As You Like It: Act 4, Scene 1
Rosalind Celia and Jacques in the Forest of Ardenby John Edmund Buckley (1820-1884)
Enter ROSALIND and CELIA and JAQUES.
JAQUES
1 I prithee, pretty youth, let me be better acquainted 2 with thee. ROSALIND
3 They say you are a melancholy fellow. JAQUES
4 I am so; I do love it better than laughing. ROSALIND
5. Those that are in extremity of either: those who go to extremes in either [being melancholy or laughing]. 6-7. every modern censure: everyone's current judgment. —Being melancholy was a fashionable affectation mentioned . . .
5 Those that are in extremity of either are abominable 6 fellows and betray themselves to every modern 7 censure worse than drunkards. JAQUES
8. sad: —"Sad" also meant serious and thoughtful.
8 Why, 'tis good to be sad and say nothing. ROSALIND
9 Why then, 'tis good to be a post. JAQUES
10 I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is11. emulation: envy. fantastical: highly fanciful.
11 emulation, nor the musician's, which is fantastical, 12 nor the courtier's, which is proud, nor the 13 soldier's, which is ambitious, nor the lawyer's,14. politic: shrewd, calculated. nice: delicate, fastidious.
14 which is politic, nor the lady's, which is nice, nor 15 the lover's, which is all these: but it is a 16 melancholy of mine own, compounded of many 17. simples: ingredients. objects: sights, observations. 18. sundry . . . travels: i.e., various thoughts inspired by my travels. 18-20. in which . . . sadness: i.e., in my travels the thoughts that I have turned over in my mind wrap me a most moody melancholy.
17 simples, extracted from many objects, and indeed 18 the sundry contemplation of my travels, in which 19 my often rumination wraps me in a most humorous 20 sadness. ROSALIND
21 A traveller! By my faith, you have great reason 22 to be sad: I fear you have sold your own lands 23 to see other men's; then, to have seen much and 24 to have nothing, is to have rich eyes and poor 25 hands. JAQUES
26 Yes, I have gained my experience. ROSALIND
27 And your experience makes you sad: I had 28 rather have a fool to make me merry than 29. travel: 1) travel; 2) travail, work.
29 experience to make me sad; and to travel for it too!
Enter ORLANDO.
ORLANDO
30 Good day and happiness, dear Rosalind! JAQUES
31 God buy you: goodbye. 31-32. and you talk in blank / verse: i.e., if you're going to be all poetical. —Blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) was the common verse used in tragic drama . . .
31 Nay, then, God buy you, and you talk in blank 32 verse. ROSALIND
33. look you: make sure that you. lisp: i.e., speak in an impressively cute foreign accent. 34. strange suits: foreign fashions. disable: disparage. 35. nativity: i.e., land where you were born.
33 Farewell, Monsieur Traveller: look you lisp and 34 wear strange suits, disable all the benefits of your 35 own country, be out of love with your nativity and 36 almost chide God for making you that countenance 37-38. swam in a / gundella: ridden in a gondola. —In Shakespeare's time, as now (C.E. 2017), Venice, the home of the gondola, was a popular tourist destination, and someone who toured Venice and "swam in a gundello" thereby acquired social prestige.
37 you are, or I will scarce think you have swam in a 38 gundella. [Exit Jaques.]
39 Why, how now, Orlando! where have you been 40 all this while? You a lover! And you serve me such 41 another trick, never come in my sight more. ORLANDO
42 My fair Rosalind, I come within an hour of my 43 promise. ROSALIND
44 Break an hour's promise in love! He that will 45 divide a minute into a thousand parts and break 46 but a part of the thousandth part of a minute in 47-48. Cupid / hath clapped him o' the shoulder: i.e., Cupid has clapped him on the back to give him encouragement. 49. heart-whole: not wounded in the heart.
