The forest
Enter DUKE SENIOR, AMIENS, JAQUES, ORLANDO, OLIVER, and CELIA
Duke. Dost thou believe, Orlando, that the boy
Can do all this that he hath promised?
Orlando. I sometimes do believe and sometimes do not:
As those that fear they hope, and know they fear. 2405
Enter ROSALIND, SILVIUS, and PHEBE
Rosalind. Patience once more, whiles our compact is urg'd:
You say, if I bring in your Rosalind,
You will bestow her on Orlando here?
Duke. That would I, had I kingdoms to give with her. 2410
Rosalind. And you say you will have her when I bring her?
Orlando. That would I, were I of all kingdoms king.
Rosalind. You say you'll marry me, if I be willing?
Phebe. That will I, should I die the hour after.
Rosalind. But if you do refuse to marry me, 2415
You'll give yourself to this most faithful shepherd?
Phebe. So is the bargain.
Rosalind. You say that you'll have Phebe, if she will?
Silvius. Though to have her and death were both one thing.
Rosalind. I have promis'd to make all this matter even. 2420
Keep you your word, O Duke, to give your daughter;
You yours, Orlando, to receive his daughter;
Keep your word, Phebe, that you'll marry me,
Or else, refusing me, to wed this shepherd;
Keep your word, Silvius, that you'll marry her 2425
If she refuse me; and from hence I go,
To make these doubts all even.
Exeunt ROSALIND and CELIA
Duke. I do remember in this shepherd boy
Some lively touches of my daughter's favour. 2430
Orlando. My lord, the first time that I ever saw him
Methought he was a brother to your daughter.
But, my good lord, this boy is forest-born,
And hath been tutor'd in the rudiments
Of many desperate studies by his uncle, 2435
Whom he reports to be a great magician,
Obscured in the circle of this forest.
Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY
Jaques (lord). There is, sure, another flood toward, and these couples are
coming to the ark. Here comes a pair of very strange beasts which 2440
in all tongues are call'd fools.
Touchstone. Salutation and greeting to you all!
Jaques (lord). Good my lord, bid him welcome. This is the motley-minded
gentleman that I have so often met in the forest. He hath been a
courtier, he swears. 2445
Touchstone. If any man doubt that, let him put me to my purgation.
I have trod a measure; I have flatt'red a lady; I have been
politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy; I have undone
three tailors; I have had four quarrels, and like to have fought
one. 2450
Jaques (lord). And how was that ta'en up?
Touchstone. Faith, we met, and found the quarrel was upon the
seventh cause.
YOU ARE READING
As You Like It
General FictionAs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggest...
