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Or I am much deceiv'd, of Portia.

Por. He knows me, as the blind man knows the cuckoo, By the bad voice.

Lor.

Dear lady, welcome home.

Por. We have been praying for our husbands' welfare, Which speed, we hope, the better for our words;

Are they return'd?

Lor.

But there is come a messenger before,

Madam, they are not yet;

Go in, Nerissa,

To signify their coming.

Por.

Give order to my servants, that they take
No note at all of our being absent hence;
Nor you, Lorenzo;-Jessica, nor you.

[A tucket sounds.

Lor. Your husband is at hand, I hear his trumpet:

We are no tell-tales, madam; fear you not.

Por. This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick, It looks a little paler; 'tis a day,

Such as the day is when the sun is hid.

Enter Bassanio, Antonio, Gratiano, and their followers.
Bass. We should hold day with the Antipodes,

If you would walk in absence of the sun.

Por. Let me give light, but let me not be light;

For a light wife doth make a heavy husband,

And never be Bassanio so for me;

You are welcome home, my lord."

Bass. I thank you, madam: give welcome to my friend.-This is the man, this is Antonio,

To whom I am so infinitely bound.

Por. You should in all sense be much bound to him,

For, as I hear, he was much bound for you.

Ant. No more than I am well acquitted of. Por. Sir, you are very welcome to our house: It must appear in other ways than words, Therefore, I scant this breathing courtesy.

[Gratiano and Nerissa seem to talk apart.
Gra. By yonder moon, I swear, you do me wrong;
In faith, I gave it to the judge's clerk.

Por. A quarrel, ho, already? what's the matter?
Gra. About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring

That she did give me; whose posy was

For all the world, like cutler's poetry
Upon a knife, Love me, and leave me not.

Ner. What talk you of the posy, or the value?

You swore to me, when I did give it you,
That you would wear it till your hour of death;
And that it should lie with you in your grave:
Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths,
You should have been respective, and have kept it.
Gave it a judge's clerk !-but well I know,

The clerk will ne'er wear hair on his face, that had it.

1 A flourish on a trumpet. 4 Formerly inscribed on knives by aquafortis.

2 Spare.

3 Verbal.

5 Particular.

Gra. He will, an if he live to be a man.
Ner. Ay, if a woman live to be a man.

Gra. Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth,-
A kind of boy; a little scrubbed boy,

No higher than thyself, the judge's clerk;
A prating boy, that begg'd it as a fee;

I could not for my heart deny it him.

Por. You were to blame, I must be plain with you,
To part so slightly with your wife's first gift;
A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger,
And riveted so with faith upon your flesh.
I gave my love a ring, and made him swear
Never to part with it; and here he stands ;
I dare be sworn for him, he would not leave it,
Nor pluck it from his finger, for the wealth
That the world masters. Now, in faith, Gratiano,
You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief;
An 'twere to me, I should be mad at it.

Bass. [Aside.] Why, I were best to cut my left hand off,

And swear, I lost the ring defending it.

Gra. My lord Bassanio gave his ring away

Unto the judge that begg'd it, and indeed,
Deserv'd it too; and then the boy his clerk,
That took some pains in writing, he begg'd mine:
And neither man, nor master, would take aught
But the two rings.

Por.

What ring gave you, my lord? Not that, I hope, which you receiv'd of me. Bass. If I could add a lie unto a fault,

I would deny it; but you see my finger

Hath not the ring upon it, it is gone.

Por. Even so void is your false heart of truth.
By heaven, I will ne'er come in your bed
Until I see the ring.

Ner.

Till I again see mine.
Bass.

Nor I in yours,

Sweet Portia,

If you did know to whom I gave the ring,
If you did know for whom I gave the ring,
And would conceive for what I gave the ring,
And how unwillingly I left the ring,

When nought would be accepted but the ring,
You would abate the strength of your displeasure.
Por. If you had known the virtue of the ring,
Or half her worthiness that gave the ring,
Or your own honour to contain the ring,
You would not then have parted with the ring.
What man is there so much unreasonable,
If you had pleas'd to have defended it
With any terms of zeal, wanted the modesty
To urge the thing held as a ceremony?
Nerissa teaches me what to believe;
I'll die for't, but some woman had the ring.

Bass. No, by mine honour, madam, by my soul,

No woman had, but a civil doctor,
Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me,
And begg'd the ring; the which I did deny him,
And suffer'd him to go displeas'd away;
Even he that had held up the very life

Of my dear friend. What should I say, sweet lady?
I was enforc'd to send it after him;

I was beset with shame and courtesy ;

My honour would not let ingratitude

So much besmear it: Pardon me, good lady;

For, by these blessed candles of the night,

Had you been there, I think, you would have begg'd
The ring of me to give the worthy doctor.

