you: but that they call compliment, is like the encounter of two dog-apes; and when a man thanks me heartily, methinks, I have given him a penny, and he renders me the beggarly thanks. Come, sing; and you that will not, hold your tongues.

Ami. Well, I'll end the song.-Sirs, cover the while; the duke will drink 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 dispútable for my company: I think of as many matters as he; but I give heaven thanks, and make no boast of them. Come, warble, come.

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

Ami. And I'll sing it.
Jaq. Thus it goes:

If it do come to pass,
That any man turn ass
Leaving his wealth and ease
A stubborn will to please,
Ducaùme, ducdàme, ducdàme;
Here shall he see,

Gross fools as he,

An if he will come to Ari.

Ami. What's that ducdàme?

cannot, I'll rail

Jaq. 'Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into a circle. I'll go sleep if I can, if I against all the first-born of Egypt.

Ami. And I'll go seek the duke; his banquet is prepar'd.

[Exeunt severally.

SCENE VI.-The same.

Enter ORLANDO and ADAM.

Adam. Dear master, I can go no further: O, I die for food! Here lie I down, and measure out my grave. Farewell, kind master.

Orl. Why, how now, Adam! no greater heart in thee? Live a little; comfort a little; cheer thyself a little: If this uncouth forest yield any thing savage, I will either be food for it, or bring it for food to thee Thy conceit is nearer death than thy powers. For my sake, be comfortable; hold death awhile at the arm's end: I will here be with thee presently; and if I bring thee not something to eat, I'll give thee leave to die: but if thou diest before I come, thou art a mocker of my labour. Well said! thou look'st cheerily and I'll be with thee quickly.Yet thou liest in the bleak air: Come, I will bear thee to some shelter; and thou shalt not die for lack of a dinner, if there live any thing in this desert. Cheerly, good Adam!

:

[Exeunt.

A table set out.

SCENE VII.-The same.

Enter Duke senior, AMIENS, Lords, and others.

Duke S. I think he be transform'd 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 15

this,

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

Jaq. 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 me not fool, till heaven hath sent me fortune:
And then he drew a dial from his poke;
And looking on it with lack-lustre eye,
Says, very wisely, It is ten o'clock:

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

And after an hour more, 'twill be eleven;

And so, 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 should be so deep-contemplative;
And I did laugh, sans intermission,
An hour by his dial.- O noble fool!

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
With observation, the which he vents

In mangled forms :- -O, that I were a fool!'

I am ambitious for a motley coat.

Duke S. Thou shalt have one.

Jaq.
It is my only suit;
Provided, that you weed your better judgements

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 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,
Not to seem senseless of the bob: if not,
The wise man's folly is anatomiz'd

Even by the squandring 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 th' infected world,

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 th' embossed sores, and headed evils,
That thou with licence of free foot hast caught,
Wouldst 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 cost 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 basest function,

That says, his bravery is not on my cost,

(Thinking that I mean him,) but therein suits

His folly to the mettle of my speech?

There then; How, what then? Let me see 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 goose flies,
Unclaim'd of any man.-But who comes here?

Enter ORLANDO, with his sword drawn.

Orl. Forbear, and eat no more.