 | Love in a Forest |  |
The Fifth ACT.
Duke Alberto, Amiens, Jaques, Orlando, Cælia.Duke.
Doest thou believe, Orlando, that the Boy,
This little, prating, buisy Ganymede,
Can do all this that he hath promised.
Orl.
I sometimes do believe, and sometimes do not.
Enter Rosalind.
Ros.
Patience once more, while our Compact is urged,
You say, if I bring in your Rosalind
[to the Duke.
You will bestow her on Orlando here.
Duke.
That would I, had I Kingdoms to give with her.
Ros.
And you say, you will have her when I bring her.
Orl.
That wou'd I, were I of all Kingdoms King;
Tho' to have her and Death were equal both.
Ros.
Well! I engage to make these Matters even,
Keep you your Word, O Duke, to give your Daughter;
You yours, Orlando, to recieve his Daughter;
Keep you your Word that you will marry Jaques,
And you, that you, with Transport, will recieve her;
And hence I go to make these Doubts all even
In half the Circle but of sixty Minutes.
[Exit Ros. and Cælia.
I do remember in this Sheepherd Boy,
Some lively Touches of my Daughter's Favour.
Orl.
My Liege, 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,
Whom he reports to be a great Magitian
Obscured within the Circle of this Forest.
Duke.
Come, now what Entertainment shall we have
To waste this half an Age, this long half Hour,
When Ganymede has promis'd to perform
These Miracles of Love.
Jaques.
A Play there is, my Liege, some ten Words long,
Which is as brief as I have known a Play;
But by ten Words, my Lord, it is too long,
Which makes it tedious: For in all the Play
There is not one Word apt, one Player fitted,
And tragical, my noble Lord, it is:
For Pyramus therein doth kill himself;
Which when I saw rehears'd, I must confess,
Made mine Eyes Water; but more merry Tears
The Passion of loud Laughter never shed.
Duke.
What are they that do play it?
Jaques.
Some Citizens of Liege, who from pure Hearts
And loyal Love have follow'd your bad Fortune,
Who never labour'd in their Minds till now,
And they design at least to entertain.
Duke.
I'll hear this Play, nothing can be amiss:
Simplicity and Duty make it grateful.
Where I have come, great Clerks have purposed
To greet me with premeditated Welcomes;
And I have seen them shiver and look pale,
Make Periods in the midst of Sentences,
And in Conclusion, dumbly have broke off,
Not paying me a Welcome. Trust me, Friends,
Out of this Silence, yet I pick'd a Welcome,
And in the Modesty of fearful Duty
I read much more than from the rattling Tongues
Of sawcy and audacious Eloquence.
Jaques.
So please your Grace, the Prologue is address'd.
Duke.
Let him approach.
Enter Quince as Prologue, speaking very fast and without Stops.
Quince.
If we offend it is with our Good Will
That you shou'd think we come not to offend
But with Good Will to shew our Simple Skill
That is the true Beginning of our End
Consider then we come but in Despight
We do not come as minding to content you
Our true Intent is all for your Delight
We are not here that you shou'd here repent you
The Actors are at Hand and by their Show
You shall know all that you are like to know.
Duke.
This Fellow doth not stand upon Points.
Jaques.
He hath rid his Prologue like a rough
Colt: He knows not to stop; a Good Moral, Sir; it
is not enough to speak, but to speak true.
Duke.
He hath play'd on his Prologue, like a
Child on the Recorder, a Sound, but not in Government.
Jaques.
His Speech was like a tangled Chain; nothing
impaired, but all disorder'd. Who is the
next?
Wall.
In this same Interlude it doth befall,
That I, one Snowt (by Name) present a Wall;
And such a Wall, as I wou'd have you think,
That had in it a crannied Hole, or Chink;
Thro' which the Lovers Pyramus and Thisby
Did whisper often very secretly.
This Loam, this Rough-cast, and this Stone doth show
That I am that same Wall; the Truth is so.
And this the Cranny is, righ, and sinister,
Thro' which the fearful Lovers are to whisper.
Duke.
Wou'd you desire Lime and Hair to speak
better?
Orl.
This is the wittiest Partition that ever I
heard Discourse.
Duke.
See Pyramus, I suppose; he draws near.
Silence.
Enter Pyramus.
Pyr.
O grim look'd Night! O Night with hue so black!
O Night which ever art, when Day is not!
