SCENE VI.

Enter Orlando and Adam.

Adam. Dear mafter, I can go no further. O, I die 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 thyfelf a little. If this uncouth Foreft yield any thing favagé, 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 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 look'ft cheerly; and I'll be with you quickly. Yet thou lieft in the bleak air; come, I will bear thee to fome shelter, and thou fhalt not die for lack of a dinner, if there live any thing in this Defert. Cheerly, good Adam. [Exeunt.

- thou

SCENE

VII.

Another part of the FOREST.

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.

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

hence

Duke Sen. If-he, compact of jars, grow mufical,
We fhall have fhortly difcord in the fpheres.
Gọ, seek 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.

Ja.

Jaq. A fool, a fool

I met a fool i' th' foreft,
A motley fool-a miferable world— (2)
As I do live by food, I met a fool,

Who laid him down and balk'd him in the fun,
And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms,
In good let terms-and yet a motley fool.
Good morrow, fool, quoth I-No, Sir, 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: is 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 cramm'd

(2) A motley fool; a miferable WORLD-] What! because he met a motley fool, was it therefore a miserable world? This is fadly blundered ; we should read,

a miferable VARLET.

His head is altogether running on this fool, both before and after thefe words, and here he calls him a miferable varlet, notwithstanding he railed on lady fortune in good terms, &c. Nor is the change we make so great as appears at firft fight. WARBURTON.

I fee no need of changing world to varlet, nor, if a change were neceffary, can I guess how it fhould be certainly known that warlet is the true word. A miferable world is a parenthetical exclamation, frequent among melancholy men, and natural to Jaques at the fight of a fool, or at the hearing of reflections on the fragility of life.

With observation, the which he vents
In mangled forms. Ọ that I were a fool!
I am ambitious for a motley coat.

Duke Sen. Thou shalt have one.
Jaq. It is my only fuit (3);

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 so fools have;
And they that are most gauled with my folly,
They moft muft laugh: and why, Sir, muft they fo?
The why is plain, as way to parifh church;
He (4), whom a fool doth very wifely hit,
Doth very foolishly, although he fmart,
Not to feem fenfelefs 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 speak my mind, and I will through and through
Cleanfe 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.

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

(3) Only fuit ;] Suit means petition, I believe, not dress. (4) He, whom a Fool doth very wifely bit,

Doth very feolifbly, although he Smart,

-Seem fenfeless 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 fay, and the Reasoning of the Paffage, fhew it is no less defective in the Senfe. There is no doubt, but the two little Monofyllables, which I have fupplied, were either by Accident wanting in the Manufcript Copy, or "by Inadvertence were

left out.

THEOBALD.

*If not, &c.] Unless men have the prudence not to appear touched with the farcafms of a Jefter, they subject themselves to his power, and the wife man will have his folly anatomifed, that is, diffected and laid open by the squandring glances or random shots of a fool.

As

As fenfual as the brutish fting itself (5) ;
And all the emboffed fores and headed evils,
That thou with licence of free foot hall caught,
Wouldst 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 coft of Princes on unworthy fhoulders?
Who can come in, and fay, that I mean her;
When fuch a one is the, fuch is her neighbour ?
Or what is he of bafeft function,

That fays, his bravery is not on my cost;
Thinking, that I mean him; but therein futes
His tolly 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,
Then he hath wrong'd hin felf; 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.

Faq. Why, I have eat none yet.

Orla. Nor fhalt thou, 'till neceffity be ferv'd.
Faq. What kind fhould this Cock come of?
Duke Sen. Art thou thus bolder'd, man, by thy

diftrefs;

Or elfe a rude defpifer of good manners,
That in civility thou feem'it to empty?
Orla. You touch'd my vein at first.
point (6)

The thorny

Of

(5) As fenfual as the brutifb fling-] though the brutish fting is ca pable of a fenfe not inconvenient in this paffage, yet as it is a harfk and unusual mode of fpeech, Ifhould read the brutib fty.

The thorny point

(6)
Of foarp diftrefs bas ta'en from me the fhew

of

Of bare diftrefs hath ta'en from me the fhew
Of fmooth civility; yet am I inland 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 anfwered with reason, I must die.

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

More than your force move us to gentleness,

Orla. I almoft 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 defert inacceffible,

Under the fhade 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 known what 'tis to pity, and be pitied;
Let gentleness my ftrong enforcement be,
In the which hope I blush, and hide

my fword.
[Sheathing his 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 had engender'd:
And therefore fit you down in gentleness,
And take upon command what help we have (7),
That to your wanting may be miniftred.

Orla. Then but forbear your food a little while,

Of Smooth civility;] We might read torn with more el gance, but elegance alone will not justify alteration.

(7)Then take upon command what help we have,] It seems neceffary to read, then take upon demand what help, &c. that is, afk for what we can fupply, and have it.

Whiles,