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Duke. [Advancing, c.] No more, no mɔre.

Orl. (c.) Yes, I beseech your grace; I am not well breathed.

Duke. How dost thou, Charles?

Touch. He cannot speak, my lord.

Duke. Bear him away.-What is thy name, young man?

Orl. Orlando, my liege: the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys.

Duke. I would thou hadst been son to some man else! The world esteemed thy father honourable,

But I did find him still mine enemy:

I would thou hadst told me of another father!

[Rosalind and Celia stand, R.-Exit Duke, with his Train, L.

Orl. I am more proud to be Sir Rowland's son, His youngest son -and would not change that calling, To be adopted heir to Frederick. [Retires back, L. c. Cel. Were I my father, coz, would I do this? Ros. My father loved Sir Rowland as his soul, And all the world was of my father's mind: Had I before known this young man his son, I should have given tears unto entreaties. Ere he should thus have ventured.

Cel. Gentle cousin,

Let us go thank him, and encourage him;
My father's rough and envious disposition
Sticks me at heart.—Sir, [Orlando advances.] you have

well deserved:

If you do keep your promises in love,

But justly, as you have exceeded promise,

Your mistress shall be happy.

Ros. Gentleman, [Giving him a Chain from her Neck. Wear this for me; one out of suits with fortune; That could give more, but that her hand lacks means. Shall we go, coz ?

Cel. Ay-Fare you well, fair gentleman! [Going. Orl. Can I not say, I thank you? My better parts Are all thrown down; and that, which here stands up, Is but a quaintaine, a mere lifeless block.

Ros. [Going, R.] He calls us back. [Stops.] My pride fell with my fortunes;

I'll ask him what he would. [Returning.] Did you call, sir?

Sir, you

have wrestled well, and overthrown

More than your enemies.

Cel. (R. S. E.) Will you go, coz?

Ros. (R.) Have with you.-Fare you well!

[Exeunt Rosalind and Celia, R.

Orl. [Advances, c.] What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue!

I cannot speak to her, yet she urged conference.
Oh, poor Orlando! thou art overthrown;

Or Charles, or something weaker, masters thee.

Enter LE BEau, L.

Le Beau. (L.) Good sir, I do in friendship counsel you
To leave this place. Albeit you have deserved
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 me to speak of.

Orl. (R. C.) 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 man

ners;

But yet, indeed, the shorter is his daughter:
The other is daughter to the banished duke,
And here detained by her usurping uncle,
To keep his daughter's 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.
Orl. I rest much bounden to you; fare you well!
[Exit Le Beau, L.

Thus must I, from the smoke into the smother;
From tyrant duke, unto a tyrant brother:
But heavenly Rosalind!

[Exit, L.

SCENE IV.-An Apartment in the Palace.

Enter CELIA and ROSALIND, r.

Cel. (R. C.) Why, cousin; why, Rosalind; Cupid have mercy!-Not a word?

Ros. (L. c.) Not one, to throw at a dog.

Cel. No, thy words are too precious to be cast away upon curs; throw some of them at me.-But is all this for your father?

Ros. No, some of it is for my father's child. Oh, how full of briars is this working-day world!

Cel. They are but burrs, cousin, thrown upon thee in holiday foolery; if we walk not in the trodden paths, our very petticoats will catch them.

Ros. I could shake them off my coat: these burrs are in my heart.

Cel. Hem them away.

Ros. I would try, if I could cry hem, and have him.
Cel. Come, come, wrestle with thy affections.

Ros. Oh, they take the part of a better wrestler than myself. [Crosses, R. Cel. (L.) Oh, a good wish upon you!-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 for old Sir Rowland's youngest son ?

Ros. The duke, my father, loved his father dearly.

Cel. 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.

Ros. No, 'faith, hate him not, for my sake.

Cel. Why should I? doth he not deserve well? Ros. Let me love him for that; and do you love him, because I do.

Cel. Ha! here comes the duke, anger.

with his eyes full of

[Crosses to Rosalind.

19

Enter DUKE FREDERICK, EUSTACE, LOUIS, and GENTLE

MEN, L.

Duke. (c.) Mistress, despatch you with your safest haste,

And get you from our court!

Ros. Me, uncle?

Duke. You, cousin :

Within these ten days, if that thou be'st found
So near our public court as twenty miles,

Thou diest for it!

Ros. [Advances and kneels.] I do beseech your grace, Let the knowledge of my fault bear with me!

If with myself I hold intelligence,

Or have acquaintance with my 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.

Duke. 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.

Ros. Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor.
Tell me whereon the likelihood depends.

Duke. (L. c.) Thou art thy father's daughter, there's enough.

Ros. [Rising.] So was I, when your highness took his dukedom;

So was I, when your highness banished 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.

Cel. Dear sovereign, hear me speak!

[Advances to Duke. Duke. Ay, Celia; we but stayed her for your sake; Else had she with her father ranged along.

Cel. I did not then entreat to have her stay,-
It was your pleasure, and your own remorse.
If she be a traitor,

Why, so am I; we still have slept together,
Rose at an instant, learned, played, eat together;
And, wheresoe'er we went, like Juno's swans,

Still we went coupled, and inseparable.

Duke. She is too subtle for thee; and her smoothness, Her very silence, and her patience,

Speak to the people, and they pity her:

Then open not thy lips;

Firm, and irrevocable, in my doom

Which I have passed upon her-she is banished.

Cel. Pronounce that sentence, then, on me, my liege;

I cannot live out of her company.

Duke. 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, &c., L. Cel. (R.) Oh, my poor Rosalind! whither wilt thou go? Wilt thou change fathers?—I will give thee mine. I charge thee, be not thou more grieved than I am. Ros. (R.) I have more cause.

Cel. Thou hast not, cousin ;

Pr'ythee, be cheerful: know'st thou not, the duke
Hath banished me, his daughter?

Ros. That he hath not.

Cel. No! hath not? Rosalind lacks then the love
Which teacheth me, that thou and I are one.
Shall we be sundered? 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;
For, by this heaven, now at our sorrows pale,
Say what canst, I'll go along with thee!
Ros. Why, whither shall we go?

[Crossing, L.
Cel. To seek my uncle, in the forest of Arden.
Ros, Alas, what danger will it be to us,
Maids as we are, to travel forth so far!
Beauty provoketh thieves, sooner than gold.

Cel. I'll put myself in poor and mean attire:
The like do you; so shall we pass along,
And never stir assailants.

Ros. Were it not better,

Because that I am more than common tall,

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