O Night, O Night, alack, alack, alack,
I fear my Thisby's Promise is forgot:
And thou, O Wall, thou sweet and lovely Wall,
Shew me thy Chink to blink thro' with mine Ey'n.
Thanks, courteous Wall; Jove shield thee well for this.
But what see I?—No Thisby do I see.
O wicked Wall, thro' whom I see no Bliss,
Curss'd be thy Stones for thus deceiving me.
Duke.
The Wall methinks, being sensible, shou'd
curse again.
No, in Truth Sir, but he shou'd not, deceiving
me, aye that is Thisby's Cue; she is to enter,
and I am to spy her thro' the Wall: You shall see
it will happen just as I tell you: Yonder she comes.
Enter Thisby.
Thisby.
O Wall! full often hast thou heard my Moans
For parting my fair Pyramus and me;
My Cherry Lips hath often kiss'd thy Stones,
Thy Stones with Lime and Hair knit up in thee.
Pyr.
I see a Voice; now will I to the Chink,
To spy an I can hear my Thisby's Face—Thisby—
Thisby.
My Love thou art, my Love I think.
Pyr.
Think what thou wilt, I am thy Lover's Grace,
And like Limandar am I trusty still.
Thisby.
And I like Helen till the Fates me kill.
Pyr.
Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.
Thisby.
As Shafalus to Procrus I to you.
Pyr.
O kiss me thro' the Hole of this vile Wall.
Thisby.
I kiss the Wall's Hole, not your Lips at all.
Pyr.
Wilt thou at Ninny's Tomb meet me strait way?
Thisby.
Tide Life, Tide Death, I come without Delay.
[Exeunt Pyr. and Thisby.
Wall.
Thus have I, Wall, my Part discharged so,
And being done, thus Wall away doth go.
[Exit Wall.
Orl.
This is the silliest Stuff that ever I heard.
Duke.
The best in this Kind are but Shadows, and
the worst are no worse, if Imagination amend them.
Orl.
And yet if we imagine no worse of them
than they of themselves, they may pass for excellent
Men. Here come two noble Beasts in a Man
and a Lion.
Lion.
You, Ladies, you (whose gentle Hearts do fear
The smallest monstrous Mouse that creeps on Floor)
May now, perchance, both quake and tremble here,
When Lion rough in wildest Rage doth roar.
Then know that I one Snug the Joiner am,
No Lion fell, nor yet no Lion's Dam:
For if I shou'd as Lion come in Strife
Into this Place, 'twere Pity of my Life.
Duke.
A very good Beast, and of a good Conscience.
Jaques.
The very best at a Beast that ever I saw.
Orl.
This Lion is a very Fox for his Valour.
Jaques.
And a Goose for his Discretion.
Moon.
This Lanthorn does the horned Moon present.
Jaques.
He shou'd have worn the Horns on his
Head.
Moon.
This Lanthorn does the horned Moon present,
Myself the Man i'th' Moon doth seem to be.
Duke.
I am weary of this Moon already, wou'd
he wou'd change; however, proceed, Moon.
Moon.
Why all that I have to say is to tell you, that
the Lanthorn is the Moon, I the Man in the Moon,
this Thorn-bush my Thorn-bush, and this Dog my
Dog.
Why all these shou'd be in the Lanthorn;
for they are in the Moon: But Silence; here comes
Thisby.
Enter Thisby.
Thisby.
This is old Ninny's Tomb, where is my
Love?
Lion.
(Roars.)
Oh
[Lion roars, and Thisby runs off and leaves her Mantle behind.
Orl.
Well roar'd, Lion.
Duke.
Well run, Thisby.
Jaques.
Well shone, Moon.
Enter Pyramus.
Pyr.
Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy Sunny Beams,
I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright,
For by thy gracious, golden, glittering Streams,
I trust to taste of truest Thisby's Sight.
But stay: O Spight! but mark poor Knight,
What dreadful Dole is here?
Eyes do you see! How can it be!
O dainty Duck: O Deer!
Thy Mantle good, What! stain'd with Blood!
Approach you Furies fell:
O Fates! Come, come; cut Thread and Thrum,
Quail, Crush, Conclude and Quell.
Duke.
This Passion, and the Death of a dear
Friend wou'd go near to make a Man look sad.
Pyr.
O, wherefore Nature didst thou Lions frame!
Since Lion wild hath here deflowr'd my Dear,
Which is: No, no, which was the fairest Dame
That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that look'd with Cheer:
The Pap of Py—ramus:
I, that left Pap, where Heart doth hop:
Thus die I, thus, thus, thus.
