Comedy plays; Exiles -- Drama; Fathers and daughters -- Drama; Pastoral drama
thousand years old, and in all this time there was not any
man
died in his own person, videlicet, in a love-cause. Troilus
had
his brains dash'd out with a Grecian club; yet he did what he
could to die before, and he is one of the patterns of love.
Leander, he would have liv'd many a fair year, though Hero
had
turn'd nun, if it had not been for a hot midsummer night;
for,
good youth, he went but forth to wash him in the Hellespont,
and,
being taken with the cramp, was drown'd; and the foolish
chroniclers of that age found it was- Hero of Sestos. But
these
are all lies: men have died from time to time, and worms have
eaten them, but not for love.
ORLANDO. I would not have my right Rosalind of this mind; for,
I
protest, her frown might kill me.
ROSALIND. 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.
ORLANDO. Then love me, Rosalind.
ROSALIND. Yes, faith, will I, Fridays and Saturdays, and all.
ORLANDO. And wilt thou have me?
ROSALIND. Ay, and twenty such.
ORLANDO. What sayest thou?
ROSALIND. Are you not good?
ORLANDO. I hope so.
ROSALIND. 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?
ORLANDO. Pray thee, marry us.
CELIA. I cannot say the words.
ROSALIND. You must begin 'Will you, Orlando'-
CELIA. Go to. Will you, Orlando, have to wife this Rosalind?
ORLANDO. I will.
ROSALIND. Ay, but when?
ORLANDO. Why, now; as fast as she can marry us.
ROSALIND. Then you must say 'I take thee, Rosalind, for wife.'
ORLANDO. I take thee, Rosalind, for wife.
ROSALIND. I might ask you for your commission; but- I do take
thee,
Orlando, for my husband. There's a girl goes before the
priest;
and, certainly, a woman's thought runs before her actions.
ORLANDO. So do all thoughts; they are wing'd.
ROSALIND. Now tell me how long you would have her, after you
have
possess'd her.
ORLANDO. For ever and a day.
ROSALIND. 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 cock-pigeon over his
hen,
more clamorous than a 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 dispos'd to be merry; I will laugh like a hyen, and that
when
thou are inclin'd to sleep.
ORLANDO. But will my Rosalind do so?
ROSALIND. By my life, she will do as I do.
ORLANDO. O, but she is wise.
ROSALIND. Or else she could not have the wit to do this. The
wiser,
the waywarder. Make the doors upon a woman's wit, and it will
out
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