not die for lack of a dinner, if there live any thing in this desert. Cheerly, good Adam ! [Exeunt. SCENE VII. The same. A table set out. Enter Duke Senior, AMIENS, Lords, and Others. Duke S. I think he be transformed into a beast; 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 S. 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. 1 Lord. He saves my labour by his own approach. Duke S. Why, how now, monsieur! what a life is this, That your poor friends must woo your company? What! you look merrily. Jaq. A fool, a fool!I met a fool i'the 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, 5 compact of jars,] i. e. made up of discords. Call me not fool, till heaven hath sent me fortune:] Fortuna favet fatuis, is, as Mr. Upton observes, the saying here alluded to; or, as in Publius Syrus : 66 Fortuna, nimium quem fovet, stultum facit.” And then he drew a dial from his poke: Thus may we see, quoth he, how the world wags: A worthy fool! Motley's the only wear. Duke S. 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 cramm'd In mangled forms:-0, that I were a fool! Duke S. Thou shalt have one. It is my only suit'; Jaq. To blow on whom I please: for so fools have: And they that are most galled with my folly, They most must laugh: And why, sir, must they so? The why is plain as way to parish church : He, that a fool doth very wisely hit, Doth very foolishly, although he smart, 7 only suit ;] Suit means petition, not dress. Not to seem senseless of the bob: if not, Even by the squand'ring glances of the fool. To speak my mind, and I will through and through If they will patiently receive my medicine. Duke S. Fye on thee! I can tell what thou wouldst do. Jaq. What, for a counter, would I do, but good? Duke S. Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin: For thou thyself hast been a libertine, As sensual as the brutish sting itself; And all the embossed sores, and headed evils, Or what is he of basest function, That says, his bravery' is not on my cost, His folly to the mettle of my speech? There then; How, what then +? Let me see wherein 8 if not, &c.] Unless men have the prudence not to appear touched with the sarcasms of a jester, they subject themselves to his power; and the wise man will have his folly anatomised, that is, dissected and laid open, by the squandering glances or random shots of a fool. JOHNSON. 9 - for a counter,] About the time when this play was written, the French counters (i. e. pieces of false money used as a means of reckoning) were brought into use in England. 1 his bravery] i. e. his fine clothes. + "There then: How then, what then?" &c. 0 MALONE. My tongue hath wrong'd him: if it do him right, Enter ORLANDO, with his sword drawn. Orl. Forbear, and eat no more. Jaq. Why, I have eat none yet. Orl. Nor shalt not, till necessity be serv'd. Jaq. Of what kind should this cock come of? Duke S. Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy distress; Or else a rude despiser of good manners, That in civility thou seem'st so empty? Orl. You touch'd my vein at first; the thorny point Of bare distress hath ta’en from me the show Of smooth civility: yet am I inland bred', Till I and my affairs are answered. Jaq. An you will not be answered with reason, I must die. Duke S. What would you have? Your gentleness shall force, More than your force move us to gentleness. Orl. I almost die for food, and let me have it. Duke S. Sit down and feed, and welcome to our table. Of stern commandment: But whate'er you are, Under the shade of melancholy boughs, Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time; 2 inland bred,] Inland here, and elsewhere in this play, is the opposite to outland, or upland. Orlando means to say, that he had not been bred among clowns. 3 And know some nurture:] Nurture is education, breeding. If ever you have look'd on better days; If ever been where bells have knoll'd to church; If ever from your eye-lids wip'd a tear, Orl. Then, but forbear your food a little while, Duke S. Go find him out, And we will nothing waste till you return. Orl. I thank ye; and be bless'd for your good comfort! [Exit. Duke S. Thou seest, we are not all alone unhappy : This wide and universal theatre Presents more woeful pageants than the scene Jaq. At your own command. 4 And take upon command -] 5 His acts being seven ages.] I have seen, more than once, an old print, entitled The Stage of Man's Life, divided into seven ages. As emblematical representations of this sort were formerly |