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Act 1, Scene 2

A Lawn before the DUKE'S Palace.

  1. [Enter ROSALIND and CELIA.]
  2. Celia
  3. 138 I pray thee, Rosalind, sweet my coz, be merry.
  4. Rosalind
  5. 139 Dear Celia, I show more mirth than I am mistress of; and would
  6. 140 you yet I were merrier? Unless you could teach me to forget a
  7. 141 banished father, you must not learn me how to remember any
  8. 142 extraordinary pleasure.
  9. Celia
  10. 143 Herein I see thou lov'st me not with the full weight that I
  11. 144 love thee; if my uncle, thy banished father, had banished thy
  12. 145 uncle, the duke my father, so thou hadst been still with me,
  13. 146 I could have taught my love to take thy father for mine; so
  14. 147 wouldst thou, if the truth of thy love to me were so righteously
  15. 148 tempered as mine is to thee.
  16. Rosalind
  17. 149 Well, I will forget the condition of my estate, to rejoice in
  18. 150 yours.
  19. Celia
  20. 151 You know my father hath no child but I, nor none is like to
  21. 152 have; and, truly, when he dies thou shalt be his heir: for what
  22. 153 he hath taken away from thy father perforce, I will render thee
  23. 154 again in affection: by mine honour, I will; and when I break that
  24. 155 oath, let me turn monster; therefore, my sweet Rose, my dear
  25. 156 Rose, be merry.
  26. Rosalind
  27. 157 From henceforth I will, coz, and devise sports: let me see; what
  28. 158 think you of falling in love?
  29. Celia
  30. 159 Marry, I pr'ythee, do, to make sport withal: but love no man
  31. 160 in good earnest, nor no further in sport neither than with
  32. 161 safety of a pure blush thou mayst in honour come off again.
  33. Rosalind
  34. 162 What shall be our sport, then?
  35. Celia
  36. 163 Let us sit and mock the good housewife Fortune from her
  37. 164 wheel, that her gifts may henceforth be bestowed equally.
  38. Rosalind
  39. 165 I would we could do so; for her benefits are mightily
  40. 166 misplaced: and the bountiful blind woman doth most mistake in
  41. 167 her gifts to women.
  42. Celia
  43. 168 'Tis true; for those that she makes fair she scarce makes
  44. 169 honest; and those that she makes honest she makes very
  45. 170 ill-favouredly.
  46. Rosalind
  47. 171 Nay; now thou goest from Fortune's office to Nature's: Fortune
  48. 172 reigns in gifts of the world, not in the lineaments of Nature.
  49. Celia
  50. 173 No; when Nature hath made a fair creature, may she not by
  51. 174 Fortune fall into the fire?—Though Nature hath given us wit to
  52. 175 flout at Fortune, hath not Fortune sent in this fool to cut off
  53. 176 the argument?
  54. [Enter TOUCHSTONE.]
  55. Rosalind
  56. 177 Indeed, there is Fortune too hard for Nature, when
  57. 178 Fortune makes Nature's natural the cutter-off of Nature's wit.
  58. Celia
  59. 179 Peradventure this is not Fortune's work neither, but
  60. 180 Nature's, who perceiveth our natural wits too dull to reason of
  61. 181 such goddesses, and hath sent this natural for our whetstone: for
  62. 182 always the dullness of the fool is the whetstone of the wits.—
  63. 183 How now, wit? whither wander you?
  64. Touchstone
  65. 184 Mistress, you must come away to your father.
  66. Celia
  67. 185 Were you made the messenger?
  68. Touchstone
  69. 186 No, by mine honour; but I was bid to come for you.
  70. Rosalind
  71. 187 Where learned you that oath, fool?
  72. Touchstone
  73. 188 Of a certain knight that swore by his honour they were
  74. 189 good pancakes, and swore by his honour the mustard was naught:
  75. 190 now, I'll stand to it, the pancakes were naught and the
  76. 191 mustard was good: and yet was not the knight forsworn.
  77. Celia
  78. 192 How prove you that, in the great heap of your knowledge?
  79. Rosalind
  80. 193 Ay, marry; now unmuzzle your wisdom.
  81. Touchstone
  82. 194 Stand you both forth now: stroke your chins, and swear
  83. 195 by your beards that I am a knave.
