him any slight disgrace, or if he do not mightily grace

himself on thee, he will practise against thee by poison,

entrap

thee by some treacherous device, and never leave thee till he

hath ta'en thy life by some indirect means or other; for, I

assure thee, and almost with tears I speak it, there is not

one

so young and so villainous this day living. I speak but

brotherly

of him; but should I anatomize him to thee as he is, I must

blush

and weep, and thou must look pale and wonder.

CHARLES. I am heartily glad I came hither to you. If he come

to-morrow I'll give him his payment. If ever he go alone

again,

I'll never wrestle for prize more. And so, God keep your

worship!

Exit

OLIVER. Farewell, good Charles. Now will I stir this gamester.

hope I shall see an end of him; for my soul, yet I know not

why,

hates nothing more than he. Yet he's gentle; never school'd

and

yet learned; full of noble device; of all sorts enchantingly

beloved; and, indeed, so much in the heart of the world, and

especially of my own people, who best know him, that I am

altogether misprised. But it shall not be so long; this

wrestler

shall clear all. Nothing remains but that I kindle the boy

thither, which now I'll go about. Exit

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SCENE II.

A lawn before the DUKE'S palace

Enter ROSALIND and CELIA

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

ROSALIND. Dear Celia, I show more mirth than I am mistress of;

and

would you yet I were merrier? Unless you could teach me to

forget

a banished father, you must not learn me how to remember any

extraordinary pleasure.

CELIA. Herein I see thou lov'st me not with the full weight

that I

love thee. If my uncle, thy banished father, had banished thy

uncle, the Duke my father, so thou hadst been still with me,

could have taught my love to take thy father for mine; so

wouldst

thou, if the truth of thy love to me were so righteously

temper'd

as mine is to thee.

ROSALIND. Well, I will forget the condition of my estate, to

rejoice in yours.

CELIA. You know my father hath no child but I, nor none is like

have; and, truly, when he dies thou shalt be his heir; for

what

he hath taken away from thy father perforce, I will render

thee

again in affection. By mine honour, I will; and when I break

that

oath, let me turn monster; therefore, my sweet Rose, my dear

Rose, be merry.

ROSALIND. From henceforth I will, coz, and devise sports.

Let me see; what think you of falling in love?

CELIA. Marry, I prithee, do, to make sport withal; but love no

man

in good earnest, nor no further in sport neither than with

safety

of a pure blush thou mayst in honour come off again.

ROSALIND. What shall be our sport, then?

CELIA. Let us sit and mock the good housewife Fortune from her

wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally.

ROSALIND. I would we could do so; for her benefits are mightily

misplaced; and the bountiful blind woman doth most mistake in

her

gifts to women.

CELIA. 'Tis true; for those that she makes fair she scarce

makes

honest; and those that she makes honest she makes very

ill-favouredly.

ROSALIND. Nay; now thou goest from Fortune's office to

Nature's:

Fortune reigns in gifts of the world, not in the lineaments

Nature.

Enter TOUCHSTONE

CELIA. No; when Nature hath made a fair creature, may she not

Fortune fall into the fire? Though Nature hath given us wit

flout at Fortune, hath not Fortune sent in this fool to cut

off

the argument?

ROSALIND. Indeed, there is Fortune too hard for Nature, when

Fortune makes Nature's natural the cutter-off of Nature's

wit.

CELIA. Peradventure this is not Fortune's work neither, but

Nature's, who perceiveth our natural wits too dull to reason

such goddesses, and hath sent this natural for our whetstone;

for

always the dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.

How

now, wit! Whither wander you?

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

CELIA. Were you made the messenger?

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

ROSALIND. Where learned you that oath, fool?

TOUCHSTONE. Of a certain knight that swore by his honour they

were

good pancakes, and swore by his honour the mustard was

naught.

Now I'll stand to it, the pancakes were naught and the

mustard

was good, and yet was not the knight forsworn.

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

ROSALIND. Ay, marry, now unmuzzle your wisdom.

TOUCHSTONE. Stand you both forth now: stroke your chins, and

swear

by your beards that I am a knave.

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

TOUCHSTONE. By my knavery, if I had it, then I were. But if you

swear by that that is not, you are not forsworn; no more was

this

knight, swearing by his honour, for he never had any; or if

had, he had sworn it away before ever he saw those pancackes

that mustard.

