And, if mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee; Or, if thou canst not, O, for shame, for shame, Lie not, to say mine eyes are murderers. Now show the wound mine eye hath made in thee: Thy palm some moment keeps: but now mine eyes, Nor, I am sure, there is no force in eyes If ever (as that ever may be near) You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy,2 That love's keen arrows make. Phe. But till that time Come not thou near me; and, when that time comes, As till that time I shall not pity thee. Ros. And why, I pray you? [Advancing] Who might be your mother, That you insult, exult, and all at once, Over the wretched? What though you have no beauty (As, by my faith, I see no more in you Than without candle may go dark to bed 3), Must you be therefore proud and pitiless? Why, what means this? Why do you look on me? 1 Capable impressure] Sensible impression. So in Hamlet, iv. 7, Ophelia is said to be 'incapable of her own distress.' 2 Fancy] Love. The word was often used in this sense. 3 Than without candle, &c.] Than what needs not be afraid to go to bed in the dark, I see no more in you, than in the ordinary That make the world full of ill-favoured children: ; Ros. He's fallen in love with her foulness, and she'll fall in love with my anger. If it be so, as fast as she answers thee with frowning looks, I'll sauce her with bitter words.— Why look you so upon me? Phe. For no ill will I bear you. Wind and rain] Words alluding to sighs and tears. 2 Properer] More goodly or handsome. 3 Foul is most foul, &c.] When one that is foul is a scoffer of love's proposals, then is foul most foul.-The word foul means not fair, wanting beauty. Ros. I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine: Besides, I like thee not. If you will know my house, Will you go, sister ?-Shepherd, ply her hard.- None could be so abused in sight as he.1 Come, to our flock. [Exeunt ROSALIND, CELIA, and CORIN. Phe. Dead shepherd! now I find thy saw of might-2 Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight? Sil. Sweet Phebe,— Phe. Ha! what say'st thou, Silvius? Sil. Sweet Phebe, pity me. Phe. Why, I am sorry for thee, gentle Silvius. Sil. Wherever sorrow is, relief would be; If you do sorrow at my grief in love, By giving love your sorrow and my grief Phe. Thou hast my love; is not that neighbourly? Sil. I would have you. Phe. Why, that were covetousness. Silvius, the time was that I hated thee; And yet it is not 3 that I bear thee love: 1 None could be, &c.] That none could have eyes so deluded as his are. 2 Dead shepherd, &c.] The shepherd here referred to was the dramatist Christopher Marlowe, who was killed in a quarrel in 1593. Phebe's quotation is from his translation of the Hero and Leander of Musæus, first published in 1598.-I find thy saw of might means, I find thy saying to be forcibly true. 3 Yet it is not] The time is not yet. I will endure; and I'll employ thee too : Than thine own gladness that thou art employed. And I in such a poverty of grace, That I shall think it a most plenteous crop To glean the broken ears after the man That the main harvest reaps: loose now and then A scattered smile, and that I'll live upon. Phe. Know'st thou the youth that spoke to me erewhile? And he hath bought the cottage and the bounds, Phe. Think not I love him, though I ask for him ; But, sure, he's proud; and yet his pride becomes him : Is his complexion; and faster than his tongue Than that mixed in his cheek; 'twas just the difference 1 Carlot] Carl or churl. 2 Damask] The colour of the damask rose. I love him not nor hate him not; and yet I have more cause to hate him than to love him: He said, mine eyes were black and my hair black; 'But that's all one; omittance is no quittance. I'll write it straight; The matter's in my head and in my heart: I will be bitter with him, and passing short. [Exeunt. 1 Now I am remembered] As I now remember.-The verb remember was often thus used. |