time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love.

Orl. I would not have my right Rosalind of this mind; for, I protest, her frown might kill me.

Ros. By this hand, it will not kill a fly: But come, now I will be your Rosalind in a more coming-on disposition; and ask me what you will, I will grant it.

Orl. Then love me, Rosalind.

Ros. Yes, faith will I, Fridays, and Saturdays, and all.

Orl. And wilt thou have me?

Ros. Ay, and twenty such.
Orl. What say'st thou?
Ros. Are you not good?

Orl. I hope so.

Ros. Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?-Come, sister, you shall be the priest, and marry us.- -Give me your hand, Orlando :What do you say, sister?

Orl. Pray thee, marry us.

Cel. I cannot say the words.
Ros. You must begin,-

Cel. Go to:

this Rosalind?

Orl. I will.

-

Will you, Orlando,—

-Will you, Orlando, have to wife

Ros. Ay, but when?

Orl. Why now; as fast as she can marry us. Ros. Then you must say,—I take thee, Rosalind, for wife.

Orl. I take thee, Rosalind, for wife.

Ros. I might ask you for your commission; but, -I do take thee, Orlando, for my husband: There a girl goes before the priest; and, certainly, a woman's thought runs before her actions.

Orl. So do all thoughts; they are winged.

Ros. Now tell me, how long you would have her, after you have possessed her.

Orl. For ever and a day.

Ros. Say a day, without the ever: No, no, Orlando; men are April when they woo: December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives. I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cockpigeon over his hen; more clamorous than ? parrot against rain; more new-fangled than an ape; more giddy in my desires than a monkey: I will weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain; and I will do that when you are disposed to be merry: I will laugh like a hyen9, and that when thou art inclined to sleep.

Orl. But will my Rosalind do so?

Ros. By my life, she will do as I do.

Orl. O, but she is wise.

Ros. Or else she could not have the wit to do this: the wiser, the waywarder: Make the doors 10 upon a woman's wit, and it will out at the casement; shut that, and 'twill out at the key-hole; stop that, 'twill fly with the smoke out at the chimney.

8 Figures, and particularly that of Diana, with water conveyed through them, were anciently a frequent ornament of fountains. So in The City Match :

Such an image of Diana,' with water prilling from her naked breasts,' was set up at the cross in Cheapside in 1596. Accord

ing to Stowe, Torriano defines Figura in Fontana che butti acqua, as an antike image, from whose teats water trilleth.' One of these fountains represented in the Hypnerotomachia, printed by Aldus, 1499. See a note on King Henry VI. Part II. Act iv. Sc. 5.

9 The bark of the hyæna was thought to resemble a loud laugh. 10 i. e. bar the doors.

Orl. A man that had a wife with such a wit, he might say,- Wit, whither wilt 11?

Ros. Nay, you might keep that check for it, till you met your wife's wit going to your neighbour's bed.

Orl. And what wit could wit have to excuse that? Ros. Marry, to say,—she came to seek you there. You shall never take her without her answer 12 unless you take her without her tongue. O, that woman that cannot make her fault her husband's occasion 13, let her never nurse her child herself, for she will breed it like a fool.

Orl. For these two hours, Rosalind, I will leave thee.

Ros. Alas, dear love, I cannot lack thee two hours.

Orl. I must attend the duke at dinner; by two o'clock I will be with thee again.

Ros. Ay, go your ways, go your ways;—I knew what you would prove; my friends told me as much, and I thought no less:—that flattering tongue of yours won me:-'tis but one cast away, and so,— come, death. Two o'clock is your hour?

Orl. Ay, sweet Rosalind.

Ros. By my troth, and in good earnest, and so God mend me, and by all pretty oaths that are not dangerous, if you break one jot of your promise, or come one minute behind your hour, I will think

you

11 Wit, whither wilt?" This was a kind of proverbial phrase, the origin of which has not been traced. It seems to be used chiefly to express a want of command over the fancy or inventive faculty. It occurs in many writers of Shakspeare's time.

12 This bit of satire is also to be found in Chaucer's Marchantes Tale, where Proserpine says of women on like occasion: For lacke of answere none of us shall dien.'

13 i, e. represent her fault as occasioned by her husband. Hanmer reads, her husband's accusation.'

the most pathetical 14 break promise, and the most hollow lover, and the most unworthy of her you call Rosalind, that may be chosen out of the gross band of the unfaithful: therefore beware my censure, and keep your promise.

Orl. With no less religion, than if thou wert indeed my Rosalind: So, adieu.

Ros. Well, time is the old justice that examines all such offenders, and let time try: Adieu!

[Exit ORLANDO.

Cel. You have simply misus'd our sex in your love-prate: we must have your doublet and hose pluck'd over your head, and show the world what the bird hath done to her own nest15.

Ros. O coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz, that thou didst know how many fathom deep I am in love! But it cannot be sounded; my affection hath an unknown bottom, like the bay of Portugal.

Cel. Or rather, bottomless; that as fast as you pour affection in, it runs out.

Ros. No, that same wicked bastard of Venus, that was begot of thought, conceived of spleen, and born of madness; that blind rascally boy, that abuses every one's eyes, because his own are out, let him be judge, how deep I am in love:-I'll tell thee, Aliena, I cannot be out of the sight of Orlando : I'll go find a shadow 16, and sigh till he come. Cel. And I'll sleep.

[Exeunt.

14 Pathetical and passionate were used in the same sense in Shakspeare's time. Whether Rosalind has any more meaning than Costard in the use of the word when he calls Armado's boy' a most pathetical nit,' I leave the reader to judge.

15 This is borrowed from Lodge's Rosalynd.

16 So in Macbeth :

'Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there
Weep our sad bosoms empty.'

SCENE II. Another part of the Forest.

Enter JAQUES and Lords, in the habit of Foresters. Jaq. Which is he that kill'd the deer?

1 Lord. Sir, it was I.

Jaq. Let's present him to the duke, like a Roman conqueror; and it would do well to set the deer's horns upon his head, for a branch of victory:Have you no song, forester, for this purpose? 2 Lord. Yes, sir.

Jaq. Sing it; 'tis no matter how it be in tune, so it make noise enough.

SONG.

1. What shall he have that kill'd the deer? 2. His leather skin, and horns to wear.

1. Then sing him home:

Take thou no scorn, to wear the horn ;)The rest shall

It was a crest ere thou wast born;

>bear this bur

1. Thy father's father wore it; den.

2. And thy father bore it:

All. The horn, the horn, the lusty horn,

Is not a thing to laugh to scorn 17.

SCENE III. The Forest.

Enter ROSALIND and CELIA.

[Exeunt.

Ros. How say you now? Is it not past two o'clock? and here much Orlando 18!

17 In Playford's Musical Companion, 1673, where this song set to music by John Hilton, the words 'Then sing him home' are omitted, and it should be remarked that, in the old copy, these words, and those which have been regarded by the editors as a stage direction, are given in one line.

18 i. e. here is no Orlando.

Much was a common ironical expression of doubt or suspicion, still used by the vulgar in the same sense; as, ' much of that!'