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

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

CELIA. My father's love is enough to honour him. Enough, speak

more of him; you'll be whipt for taxation one of these days.

TOUCHSTONE. The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what

wise

men do foolishly.

CELIA. By my troth, thou sayest true; for since the little wit

that

fools have was silenced, the little foolery that wise men

have

makes a great show. Here comes Monsieur Le Beau.

Enter LE BEAU

ROSALIND. With his mouth full of news.

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

ROSALIND. Then shall we be news-cramm'd.

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

jour,

Monsieur Le Beau. What's the news?

LE BEAU. Fair Princess, you have lost much good sport.

CELIA. Sport! of what colour?

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

ROSALIND. As wit and fortune will.

TOUCHSTONE. Or as the Destinies decrees.

CELIA. Well said; that was laid on with a trowel.

TOUCHSTONE. Nay, if I keep not my rank-

ROSALIND. Thou losest thy old smell.

LE BEAU. You amaze me, ladies. I would have told you of good

wrestling, which you have lost the sight of.

ROSALIND. Yet tell us the manner of the wrestling.

LE BEAU. I will tell you the beginning, and, if it please your

ladyships, you may see the end; for the best is yet to do;

and

here, where you are, they are coming to perform it.

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

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

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

LE BEAU. Three proper young men, of excellent growth and

presence.

ROSALIND. With bills on their necks: 'Be it known unto all men

these presents'-

LE BEAU. The eldest of the three wrestled with Charles, the

Duke's

wrestler; which Charles in a moment threw him, and broke

three of

his ribs, that there is little hope of life in him. So he

serv'd

the second, and so the third. Yonder they lie; the poor old

man,

their father, making such pitiful dole over them that all the

beholders take his part with weeping.

ROSALIND. Alas!

TOUCHSTONE. But what is the sport, monsieur, that the ladies

have

lost?

LE BEAU. Why, this that I speak of.

TOUCHSTONE. Thus men may grow wiser every day. It is the first

time

that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies.

CELIA. Or I, I promise thee.

ROSALIND. But is there any else longs to see this broken music

his sides? Is there yet another dotes upon rib-breaking?

Shall we

see this wrestling, cousin?

LE BEAU. You must, if you stay here; for here is the place

appointed for the wrestling, and they are ready to perform

it.

CELIA. Yonder, sure, they are coming. Let us now stay and see

it.

Flourish. Enter DUKE FREDERICK, LORDS, ORLANDO,

CHARLES, and ATTENDANTS

FREDERICK. Come on; since the youth will not be entreated, his

own

peril on his forwardness.

ROSALIND. Is yonder the man?

LE BEAU. Even he, madam.

CELIA. Alas, he is too young; yet he looks successfully.

FREDERICK. How now, daughter and cousin! Are you crept hither

see the wrestling?

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

FREDERICK. You will take little delight in it, I can tell you,

there is such odds in the man. In pity of the challenger's

youth

I would fain dissuade him, but he will not be entreated.

Speak to

him, ladies; see if you can move him.

CELIA. Call him hither, good Monsieur Le Beau.

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

[DUKE FREDERICK goes apart]

LE BEAU. Monsieur the Challenger, the Princess calls for you.

ORLANDO. I attend them with all respect and duty.

ROSALIND. Young man, have you challeng'd Charles the wrestler?

ORLANDO. No, fair Princess; he is the general challenger. I

come

but in, as others do, to try with him the strength of my

youth.

CELIA. Young gentleman, your spirits are too bold for your

years.

You have seen cruel proof of this man's strength; if you saw

yourself with your eyes, or knew yourself with your judgment,

the

fear of your adventure would counsel you to a more equal

enterprise. We pray you, for your own sake, to embrace your

own

safety and give over this attempt.

ROSALIND. Do, young sir; your reputation shall not therefore be

misprised: we will make it our suit to the Duke that the

wrestling might not go forward.

ORLANDO. I beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts,

wherein I confess me much guilty to deny so fair and

excellent

ladies any thing. But let your fair eyes and gentle wishes go

with me to my trial; wherein if I be foil'd there is but one

sham'd that was never gracious; if kill'd, but one dead that

willing to be so. I shall do my friends no wrong, for I have

none

to lament me; the world no injury, for in it I have nothing;

only

in the world I fill up a place, which may be better supplied

when

I have made it empty.

