How you excufe my brother, Rofalind. Rof. I fhall devife fomething. But, I pray you, commend my counterfeiting to him.-Will Will you go? [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I, The FOREST. Enter Clown and Audrey. CLOWN E fhall find a time, Audrey- patience, gentle WE Aud. Faith, the Prieft was good enough, for all the old gentleman's faying. Clo. A moft wicked Sir Oliver, Audrey; a most 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 intereft 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 fhall be flouting; we cannot hold. Will. Good ev'n, Audrey. Aud. God give ye good ev'n, William. Clo. Good ev'n, gentle friend-Cover thy head, cover thy head; nay, pr'ythee, be cover'd.-How old are you, friend? Will. Five and twenty, Sir. доб Clo. A ripe age is thy name William? Autokana Will. William, Sir. Clo. Clo. A fair name. Waft born i'th' foreft here? Clo. Thank God-a good answer: art rich? Clo. So, fo, is good, very good, very excellent good; and yet it is not; it is but fo fo. Art thou wife? Will. Ay, Sir, I have a pretty wit. Clo. Why, thou fay'ft well: I do now remember a Saying; the fool doth think he is wife, but the wife man knows himself to be a fool. The heathen philofopher, when he had a defire to eat a grape, would open his lips when he put it into his mouth; meaning thereby, that grapes were made to eat, and lips to open. You do love this maid? Will, Ido, Sir. Clo. Give me your hand: art thou learned? 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 glafs, by filling the one doth empty the other. For all your writers do confent, that ipfe is he now you are not ipfe; for I am he. Will. Which he, Sir? Clo. He, Sir, 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 fociety 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 in to bondage; I will deal in poifon with thee, or in baftinado, or in fteel; I will bandy with thee în faction; I will over-run thee with policy; I will kill thee a hundred and fifty ways; therefore tremble and depart. [Exit. Cor. Our mafter and mistress feek you; come away, away. Clo. Trip, Audrey; trip, Audrey; I attend, I at tend. SCENE II Enter Orlando and Oliver. t [Exeunt. Orla. Is't poffible, that on fo little acquaintance yan fhould like her? that, but feeing, you fhould love her? and loving, woo? and wooing, the fhould grant?s and will you perfevere to enjoy her? Oli. Neither call the giddinefs of it in queftion, the poverty of her, the fmall acquaintance, my fudden wooing, nor her fudden confenting; but fay with me, I love Aliena; fay with her, that fhe loves me; confent with both, that we may enjoy each other; it fhall be to your good; for my father's houfe, and all the revenue that was old Sir Rowland's, will I estate upon you, and here live and die a fhepherd.. Enter Rofalind... Orla. You have my confent. Let your wedding be 7 I will deal in poifon with thee, All this feems to be an allufion to or in bafinado, or in feel; I will Sir Thomas Overbury's affair. bandy with thee in faction, &c.] " WARBURTON. to-morrow; 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 sister. Ref. Oh, my dear Orlando, how it grieves me to fee 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 shewed me your handkerchief? Orla. Ay, and greater wonders than that. Rof. O, I know where you are-Nay, 'tis trueThere was never any thing fo fudden, but the fight of two rams, and Cafar's thrafonical brag of I came, faw and overcame: for your brother and my fifter no fooner met, but they look'd; no fooner look'd, but they lov'd; no fooner lov'd, but they figh'd; no fooner figh'd, but they afk'd one another the reason; no fooner knew the reafon, but they fought the remedy; and in thefe degrees have they made a pair of ftairs to marriage, which they will climb incontinent, or elfe 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 so much the more fhall I to-morrow be at the height of heart-heavinefs, by how much I fhall 8 And, you, fair fifter.] I know not why Oliver fhould call Rofalind fifter. He takes her yet to be a man. I fuppofe we hould read, and you, and your fair fifter. 9 Clubs cannot part them.] Alluding to the way of parting dogs in wrath. $ think 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 some pur pofe, that I know, you are a gentleman of good conceit. I fpeak not this, that you should bear a good opinion of my knowledge; infomuch, I fay, I know what you are; neither do I labour for a greater efteem than may in fome little measure draw a belief from you to do yourfelf good, and not to grace me. Believe then, if you pleafe, that I can do ftrange things; IÍ have, fince I was three years old, converft with a magician, moft profound in his Art, and yet not damnable. If you do love Rofalind fo near the heart, as your gefture cries it out, when your brother marries Aliena, you fhall marry her. I know into what ftreights of fortune fhe is driven; and it is not impoffible to me, if iv appear not inconvenient to you, to fet her before your eyes, to-morrow; human as fhe is, and without any danger. Orla. Speak'ft thou in fober meaning? Rof. By my life, I do; which I tender dearly, tho I fay, I am a magician: therefore, put you on your beft array; bid your friends; for if you will be married to-morrow, you fhall; and to Rofalind, if you will. ? Human as she is.] This is not a phantom, but the real Rofalind, without any of the danger generally conceived to attend the rites of incantation. Which I tender dearly, tho' Ifay, I am a magician :] Hence it appears this was written in James's time, when there was a fevere inquifition after witches and magicians. SCENE |