Shakespeare Portal

Act 4, Scene 3

The same. A Road near the Shepherd's cottage.

  1. [Enter AUTOLYCUS, singing.]
  2. Autolycus
  3. 1629 When daffodils begin to peer,—
  4. 1630 With, hey! the doxy over the dale,—
  5. 1631 Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year:
  6. 1632 For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale.
  7. Autolycus
  8. 1633 The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,—
  9. 1634 With, hey! the sweet birds, O, how they sing!—
  10. 1635 Doth set my pugging tooth on edge;
  11. 1636 For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.
  12. Autolycus
  13. 1637 The lark, that tirra-lirra chants,—
  14. 1638 With, hey! with, hey! the thrush and the jay,—
  15. 1639 Are summer songs for me and my aunts,
  16. 1640 While we lie tumbling in the hay.
  17. Autolycus
  18. 1641 I have serv'd Prince Florizel, and in my time wore three-pile;
  19. 1642 but now I am out of service:
  20. Autolycus
  21. 1643 But shall I go mourn for that, my dear?
  22. 1644 The pale moon shines by night:
  23. 1645 And when I wander here and there,
  24. 1646 I then do most go right.
  25. Autolycus
  26. 1647 If tinkers may have leave to live,
  27. 1648 And bear the sow-skin budget,
  28. 1649 Then my account I well may give
  29. 1650 And in the stocks avouch it.
  30. Autolycus
  31. 1651 My traffic is sheets; when the kite builds, look to lesser linen.
  32. 1652 My father named me Autolycus; who being, I as am, littered under
  33. 1653 Mercury, was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles. With
  34. 1654 die and drab I purchased this caparison; and my revenue is the
  35. 1655 silly-cheat: gallows and knock are too powerful on the highway;
  36. 1656 beating and hanging are terrors to me; for the life to come, I
  37. 1657 sleep out the thought of it.—A prize! a prize!
  38. [Enter CLOWN.]
  39. Clown
  40. 1658 Let me see:—every 'leven wether tods; every tod yields pound
  41. 1659 and odd shilling; fifteen hundred shorn, what comes the wool to?
  42. [Aside.]
  43. Autolycus
  44. 1660 If the springe hold, the cock's mine.
  45. Clown
  46. 1661 I cannot do't without counters.—Let me see; what am I to
  47. 1662 buy for our sheep-shearing feast? 'Three pound of sugar; five
  48. 1663 pound of currants; rice'—what will this sister of mine do with
  49. 1664 rice? But my father hath made her mistress of the feast, and she
  50. 1665 lays it on. She hath made me four and twenty nosegays for the
  51. 1666 shearers,—three-man song-men all, and very good ones; but they
  52. 1667 are most of them means and bases; but one puritan amongst them,
  53. 1668 and he sings psalms to hornpipes. I must have saffron to colour
  54. 1669 the warden pies; 'mace—dates',—none, that's out of my note;
  55. 1670 'nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger',—but that I may beg;
  56. 1671 'four pound of prunes, and as many of raisins o' the sun.'
  57. [Grovelling on the ground.]
  58. Autolycus
  59. 1672 O that ever I was born!
  60. Clown
  61. 1673 I' the name of me,—
  62. Autolycus
  63. 1674 O, help me, help me! Pluck but off these rags; and then, death,
  64. 1675 death!
  65. Clown
  66. 1676 Alack, poor soul! thou hast need of more rags to lay on thee,
  67. 1677 rather than have these off.
  68. Autolycus
  69. 1678 O sir, the loathsomeness of them offend me more than the stripes
  70. 1679 I have received, which are mighty ones and millions.
  71. Clown
  72. 1680 Alas, poor man! a million of beating may come to a great matter.
  73. Autolycus
  74. 1681 I am robb'd, sir, and beaten; my money and apparel ta'en from me,
