As You Like It | Page 7

mine eye, I can tell who should down.
[CHARLES is thrown. Shout.]
DUKE FREDERICK.?No more, no more.
ORLANDO.?Yes, I beseech your grace; I am not yet well breathed.
DUKE FREDERICK.?How dost thou, Charles?
LE BEAU.?He cannot speak, my lord.
DUKE FREDERICK.?Bear him away.
[CHARLES is borne out.]
What is thy name, young man?
ORLANDO.?Orlando, my liege; the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Bois.
DUKE FREDERICK.?I would thou hadst been son to some man else.?The world esteem'd thy father honourable,?But I did find him still mine enemy:?Thou shouldst have better pleas'd me with this deed?Hadst thou descended from another house.?But fare thee well; thou art a gallant youth;?I would thou hadst told me of another father.
[Exeunt DUKE FREDERICK, Train, and LE BEAU.]
CELIA.?Were I my father, coz, would I do this?
ORLANDO.?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.
ROSALIND.?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 him tears unto entreaties?Ere he should thus have ventur'd.
CELIA.?Gentle cousin,?Let us go thank him, and encourage him:?My father's rough and envious disposition?Sticks me at heart.--Sir, you have well deserv'd:?If you do keep your promises in love?But justly, as you have exceeded promise,?Your mistress shall be happy.
ROSALIND.?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?
CELIA.?Ay.--Fare you well, fair gentleman.
ORLANDO.?Can I not say, I thank you? My better parts?Are all thrown down; and that which here stands up?Is but a quintain, a mere lifeless block.
ROSALIND.?He calls us back: my pride fell with my fortunes:?I'll ask him what he would.--Did you call, sir?--?Sir, you have wrestled well, and overthrown?More than your enemies.
CELIA.?Will you go, coz?
ROSALIND.?Have with you.--Fare you well.
[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. A Room in the 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 lamed 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 loved 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?
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.
[Enter