As You Like It by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 1
Orchard of OLIVER’S house
(stage directions) : Enter ORLANDO and ADAM
Orlando : As I remember, Adam, it was upon this fashion bequeathed
[p]me by will
but poor a thousand crowns, and, as thou say'st,
[p]charged my
brother, on his blessing, to breed me well; and there
[p]begins my
sadness. My brother Jaques he keeps at school, and
[p]report speaks
goldenly of his profit. For my part, he keeps me
[p]rustically at
home, or, to speak more properly, stays me here at
[p]home unkept; for
call you that keeping for a gentleman of my
[p]birth that differs not
from the stalling of an ox? His horses are
[p]bred better; for,
besides that they are fair with their feeding,
[p]they are taught
their manage, and to that end riders dearly
[p]hir'd; but I, his
brother, gain nothing under him but growth; for
[p]the which his
animals on his dunghills are as much bound to him
[p]as I. Besides
this nothing that he so plentifully gives me, the
[p]something that
nature gave me his countenance seems to take from
[p]me. He lets me
feed with his hinds, bars me the place of a
[p]brother, and as much as
in him lies, mines my gentility with my
[p]education. This is it,
Adam, that grieves me; and the spirit of
[p]my father, which I think
is within me, begins to mutiny against
[p]this servitude. I will no
longer endure it, though yet I know no
[p]wise remedy how to avoid
it.
(stage directions) : [Enter OLIVER]
Adam : Yonder comes my master, your brother.
Orlando : Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear how he will shake me
[p]up.
(stage directions) : [ADAM retires]
Oliver : Now, sir! what make you here?
Orlando : Nothing; I am not taught to make any thing.
Oliver : What mar you then, sir?
Orlando : Marry, sir, I am helping you to mar that which God made, a
[p]poor
unworthy brother of yours, with idleness.
Oliver : Marry, sir, be better employed, and be nought awhile.
Orlando : Shall I keep your hogs, and eat husks with them? What
[p]prodigal
portion have I spent that I should come to such penury?
Oliver : Know you where you are, sir?
Orlando : O, sir, very well; here in your orchard.
Oliver : Know you before whom, sir?
Orlando : Ay, better than him I am before knows me. I know you are
[p]my eldest
brother; and in the gentle condition of blood, you
[p]should so know
me. The courtesy of nations allows you my better
[p]in that you are
the first-born; but the same tradition takes not
[p]away my blood,
were there twenty brothers betwixt us. I have as
[p]much of my father
in me as you, albeit I confess your coming
[p]before me is nearer to
his reverence.
Oliver : What, boy! [Strikes him]
Orlando : Come, come, elder brother, you are too young in this.
Oliver : Wilt thou lay hands on me, villain?
Orlando : I am no villain; I am the youngest son of Sir Rowland de
[p]Boys. He
was my father; and he is thrice a villain that says such
[p]a father
begot villains. Wert thou not my brother, I would not
[p]take this
hand from thy throat till this other had pull'd out thy
[p]tongue for
saying so. Thou has rail'd on thyself.
Adam : [Coming forward] Sweet masters, be patient; for your
father's
[p]remembrance, be at accord.
Oliver : Let me go, I say.
Orlando : I will not, till I please; you shall hear me. My father
[p]charg'd you
in his will to give me good education: you have
[p]train'd me like a
peasant, obscuring and hiding from me all
[p]gentleman-like qualities.
The spirit of my father grows strong in
[p]me, and I will no longer
endure it; therefore allow me such
[p]exercises as may become a
gentleman, or give me the poor
[p]allottery my father left me by
testament; with that I will go buy
[p]my fortunes.
Oliver : And what wilt thou do? Beg, when that is spent? Well, sir,
[p]get you
in. I will not long be troubled with you; you shall have
[p]some part
of your will. I pray you leave me.
Orlando : I no further offend you than becomes me for my good.
Oliver : Get you with him, you old dog.
Adam : Is 'old dog' my reward? Most true, I have lost my teeth in
[p]your
service. God be with my old master! He would not have spoke
[p]such a
word.