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

you.

CELIA. And mine to eke out hers.

ROSALIND. Fare you well. Pray heaven I be deceiv'd in you!

CELIA. Your heart's desires be with you!

CHARLES. Come, where is this young gallant that is so desirous

lie with his mother earth?

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

working.

FREDERICK. You shall try but one fall.

CHARLES. No, I warrant your Grace, you shall not entreat him to

second, that have so mightily persuaded him from a first.

ORLANDO. You mean to mock me after; you should not have mock'd

before; but come your ways.

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

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

the

leg. [They wrestle]

ROSALIND. O excellent young man!

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

should

down.

[CHARLES is thrown. Shout]

FREDERICK. No more, no more.

ORLANDO. Yes, I beseech your Grace; I am not yet well breath'd.

FREDERICK. How dost thou, Charles?

LE BEAU. He cannot speak, my lord.

FREDERICK. Bear him away. What is thy name, young man?

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

Boys.

FREDERICK. I would thou hadst been son to some man else.

The world esteem'd thy father honourable,

But I did find him still mine enemy.

Thou shouldst have better pleas'd me with this deed,

Hadst thou descended from another house.

But fare thee well; thou art a gallant youth;

I would thou hadst told me of another father.

Exeunt DUKE, train, and LE BEAU

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

ORLANDO. I am more proud to be Sir Rowland's son,

His youngest son- and would not change that calling

To be adopted heir to Frederick.

ROSALIND. My father lov'd Sir Rowland as his soul,

And all the world was of my father's mind;

Had I before known this young man his son,

I should have given him tears unto entreaties

Ere he should thus have ventur'd.

CELIA. Gentle cousin,

Let us go thank him, and encourage him;

My father's rough and envious disposition

Sticks me at heart. Sir, you have well deserv'd;

If you do keep your promises in love

But justly as you have exceeded all promise,

Your mistress shall be happy.

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

Wear this for me; one out of suits with fortune,

That could give more, but that her hand lacks means.

Shall we go, coz?

CELIA. Ay. Fare you well, fair gentleman.

ORLANDO. Can I not say 'I thank you'? My better parts

Are all thrown down; and that which here stands up

Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.

ROSALIND. He calls us back. My pride fell with my fortunes;

I'll ask him what he would. Did you call, sir?

Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown

More than your enemies.

CELIA. Will you go, coz?

ROSALIND. Have with you. Fare you well.

Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIA

ORLANDO. What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?

I cannot speak to her, yet she urg'd conference.

O poor Orlando, thou art overthrown!

Or Charles or something weaker masters thee.

Re-enter LE BEAU

LE BEAU. Good sir, I do in friendship counsel you

To leave this place. Albeit you have deserv'd

High commendation, true applause, and love,

Yet such is now the Duke's condition

That he misconstrues all that you have done.

The Duke is humorous; what he is, indeed,

More suits you to conceive than I to speak of.

ORLANDO. I thank you, sir; and pray you tell me this:

Which of the two was daughter of the Duke

That here was at the wrestling?

LE BEAU. Neither his daughter, if we judge by manners;

But yet, indeed, the smaller is his daughter;

The other is daughter to the banish'd Duke,

And here detain'd by her usurping uncle,

To keep his daughter company; whose loves

Are dearer than the natural bond of sisters.

But I can tell you that of late this Duke

Hath ta'en displeasure 'gainst his gentle niece,

Grounded upon no other argument

But that the people praise her for her virtues

And pity her for her good father's sake;

And, on my life, his malice 'gainst the lady

Will suddenly break forth. Sir, fare you well.

Hereafter, in a better world than this,

I shall desire more love and knowledge of you.

ORLANDO. I rest much bounden to you; fare you well.

Exit LE BEAU

Thus must I from the smoke into the smother;

From tyrant Duke unto a tyrant brother.

But heavenly Rosalind! Exit

SCENE III.

The DUKE's palace

Enter CELIA and ROSALIND

CELIA. Why, cousin! why, Rosalind! Cupid have mercy!

Not a word?

ROSALIND. Not one to throw at a dog.

CELIA. No, thy words are too precious to be cast away upon

curs;

throw some of them at me; come, lame me with reasons.

ROSALIND. Then there were two cousins laid up, when the one

should

be lam'd with reasons and the other mad without any.

CELIA. But is all this for your father?