  75. 1682 and these detestable things put upon me.
  76. Clown
  77. 1683 What, by a horseman or a footman?
  78. Autolycus
  79. 1684 A footman, sweet sir, a footman.
  80. Clown
  81. 1685 Indeed, he should be a footman, by the garments he has left
  82. 1686 with thee: if this be a horseman's coat, it hath seen very hot
  83. 1687 service. Lend me thy hand, I'll help thee: come, lend me thy
  84. 1688 hand.
  85. [Helping him up.]
  86. Autolycus
  87. 1689 O, good sir, tenderly, O!
  88. Clown
  89. 1690 Alas, poor soul!
  90. Autolycus
  91. 1691 O, good sir, softly, good sir: I fear, sir, my shoulder blade
  92. 1692 is out.
  93. Clown
  94. 1693 How now! canst stand?
  95. Autolycus
  96. 1694 Softly, dear sir!
  97. [Picks his pocket.]
  98. Autolycus
  99. 1695 good sir, softly; you ha'
  100. 1696 done me a charitable office.
  101. Clown
  102. 1697 Dost lack any money? I have a little money for thee.
  103. Autolycus
  104. 1698 No, good sweet sir; no, I beseech you, sir: I have a kinsman not
  105. 1699 past three quarters of a mile hence, unto whom I was going; I
  106. 1700 shall there have money or anything I want: offer me no money, I
  107. 1701 pray you; that kills my heart.
  108. Clown
  109. 1702 What manner of fellow was he that robbed you?
  110. Autolycus
  111. 1703 A fellow, sir, that I have known to go about with troll-my-dames;
  112. 1704 I knew him once a servant of the prince; I cannot tell, good sir,
  113. 1705 for which of his virtues it was, but he was certainly whipped out
  114. 1706 of the court.
  115. Clown
  116. 1707 His vices, you would say; there's no virtue whipped out of the
  117. 1708 court: they cherish it, to make it stay there; and yet it will no
  118. 1709 more but abide.
  119. Autolycus
  120. 1710 Vices, I would say, sir. I know this man well: he hath been
  121. 1711 since an ape-bearer; then a process-server, a bailiff; then he
  122. 1712 compassed a motion of the Prodigal Son, and married a tinker's
  123. 1713 wife within a mile where my land and living lies; and, having
  124. 1714 flown over many knavish professions, he settled only in rogue:
  125. 1715 some call him Autolycus.
  126. Clown
  127. 1716 Out upon him! prig, for my life, prig: he haunts wakes, fairs,
  128. 1717 and bear-baitings.
  129. Autolycus
  130. 1718 Very true, sir; he, sir, he; that's the rogue that put me into
  131. 1719 this apparel.
  132. Clown
  133. 1720 Not a more cowardly rogue in all Bohemia; if you had but looked
  134. 1721 big and spit at him, he'd have run.
  135. Autolycus
  136. 1722 I must confess to you, sir, I am no fighter: I am false of heart
  137. 1723 that way; and that he knew, I warrant him.
  138. Clown
  139. 1724 How do you now?
  140. Autolycus
  141. 1725 Sweet sir, much better than I was; I can stand and walk: I will
  142. 1726 even take my leave of you and pace softly towards my kinsman's.
  143. Clown
  144. 1727 Shall I bring thee on the way?
  145. Autolycus
  146. 1728 No, good-faced sir; no, sweet sir.
  147. Clown
  148. 1729 Then fare thee well: I must go buy spices for our sheep-shearing.
  149. Autolycus
  150. 1730 Prosper you, sweet sir!
  151. [Exit CLOWN.]
  152. Autolycus
  153. 1731 Your purse is not hot enough to purchase your spice. I'll be with
  154. 1732 you at your sheep-shearing too. If I make not this cheat bring
  155. 1733 out another, and the shearers prove sheep, let me be unrolled,
  156. 1734 and my name put in the book of virtue!
  157. [Sings.]
  158. Autolycus
  159. 1735 Jog on, jog on, the footpath way,
  160. 1736 And merrily hent the stile-a:
  161. 1737 A merry heart goes all the day,
  162. 1738 Your sad tires in a mile-a.
  163. [Exit.]