Cel. Go to. Will you, Orlando, have to wife 140

this Rosalind?

Orl. I will.

Ros. Aye, but when?

Orl. Why now; as fast as she can marry us. Ros. Then you must say 'I take thee, Rosalind, for wife.'

Orl. I take thee, Rosalind, for wife.

Ros. I might ask you for your commission; but

I do take thee, Orlando, for my husband:
there's a girl goes before the priest; and 150
certainly a woman's thought runs before her
actions.

Orl. So do all thoughts; they are winged.
Ros. Now tell me how long you would have her
after you have possessed her.

Orl. For ever and a day.

Ros. Say 'a day', without the 'ever'. No, no,

Orlando; men are April when they woo,
December when they wed: maids are May
when they are maids, but the sky changes 160
when they are wives. I will be more jealous
of thee than a Barbary cock-pigeon over his
hen, more clamorous than a parrot against
rain, more new-fangled than an ape, more
giddy in my desires than a monkey: I will
weep for nothing, like Diana in the foun-
tain, and I will do that when you are dis-

150. "there's a girl goes before the priest"; that is, goes faster than the priest, gets ahead of him in the service; alluding to her anticipating what was to be said first by Celia.-H. N. H.

166. "like Diana in the fountain." Stowe mentions in his Survey of London (1603) that there was set up in 1596 on the east side of

posed to be merry; I will laugh like a hyena and that when thou art inclined to sleep. Orl. But will my Rosalind do so? *

Ros. By my life, she will do as I do.
Orl. O, but she is wise.

Ros. Or else she could not have the wit to do
this: the wiser, the waywarder: make the
doors upon a woman's wit and it will out at
the casement; shut that and 'twill out at the
key-hole; stop that, 'twill fly with the smoke
out at the chimney.

Orl. A man that had a wife with such a wit, he
might say 'Wit, whither wilt?'
Ros. Nay, you might keep that check for it till
you met your wife's wit going to your
neighbor's bed.

Orl. And what wit could wit have to excuse that.
Ros. Marry, to say she came to seek you there.

170

180

You shall never take her without her an-
swer, unless you take her without her
tongue. O, that woman that cannot make
her fault her husband's occasion, let her
never nurse her child herself, for she will 190
breed it like a fool!

the cross in Cheapside “a curiously wrought tabernacle of grey marble, and in the same an alabaster image of Diana, and water conveyed from the Thames prilling from her naked breast." It is very doubtful whether Shakespeare is referring to this particular "Diana," as some have supposed.--I. G.

186. "without her answer"; this bit of satire is also to be found in Chaucer's Marchantes Tale, where Proserpine says of women on like Occasion:

"For lacke of answere none of us shall dien."-H. N. H.

Orl. For these two hours, Rosalind, I will

leave thee.

Ros. Alas, dear love, I cannot lack thee two hours!

Orl. I must attend the Duke at dinner: by two o'clock I will be with thee again.

Ros. Aye, go your ways, go your ways; I knew what you would prove: my friends told me as much, and I thought no less: that flat- 200 tering tongue of yours won me: 'tis but one cast away, and so, come, death! Two o'clock is your hour?

Orl. Aye, sweet Rosalind.

Ros. By my troth, and in good earnest, and so God mend me, and by all pretty oaths that are not dangerous, if you break one jot of your promise or come one minute behind your hour, I will think you the most pathetical break-promise, and the most hollow lover, and the most unworthy of her you call-210 Rosalind, that may be chosen out of the gross band of the unfaithful: therefore beware my censure and keep your promise. Orl. With no less religion than if thou wert indeed my Rosalind: so adieu.

Ros. Well, Time is the old justice that examines all such offenders, and let Time try: adieu. [Exit Orlando. Cel. You have simply misused our sex in your love-prate: we must have your doublet and 220

214. "religion"; strict observance.-C. H. H. 219. "misused"; abused.-C. H. H.