[p] Exeunt ORLANDO and ADAM
Oliver : Is it even so? Begin you to grow upon me? I will physic
[p]your
rankness, and yet give no thousand crowns neither. Holla,
[p]Dennis!
(stage directions) : Enter DENNIS
Dennis : Calls your worship?
Oliver : Was not Charles, the Duke's wrestler, here to speak with me?
Dennis : So please you, he is here at the door and importunes access
[p]to
you.
Oliver : Call him in. [Exit DENNIS] 'Twill be a good way; and
[p]to-morrow the
wrestling is.
(stage directions) : Enter CHARLES
Charles : Good morrow to your worship.
Oliver : Good Monsieur Charles! What's the new news at the new
[p]court?
Charles : There's no news at the court, sir, but the old news; that
[p]is, the
old Duke is banished by his younger brother the new Duke;
[p]and three
or four loving lords have put themselves into voluntary
[p]exile with
him, whose lands and revenues enrich the new Duke;
[p]therefore he
gives them good leave to wander.
Oliver : Can you tell if Rosalind, the Duke's daughter, be banished
[p]with her
father?
Charles : O, no; for the Duke's daughter, her cousin, so loves her,
[p]being
ever from their cradles bred together, that she would have
[p]followed
her exile, or have died to stay behind her. She is at
[p]the court,
and no less beloved of her uncle than his own
[p]daughter; and never
two ladies loved as they do.
Oliver : Where will the old Duke live?
Charles : They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many
[p]merry men
with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood
[p]of England.
They say many young gentlemen flock to him every day,
[p]and fleet the
time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.
Oliver : What, you wrestle to-morrow before the new Duke?
Charles : Marry, do I, sir; and I came to acquaint you with a
[p]matter. I am
given, sir, secretly to understand that your younger
[p]brother,
Orlando, hath a disposition to come in disguis'd against
[p]me to try
a fall. To-morrow, sir, I wrestle for my credit; and he
[p]that
escapes me without some broken limb shall acquit him well.
[p]Your
brother is but young and tender; and, for your love, I would
[p]be
loath to foil him, as I must, for my own honour, if he come
[p]in;
therefore, out of my love to you, I came hither to acquaint
[p]you
withal, that either you might stay him from his intendment,
[p]or
brook such disgrace well as he shall run into, in that it is
[p]thing
of his own search and altogether against my will.
Oliver : Charles, I thank thee for thy love to me, which thou shalt
[p]find I
will most kindly requite. I had myself notice of my
[p]brother's
purpose herein, and have by underhand means laboured to
[p]dissuade
him from it; but he is resolute. I'll tell thee,
[p]Charles, it is the
stubbornest young fellow of France; full of
[p]ambition, an envious
emulator of every man's good parts, a secret
[p]and villainous
contriver against me his natural brother.
[p]Therefore use thy
discretion: I had as lief thou didst break his
[p]neck as his finger.
And thou wert best look to't; for if thou
[p]dost him any slight
disgrace, or if he do not mightily grace
[p]himself on thee, he will
practise against thee by poison, entrap
[p]thee by some treacherous
device, and never leave thee till he
[p]hath ta'en thy life by some
indirect means or other; for, I
[p]assure thee, and almost with tears
I speak it, there is not one
[p]so young and so villainous this day
living. I speak but brotherly
[p]of him; but should I anatomize him to
thee as he is, I must blush
[p]and weep, and thou must look pale and
wonder.
Charles : I am heartily glad I came hither to you. If he come
[p]to-morrow I'll
give him his payment. If ever he go alone again,
[p]I'll never wrestle
for prize more. And so, God keep your worship! Exit
Oliver : Farewell, good Charles. Now will I stir this gamester. I
[p]hope I
shall see an end of him; for my soul, yet I know not why,
[p]hates
nothing more than he. Yet he's gentle; never school'd and
[p]yet
learned; full of noble device; of all sorts enchantingly
[p]beloved;
and, indeed, so much in the heart of the world, and
[p]especially of
my own people, who best know him, that I am
[p]altogether misprised.
But it shall not be so long; this wrestler
[p]shall clear all. Nothing
remains but that I kindle the boy
[p]thither, which now I'll go about.
Exit
Next: Act 1 - Scene 2
