Ros. Then there were two cousins laid up; when the one should be lamed with reasons and the other mad without any. Cel. But is all this for your father? 9 Ros. No, some of it is for my father's child. O, how full of briers is this working-day world! Cel. 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. Ros. I could shake them off my coat: these burs are in my heart. Cel. Hem them away. 19 Ros. I would try, if I could cry 'hem' and have him. Cel. Come, come, wrestle with thy affections. Ros. O, they take the part of a better wrestler than myself! Cel. O, a good wish upon you! you will try in time in spite 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? 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 not? doth he not deserve well? 30 Ros. Let me love him for that, and do you love him because I do. Look, here comes the duke. Cel. With his eyes full of anger. Enter DUKE FREDERICK, with Lords. Duke F. Mistress, despatch you with your safest haste And get you from our court. Ros. Me, uncle? You, cousin : Within these ten days if that thou be'st found Thou diest for it. Ros. I do beseech your grace, Let me the knowledge of my fault bear with me: Or have acquaintance with mine own desires, Duke F. Thus do all traitors: If their purgation did consist in words, Ros. Yet your mistrust cannot make me a traitor : Duke F. Thou art thy father's daughter; there's enough. Ros. So was I when your highness took his dukedom ; So was I when your highness banish'd 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 Cel. Dear sovereign, hear me speak. Duke F. Ay, Celia; we stay'd 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 : I was too young that time to value her; 60 Why so am I; we still have slept together, 70 B Duke F. She is too subtle for thee; and her smoothness, Her very silence and her patience Speak to the people, and they pity her. Thou art a fool: she robs thee of thy name; And thou wilt show more bright and seem more virtuous When she is gone. Then open not thy lips: Firm and irrevocable is my doom Which I have pass'd upon her; she is banish'd. Cel. Pronounce that sentence then on me, my liege: 80 I cannot live out of her company. Duke F. 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 Frederick and Lords. Cel. O 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. I have more cause. Cel. Prithee, be cheerful: know'st thou not, the duke Hath banish'd me, his daughter? Ros. Thou hast not, cousin ; Cel. No? hath not? Rosalind lacks then the love Which teacheth thee that thou and I am one : Shall we be sunder'd? shall we part, sweet girl? No let my father seek another heir. Therefore devise with me how we may fly, Ros. Why, whither shall we go? 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! 100 Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold. And never stir assailants. Ros. A boar-spear in my hand; and—in my heart Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will- That do outface it with their semblances. Cel. What shall I call thee when thou art a man? Ros. I'll have no worse a name than Jove's own page; And therefore look you call me Ganymede. But what will you be call'd? Cel. Something that hath a reference to my state; No longer Celia, but Aliena. Ros. But, cousin, what if we assay'd to steal The clownish fool out of your father's court? Cel. He'll go along o'er the wide world with me ; And get our jewels and our wealth together, To hide us from pursuit that will be made 110 120 130 [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I. The Forest of Arden. Enter DUKE senior, AMIENS, and two or three Lords, Duke S. Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile, The seasons' difference, as the icy fang Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head ; And this our life exempt from public haunt Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, I would not change it. Ami. Happy is your grace, That can translate the stubbornness of fortune Duke S. Come, shall we go and kill us venison ? Have their round haunches gored. First Lord. Indeed, my lord, The melancholy Jaques grieves at that, And, in that kind, swears you do more usurp 10 20 |