ROSALIND. No, some of it is for my child's father. O, how full

briers is this working-day world!

CELIA. They are but burs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday

foolery; if we walk not in the trodden paths, our very

petticoats

will catch them.

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

heart.

CELIA. Hem them away.

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

CELIA. Come, come, wrestle with thy affections.

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

myself.

CELIA. O, a good wish upon you! You will try in time, in

despite of

a fall. But, turning these jests out of service, let us talk

good earnest. Is it possible, on such a sudden, you should

fall

into so strong a liking with old Sir Rowland's youngest son?

ROSALIND. The Duke my father lov'd his father dearly.

CELIA. Doth it therefore ensue that you should love his son

dearly?

By this kind of chase I should hate him, for my father hated

his

father dearly; yet I hate not Orlando.

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

CELIA. Why should I not? Doth he not deserve well?

Enter DUKE FREDERICK, with LORDS

ROSALIND. Let me love him for that; and do you love him because

do. Look, here comes the Duke.

CELIA. With his eyes full of anger.

FREDERICK. Mistress, dispatch you with your safest haste,

And get you from our court.

ROSALIND. Me, uncle?

FREDERICK. You, cousin.

Within these ten days if that thou beest found

So near our public court as twenty miles,

Thou diest for it.

ROSALIND. I do beseech your Grace,

Let me the knowledge of my fault bear with me.

If with myself I hold intelligence,

Or have acquaintance with mine own desires;

If that I do not dream, or be not frantic-

As I do trust I am not- then, dear uncle,

Never so much as in a thought unborn

Did I offend your Highness.

FREDERICK. Thus do all traitors;

If their purgation did consist in words,

They are as innocent as grace itself.

Let it suffice thee that I trust thee not.

ROSALIND. Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor.

Tell me whereon the likelihood depends.

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

ROSALIND. So was I when your Highness took his dukedom;

So was I when your Highness banish'd him.

Treason is not inherited, my lord;

Or, if we did derive it from our friends,

What's that to me? My father was no traitor.

Then, good my liege, mistake me not so much

To think my poverty is treacherous.

CELIA. Dear sovereign, hear me speak.

FREDERICK. Ay, Celia; we stay'd her for your sake,

Else had she with her father rang'd along.

CELIA. I did not then entreat to have her stay;

It was your pleasure, and your own remorse;

I was too young that time to value her,

But now I know her. If she be a traitor,

Why so am I: we still have slept together,

Rose at an instant, learn'd, play'd, eat together;

And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans,

Still we went coupled and inseparable.

FREDERICK. She is too subtle for thee; and her smoothness,

Her very silence and her patience,

Speak to the people, and they pity her.

Thou art a fool. She robs thee of thy name;

And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtuous

When she is gone. Then open not thy lips.

Firm and irrevocable is my doom

Which I have pass'd upon her; she is banish'd.

CELIA. Pronounce that sentence, then, on me, my liege;

I cannot live out of her company.

FREDERICK. You are a fool. You, niece, provide yourself.

If you outstay the time, upon mine honour,

And in the greatness of my word, you die.

Exeunt DUKE and LORDS

CELIA. O my poor Rosalind! Whither wilt thou go?

Wilt thou change fathers? I will give thee mine.

I charge thee be not thou more griev'd than I am.

ROSALIND. I have more cause.

CELIA. Thou hast not, cousin.

Prithee be cheerful. Know'st thou not the Duke

Hath banish'd me, his daughter?

ROSALIND. That he hath not.

CELIA. No, hath not? Rosalind lacks, then, the love

Which teacheth thee that thou and I am one.

Shall we be sund'red? Shall we part, sweet girl?

No; let my father seek another heir.

Therefore devise with me how we may fly,

Whither to go, and what to bear with us;

And do not seek to take your charge upon you,

To bear your griefs yourself, and leave me out;

For, by this heaven, now at our sorrows pale,

Say what thou canst, I'll go along with thee.

ROSALIND. Why, whither shall we go?

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

ROSALIND. Alas, what danger will it be to us,

Maids as we are, to travel forth so far!

Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.

CELIA. I'll put myself in poor and mean attire,

And with a kind of umber smirch my face;

The like do you; so shall we pass along,

And never stir assailants.

ROSALIND. Were it not better,

Because that I am more than common tall,

That I did suit me all points like a man?

A gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh,

A boar spear in my hand; and- in my heart

Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will-

We'll have a swashing and a martial outside,

As many other mannish cowards have

That do outface it with their semblances.

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

ROSALIND. I'll have no worse a name than Jove's own page,

And therefore look you call me Ganymede.

But what will you be call'd?

CELIA. Something that hath a reference to my state:

No longer Celia, but Aliena.

ROSALIND. But, cousin, what if we assay'd to steal

The clownish fool out of your father's court?

Would he not be a comfort to our travel?

CELIA. He'll go along o'er the wide world with me;

Leave me alone to woo him. Let's away,

And get our jewels and our wealth together;

Devise the fittest time and safest way

To hide us from pursuit that will be made

After my flight. Now go we in content

To liberty, and not to banishment. Exeunt

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ACT II. SCENE I.

The Forest of Arden

Enter DUKE SENIOR, AMIENS, and two or three LORDS, like foresters

DUKE SENIOR. Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,

Hath not old custom made this life more sweet

Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods

More free from peril than the envious court?

Here feel we not the penalty of Adam,

The seasons' difference; as the icy fang

And churlish chiding of the winter's wind,

Which when it bites and blows upon my body,

Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say

'This is no flattery; these are counsellors

That feelingly persuade me what I am.'

Sweet are the uses of adversity,

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

I would not change it.

AMIENS. Happy is your Grace,

That can translate the stubbornness of fortune

Into so quiet and so sweet a style.

DUKE SENIOR. Come, shall we go and kill us venison?

And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,

Being native burghers of this desert city,

Should, in their own confines, with forked heads

Have their round haunches gor'd.

FIRST LORD. Indeed, my lord,

The melancholy Jaques grieves at that;

And, in that kind, swears you do more usurp

Than doth your brother that hath banish'd you.

To-day my Lord of Amiens and myself

Did steal behind him as he lay along

Under an oak whose antique root peeps out

Upon the brook that brawls along this wood!

To the which place a poor sequest'red stag,

That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt,

Did come to languish; and, indeed, my lord,

The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans

That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat

Almost to bursting; and the big round tears

Cours'd one another down his innocent nose

In piteous chase; and thus the hairy fool,

Much marked of the melancholy Jaques,

Stood on th' extremest verge of the swift brook,

Augmenting it with tears.

DUKE SENIOR. But what said Jaques?

Did he not moralize this spectacle?

FIRST LORD. O, yes, into a thousand similes.

First, for his weeping into the needless stream:

'Poor deer,' quoth he 'thou mak'st a testament

As worldlings do, giving thy sum of more

To that which had too much.' Then, being there alone,

Left and abandoned of his velvet friends:

''Tis right'; quoth he 'thus misery doth part

The flux of company.' Anon, a careless herd,

Full of the pasture, jumps along by him

And never stays to greet him. 'Ay,' quoth Jaques

'Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens;

'Tis just the fashion. Wherefore do you look

Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there?'

Thus most invectively he pierceth through

The body of the country, city, court,

Yea, and of this our life; swearing that we

Are mere usurpers, tyrants, and what's worse,

To fright the animals, and to kill them up

In their assign'd and native dwelling-place.

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

SECOND LORD. We did, my lord, weeping and commenting

Upon the sobbing deer.

DUKE SENIOR. Show me the place;

I love to cope him in these sullen fits,

For then he's full of matter.

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

SCENE II.

The DUKE'S palace

Enter DUKE FREDERICK, with LORDS

FREDERICK. Can it be possible that no man saw them?

It cannot be; some villains of my court

Are of consent and sufferance in this.

FIRST LORD. I cannot hear of any that did see her.

The ladies, her attendants of her chamber,

Saw her abed, and in the morning early

They found the bed untreasur'd of their mistress.

SECOND LORD. My lord, the roynish clown, at whom so oft

Your Grace was wont to laugh, is also missing.

Hisperia, the Princess' gentlewoman,

Confesses that she secretly o'erheard

Your daughter and her cousin much commend

The parts and graces of the wrestler

That did but lately foil the sinewy Charles;

And she believes, wherever they are gone,

That youth is surely in their company.

FREDERICK. Send to his brother; fetch that gallant hither.

If he be absent, bring his brother to me;

I'll make him find him. Do this suddenly;

And let not search and inquisition quail

To bring again these foolish runaways. Exeunt