Who you saw sitting by me on the turf, Cel. Well, and what of him? Cor. If you will see a pageant truly play'd, Between the pale complexion of true love And the red glow of scorn and proud disdain, Go hence a little, and I shall conduct you, you will mark it. If Ros. O, come, let us remove; SCENE V. Another Part of the Forest. Enter SILVIUS and PHEBE. [Exeunt. Sil. Sweet Phebe, do not scorn me; do not, Phebe: Say, that you love me not; but say not so In bitterness: The common executioner, Whose heart the accustom'd sight of death makes hard, Falls not the axe upon the humbled neck, But first begs pardon; Will you sterner be Enter ROSALIND, CELIA, and CORIN, at a distance. 6 'Tis pretty, sure, and very probable,] Sure for surely. That eyes, that are the frail'st and softest things, Now show the wound mine eye hath made in thee: The cicatrice and capable impressure' Thy palm some moment keeps: but now mine eyes, Which I have darted at thee, hurt thee not; Nor, I am sure, there is no force in eyes That can do hurt. Sil. O dear Phebe, If ever, (as that ever may be near,) You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy, Then shall you know the wounds invisible That love's keen arrows make. Phe. But, till that time, Come not thou near me: and, when that time comes, Afflict me with thy mocks, pity me not; As, till that time, I shall not pity thee. Ros. And why, I pray you? [Advancing.] Who might be your mother, That you insult, exult, and all at once, Over the wretched? What though you have more beauty, 7 The cicatrice and capable impressure-] Cicatrice is here not very properly used; it is the scar of a wound. Capable may mean here perceptible. power of fancy.] Fancy is here used for love. Who might be your mother,] It is common for the poets to express cruelty by saying, of those who commit it, that they were born of rocks, or suckled by tigresses. JOHNSON. (As, by my faith, I see no more in you me? I see no more in you, than in the ordinary Like foggy south, puffing with wind and rain? I had rather hear you chide, than this man woo. 1 Of nature's sale-work:] The allusion is to the practice of mechanicks, whose work bespoke is more elaborate than that which is made up for chance customers. Foul is most foul, being foul to be a scoffer.] The sense is, The ugly seem most ugly, when, though ugly, they are scoffers. she'll fall in love with my anger: If it be so, as fast as she answers thee with frowning looks, I'll sauce her with bitter words.-Why look you so upon me? Phe. For no ill will I bear you. Ros. I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine: Besides, I like you not: If you will know my house, 'Tis at the tuft of olives, here hard by : Will you go, sister?-Shepherd, ply her hard:Come, sister-Shepherdess, look on him better, And be not proud: though all the world could see, None could be so abus'd in sight as he,3 [Exeunt ROSALIND, CELIA, and CORIN. Phe. Dead shepherd! now I find thy saw of might; Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?1 Sil. Sweet Phebe,— Phe. Ha! what say'st thou, Silvius? Sil. Sweet Phebe, pity me. Phe. Why, I am sorry for thee, gentle Silvius. Sil. Wherever sorrow is, relief would be; If you do sorrow at my grief in love, By giving love, your sorrow and my grief Phe. Thou hast my love; Is not that neigh bourly? Sil. I would have you. Phe. Why, that were covetousness. Silvius, the time was, that I hated thee; 3 though all the world could see, None could be so abus'd in sight as he.] Though all mankind could look on you, none could be so deceived as to think you beautiful but he. JOHNSON. * Dead shepherd! now I find thy saw of might; Who ever lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?] The second or these lines is from Marlowe's Hero and Leander, 1637. And yet it is not, that I bear thee love: That I shall think it a most plenteous crop That the main harvest reaps: loose now and then Phe. Know'st thou the youth that spoke to me ere while? Sil. Not very well, but I have met him oft; And he hath bought the cottage, and the bounds, That the old carlot" once was master of. Phe. Think not I love him, though I ask for him; 'Tis but a peevish boy:-yet he talks well;But what care I for words? yet words do well, When he that speaks them pleases those that hear. It is a pretty youth:-not very pretty: But, sure, he's proud; and yet his pride becomes him: He'll make a proper man: The best thing in him 3 That the old carlot-] i. e. peasant, from carl or churl; probably a word of Shakspeare's coinage. 6 a peevish boy:] Peevish, in ancient language, signifies weak, silly. |