Thou offer'ft fairly to thy brothers' wedding;
To one, his lands withheld; and to the other,
A land itself at large, a potent dukedom.
First, in this foreft, let us do those ends
That here were well begun, and well begot
And after, every of this happy number
That have endur'd fhrewd days and nights with us
Shall share the good of our returned fortune,
According to the measure of their states.
Mean-time, forget this new-fall'n dignity,
And fall into our ruftick revelry:

Play, mufick; and you brides and bridegrooms all,
With measure heap'd in joy, to th' measures fall.

Jaq. Sir, by your patience: if I heard you rightly,
The duke hath put on a religious life,
And thrown into neglect the pompous court.
Jaq. de B. He hath.

faq. To him will I: out of these convertites
There is much matter to be heard, and learn'd.
You to your former honour I bequeath;
Your patience and your virtue well deserve it:
You to a love that your true faith doth merit;
You to your land, and love, and great allies;
You to a long, and well-deferved bed;
And you to wrangling; for thy loving voyage
Is but for two months victual'd: fo to your pleasures:
I am for other than for dancing measures.
Duke Sen. Stay, Jaques, stay.

Jaq. To fee no paftime, I: what you would have
I'll ftay to know at your abandon'd cave.

[Exit.

Duke Sen. Proceed, proceed; we will begin these rites, As we do trust they'll end, in true delights.

Rof. It is not the fashion to fee the lady the epilogue; but it is no more unhandsome than to fee the lord the prologue. If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 'tis true that a good play needs no epilogue: yet to good wine they do use good bushes; and

good

[to the Duke.

[to Orla. [to Oli. [to Syl. [to the Clown.

good plays prove the better by the help of good epilogues. What
a cafe am I in then, that am neither a good epilogue, nor can
infinuate with you in the behalf of a good play! I am not furnish'd
like a beggar; therefore to beg will not become me. My way is
to conjure you; and I'll begin with the women. I charge you,
o women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this
play as pleases them: and I charge you, o men, for the love
you bear to women, (as I perceive by your fimpering none of
you hate them) to like as much as pleases them; that, between
you and the women, the play may please. If I were a woman,*
I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleas'd me,
complexions that lik'd me, and breaths that I defy'd not: and,
I am fure, as many as have good beards, or good faces, or sweet
breaths, will for my kind offer, when I make court'fy, bid me
farewel.
[Exeunt omnes.

Note that in this author's time the parts of women were always perform'd by men or boys.