47 the affairs of love, it may be said of him that Cupid 48 hath clapped him o' the shoulder, but I'll warrant 49 him heart-whole. ORLANDO
50 Pardon me, dear Rosalind. ROSALIND
51 Nay, an you be so tardy, come no more in my sight. 52. I had as lief: I had just as soon.
52 I had as lief be wooed of a snail. ORLANDO
53 Of a snail? ROSALIND
54 Ay, of a snail; for though he comes slowly, he55-56. a better jointure, / I think, than you make a woman: — A jointure is a marriage settlement. Rosalind's joke is that when a snail woos he brings his house with him, and so the female is assured that she will get a house; but when Orlando woos he can't even be counted on to show up on time.
55 carries his house on his head; a better jointure, 56 I think, than you make a woman. Besides he 57 brings his destiny with him. ORLANDO
58 What's that? ROSALIND
59. horns: i.e., cuckold's horns. fain: obliged.
59 Why, horns, which such as you are fain to60. beholding: beholden, indebted.
60 be beholding to your wives for: but he comes 61. arm'd in his fortune: already equipped for his future. prevents: forestalls. slander: ill repute.
61 arm'd in his fortune and prevents the slander 62 of his wife. ORLANDO
63 Virtue is no horn-maker; and my Rosalind is 64 virtuous. ROSALIND
65 And I am your Rosalind. CELIA
66 It pleases him to call you so; but he hath a67. of a better leer: better-looking.
67 Rosalind of a better leer than you. ROSALIND
68 Come, woo me, woo me, for now I am in a 69 holiday humour and like enough to consent. 70 What would you say to me now, an I were 71 your very very Rosalind? ORLANDO
72 I would kiss before I spoke. ROSALIND
73 Nay, you were better speak first, and when you 74. gravelled: stuck, at a loss. for lack of matter: for lack of something to say.
74 were gravelled for lack of matter, you might take 75 occasion to kiss. Very good orators, when they are76. out: i.e., out of "matter."
76 out, they will spit; and for lovers lacking—God77. warn: warrant, protect. cleanliest shift: 1) cleverest device; 2) cleanest gesture. —Much better than spitting!
77 warn us!—matter, the cleanliest shift is to kiss. ORLANDO
78 How if the kiss be denied? ROSALIND
79-80. Then she puts you to entreaty, and there begins new matter: i.e., then she makes you beg [for a kiss], and that provides you with a new topic of conversation.
79 Then she puts you to entreaty, and there begins 80 new matter. ORLANDO
81-82. Who could be out, being before his beloved / mistress?: Who could run out of things to say being in the presence of his beloved mistress? . . . 84. honesty: chastity. ranker: more corrupt.
81 Who could be out, being before his beloved 82 mistress? ROSALIND
83 Marry, that should you, if I were your mistress, 84 or I should think my honesty ranker than my 85 wit. ORLANDO
86. What, of my suit?: i.e., what do you mean, that my request for a kiss would be denied? —Orlando is not keeping up with the wit of "Ganymede."
86 What, of my suit? ROSALIND
87. Not out of your apparel, and yet out of your: —Here "Ganymede" makes a sex joke out of Orlando's exclamation, "Who could be out, being before his beloved mistress?" As "Ganymede" uses "out" it means the opposite of "in," as a man is "in" when having sex with a woman.
87 Not out of your apparel, and yet out of your 88 suit. Am not I your Rosalind? ORLANDO
89 I take some joy to say you are, because I 90 would be talking of her. ROSALIND
91 Well, in her person, I say I will not have 92 you. ORLANDO
93 Then in mine own person I die. ROSALIND
94. die by attorney: die by proxy; i.e., have someone else do the dying for you. 
97. videlicet, in a love-cause. Troilus: namely, for love. The story of the love of Troilus and Cressida . . . 99. he did . . . before: —Rosalind . . . 100. patterns: models. Leander: Leander did die "in a love-cause," but Rosalind changes the story to make it unromantic. In the original story, Leander swam the Hellespont to be with Hero . . .
105-106. found it was 'Hero of Sestos': i.e., gave the verdict that the cause of death was 'Hero of Sestos.'
