And high top bald with dry antiquity, A wretched ragged man, o'er-grown with hair, A green and gilded fnake had wreath'd itself, And with indented glides did flip away Lay couching, head on ground, with cat-like watch, To prey on nothing that doth feem as dead: And found it was his brother, his elder brother. Cel. O, I have heard him speak of that fame brother; And he did render him the moft unnatural That liv'd 'mongft men. Oli. And well he might fo do ;; For, well I know he was unnatural. Ref. But, to Orlando :-Did he leave him there, Food to the fuck'd and hungry lionefs? Oli. Twice did he turn his back, and purpos'd fo: But kindness, nobler ever than revenge, And nature, ftronger than his just occafion, Made him give battle to the lionefs, Who quickly fell before him; in which hurtling, Gel. Are you his brother? Rof. Was it you he rescu'd? Cel. Was't you that did fo oft contrive to kill him? Oli. 'Twas I; but 'tis not I: I do not shame To tell you what I was, fince my converfion So fweetly taftes, being the thing I am. Rof. But for the bloody napkin ? Oli. By and by. When from the firft to laft, betwixt us two, As how I came into that defert place ;- There ftripp'd himself, and here upon his arm Which all this while had bled; and now he fainted, Brief, I recover'd him; bound up his wound; To tell this ftory, that you might excufe Rof. I would I were at home! I pray you will you take him by the arm? Oli. Be of good cheer, youth:-You a man?-you lack a man's heart. Rof. I do fo, I confefs it. Ah, fir, 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 paffion of earneft. Rof. Counterfeit, I affure you. Oli. Well then, take a good heart, and counterfeit to be a man. Rof. 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 fir, go with us. Oli. That will I; for I muft anfwer back How you excufe my brother, Rofalind. Rof. I fhall devife fomething: But, I pray you, commend my counterfeiting to him.-Will you go? [Exeunt. [5] Celia in her firft fright forgets Rofalind's character and difguife, and calls out 'coufin,' then recollects herself, and says Ganimed. JOHNS. ACT V. SCENE I. The Foreft. Enter Clown and AUDREY. Clown. WE fhall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Audrey. Aud. Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old gentleman's faying. Clo. A moft wicked Sir Oliver, Audrey; a moft vile Mar-text. But, Audrey, there is a youth here in the foreft 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. Enter WILLIAM. Clo. It is meat and drink to me to fee a clown: By my troth, we that have good wits, have much to anfwer for: we shall be flouting; we cannot hold. Wil. Good even, Audrey. Aud. God give ye good even, William. Wil. And good even to you, fir. Clo. Good even, gentle friend: Cover thy head, cover thy head; nay, pr'ythee, be cover'd. you, friend? Wil. Five and twenty, fir. Clo. A ripe age: Is thy name William ? Wil. William, fir. How old are Clo. A fair name: Waft born i' the foreft here? Clo. Thank God ;-a good answer: Art rich? Clo. So, fo! 'Tis good, very good, very excellent good and yet it is not; it is but fo, fo. Art thou wife? Wil. Ay, fir, I have a pretty wit. Clo. Why, thou fay'ft well. I do now remember a faying; The fool doth think he is wife, but the wife man knows himself to be a fool. The heathen philofopher,[6] when he had a desire to eat a grape, would open his lips [6] This was defigned as a fineer on the feveral trifling and infignificant fayings and actions, recorded of the ancient philofophers, by the writers of their lives, fuch as Diogenes, Laertius, Philoftratus, Eunapius, &c. as appears -from its being introduced by one of their 'wise sayings.' WARB. when he put it into his mouth; meaning thereby, that grapes were made to eat, and lips to open. You do love this maid? Wil. I do, fir. Clo. Give me your hand: Art thou learned? Wil. No, fir. Clo. Then learn this of me; To have is to have: For it is a figure in rhetorick, that drink, being poured out of a cup into a glass, by filling the one doth empty the other: For all your writers do confent, that ipfe is he s now you are not ipfe, for I am he. Wil. Which he, fir? Clo. He, fir, that must marry this woman: Therefore, you, clown, abandon,-which is in the vulgar, leave the fociety, 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 perifheft; or, to thy better understanding, dieft; or, to wit, I kill thee, make thee away, tranflate thy life into death, thy liberty into bondage: I will deal in poison with thee, or in baftinado, or in steel; I will bandy with thee in faction; I will over-run thee with policy; I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways; therefore tremble, and depart. Aud. Do, good William. Enter CORIN. [Exit. Cor. Our master and miftrefs feek you; come away, away. Clo. Trip, Audrey, trip, Audrey; I attend, I attend. SCENE II. Enter ORLANDO and OLIVER. [Exe. Orla. Is't poffible, that on fo little acquaintance you fhould like her? that, but feeing, you fhould love her? and loving, woo? and wooing, she should grant? And will you perfever to enjoy her? Oli. Neither call the giddinefs of it in queftion, the poverty of her, the fmall acquaintance, my fudden wocing, nor her fudden confenting; but fay with me, I love Aliena; fay with her, that the loves me; confent VOL. II. 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 Rowland's, will I enftate upon you, and here live and die a fhepherd. Enter ROSALIND. Orla. You have my confent. 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 Rofalind. Rof. God fave you, brother. Oli. And you, fair fifter. Rof. Oh! my dear Orlando, how it grieves me to see thee wear thy heart in a scarf. Orla. It is my arm. Rof. I thought, thy heart had been wounded with the claws of a lion. Orla. Wounded it is, but with the eyes of a lady. Rof. Did your brother tell you how I counterfeited to fwoon, when he fhewed me your handkerchief? Orla. Ay, and greater wonders than that. Rof. O, I know where you are :-Nay, tis true :there was never any thing fo fudden, but the fight of two rams, and Cæfar's thrafonical brag of-I came, faw, and overcame: For your brother and my fifter no fooner met, but they look'd; no sooner look'd, but they lov'd ; no fooner lov'd, but they figh'd; no fooner figh'd, but they ask'd one another the reason; no sooner knew the reafon, but they fought the remedy and in these degrees have they made a pair of ftairs 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. Orla They fhall 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 fo much the more fhall 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. Rof. Why, then to-morrow I cannot ferve your turn for Rofalind? Orla. I can live no longer by thinking. Rof. I will weary you then no longer with idle talking. Know of me, then, (for now I fpeak to fome purpose) |