Ami. Well, I'll end the song, Sirs; cover the while ; the Duke will dine under this tree; he hath been all this day to look you.

Jaq. And I have been all this day to avoid him. He is too disputable for my company: I think of as many matters as he, but I give heav'n fhanks, and make no boast of them. Come, warble, come.

SON G.
Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to lye i'th' Sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleas’d with what he gets ;
Come Wither, come hither, come hither ;

Here fall he fee

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather. Yaq. I'll give you a verse to this note, that I made yesterday in despight of my invention.

Ami. And I'll sing it.
Faq. Thus it goes.

If it do come to pass,
That

any man turn ass ;
Leaving his wealth and ease
A stubborn will to please,
Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame;

Here shall be see

Gross fools as he,

An if he will come to me.
Ami. What's that's ducdame?

Jaq. 'Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into a circle. I'll go to sleep if I can ; if I cannot, I'll rail againit all the first-born of Egypt.

Ami. And I'll go feek the Duke: his banquet is prepar'd.

[Exeunt, severally. Enter Orlando and Adam. Adam. Dear master, I can go no further ; O, I die

for

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for food! here lie I down, and measure out my grave. Farewel, kind master.

Orla. Why, how now, Adam! no greater heart in thee? live a little ; comfort a little ; cheer thy self a little. If this uncouth Forest yield any thing favage, I will either be food for it, or bring it for food to thee : thy conceit is nearer death, than thy powers. For my fake be comfortable, hold death a while at the arm's end : I will be here with thee presently, and if I bring thee not something to eat, I'll give thee leave to die. But if thou dieft before I come, thou art a mocker of my labour. Well faid, thou look'it cheerly. And I'll be with thee quickly; yet thou liest in the bleak air. Come, I will bear thee to some fhelter, and thou shalt not die for lack of a dinner, if there live any thing in this Defart. Cheerly, good Adam.

Exeunt. Enter Duke Sen, and Lords. [A Table set out. Duke Sen. I think, he is transform'd into a beast, For I can no where find him like a man.

i Lord. My Lord, he is but even now gone Here was he merry, hearing of a Song.

Duke Sen. If he, compact of jars, grow musical,
We shall have shortly discord in the spheres :
Go, seek him ; tell him, I would speak with him.

Enter Jaques. i Lord. He saves my labour by his own approach. Duke Sen. Why, how now, Monsieur, what a life is

this, your poor

friends must woo your company ? What! you look merrily.

Jag. A fool, a fool; - I met a fool i' th' forest, A motley fool ; a miserable world! As I do live by food, I met a fool, Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun, And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms, In good set terms, and yet a motley fool. Good morrow, fool, quoth I: No, Sir, quoth he,

Call

hence;

That

Call me not fool, 'till heaven hath sent me fortune ;
And then he drew a dial from his poak,
And looking on it with lack-luftre eye,
Says, very wisely, it is ten a clock:
Thus may we see, quoth he, how the world wags :
'Tis but an hour

ago

since it was nine,
And after one hour more 'twill be eleven ;
And so from hour hour we ripe and ripe,
And then from hour to hour we rot and rot,
And thereby hangs 2 tale. When I did hear
The motley fool thus moral on the time,
My lungs began to crow like chanticleer,
That fools should be so deep contemplative:
And I did laugh, fans intermission,
An hour by his dial. O noble fool,
A worthy fool! motley's the only wear.

Duke Sen. What fool is this?

Jaq. O worthy fool! one that hath been a Courtier, And says, if ladies be but

young

and fair,
They have the gift to know it: and in his brain,
Which is as dry as the remainder bisket
After a voyage, he hath strange places cram'd
With observation, the which he vents
In mangled forms. Othat I were a fool!
I am ambitious for a motley coat.

Duke Sen. Thou shalt have one.

Jaq. It is my only suit ; Provided, that you weed your better judgments Of all opinion, that grows rank in them, That I am wise. I must have liberty Withal, as large a charter as the wind, To blow on whom I please ; for so fools have ; And they that are most gauled with my folly, They most mult laugh : and why, Sir, muit they fo? The why is plain, as way to parish church; (6) He, whom a fool doth very wisely hit,

Doth

(6) He, whom a Fool doth very wisely hit,
Doth very foolishly, although he smart,

N 3

Scom

Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
Not to seem senseless of the bob. If not,
The wise man's folly is anatomiz'd
Even by the squandring glances of a fool.
Invest me in my motley, give me leave
To speak my mind, and I will through and througlt
Cleanse the foul body of th' infected world,
If they will patiently receive my medicine,
Duke Sen. Fie on thee! I can tell what thou wouldi

do, Jaq. What, for a counter, would I do but good?

Duke Sen. Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding fina For thou thy self haft been a libertine, As sensual as the brutish fting it self; And all th'embossed fores and headed evils, That thou with licence of free foot haft caught, Would'st thou disgorge into the general world.

Jaq. Why, who cries out on pride, That can therein tax any private party? Doth it not flow as hugely as the Sea, 'Till that the very very means do ebb? What woman in the city do I name, When that I say, the city-woman bears The coit of Princes on unworthy shoulders ? Who can come in, and say, that I mean her ; When such a one as she, such is her neighbour ? Or what is he of baseft function, That says, his bravery is not on my cost; Thinking, that I mean him; but therein futes His folly to the metal of my fpeech? There then ; how then? what then ? let me fee wherein My tongue hath wrong'd him; if it do him right,

Seem senseless of the bob, if not, &c.] Befides that the third Verse is defective one whole Foot in Measure, the Tenour of what Jaques continues to say, and the Reasoning of the Pasfage, shew it is no lefs defective in the Sense. There is no doubt, but the two little Monofyllables, which I have supply'd, were either by Accident wanting in the Manufeript Copy, or by Inadvertence were left out at Profsa

Then

Then he hath wrong'd himself; if he be free,
Why, then my taxing, like a wild goose, fies
Unclaim'd of any man.

But who comes here?
Enter Orlando, with Sword drawn.
Orla. Forbear, and eat no more.
Jaq. Why, I have eat none yet.
Orla. Nor shalt thou, 'till necessity be serv'd.
Jaq. Of what kind should this Cock come of ?
Duke Sen. Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy dir.

trefs Or else a rude despiser of good manners, That in civility thou seem 't so empty?

Orla. You touch'd my vein at first'; the thorny point Of bare distress hath ta’en from me the shew Of smooth civility ; yet am I in-land bred, And know some nurture: but ferbear, I say : He dies, that touches any of this fruit, 'Till I and

my

affairs are answered. Jaq. If you will not Be answered with reason, I must die. Duke Sen. What would you have? Your gentleness

shall force,
More than your force move us to gentleness.

Orla. I almost die for food, and let me have it.
Duke Sen. Sit down and feed, and welcome to our

table.
Orla. Speak you so gently? pardon me, I pray you ;
I thought, that all things had been savage here ;
And therefore

put

I on the countenance
Of stern commandment. But whate'er you are,
That in this desart inaccessible,
Under the shade of melancholy boughs,
Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time ;
If ever you have look'd on better days;
If ever been where bells have knoll’d to church ;
If ever fate at any good man's feast ;
If ever from your eyelids wip'd a tear,
And know what 'tis to pity, and be pitied ;
Let gentleness my strong enforcement be,

In

N4