  84. Celia
  85. 196 By our beards, if we had them, thou art.
  86. Touchstone
  87. 197 By my knavery, if I had it, then I were: but if you swear by that
  88. 198 that is not, you are not forsworn: no more was this knight,
  89. 199 swearing by his honour, for he never had any; or if he had, he
  90. 200 had sworn it away before ever he saw those pancackes or that
  91. 201 mustard.
  92. Celia
  93. 202 Pr'ythee, who is't that thou mean'st?
  94. Touchstone
  95. 203 One that old Frederick, your father, loves.
  96. Celia
  97. 204 My father's love is enough to honour him enough: speak
  98. 205 no more of him: you'll be whipp'd for taxation one of these days.
  99. Touchstone
  100. 206 The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what
  101. 207 wise men do foolishly.
  102. Celia
  103. 208 By my troth, thou sayest true: for since the little wit that
  104. 209 fools have was silenced, the little foolery that wise men
  105. 210 have makes a great show. Here comes Monsieur Le Beau.
  106. Rosalind
  107. 211 With his mouth full of news.
  108. Celia
  109. 212 Which he will put on us as pigeons feed their young.
  110. Rosalind
  111. 213 Then shall we be news-crammed.
  112. Celia
  113. 214 All the better; we shall be the more marketable.
  114. [Enter LE BEAU.]
  115. Celia
  116. 215 Bon jour, Monsieur Le Beau. What's the news?
  117. Le Beau
  118. 216 Fair princess, you have lost much good sport.
  119. Celia
  120. 217 Sport! of what colour?
  121. Le Beau
  122. 218 What colour, madam? How shall I answer you?
  123. Rosalind
  124. 219 As wit and fortune will.
  125. Touchstone
  126. 220 Or as the destinies decrees.
  127. Celia
  128. 221 Well said: that was laid on with a trowel.
  129. Touchstone
  130. 222 Nay, if I keep not my rank,—
  131. Rosalind
  132. 223 Thou losest thy old smell.
  133. Le Beau
  134. 224 You amaze me, ladies; I would have told you of good
  135. 225 wrestling, which you have lost the sight of.
  136. Rosalind
  137. 226 Yet tell us the manner of the wrestling.
  138. Le Beau
  139. 227 I will tell you the beginning, and, if it please your
  140. 228 ladyships, you may see the end; for the best is yet to do;
  141. 229 and here, where you are, they are coming to perform it.
  142. Celia
  143. 230 Well,—the beginning, that is dead and buried.
  144. Le Beau
  145. 231 There comes an old man and his three sons,—
  146. Celia
  147. 232 I could match this beginning with an old tale.
  148. Le Beau
  149. 233 Three proper young men, of excellent growth and presence, with
  150. 234 bills on their necks,—
  151. Rosalind
  152. 235 'Be it known unto all men by these presents,'—
  153. Le Beau
  154. 236 The eldest of the three wrestled with Charles, the duke's
  155. 237 wrestler; which Charles in a moment threw him, and broke three of
  156. 238 his ribs, that there is little hope of life in him: so he served
  157. 239 the second, and so the third. Yonder they lie; the poor old man,
  158. 240 their father, making such pitiful dole over them that all the
  159. 241 beholders take his part with weeping.
  160. Rosalind
  161. 242 Alas!
  162. Touchstone
  163. 243 But what is the sport, monsieur, that the ladies have lost?
  164. Le Beau
  165. 244 Why, this that I speak of.
  166. Touchstone
  167. 245 Thus men may grow wiser every day! It is the first time
  168. 246 that ever I heard breaking of ribs was sport for ladies.
  169. Celia
  170. 247 Or I, I promise thee.
  171. Rosalind
  172. 248 But is there any else longs to see this broken music
  173. 249 in his sides? is there yet another dotes upon rib-breaking?—
  174. 250 Shall we see this wrestling, cousin?
  175. Le Beau
  176. 251 You must, if you stay here: for here is the place
  177. 252 appointed for the wrestling, and they are ready to perform it.
  178. Celia
  179. 253 Yonder, sure, they are coming: let us now stay and see it.
  180. [Flourish. Enter DUKE FREDERICK, Lords, ORLANDO, CHARLES, and Attendants.]
  181. Duke Frederick
  182. 254 Come on; since the youth will not be entreated, his own peril on
  183. 255 his forwardness.