97. videlicet, in a love-cause. Troilus: namely, for love. The story of the love of Troilus and Cressida . . . 99. he did . . . before: —Rosalind . . . 100. patterns: models. Leander: Leander did die "in a love-cause," but Rosalind changes the story to make it unromantic. In the original story, Leander swam the Hellespont to be with Hero . . .
105-106. found it was 'Hero of Sestos': i.e., gave the verdict that the cause of death was 'Hero of Sestos.'
94 No, faith, die by attorney. The poor world is 95 almost six thousand years old, and in all this 96 time there was not any man died in his own 97 person, videlicet, in a love-cause. Troilus had 98 his brains dashed out with a Grecian club; yet 99 he did what he could to die before, and he is one 100 of the patterns of love. Leander, he would have 101 lived many a fair year, though Hero had turned 102 nun, if it had not been for a hot midsummer night; 103 for, good youth, he went but forth to wash him in 104 the Hellespont and being taken with the cramp was 105 drowned and the foolish chroniclers of that age found 106 it was 'Hero of Sestos.' But these are all lies: men have 107 died from time to time and worms have eaten them,108 but not for love. ORLANDO
109. right: real.
109 I would not have my right Rosalind of this mind,110 for, I protest, her frown might kill me. ROSALIND
111 By this hand, it will not kill a fly. But come, 112 now I will be your Rosalind in a more 113 coming-on disposition, and ask me what you 114 will. I will grant it. ORLANDO
115 Then love me, Rosalind. ROSALIND
116 Yes, faith, will I, Fridays and Saturdays and117 all. ORLANDO
118 And wilt thou have me? ROSALIND
119 Ay, and twenty such. ORLANDO
120 What sayest thou? ROSALIND
121 Are you not good? ORLANDO
122 I hope so. ROSALIND
123 Why then, can one desire too much of a good 124 thing? Come, sister, you shall be the priest and 125 marry us. Give me your hand, Orlando. What126 do you say, sister? ORLANDO
127 Pray thee, marry us. CELIA
128. I cannot say the words: —I think Celia is laughing so hard that she can't get the words out, and Rosalind makes fun of her by pretending to think that Celia has forgotten the words that no married (or hoping-to-be-married woman) would ever forget: "I take thee . . . ."
128 I cannot say the words. ROSALIND
129 You must begin, 'Will you, Orlando—' CELIA
130. Go to: —This little phrase, maybe short for "Go to the Devil," is an all-purpose interjection of rejection, such as the current (C.E. 2011) "No way," "shut up," or "forget about it."
130 Go to. Will you, Orlando, have to wife this131 Rosalind? ORLANDO
132 I will. ROSALIND
133 Ay, but when? ORLANDO
134 Why now; as fast as she can marry us. ROSALIND
135 Then you must say 'I take thee, Rosalind,136 for wife.' ORLANDO
137 I take thee, Rosalind, for wife. ROSALIND
138. for your commission: i.e., by what authority you perform a marriage ceremony. —This is said to Celia.
139-140. there's a girl goes before the priest: —REMINDER: Rosalind is pretending to be a young man, "Ganymede," who is pretending to be "Rosalind" in order to show Orlando the foolishness of his love for "Rosalind." In the marriage charade staged by "Ganymede," the "girl" who goes before the priest is "Rosalind," who doesn't wait for the "priest" to say, "Will you, Rosalind, have to husband this Orlando?" Instead she jumps right to "I do take thee, Orlando, for my husband," and "Ganymede" makes the cynical comment, "there's a girl goes before the priest." The point that "Ganymede" is making to Orlando is that his beloved "Rosalind" is a very flighty creature who would push Orlando into marriage. At the same time, Rosalind (not "Rosalind") tells a truth about herself. As "Ganymede" says next, "certainly a woman's thought runs before her actions," and that's very true of Rosalind, who has long been thinking of Orlando as the father of the children she doesn't have yet. (See 1.3.11.)
