Clo. Your betters, fir.
Cor. Else they are very wretched.'.
Ros. Peace, I say :-Good even to you, friend.
Cor. And to you, gentle sir, and to you all.

Ros. I pr’ythee, shepherd, if that love, or gold
Can in this desert place buy entertainment,
Bring us where we may rest ourselves, and feed :
Here's a young maid with travel much oppress’d,
And faints for succour.

Cor. Fair sir, I picy her; And wish for her fake, more than for mine own, My fortunes were more able to relieve her: But I am shepherd to another man, And do not Theer the fleeces that I graze; ' My master is of churlish disposition, And little recks to find the way to heaven By doing deeds of hospitality: Besides, his cote, his flocks, and bounds of feed Are now on sale; and at our sheep-cote now, By reason of his absence, there is nothing That ye will feed on; but what is, come see ; And in my voice most welcome shall ye be. . Rof. What is he, that shall buy his flock and pal

ture? Cor. That young swain, that ye saw here but ere

while, That little cares for buying any thing.

Ros. I pray thee, if it stand with honesty, Buy thou the cottage, pasture, and the flock, And thou shalt have to pay for it of us,

Cel. And we will mend thy wages: I like this place, And willingly could waste my time in it. Cor. Assuredly, the thing is to be fold;

If you like, upon report, And in my voice most welcome frail sebe.] In my voice, as far as I have a voice or vote, as far as I have power to bid you welcome, JOHNSON S4

The

Go with me.

The soil, the profit, and this kind of life,
I will your very faithful feeder be,
And buy it with your gold right suddenly. (Exeunt.

S CE N E V.
Enter Amiens, Jaques, and others.

S O N G.

Under the green-wood tree,
Who loves to lie with me,
And tune bis merry note,
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
Come bitber, come bither, come bitber:

Here Mall be see

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather,
Faq. More, more, I pr’ythee, more.
Ami. It will make you melancholy, monsieur Jaques.

Jaq. I thank it.-More, I pr’ythee, more.--I can fuck melancholy out of a song, as a weazel sucks eggs; more, I pr’ythee, more.

Ami. My voice is rugged'; I know, I cannot please you.

Jaq. I do not desire you to please me, I do desire you to sing: come, come, another stanza; call you lem stanzas ?

Ami. What you will, monsieur Jaques.

Jaq. Nay, I care not for their names; they owe me nothing. Will you sing? Ami. More at your request, than to please myself

. Faq. Well then, if ever I thank any man, I'll thank you: but that, they call compliment, is like the encounter of two dog-apes; and when a man thanks

? mrugged,] In old editions ragged.

JOHNSON.

mc

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 disputable 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,

S O N G
Who doth ambition soun,
And loves to lie'i' the sun,
Seeking the food be eats,
And pleas'd with what he gets ;
Come bither, come hither, come hither;

Here hall be see

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather. Jaq. I'll give you a verse to this note, that I made yesterday in despight 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,
Duc ad me, duc ad me, duc ad me ; ?

Here hall be see

Grofs fools as be,
An' if he will come to me.

1-tolie-Old edition, to live. JOHNSON.

? Duc ad me, -] For ducdame fir T. Hanmer, very acutely ar.d judiciously, reads duc ad me, That is, bring bim to me. JOHNSON

Amii

Ami. What's that, duc ad me?

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

go to sleep if I can : if I cannot ; I'll sail against all the first-born of Egypt.

Ami. And I'll go seek the Duke: his banquet is prepar'd.

(Exeunt severally. S CE N E VI.

Enter Orlando and Adain. Adam. Dear master, 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 chyself a little. If this uncouth forest 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 something to eat, I'll give thee leave to die: but if thou diest before I come, thou arta mocker of my labour.-Well said !-thou look'st cheerly: and I'll be with you quickly. Yet thou lieft 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. S CE N E VII.

Another part of the forest. Enter: Duke Senior and lords. [A table set out. Duke Sen. I think he is transform'd into a beast, For I can can no where find him like a man.

3

-t be first-born of Egypt.] A proverbial expression for high-born persons. JOHNSON.

I Lord.

i 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 musical, We shall have shortly discord in the spheres. Go, seek him. Tell him, I would speak with him.

Enter Jaques. i Lord. He saves my labour by his own approach, Duke Sen. 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, And rail'd on lady Fortune in good terms, In good set terms, -and yet a motley fool. ! Good-morrow, fool, quoth 1 :-No, fir, quoth he. Call me not fool, till Heaven bath sent me fortune : And then he drew a dial from his poke; And looking on it with lack-lustre eye, Says, very wisely, Ilis ten a-clock; Thus may we may see, quoth he, how the world wags. 'Tis but an hour ago fince it was nine ;

• A motley fool!-a miserable world!) What! because he met a motley fool, was it therefore a miserable world? This is sadly blundered ; we thould read,

a miserable VARLET. His head is altogether running on this fool, both before and after these words, and here he calls him a miserable varlet, notwithftanding he railed on lady Fortune in good terms, &c. Nor is the change we make so great as appears at first sight. WARBURTON.

I see no need of changing fool to varlet, nor, if a change were necessary, can I guess how it should certainly be known that varlet is the true word. A miserable world is a parenthetical exclamation, frequent among melancholy men, and natural to Jaques at thef.ght of a fool, or at the hearing of reflections on the fragility. of life. JOHNSON

And