Now am I dead, now am I fled, my Soul is in the Sky;
Tongue lose thy Light, Moon take thy Flight,
Now die, die, die, die, die.
Duke.
With the Help of a Surgeon he might yet
recover and prove an Ass.
Orl.
How chance the Moonshine is gone before
Thisby comes back and finds her Lover.
Duke.
She will find him by Star-Light; and her
Passion and Speech end the Play.
Orl.
Methinks she shou'd not use a long one for
such a Pyramus, I hope she will be brief.
Enter Thisby.
Thisby.
A sleep, my Love? What dead my Dove! O Pyramus, arise:
Speak: Speak! Quite dumb? Dead, dead? A Tomb must cover my sweet Eyes.
These Lilly Lips, this Cherry Nose, these yellow Cowslip Cheeks,
Are gone; are gone: Lovers make moan, his Eyes were green as Leaks,
O Sisters three, Come, come to me, with Hands as pale as Milk;
Lay him in Gore, since you have shore, with Sheers, this Thread of Silk.
Tongue not a Word, come trusty Sword, come Blade my Breast imbrue;
And farewel Friends, thus Thisby ends; Adieu, Adieu, Adieu.
Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the
Dead.
Orl.
Aye, and Wall too.
Pyr.
(rising)
No, I assure you, the Wall is down
that parted their Fathers. Will it please you to see
the Epilogue?
Duke.
No Epilogue, I pray you, for your Play
needs no Excuse, when the Players are all dead
there need none to be blamed. Marry, if he that
wrote it had play'd Pyramus and hung himself in
Thisby's Garter, it wou'd have been a fine Tragedy:
And so it is truly, and very notably discharged—
No more scraping, but vanish. Look yonder, Orlando,
your young Magitian is performing his Promise
in Form, I see, here they come, Music too.
Let us attend them.
Soft Music; Enter Hymen with his Torch, &c. introducing Rosalind in Woman's Cloaths and Cælia
Hymen.
Then is there Mirth in Heaven,
When Earthly Things made even,
Accord together.
Good Duke, recieve thy Daughter,
Hymen from Heaven brought her,
Yea, brought her hither,
That thou might'st join her Hand with his,
Whose Heart within his Bosom is.
Ros.
(to the Duke)
To you I give myself, for I am yours.
(to Orlando)
To you I give myself, for I am yours.
Duke.
If there be Truth in Sight, you are my Daughter.
If there be Truth in Sight, you are my Rosalind.
Ros.
I'll have no Father if thou be not he.
I'll have no Husband if thou be not he.
Hymen.
Peace ho! I bar Confusion:
'Tis I must make conclusion
Of these most strange Events.
Here are four that must take Hands,
To joyn in Hymen's Bands,
If Truth holds true contents,
You and you no Cross shall part;
You and you are Heart in Heart:
While our Dancers tread a Ring,
Feed yourselves with questioning:
That Reason Wonder may diminish
How we met, and these Things finish.
Duke
to Cælia.
Oh my dear Niece, welcome thou art to me;
Even, Daughter, welcome in no less Degree.
Enter Robert du Bois.
Rob.
Let me have Audience for a Word or two,
I am the youngest Son of old Sir Rowland,
That bring good Tidings to this fair Assembly:
Duke Frederick, hearing how from Day to Day
Men of great worth resorted to this Forest,
Address'd a mighty Power, which were on Foot
In his own Conduct, purposely to take
His Brother here, and put him to the Sword:
And to the Skirts of this wild Wood he came,
Where meeting with an old Religious Man,
After some Question with him, was converted
Both from his Enterprize, and from the World,
His Crown bequeathing to his banish'd Brother;
And all their Lands restor'd to them again
That were with him exiled. This to be true
I do engage my Life.
—Welcome young Man,
Thou offer'st fairly to thy Brother's Wedding;
To one his Lands withheld, and to the other
A Land itself at large, a potent Dukedom.
First in this Forest let us do those Ends
That here were well begun and well begot:
And after, all of this most happy Number
Shall share the good of our returned Fortune
According to the Measure of their States:
Mean Time forget this new fall'n Dignity,
And fall into our rustick Revelry.
A DANCE.
Duke.
Now let us solemnly compleat those Rites,
Which we do trust will end in true Delights.
| Love in a Forest | |