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Cel.

Ay.-Fare you well, fair gentleman.

Orl. Can I not say, I thank you? My better parts Are all thrown down; and that which here stands up Is but a quintain,1 a mere lifeless block.

Ros. 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.2

Cel.

Will you go, coz ?

Ros. Have with you.-Fare you well.

[Exeunt ROSALInd and Celia.

Orl. What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?

I cannot speak to her, yet she urged conference.

O poor Orlando, thou art overthrown!

Or Charles or something weaker masters thee.3

Re-enter LE Beau.

Le Beau. Good sir, I do in friendship counsel you
To leave this place. Albeit you I have deserved
High commendation, true applause, and love;
Yet such is now the duke's condition,^

That he misconstrues all that you have done.

1

;

A quintain] This was at first a post with revolving arms, and afterwards a figure of a man, to be tilted at. If aimed at awkwardly, it might turn and give the assailant a stroke with its projecting arm, and thus disgrace him.

2 Overthrown more, &c.] Rosalind of course refers to herself as made a conquest of by Orlando. Celia, in a subsequent Scene (iii. 2), says to her, 'It is young Orlando, that tripped up the wrestler's heels and your heart both in an instant.'

Or Charles, &c.] Either thou art enfeebled through having wrestled with Charles, &c.

• Condition] Temper.

The duke is humorous;

what he is, indeed,

More suits you to conceive than I to speak of.

Orl. 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 man

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But yet, indeed, the shorter is his daughter :
The other is daughter to the banished duke,
And here detained 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 3 than this,

you.

I shall desire more love and knowledge of
Orl. 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!

1 Humorous] Moody; ill-natured.

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[Exit.

2 If we judge by manners] Compare what Jessica says in The Merchant of Venice, ii. 4, ' But though I am a daughter to his blood, I am not to his manners.'

In a better world] In better times.

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Cel. Why, cousin? why, Rosalind ?—Cupid have mercy!

-Not a word?

Ros. Not one to throw at a dog.

Cel. No, thy words are too precious to be cast away upon curs; throw some of them at me; come, lame me with reasons.

Ros. Then there were two cousins laid up; when the one should be lamed with reasons, and the other mad without any.

Cel. But is all this for your

father?

Ros. No, some of it for my father's child. O, how full of briers is this working-day world!

Cel. 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.

Ros. I could shake them off my coat; these burs are in my heart.

Cel. Hem them away.1

Ros. I would try, if I could cry hem, and have him.
Cel. Come, come, wrestle with thy affections.

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

Cel. 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 in good earnest is it possible, on such a sudden, should fall into so strong a liking with old Sir Roland's youngest son?

you

Hem them away] Cough them away.

Ros. The duke

my

father loved his father dearly.

Cel. 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. Ros. No, faith, hate him not, for my sake.

1

Cel. Why should I not? doth he not deserve well? Ros. Let me love him for that; and do you love him because I do.-Look, here comes the duke.

Cel. With his eyes full of anger.

Enter DUKE FREDERICK, with Lords.

Duke F. Mistress, despatch you with your safest haste, And get you from our court.

Ros.

Duke F.

Me, uncle?

You, cousin :

Within these ten days if that thou be'st found
So near our public court as twenty miles,
Thou diest for it.

Ros.

I do beseech your grace,

Let me the knowledge of my fault bear with me:
If with myself I hold intelligence,2

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.

Duke F.

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.

1 Dearly] Strongly; bitterly.—Hamlet (i. 2) says Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven.'

2 If with myself, &c.] If I know my own mind.

Ros. Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor : Tell me whereon the likelihood depends.

Duke F. Thou art thy father's daughter, there's enough.
Ros. So was I when your highness took his dukedom;
So was I when your highness banished 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.

Cel. Dear sovereign, hear me speak.

Duke F. Ay, Celia; we stayed her for your sake, Else had she with her father ranged along.

2

Cel. 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, learned, played, eat together;
And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans,

Still we went coupled and inseparable.

Duke F. 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 passed upon her: she is banished.

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

I cannot live out of her company.

'Good my liege] See note 4, p. 9. Still] Always.

2 Remorse] Pity..

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