  184. Rosalind
  185. 256 Is yonder the man?
  186. Le Beau
  187. 257 Even he, madam.
  188. Celia
  189. 258 Alas, he is too young: yet he looks successfully.
  190. Duke Frederick
  191. 259 How now, daughter and cousin? are you crept hither to see the
  192. 260 wrestling?
  193. Rosalind
  194. 261 Ay, my liege; so please you give us leave.
  195. Duke Frederick
  196. 262 You will take little delight in it, I can tell you,
  197. 263 there is such odds in the men. In pity of the challenger's youth
  198. 264 I would fain dissuade him, but he will not be entreated.
  199. 265 Speak to him, ladies; see if you can move him.
  200. Celia
  201. 266 Call him hither, good Monsieur Le Beau.
  202. Duke Frederick
  203. 267 Do so; I'll not be by.
  204. [DUKE FREDERICK goes apart.]
  205. Le Beau
  206. 268 Monsieur the challenger, the princesses call for you.
  207. Orlando
  208. 269 I attend them with all respect and duty.
  209. Rosalind
  210. 270 Young man, have you challenged Charles the wrestler?
  211. Orlando
  212. 271 No, fair princess; he is the general challenger: I come
  213. 272 but in, as others do, to try with him the strength of my youth.
  214. Celia
  215. 273 Young gentleman, your spirits are too bold for your years.
  216. 274 You have seen cruel proof of this man's strength: if you saw
  217. 275 yourself with your eyes, or knew yourself with your judgment,
  218. 276 the fear of your adventure would counsel you to a more equal
  219. 277 enterprise. We pray you, for your own sake, to embrace your
  220. 278 own safety and give over this attempt.
  221. Rosalind
  222. 279 Do, young sir; your reputation shall not therefore be
  223. 280 misprised: we will make it our suit to the duke that the
  224. 281 wrestling might not go forward.
  225. Orlando
  226. 282 I beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts: wherein I
  227. 283 confess me much guilty to deny so fair and excellent ladies
  228. 284 anything. But let your fair eyes and gentle wishes go
  229. 285 with me to my trial: wherein if I be foiled there is but one
  230. 286 shamed that was never gracious; if killed, but one dead that is
  231. 287 willing to be so: I shall do my friends no wrong, for I have none
  232. 288 to lament me: the world no injury, for in it I have nothing; only
  233. 289 in the world I fill up a place, which may be better supplied
  234. 290 when I have made it empty.
  235. Rosalind
  236. 291 The little strength that I have, I would it were with you.
  237. Celia
  238. 292 And mine to eke out hers.
  239. Rosalind
  240. 293 Fare you well. Pray heaven, I be deceived in you!
  241. Celia
  242. 294 Your heart's desires be with you.
  243. Charles
  244. 295 Come, where is this young gallant that is so desirous
  245. 296 to lie with his mother earth?
  246. Orlando
  247. 297 Ready, sir; but his will hath in it a more modest working.
  248. Duke Frederick
  249. 298 You shall try but one fall.
  250. Charles
  251. 299 No; I warrant your grace, you shall not entreat him to
  252. 300 a second, that have so mightily persuaded him from a first.
  253. Orlando
  254. 301 You mean to mock me after; you should not have mocked me before;
  255. 302 but come your ways.
  256. Rosalind
  257. 303 Now, Hercules be thy speed, young man!
  258. Celia
  259. 304 I would I were invisible, to catch the strong fellow by the leg.
  260. [CHARLES and ORLANDO wrestle.]
  261. Rosalind
  262. 305 O excellent young man!
  263. Celia
  264. 306 If I had a thunderbolt in mine eye, I can tell who should down.
  265. [CHARLES is thrown. Shout.]
  266. Duke Frederick
  267. 307 No more, no more.
  268. Orlando
  269. 308 Yes, I beseech your grace; I am not yet well breathed.
  270. Duke Frederick
  271. 309 How dost thou, Charles?
  272. Le Beau
  273. 310 He cannot speak, my lord.
  274. Duke Frederick
  275. 311 Bear him away.
  276. [CHARLES is borne out.]
  277. Duke Frederick
  278. 312 What is thy name, young man?
  279. Orlando
  280. 313 Orlando, my liege; the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Bois.
