William Shakespeare: As You Like It

ACT V. 3. SCENE III. Another paart of the Forest.

[Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY.]

TOUCHSTONE.
To-morrow is the joyful day, Audrey; to-morrow will we be
married.

AUDREY.
I do desire it with all my heart; and I hope it is no
dishonest desire to desire to be a woman of the world. Here
come two of the banished duke's pages.

[Enter two Pages.]

FIRST PAGE.
Well met, honest gentleman.

TOUCHSTONE.
By my troth, well met. Come sit, sit, and a song.

SECOND PAGE.
We are for you: sit i' the middle.

FIRST PAGE.
Shall we clap into't roundly, without hawking, or spitting, or
saying we are hoarse, which are the only prologues to a bad
voice?

SECOND PAGE.
I'faith, i'faith; and both in a tune, like two gipsies on a
horse.

    SONG.
      I.
 It was a lover and his lass,
  With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
 That o'er the green corn-field did pass
  In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
  When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
 Sweet lovers love the spring.

       II.
 Between the acres of the rye,
  With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
 These pretty country folks would lie,
  In the spring time, &c.

      III.
 This carol they began that hour,
  With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
 How that a life was but a flower,
  In the spring time, &c.

      IV.
 And therefore take the present time,
  With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
 For love is crowned with the prime,
  In the spring time, &c.

TOUCHSTONE.
Truly, young gentlemen, though there was no great
matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untimeable.