_Lady Am._ This is one; mark! [_Reads._] "Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, the marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe, become them with one half so good a grace as mercy doth. Oh, think on that, and mercy then will breathe within your lips like man new made!"--Doth Belzebub speak such words? _Eph._ Thy kinsman has made all the servants actors. _Lady Am._ To act well is good service. _Eph._ Here cometh the damsel for whom my heart yearneth. _Enter_ JANE, _reading a paper joyfully_. _Jane._ Oh, ma'am, his honour the 'squire says the play's to be "As you like it." _Eph._ I like it not. _Jane._ He's given me my character. I'm to be Miss Audrey, and brother Sim's to be William of the forest, as it were. But how am I to get my part by heart? _Lady Am._ By often reading it. _Jane._ Well, I don't know but that's as good as any other. But I must study my part. "The gods give us joy." [_Exit._ _Eph._ Thy maidens skip like young kids. _Lady Am._ Then do thou go skip with them. _Eph._ Mary, thou shou'd'st be obey'd in thine own house, and I will do thy bidding. _Lady Am._ Ah, thou hypocrite! To obey is easy when the heart commands. _Enter_ ROVER, _pushing by_ EPHRAIM. _Rover._ Oh, my charming cousin, how agree you and Rosalind? Are you almost perfect? "Eh, what, all a-mort, old Clytus?" "Why, you're like an angry fiend broke in among the laughing gods."--Come, come, I'll have nothing here, but "Quips and cranks, and wreathed smiles, such as dwell on Hebe's cheek." [_Looking at_ LADY AMARANTH. _Lady Am._ He says we mustn't have this amusement. _Rover._ "But I'm a voice potential, double as the Duke's, and I say we must." _Eph._ Nay. _Rover._ Yea: "By Jupiter, I swear, aye." [_Music without._ _Eph._ I must shut my ears. The man of sin rubbeth the hair of the horse to the bowels of the cat. _Enter_ LAMP, _with a Violin_. _Lamp._ Now, if agreeable to your ladyship, we'll go over your song. _Eph._ I will go over it. [_Snatches the book from_ LADY AMARANTH, _throws it on the ground, and steps on it_. _Rover._ Trample on Shakspeare! "You sacrilegious thief, that, from a shelf the precious diadem stole, and put it in thy pocket!" [_Takes up the book and presents it again to_ LADY AMARANTH.] Silence, "thou owl of Crete," and hear the "Cuckoo's song." _Lady Am._ To practise it I'm content. [LAMP _begins to play_. EPHRAIM _jostles him, and puts him out of tune_. _Lamp._ Why, what's that for, my dear sir? _Eph._ Friend, this is a land of freedom, and I've as much right to move my elbow as thou hast to move thine. [ROVER _pushes him_.] Why dost thou so friend? _Rover._ Friend, this is a land of freedom, and I have as much right to move my elbow, as thou hast to move thine. [_Mimicking, shoves_ EPHRAIM _out_. _Lady Am._ But, Harry, do your people of fashion act these follies themselves.