Por. Let not that doctor e'er come near my house:

Since he hath got the jewel that I lov'd,

And that which you did swear to keep for me,
I will become as liberal as you:

I'll not deny him any thing I have,

Know him I shall, I am well sure of it:

Lie not a night from home; watch me, like Argus:
If you do not, if I be left alone,

Now, by mine honour, which is yet my own,
I'll have that doctor for my bedfellow.

Ner. And I his clerk; therefore be well advis'd,

How you do leave me to mine own protection.

Gra. Well, do you so: let not me take him then.
Ant. I am the unhappy subject of these quarrels.

Por. Sir, grieve not you; You are welcome notwithstanding.
Bass. Portia, forgive me this enforced wrong;

And in the hearing of these many friends,

I swear to thee, even by thine own fair eyes,
Wherein I see myself,-

Por.

Mark you but that!

In both mine eyes he doubly sees himself:
In each eye, one :-swear by your double self,
And there's an oath of credit.

Nay, but hear me :

Bass.
Pardon this fault, and by my soul I swear,

I never more will break an oath with thee.

Ant. I once did lend my body for his wealth':

[To Portia.] Which, but for him that had your husband's ring, Had quite miscarried: I dare be bound again,

My soul upon the forfeit, that your lord

Will never more break faith advisedly.

Por. Then you shall be his surety: Give him this;

And bid him keep it better than the other.

Ant. Here, lord Bassanio, swear to keep this ring.

Bass. By heaven, it is the same I gave the doctor.
Por. I had it of him.-You are all amaz'd:

Here is a letter, read it at your leisure;

It comes from Padua, from Bellario:

There you shall find, that Portia was the doctor;
Nerissa there, her clerk: Lorenzo here

1 Welfare.

Shall witness, I set forth as soon as you,
And but even now return'd; I have not yet
Enter'd my house.-Antonio, you are welcome;
And I have better news in store for you,
Than you expect; unseal this letter soon;
There you shall find, three of your argosies
Are richly come to harbour suddenly :

You shall not know by what strange accident
I chanced on this letter.

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Bass. Were you the doctor, and I knew you not? Sweet doctor, you shall be my bedfellow;

When I am absent, then lie with my wife.

Ant. Sweet lady, you have given me life, and living ; For here I read for certain, that my ships

Are safely come to road.

Por.

How now, Lorenzo?

My clerk hath some good comforts too for you.

Ner. Ay, and I'll give them him without a fee.-
There do I give to you, and Jessica,

From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift,
After his death, of all he dies possess'd of.
Lor. Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way
Of starved people.

Por.
It is almost morning,
And yet, I am sure, you are not satisfied
Of these events at full: Let us go in;
And charge us there upon inter'gatories,
And we will answer all things faithfully.

[Exeunt.

As You Like It.

Persons Represented.

DUKE, living in exile.
FREDERICK, brother to the Duke, and
Usurper of his dominions.
AMIENS, Lords attending upon the
JAQUES, Duke in his banishment.
LE BEAU, a Courtier attending upon
Frederick.

CHARLES, his Wrestler.

SIR OLIVER MAR-TEXT, a Vicar.
CORIN,
SYLVIUS,
Shepherds.

WILLIAM, a country fellow, in love
with Audrey.

A Person representing Hymen.
ROSALIND, Laughter to the banished
Duke.

OLIVER, Sons of Sir Rowland CELIA, Daughter to Frederick.

JAQUES,

de Bois.

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Servants to Oliver.

DENNIS,

TOUCHSTONE, a Clorn.

PHEBE, a Shepherdess.

AUDREY, a country Girl.

Lords belonging to the two Dukes, Pages, Foresters, and other Attendants.

The Scene lies, first, near Oliver's House; afterwards, partly in the Usurper's Court, and partly in the Forest of Arden.

Act First.

SCENE I.-AN ORCHARD, NEAR OLIVER'S HOUSE.

Enter Orlando and Adam.

Orl. As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeath'd me: By will, but a poor thousand crowns; and, as thou say'st, charged my brother, on his blessing, to breed me well: and there begins my sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and report speaks goldenly of his profit; for my part, he keeps me rustically at home, or, to speak more properly, stays me here at home unkept: For call you that keeping for a gentleman of my birth that differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses are bred better: for, besides that they are fair with their feeding, they are taught their manage, and to that end riders dearly hired; but I, his brother, gain nothing under him but growth; for the which his animals on his dunghills are as much bound to him as I. Besides this nothing that he so plentifully gives me, the something that nature gave me, his countenance seems to take from me: he lets me feed with his hinds, bars me the place of a brother, and, as much as in him lies, mines my gentility with my education. This is it, Adam, that grieves me; and the spirit of my father, which I think is within me, begins to mutiny against this servitude: I will no longer endure it, though yet I know no wise remedy how to avoid it.

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