Ami. Well, I'll end the fong, 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 difputable for my company: I think of as many matters as he, but I give heav'n thanks, and make no boaft of them. Come, warble, come.

SONG.

Who doth ambition fhun,

And loves to lye i' th' Sun,
Seeking the food he eats,

And pleas'd with what he gets;

Come hither, come hither, come hither;
Here shall be fee

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather.

Jaq. I'll give you a verfe to this note, that I made yesterday in defpight of my invention.

Ami. And I'll fing it.

Jaq. Thus it

goes.

If it do come to pass,
That any man turn afs;
Leaving his wealth and eafe
A ftubborn will to please,
Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame;
Here fhall be fee

Grofs fools as he,

An if he will come to me.

Ami. What's that ducdame?

Faq. Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into a circle. I'll go to fleep if I can; if I cannot, I'll rail against all the first born of Egypt.

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

Enter Orlando and Adam.

Adam. Dear mafter, I can go no further; O, I die

N 2

for

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

Orla. Why, how now, Adam! no greater heart in thee? live a little; comfort a little; chear thyself a lit tle. If this uncouth Foreft yield any thing favage, I will either be food for it, or bring it for food to thee: For thy conceit is nearer death, than thy powers. my fake be comfortable, hold death a while at the arm's end I will be here with thee prefently, and if I bring thee not fomething 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'ft cheerly. And I'll be with thee quickly; yet thou lieft in the bleak air. Come, I will bear thee to fome shelter, and thou shalt not die for lack of a dinner, if there live any thing in this Defart. Cheerly, good [Exeunt.

Adam.

Enter Duke Sen. and Lords.

[A Table fet out.

Duke Sen. I think, he is transform'd into a beaft, For I can no where find him like a man.

1 Lord. My lord, he is but even now gone hence; Here was he merry, hearing of a Song.

Duke Sen. If he, compact of jars, grow mufical,
We shall have shortly difcord in the fpheres:
Go feek him; tell him, I would speak with him.

Enter Jaques.

1 Lord. He faves my labour by his own approach. Duke Sen. Why, how now, Monfieur, what a life is

this,

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

Faq. A fool, a fool ;- -I met a fool i' th' foreft,
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 fun,
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

Call me not fool, 'till heaven hath fent me fortune;
And then he drew a dial from his poak,
And looking on it with lack-luftre eye,
Says, very wifely, it is ten a clock :

Thus may we fee, quoth he, how the world wags :
'Tis but an hour ago fince it was nine,

And after one hour more 'twill be eleven;
And fo from hour to hour we ripe and ripe,
And then from hour to hour we rot and rot,
And thereby hangs a tale.

When I did hear

The motley fool thus moral on the time,

My lungs began to crow like chanticleer,
That fools fhould be fo deep contemplative :
And I did laugh, fans intermiffion,

An hour by his dial. O noble fool,
A worthy fool! motley's the only wear.
Duke Sen. What fool is this?

Faq. O worthy fool! one that hath been a Courtier,
And fays, 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 ftrange places cram'd
With obfervation, the which he vents

In mangled forms.

O that I were a fool!

I am ambitious for a motley coat.

Duke Sen. Thou shalt have one.
Jaq. It is my only fuit;

Provided, that you weed your better judgments.
Of all opinion, that grows rank in them,
That I am wife. I muft have liberty

Withal, as large a charter as the wind,

To blow on whom I please; for fo fools have;
And they that are moft gauled with my folly,

They moft mult laugh: and why, Sir, muft they fo?
The why is plain, as way to parish church;
(6) He, whom a fool doth very wifely hit,

(6) He whom a Fool dotb very wifely bit, Deth very foolishly, although be fmari,

N 3

Doth

Seem

Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
Not to seem senseless of the bob. If not,
The wife man's folly is anatomiz'd
Even by the fquandring glances of a fool.
Inveft me in my motley, give me leave

To fpeak my mind, and I will through and through
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 wouldst do.

Jaq. What, for a counter, would I do but good? Duke Sen. Moft mischievous foul fin, in chiding fin: For thou thyself hast been a libertine,

As fenfual as the brutish fting itself;

And all th' emboffed fores and headed evils,
That thou with licence of free foot haft caught,
Would't thou difgorge into the general world.
Faq. 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 fay, the city-woman bears
The cost of Princes on unworthy fhoulders?
Who can come in, and fay, that I mean her;
When fuch a one as fhe, fuch is her neighbour?
Or what is he of basest function,

That fays, his bravery is not on my coft;
Thinking, that I mean him; but therein futes
His folly to the metal of my speech?

There then; how then? what then? let me fee wherein
My tongue hath wrong'd him; if it do him right,

Seem fenfelefs of the bob. If not, &c.] Befides that the third Verfe is defective one whole Foot in Measure, the Tenour of what Jaques continues to fay, and the Reafoning of the Paffage, fhew it no lefs defective in the Senfe. There is no doubt, but the two little Monofyllables, which I have fupply'd, were either by Accident wanting in the Manufcript Copy, or by Inadvertence were left out at Prefs.

Then

Then he hath wrong'd himself; if he be free,
Why, then my taxing, like a wild goofe, flies
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 fhalt thou, 'till neceffity be ferv'd.
Jaq. Of what kind fhould this Cock come of?
Duke Sen. Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy dif-
tress?

Or else a rude defpifer of good manners,

That in civility thou feem'ft fo empty?

Orla. You touch'd my vein at firft; the thorny point Of bare diftrefs hath ta'en from me the fhew

Of fmooth civility; yet am I in-land bred,
And know fome nurture: but forbear, I fay:
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 fo gently? pardon me, I pray you;
I thought, that all things had been favage here;
And therefore put I on the countenance

Of ftern commandment. But whate'er you are,
That in this defart inacceffible,

Under the shade of melancholy boughs,

Lofe 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 ftrong enforcement be,