Page:As You Like It (1919) Yale.djvu/75

As You Like It, III. iii

as it may be, I will marry thee; and to that end

I have been with Sir Oliver Martext, the vicar

of the next village, who hath promised to meet

me in this place of the forest, and to couple us.

Jaq. [Aside.] I would fain see this meeting.

Aud. Well, the gods give us joy!

Touch. Amen. A man may, if he were of a

fearful heart, stagger in this attempt; for here

we have no temple but the wood, no assembly

but horn-beasts. But what though? Courage!

As horns are odious, they are necessary. It is

said, 'many a man knows no end of his goods':

right; many a man has good horns, and knows

no end of them. Well, that is the dowry of his

wife; 'tis none of his own getting. Horns?

Even so. Poor men alone? No, no; the noblest

deer hath them as huge as the rascal. Is the

single man therefore blessed? No: as a walled

town is more worthier than a village, so is the

forehead of a married man more honourable

than the bare brow of a bachelor; and by how

much defence is better than no skill, by so much

is a horn more precious than to want.

Here comes Sir Oliver.—Sir Oliver Martext,

you are well met: will you dispatch us here

under this tree, or shall we go with you to your

chapel?

Sir Oli. Is there none here to give the

woman?

 49 gods joy; cf. n.

51 stagger: hesitate

53 horn-beasts: i.e., deer

60 rascal: young or inferior deer of a herd

65 defence: skill in swordplay 