Duke S. Thou seest, we are not all alone unhappy : This wide and universal theatre

Presents more woeful pageants than the scene

Wherein we play in.1

Jaq.
All the world's a stage,2
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances; 3
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,

1 Wherein we play in] In is here a grammatical redundancy. 2 All the world's a stage, &c.-Totus mundus agit histrionem,Every person acts the part of a player, is a sentence of great antiquity. The Globe Theatre of Shakspeare's time was ornamented with a figure of Hercules supporting a globe, on which the above Latin sentence was written. The division of the life of man into seven ages had become a popular subject of poetic and pictorial illustration before Shakspeare's time. See Staunton's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 172. 3 Wise saws and modern instances] Wise maxims and references of common application.-The word modern used to mean ordinary or usual. So in Macbeth, iv. 3, ' A modern ecstasy.'

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide.
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.1 Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

I scarce can speak to thank you for myself.

Duke S. Welcome, fall to; I will not trouble you
As yet, to question you about your fortunes-
Give us some music; and, good cousin, sing.

SONG.
I.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,

Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen

Because thou art not seen,1

Although thy breath be rude.

1 His sound] His for its. The old neuter possessive his was liable to be sometimes confounded with the masculine, and hence the modern change to its.

2 Because thou art not seen] I have not met with any satisfactory explanation of this line. If the text be accurate, I would venture to interpret as follows: It is not because thou art invisible, and canst do hurt in secret and with impunity, that thou bitest so keenly as thou dost. Here I do not regard the expression 'so keen' as meaning so keen as the tooth of ingratitude.

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:

Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!

This life is most jolly.

II.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,

Thy sting is not so sharp

As friend remembered not.

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! &c.

1

Duke S. If that you were 1 the good Sir Roland's son

As you have whispered faithfully you were,

fortune

And as mine eye doth his effigies 2 witness
Most truly limned and living in your face-
Be truly welcome hither: I am the duke,
That loved your father. The residue of your
Go to my cave and tell me.-Good old man,
Thou art right welcome as thy master is:
Support him by the arm.-Give me your hand,
And let me all your fortunes understand.

[Exeunt.

Were] The past tense here has reference to 'the good Sir Roland' being not now alive.

2

Effigies] A Latin quadrisyllable, denoting a portrait or image.

ACT III.

SCENE I-A Room in the Palace.

Enter DUKE FREDERICK, OLIVER, Lords, and Attendants.

Duke F. Not see him since?

Sir, sir, that cannot be :

But were I not the better part made mercy,

I should not seek an absent argument

Of my revenge, thou present: but look to it;
Find out thy brother, whereso'er he is;

1

Seek him with candle; 1 bring him, dead or living,
Within this twelvemonth, or turn thou no more
To seek a living in our territory.

Thy lands, and all things that thou dost call thine
Worth seizure, do we seize into our hands,

Till thou canst quit thee by thy brother's mouth
Of what we think against thee.

Oli. O that your highness knew my heart in this!
I never loved my brother in my life.

Duke F. More villain thou.-Well, push him out of doors;

And let

my officers of such a nature 2

Make an extent 3 upon his house and lands:

4

Do this expediently, and turn him going.

[Exeunt.

1 Seek him with candle] An allusion, perhaps, to Luke xv. 8, 'What woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?'

2 Of such a nature] To whom such business belongs.

An extent] A legal execution.

Expediently] Expeditiously.

SCENE II.The Forest.

Enter ORLANDO, with a paper.

Orl. Hang there, my verse, in witness of my love : And thou, thrice-crowned queen of night, survey With thy chaste eye, from thy pale sphere above,

Thy huntress' name, that full life doth sway.

my

O Rosalind! these trees shall be my books,
And in their barks my thoughts I'll character,
That every eye which in this forest looks,
Shall see thy virtue witnessed everywhere.
Run, run, Orlando; carve on every tree,
The fair, the chaste, and unexpressive 2 she.

Enter CORIN and TOUCHSTONE.

[Exit.

Cor. And how like you this shepherd's life, master Touchstone?

Touch. Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself it is a good life; but in respect that it is a shepherd's life, it is naught. In respect that it is solitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very vile life. Now in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in respect it is not in the court, it is tedious. As it is a spare life, look you, it fits my humour well; but as there is no more plenty in it, it goes much against my stomach. Hast any philosophy in thee, shepherd?

Cor. No more but that I know, the more one sickens

1 Thrice-crowned queen] The triple character of Proserpine, Cynthia, and Diana, was, as Johnson observes, given by some mythologists to the same goddess.

2 Unexpressive] Inexpressible.-So in Julius Caesar, ii. 1, 'The insuppressive metal of our spirits.'