William Shakespeare - William Shakespeare - Complete Works

ROSALIND. Did your brother tell you how I counterfeited to swoon

when he show'd me your handkercher?

ORLANDO. Ay, and greater wonders than that.

ROSALIND. O, I know where you are. Nay, 'tis true. There was never

any thing so sudden but the fight of two rams and Caesar'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 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.

ORLANDO. 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.

ROSALIND. Why, then, to-morrow I cannot serve your turn for

Rosalind?

ORLANDO. I can live no longer by thinking.

ROSALIND. 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 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, convers'd

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.

ORLANDO. Speak'st thou in sober meanings?

ROSALIND. 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.

Enter SILVIUS and PHEBE

Look, here comes a lover of mine, and a lover of hers.

PHEBE. Youth, you have done me much ungentleness

To show the letter that I writ to you.

ROSALIND. 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.

PHEBE. Good shepherd, tell this youth what 'tis to love.

SILVIUS. It is to be all made of sighs and tears;

And so am I for Phebe.

PHEBE. And I for Ganymede.

ORLANDO. And I for Rosalind.

ROSALIND. And I for no woman.

SILVIUS. It is to be all made of faith and service;

And so am I for Phebe.

PHEBE. And I for Ganymede.

ORLANDO. And I for Rosalind.

ROSALIND. And I for no woman.

SILVIUS. 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 obedience;

And so am I for Phebe.

PHEBE. And so am I for Ganymede.

ORLANDO. And so am I for Rosalind.

ROSALIND. And so am I for no woman.

PHEBE. If this be so, why blame you me to love you?

SILVIUS. If this be so, why blame you me to love you?

ORLANDO. If this be so, why blame you me to love you?

ROSALIND. Why do you speak too, 'Why blame you me to love you?'

ORLANDO. To her that is not here, nor doth not hear.

ROSALIND. Pray you, no more of this; 'tis like the howling of Irish

wolves against the moon. [To SILVIUS] I will help you if I can.

[To PHEBE] I would love you if I could.- To-morrow meet me all

together. [ To PHEBE ] I will marry you if ever I marry woman,

and I'll be married to-morrow. [To ORLANDO] I will satisfy you if

ever I satisfied man, and you shall be married to-morrow. [To

Silvius] I will content you if what pleases you contents you, and

you shall be married to-morrow. [To ORLANDO] As you love

Rosalind, meet. [To SILVIUS] As you love Phebe, meet;- and as I

love no woman, I'll meet. So, fare you well; I have left you

commands.

SILVIUS. I'll not fail, if I live.

PHEBE. Nor I.

ORLANDO. Nor I. Exeunt

Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY

TOUCHSTONE. To-morrow is the joyful day, Audre'y; to-morrow will we

be married.

AUDREY. 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

FIRST PAGE. Well met, honest gentleman.

TOUCHSTONE. By my troth, well met. Come sit, sit, and a song.

SECOND PAGE. We are for you; sit i' th' middle.

FIRST 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?

SECOND PAGE. I'faith, i'faith; and both in a tune, like two gipsies

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 only pretty ring time,

When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.

Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,

These pretty country folks would lie,

In the spring time, &c.

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 the spring time, &c.

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.

TOUCHSTONE. Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great

matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable.

FIRST PAGE. YOU are deceiv'd, sir; we kept time, we lost not our

time.

TOUCHSTONE. By my troth, yes; I count it but time lost to hear such

a foolish song. God buy you; and God mend your voices. Come,

Audrey. Exeunt

Enter DUKE SENIOR, AMIENS, JAQUES, ORLANDO, OLIVER, and CELIA

DUKE SENIOR. Dost thou believe, Orlando, that the boy

Can do all this that he hath promised?

ORLANDO. I sometimes do believe and sometimes do not:

As those that fear they hope, and know they fear.

Enter ROSALIND, SILVIUS, and PHEBE

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

You say, if I bring in your Rosalind,

You will bestow her on Orlando here?

DUKE SENIOR. That would I, had I kingdoms to give with her.

ROSALIND. And you say you will have her when I bring her?

ORLANDO. That would I, were I of all kingdoms king.

ROSALIND. You say you'll marry me, if I be willing?

PHEBE. That will I, should I die the hour after.

ROSALIND. But if you do refuse to marry me,

You'll give yourself to this most faithful shepherd?

PHEBE. So is the bargain.

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

SILVIUS. Though to have her and death were both one thing.

ROSALIND. I have promis'd to make all this matter even.