139-140. there's a girl goes before the priest: —REMINDER: Rosalind is pretending to be a young man, "Ganymede," who is pretending to be "Rosalind" in order to show Orlando the foolishness of his love for "Rosalind." In the marriage charade staged by "Ganymede," the "girl" who goes before the priest is "Rosalind," who doesn't wait for the "priest" to say, "Will you, Rosalind, have to husband this Orlando?" Instead she jumps right to "I do take thee, Orlando, for my husband," and "Ganymede" makes the cynical comment, "there's a girl goes before the priest." The point that "Ganymede" is making to Orlando is that his beloved "Rosalind" is a very flighty creature who would push Orlando into marriage. At the same time, Rosalind (not "Rosalind") tells a truth about herself. As "Ganymede" says next, "certainly a woman's thought runs before her actions," and that's very true of Rosalind, who has long been thinking of Orlando as the father of the children she doesn't have yet. (See 1.3.11.)
138 I might ask you for your commission; but I do 139 take thee, Orlando, for my husband: there's a 140 girl goes before the priest; and certainly a 141 woman's thought runs before her actions. ORLANDO
142 So do all thoughts; they are winged. ROSALIND
143 Now tell me how long you would have her 144 after you have possessed her. ORLANDO
145 For ever and a day. ROSALIND
146 Say 'a day,' without the 'ever.' No, no, Orlando; men 147 are April when they woo, December when they wed:148 maids are May when they are maids, but the sky149 changes when they are wives. I will be more jealous150. Barbary cock-pigeon: a male pigeon of a kind originally from the Barbary coast of Africa. —The males were reputed to be noisily possessive of their mates. 151. against: before.
152. new-fangled: i.e., delighted by anything new or different. giddy: dizzy, changeable.
153-154. like Diana in the fountain:. —This is a bit puzzling; the goddess Diana was not known for weeping at all. Maybe Rosalind is thinking that the water of a fountain looks like falling tears.
155. hyen: hyena
152. new-fangled: i.e., delighted by anything new or different. giddy: dizzy, changeable.
153-154. like Diana in the fountain:. —This is a bit puzzling; the goddess Diana was not known for weeping at all. Maybe Rosalind is thinking that the water of a fountain looks like falling tears.
155. hyen: hyena
150 of thee than a Barbary cock-pigeon over his hen,151 more clamorous than a parrot against rain, more152 new-fangled than an ape, more giddy in my desires153 than a monkey: I will weep for nothing, like Diana154 in the fountain, and I will do that when you are155 disposed to be merry; I will laugh like a hyen, and156 that when thou art inclined to sleep. ORLANDO
157 But will my Rosalind do so? ROSALIND
158 By my life, she will do as I do. ORLANDO
159. she is wise: —Orlando means that his Rosalind has good judgment, but "wise" also meant quick-witted, as it still does in the phrase "wise guy."
159 O, but she is wise. ROSALIND
160 Or else she could not have the wit to do this: the161. Make: make fast, bar.
162. casement: casement window.
162. casement: casement window.
161 wiser, the waywarder: make the doors upon a 162 woman's wit and it will out at the casement; shut 163 that and 'twill out at the key-hole; stop that, 'twill 164 fly with the smoke out at the chimney. ORLANDO
165 A man that had a wife with such a wit, he might 166. Wit, whither wilt: i.e. wit, where will you wander? —This saying was used when it seemed that someone's conversation had wandered far afield.
166 say 'Wit, whither wilt?' ROSALIND
167. that cheque for it: that restraint upon it; that reproof of it. —The "it" is a wife's wit.
167 Nay, you might keep that cheque for it till you 168 met your wife's wit going to your neighbour's 169 bed. ORLANDO
170 And what wit could wit have to excuse that? ROSALIND
171 Marry, to say she came to seek you there. 172 You shall never take her without her answer, 173 unless you take her without her tongue. O, 174-175. make her fault her husband's occasion: i.e., twist around something that she has done wrong so that it is her husband's fault.
