Orla. Why, how now, Adam! no greater heart in thee? Live a little; comfort a little; cheer thyself a little: If this uncouth foreft 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 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 defert. Cheerly, good Adam!

[Exeunt.

SCENE

VII.

Another Part of the Foreft.

[A table fet out.

Enter Duke Senior and lords.

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 fong.

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

Enter Jaques,

I Lord. He faves my labour by his own approach. Duke Sen. Why, how now, monfieur ! what a life is this, That your poor friends muft woo your company ?

t compact of jars,]-compofed of difcords.

What!

What! you look merrily.

Jaq. A fool, a fool ?—I met a fool i' the forest, A 'motley fool,-a miferable world!

As I do live by food, I met a fool;

Who laid him down, and bafk'd him in the fun,
And rail'd on lady Fortune in good terms,
In good fet terms,—and yet a motley fool.
Good-morrow, fool, quoth I; No, fir, quoth he,
Call me not fool, till heaven bath fent me fortune:
And then he drew a dial from his poke;
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 bour to hour, we ripe, and ripe,
And then, from bour to hour, we rot, and rot,
And thereby bangs 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?

Jaq. 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 strange places cramm'd
With obfervation, the which he vents

In mangled forms :-O, that I were a fool!
I am ambitious for a motley coat.

"motley fool,]-in a party-colour'd coat. VOL. II. P

Duke

Duke Sen. Thou fhalt 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 must have liberty
Withal, as large a charter as the wind,

X

To blow on whom I please; for so fools have:
And they that are most gauled with my folly,

They most must laugh: And why, fir, muft they fo?

The why is plain as way to parish church:

He, that a fool doth very wifely hit,
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 the fool.
Invest me in my motley; give me leave
To speak my mind, and I will through and through
Cleanse the foul body of the 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 mifchievous foul fin, in chiding fin: For thou thyself haft been a libertine,

a

As fenfual as the brutish fting itself;

And all the emboffed fores, and headed evils,

That thou with licence of free foot haft caught,
Wouldst thou difgorge into the general world,
Jaq. Why, who cries out on pride,

W

fuit ;]-a pun-petition, and drefs.

X

as large a charter as the wind,]—

"The air, a chartered libertine, is ftill."

HENRY V, A&t I, S. 1. Cant.

y anatomiz'd-display'd.

Z

Squandring]-random.

a as the brutish fting]-as the brute, whom kindly rage doth fting.

That

b

That can therein tax any private party?
Doth it not flow as hugely as the fea,
'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 coft of princes on unworthy shoulders?
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 baseft function,

That says, his bravery is not on my cost,
(Thinking that I mean him) but therein suits
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,
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 his fword drawn.
Orla. Forbear, and eat no more.
Jaq. Why, I have eat none yet.

Orla. Nor fhall not, 'till neceffity be ferv'd.

Jaq. What kind fhould this cock come of?

Duke Sen. Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy distress;

Or elfe 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 distress hath ta'en from me the fhew

Of smooth civility: yet am I in-land bred,
And know some nurture: But forbear, I say;
He dies, that touches any of this fruit,

'Till I and my affairs are answered.

Jaq. An you will not

Be answered with reafon, I muft die.

Duke Sen. What would you have? Your gentleness shall force,

More than your force move us to gentleness.

Orla. I atmoft 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 stern commandment: But whate'er you are,
That in this defert 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 fat at any good man's feast;

If ever from your eye-lids wip'd a tear,
And know what 'tis to pity, and be pitied;
Let gentleness my ftrong enforcement be:
In the which hope, I blush, and hide my fword.

Duke Sen. True is it, that we have feen better days;
And have with holy bell been knoll'd to church;
And fat at good men's feafts; and wip'd our eyes
Of drops that facred pity hath engender'd :
And therefore fit you down in gentleness,
And take upon demand what help we have
That to your wanting may be miniftred.

f

Orla. Then but forbear your food a little while,
Whiles, like a doe, I go to find my fawn,
And give it food. There is an old poor man,
Who after me hath many a weary step

f upon demand ]-on asking for it-upon command.