  281. Duke Frederick
  282. 314 I would thou hadst been son to some man else.
  283. 315 The world esteem'd thy father honourable,
  284. 316 But I did find him still mine enemy:
  285. 317 Thou shouldst have better pleas'd me with this deed
  286. 318 Hadst thou descended from another house.
  287. 319 But fare thee well; thou art a gallant youth;
  288. 320 I would thou hadst told me of another father.
  289. [Exeunt DUKE FREDERICK, Train, and LE BEAU.]
  290. Celia
  291. 321 Were I my father, coz, would I do this?
  292. Orlando
  293. 322 I am more proud to be Sir Rowland's son,
  294. 323 His youngest son;—and would not change that calling
  295. 324 To be adopted heir to Frederick.
  296. Rosalind
  297. 325 My father loved Sir Rowland as his soul,
  298. 326 And all the world was of my father's mind:
  299. 327 Had I before known this young man his son,
  300. 328 I should have given him tears unto entreaties
  301. 329 Ere he should thus have ventur'd.
  302. Celia
  303. 330 Gentle cousin,
  304. 331 Let us go thank him, and encourage him:
  305. 332 My father's rough and envious disposition
  306. 333 Sticks me at heart.—Sir, you have well deserv'd:
  307. 334 If you do keep your promises in love
  308. 335 But justly, as you have exceeded promise,
  309. 336 Your mistress shall be happy.
  310. Rosalind
  311. 337 Gentleman,
  312. [Giving him a chain from her neck.]
  313. Rosalind
  314. 338 Wear this for me; one out of suits with fortune,
  315. 339 That could give more, but that her hand lacks means.—
  316. 340 Shall we go, coz?
  317. Celia
  318. 341 Ay.—Fare you well, fair gentleman.
  319. Orlando
  320. 342 Can I not say, I thank you? My better parts
  321. 343 Are all thrown down; and that which here stands up
  322. 344 Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.
  323. Rosalind
  324. 345 He calls us back: my pride fell with my fortunes:
  325. 346 I'll ask him what he would.—Did you call, sir?—
  326. 347 Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown
  327. 348 More than your enemies.
  328. Celia
  329. 349 Will you go, coz?
  330. Rosalind
  331. 350 Have with you.—Fare you well.
  332. [Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIA.]
  333. Orlando
  334. 351 What passion hangs these weights upon my tongue?
  335. 352 I cannot speak to her, yet she urg'd conference.
  336. 353 O poor Orlando! thou art overthrown:
  337. 354 Or Charles, or something weaker, masters thee.
  338. [Re-enter LE BEAU.]
  339. Le Beau
  340. 355 Good sir, I do in friendship counsel you
  341. 356 To leave this place. Albeit you have deserv'd
  342. 357 High commendation, true applause, and love,
  343. 358 Yet such is now the duke's condition,
  344. 359 That he misconstrues all that you have done.
  345. 360 The Duke is humorous; what he is, indeed,
  346. 361 More suits you to conceive than I to speak of.
  347. Orlando
  348. 362 I thank you, sir: and pray you tell me this;
  349. 363 Which of the two was daughter of the duke
  350. 364 That here was at the wrestling?
  351. Le Beau
  352. 365 Neither his daughter, if we judge by manners;
  353. 366 But yet, indeed, the smaller is his daughter:
  354. 367 The other is daughter to the banish'd duke,
  355. 368 And here detain'd by her usurping uncle,
  356. 369 To keep his daughter company; whose loves
  357. 370 Are dearer than the natural bond of sisters.
  358. 371 But I can tell you that of late this duke
  359. 372 Hath ta'en displeasure 'gainst his gentle niece,
  360. 373 Grounded upon no other argument
  361. 374 But that the people praise her for her virtues
  362. 375 And pity her for her good father's sake;
  363. 376 And, on my life, his malice 'gainst the lady
  364. 377 Will suddenly break forth.—Sir, fare you well!
  365. 378 Hereafter, in a better world than this,
  366. 379 I shall desire more love and knowledge of you.
  367. Orlando
  368. 380 I rest much bounden to you: fare you well!
  369. [Exit LE BEAU.]
  370. Orlando
  371. 381 Thus must I from the smoke into the smother;
  372. 382 From tyrant duke unto a tyrant brother:—
  373. 383 But heavenly Rosalind!
  374. [Exit.]