Duke will dine under this tree; he hath seen 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 boast of them, Come, warble, come.

SONG.

Who doth ambition fbun,
And loves to lye i' th' fun,
Seeking the food be eats,

And pleas'd with what he gets ;
Come bitber, come bit ber, come bitkeng
Here fhall be fee

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather.

Jaq. I'll give you a verse to this note, that I made yefterday 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 bis wealth and cafe,
A ftubborn will to please,

Duc ad me, duc ad me, duc ad me z

Here fhall be fee

Grofs fools as be,

An if be will come to me?

Ami. What's that due ad me?

Jaq. 'Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into a circle. I'll go 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 pre

par'd.

[Exeunt SCENE VI. Enter Orlando and Adam. Adam. Dear master, I can go no further; O, I die for food! here lye 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, cheer thyfelf a little. If

this

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 lyeft in the bleak air. Come, I will bear thee to fome fhelter, and thou shalt not die for lack of a dinner, if there live any thing in this defart. Cheerly, good Adam. [Exeunt.

SCENE

Enter Duke Sen. and Lords.

VII.

[A table fet out. Duke Sen. I think he is 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 Sen. If he, compact of jars, grow mufical,
We shall have shortly difcord in the spheres:
Go feek him, tell him I would fpeak 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?

What? you look merrily.

Jaq. A fool, a fool; I met a fool i' th' foreft, A motley fool, a miferable varlet,

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, Sir, quoth he,
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;

C.3

And

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?

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 bifket
After a voyage, he hath strange 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 must 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 most must laugh: and why, Sir, must they fo?
The why is plain, as way to parish church;
He, whom a fool doth very wifely hit,
Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
Not to feem fenfelefs of the bob. If not,
The wife man's folly is anatomiz'd
Even by the fquand'ring glances of a fool.
Inveft me in my motley, give me leave

To fpeak 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. Jaq. What, for a counter, would I do but good? Duke Sen, Moft mischievous foul fin, in chiding fin:

For

For thou thyself haft been a libertine,
As fenfual as the brutish fting itself;

And all th' emboffed fores and headed evils,
That thou with license of free foot haft caught,
Would't thou difgorge 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 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 cost 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 3
Or what is he of basest fonction,

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

There then: how then? let me then 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?
SCENE VIII.

Enter Orlando, with his favord drawn.

Orla. Forbear, and eat no more,

Faq. Why, I have eat none yet.

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

Jaq. Of what kind fhould this cock come?

Duke Sen. Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy diftrefs?

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 diftrefs hath ta'en from me the fhew

Or fmooth civility; yet am I in-land bred,
And know fome nurture: but forbear, I say:
He dies that touches any of this fruit,
"Till I and my affairs are anfwered.

Jaq. If you will not

Be anfwered with reason, I muft die.

Duke.

Duke Sen. What would you have? Your gentleness fhall More than your force move us to gentleness.

Orla. I almoft die for food, and let me have it.

[force,

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 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 feaft;
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.

Duke Sen. True is it that we have seen better days,
And have with holy bell been knoll'd to church,
And fate 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 command what help we have,
That to your wanting may be miniftred.

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
Limp'd in pure love; 'till he be firft fuffic'd,
Opprefs'd with two weak evils, age and hunger,
I will not touch a bit.

Duke Sen. Go find him out,

And we will nothing wafte till your return.

Orla. I thank ye; and be blefs'd for your good comfort!

SCENE IX.

[Exit.

Duke Sen. Thou feeft we are not all alone unhappy :

This wide and univerfal theatre

Prefents more woful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play.