174 that woman that cannot make her fault her 175 husband's occasion, let her never nurse her 176 child herself, for she will breed it like a fool! ORLANDO
177 For these two hours, Rosalind, I will leave 178 thee. ROSALIND
179. lack: do without.
179 Alas! dear love, I cannot lack thee two hours. ORLANDO
180. dinner: the mid-day meal.
180 I must attend the duke at dinner: by two o'clock 181 I will be with thee again. ROSALIND
182-183. I knew what you would prove: i.e., I knew all along that you would turn out to be a faithless lover. —Here "Ganymede," in the voice of "Rosalind," adopts the petulant tone of a woman who feels she that she is not getting all the attention she deserves.
185-186. 'tis but one cast away, and so, come, death!: i.e., don't worry about it, I'm just one more woman who has been cast away by an unfaithful lover, and so the only thing left for me is to die!
185-186. 'tis but one cast away, and so, come, death!: i.e., don't worry about it, I'm just one more woman who has been cast away by an unfaithful lover, and so the only thing left for me is to die!
182 Ay, go your ways, go your ways; I knew what you183 would prove: my friends told me as much, and I184 thought no less: that flattering tongue of yours185 won me: 'tis but one cast away, and so, come,186 death! Two o'clock is your hour? ORLANDO
187 Ay, sweet Rosalind. ROSALIND
188 By my troth, and in good earnest, and so God mend189. pretty oaths that are not dangerous: i.e., charming, pleasant oaths (such as a lover would use). —A soldier facing his foe would use "dangerous" oaths.
192. pathetical: pitiable, miserable.
192. pathetical: pitiable, miserable.
189 me, and by all pretty oaths that are not dangerous,190 if you break one jot of your promise or come one191 minute behind your hour, I will think you the most192 pathetical break-promise and the most hollow lover193 and the most unworthy of her you call Rosalind that194. gross: entire.
195. censure: severe disapproval; harsh criticism.
195. censure: severe disapproval; harsh criticism.
194 may be chosen out of the gross band of the195 unfaithful: therefore beware my censure and keep196 your promise. ORLANDO
197. religion: faithfulness.
197 With no less religion than if thou wert indeed my198 Rosalind: so adieu. ROSALIND
199 Well, Time is the old justice that examines all such200. try: determine the truth [of your promise].
200 offenders, and let Time try: adieu. Exit [ORLANDO].
CELIA
201. simply: utterly. misus'd: abused, slandered.
201 You have simply misused our sex in your love-prate:202 we must have your doublet and hose plucked over 203-204. show the world what the bird hath done to her own nest: i.e., show everyone it is a woman who has been slandering women. —Celia is echoing the proverb, "It is a foul bird that fouls its own nest."
203 your head, and show the world what the bird hath 204 done to her own nest. ROSALIND
205 O coz, coz, coz, my pretty little coz, that thou206 didst know how many fathom deep I am in love! But207 it cannot be sounded: my affection hath an unknown208 bottom, like the bay of Portugal. CELIA
209-210. Or . . . out: I'm sure that Celia is pooh-poohing Rosalind, but I don't see the justness of her metaphor.
209 Or rather, bottomless, that as fast as you pour210 affection in, it runs out. ROSALIND
211. bastard of Venus: Cupid.
212. thought: i.e., moodiness. spleen: caprice, waywardness.
213. abuses: deludes.
214. his own are out: he himself is blindfolded.
216. shadow: shady place.
212. thought: i.e., moodiness. spleen: caprice, waywardness.
213. abuses: deludes.
214. his own are out: he himself is blindfolded.
216. shadow: shady place.
211 No, that same wicked bastard of Venus that was begot212 of thought, conceived of spleen and born of madness,213 that blind rascally boy that abuses every one's eyes214 because his own are out, let him be judge how deep I215 am in love. I'll tell thee, Aliena, I cannot be out216 of the sight of Orlando: I'll go find a shadow and217 sigh till he come. CELIA
218 And I'll sleep. Exeunt.