To speak my mind, and I will through and through
Cleanse the foul body of th' infected world,
If they will
patiently receive my medicine.
DUKE SENIOR. Fie on thee! I can tell what thou wouldst do.
JAQUES. What, for a
counter, would I do but good?
DUKE SENIOR. Most Mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin;
For thou thyself hast been a libertine,
As sensual as the brutish sting itself;
And all th' embossed sores and headed evils
That thou with license of free foot hast caught
Wouldst thou disgorge into the general world.
JAQUES. Why, who cries out on pride
That can
therein tax any private party?
Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea,
Till that the wearer's very means do ebb?
What woman in the city do I name
When that I say the city-woman bears
The cost of princes on
unworthy shoulders?
Who can come in and say that I mean her,
When such a one as she such is her neighbour?
Or what is he of basest function
That says his
bravery is not on my cost,
Thinking that I mean him, but
therein suits
His folly to the mettle of my speech?
There then! how then? what then? Let me see wherein
My tongue hath wrong'd him: if it do him right,
Then he hath wrong'd himself; if he be free,
Why then my taxing like a wild-goose flies,
Unclaim'd of any man. But who comes here?
Enter ORLANDO with his sword drawn
ORLANDO. Forbear, and eat no more.
JAQUES. Why, I have eat none yet.
ORLANDO. Nor shalt not, till necessity be serv'd.
JAQUES. Of what kind should this cock come of?
DUKE SENIOR. Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy
distress?
Or else a rude despiser of good manners,
That in
civility thou seem'st so empty?
ORLANDO. You touch'd my vein at first: the
thorny point
Of bare
distress hath ta'en from me the show
Of smooth
civility; yet arn I
inland bred,
And know some nurture. But
forbear, I say;
He dies that touches any of this fruit
Till I and my affairs are answered.
JAQUES. An you will not be answer'd with reason, I must die.
DUKE SENIOR. What would you have? Your
gentleness shall force
More than your force move us to
gentleness.
ORLANDO. I almost die for food, and let me have it.
DUKE SENIOR. Sit down and feed, and
welcome to our table.
ORLANDO. Speak you so
gently? Pardon me, I pray you;
I thought that all things had been
savage here,
And
therefore put I on the countenance
Of stern
commandment. But whate'er you are
That in this desert inaccessible,
Under the shade of
melancholy boughs,
Lose and
neglect the creeping hours of time;
If ever you have look'd on better days,
If ever been where bells have knoll'd to church,
If ever sat at any good man's feast,
If ever from your eyelids wip'd a tear,
And know what 'tis to pity and be pitied,
Let
gentleness my strong
enforcement be;
In the which hope I blush, and hide my sword.
DUKE SENIOR. True is it that we have seen better days,
And have with holy bell been knoll'd to church,
And sat at good men's feasts, and wip'd our eyes
Of drops that
sacred pity hath engend'red;
And
therefore sit you down in
gentleness,
And take upon command what help we have
That to your
wanting may be minist'red.
ORLANDO. Then but
forbear your food a little while,
Whiles, like a doe, I go to find my fawn,
And give it food. There is an old poor man
Who after me hath many a weary step
Limp'd in pure love; till he be first suffic'd,
Oppress'd with two weak evils, age and hunger,
I will not touch a bit.
DUKE SENIOR. Go find him out.
And we will nothing waste till you return.
ORLANDO. I thank ye; and be blest for your good comfort!
Exit
DUKE SENIOR. Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy:
This wide and
universal theatre
Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in.
JAQUES. All the world's a stage,
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 lin'd,
With eyes
severe and beard of
formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His
youthful hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward
childishtreble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second
childishness and mere oblivion;
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing.
Re-enter ORLANDO with ADAM
DUKE SENIOR. Welcome. Set down your
venerable burden.
And let him feed.
ORLANDO. I thank you most for him.
ADAM. So had you need;
I
scarce can speak to thank you for myself.
DUKE SENIOR. 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
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,
Although thy
breath be rude.
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.
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 rememb'red not.
Heigh-ho! sing, &c.
DUKE SENIOR. If that you were the good Sir Rowland's son,
As you have whisper'd
faithfully you were,
And as mine eye doth his effigies
witnessMost truly limn'd and living in your face,
Be truly
welcomehither. I am the Duke
That lov'd your father. The residue of your fortune,
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
ACT III. SCENE I.
The palace
Enter DUKE FREDERICK, OLIVER, and LORDS
FREDERICK. 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 wheresoe'er he is;
Seek him with candle; 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.
OLIVER. O that your Highness knew my heart in this!
I never lov'd my brother in my life.
FREDERICK. More
villain thou. Well, push him out of doors;
And let my officers of such a nature
Make an
extent upon his house and lands.
Do this expediently, and turn him going. Exeunt
SCENE II.
The forest
Enter ORLANDO, with a paper
ORLANDO. 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 my full life doth sway.
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
virtuewitness'd every where.
Run, run, Orlando; carve on every tree,
The fair, the
chaste, and unexpressive she. Exit
Enter CORIN and TOUCHSTONE
CORIN. And how like you this
shepherd's life, Master Touchstone?
TOUCHSTONE. Truly,
shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good
life; but in respect that it is a
shepherd's life, it is nought.
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?
CORIN. No more but that I know the more one sickens the worse at
ease he is; and that he that wants money, means, and content, is
without three good friends; that the property of rain is to wet,
and fire to burn; that good
pasture makes fat sheep; and that a
great cause of the night is lack of the sun; that he that hath
learned no wit by nature nor art may
complain of good breeding,
or comes of a very dull
kindred.