Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIA
ORLANDO. What
passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?
I cannot speak to her, yet she urg'd conference.
O poor Orlando, thou art overthrown!
Or Charles or something weaker masters thee.
Re-enter LE BEAU
LE BEAU. Good sir, I do in friendship
counsel you
To leave this place. Albeit you have deserv'd
High
commendation, true
applause, and love,
Yet such is now the Duke's condition
That he misconstrues all that you have done.
The Duke is
humorous; what he is, indeed,
More suits you to
conceive than I to speak of.
ORLANDO. 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 manners;
But yet, indeed, the smaller is his daughter;
The other is daughter to the banish'd Duke,
And here detain'd 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 than this,
I shall desire more love and knowledge of you.
ORLANDO. 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! Exit
SCENE III.
The DUKE's palace
Enter CELIA and ROSALIND
CELIA. Why, cousin! why, Rosalind! Cupid have mercy!
Not a word?
ROSALIND. Not one to throw at a dog.
CELIA. No, thy words are too precious to be cast away upon curs;
throw some of them at me; come, lame me with reasons.
ROSALIND. Then there were two cousins laid up, when the one should
be lam'd with reasons and the other mad without any.
CELIA. But is all this for your father?
ROSALIND. No, some of it is for my child's father. O, how full of
briers is this working-day world!
CELIA. 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.
ROSALIND. I could shake them off my coat: these burs are in my
heart.
CELIA. Hem them away.
ROSALIND. I would try, if I could cry 'hem' and have him.
CELIA. Come, come,
wrestle with thy affections.
ROSALIND. O, they take the part of a better
wrestler than myself.
CELIA. 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, you should fall
into so strong a
liking with old Sir Rowland's youngest son?
ROSALIND. The Duke my father lov'd his father
dearly.
CELIA. 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.
ROSALIND. No, faith, hate him not, for my sake.
CELIA. Why should I not? Doth he not
deserve well?
Enter DUKE FREDERICK, with LORDS
ROSALIND. Let me love him for that; and do you love him because I
do. Look, here comes the Duke.
CELIA. With his eyes full of anger.
FREDERICK. Mistress,
dispatch you with your safest haste,
And get you from our court.
ROSALIND. Me, uncle?
FREDERICK. You, cousin.
Within these ten days if that thou beest found
So near our public court as twenty miles,
Thou diest for it.
ROSALIND. I do
beseech your Grace,
Let me the knowledge of my fault bear with me.
If with myself I hold intelligence,
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.
FREDERICK. 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.
ROSALIND. Yet your
mistrust cannot make me a traitor.
Tell me
whereon the
likelihood depends.
FREDERICK. Thou art thy father's daughter; there's enough.
ROSALIND. SO was I when your Highness took his dukedom;
So was I when your Highness banish'd 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.
CELIA. Dear
sovereign, hear me speak.
FREDERICK. Ay, Celia; we stay'd her for your sake,
Else had she with her father rang'd along.
CELIA. 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, learn'd, play'd, eat together;
And wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans,
Still we went coupled and inseparable.
FREDERICK. 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 pass'd upon her; she is banish'd.
CELIA. Pronounce that
sentence, then, on me, my liege;
I cannot live out of her company.
FREDERICK. You are a fool. You, niece, provide yourself.
If you outstay the time, upon mine honour,
And in the
greatness of my word, you die.
Exeunt DUKE and LORDS
CELIA. O my poor Rosalind! Whither wilt thou go?
Wilt thou change fathers? I will give thee mine.
I
charge thee be not thou more griev'd than I am.
ROSALIND. I have more cause.
CELIA. Thou hast not, cousin.
Prithee be
cheerful. Know'st thou not the Duke
Hath banish'd me, his daughter?
ROSALIND. That he hath not.
CELIA. No, hath not? Rosalind lacks, then, the love
Which teacheth thee that thou and I am one.
Shall we be sund'red? Shall we part, sweet girl?
No; let my father seek another heir.
Therefore
devise with me how we may fly,
Whither to go, and what to bear with us;
And do not seek to take your
charge upon you,
To bear your griefs yourself, and leave me out;
For, by this heaven, now at our sorrows pale,
Say what thou canst, I'll go along with thee.
ROSALIND. Why, whither shall we go?
CELIA. To seek my uncle in the Forest of Arden.
ROSALIND. Alas, what danger will it be to us,
Maids as we are, to travel forth so far!
Beauty provoketh
thieves sooner than gold.
CELIA. I'll put myself in poor and mean attire,
And with a kind of umber smirch my face;
The like do you; so shall we pass along,
And never stir assailants.
ROSALIND. Were it not better,
Because that I am more than common tall,
That I did suit me all points like a man?
A
gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh,
A boar spear in my hand; and- in my heart
Lie there what
hidden woman's fear there will-
We'll have a swashing and a
martial outside,
As many other mannish cowards have
That do outface it with their semblances.
CELIA. What shall I call thee when thou art a man?
ROSALIND. I'll have no worse a name than Jove's own page,
And
therefore look you call me Ganymede.
But what will you be call'd?
CELIA. Something that hath a
reference to my state:
No longer Celia, but Aliena.
ROSALIND. But, cousin, what if we assay'd to steal
The clownish fool out of your father's court?
Would he not be a comfort to our travel?
CELIA. He'll go along o'er the wide world with me;
Leave me alone to woo him. Let's away,
And get our jewels and our
wealth together;
Devise the fittest time and safest way
To hide us from
pursuit that will be made
After my
flight. Now go we in content
To liberty, and not to
banishment. Exeunt
ACT II. SCENE I.
The Forest of Arden
Enter DUKE SENIOR, AMIENS, and two or three LORDS,
like foresters
DUKE SENIOR. Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the
envious court?
Here feel we not the
penalty of Adam,
The seasons' difference; as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind,
Which when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I
shrink with cold, I smile and say
'This is no
flattery; these are
counsellors
That feelingly
persuade me what I am.'
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life,
exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the
running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.
I would not change it.
AMIENS. Happy is your Grace,