Besides, his cote,1 his flocks, and bounds of feed,
Are now on sale, and at our sheepcote now,
By reason of his absence, there is nothing

will feed on; but what is, come see,

That you
And in my voice 2 most welcome shall you be.
Ros. What is he that shall buy his flock and
pasture?

Cor. That young swain that you saw here but erewhile,

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 sold.
Go with me; if you like, upon report,
The soil, the profit, and this kind of life,
I will your very faithful feeder be,
And buy it with your gold right suddenly.

SCENE V. The same.

Enter AMIENS, JAQUES, and others.

SONG.

Ami. Under the greenwood tree,

Who loves to lie with me,

And turn3 his merry note

Unto the sweet bird's throat,

Come hither, come hither, come hither :

Here shall he see

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather.

[Exeunt.

1 i. e. cot or cottage: the word is still used in its compound form, as sheepcote in the next line.

2 In my voice, as far as I have a voice or vote, as far as I have the power to bid you welcome.

3 The old copy reads: "And turne his merry note." which Pope altered to tune, the reading of all the modern editions.

Jaq. More, more, I pr'ythee, more.

I can

Ami. It will make you melancholy, monsieur Jaques. Jaq. I thank it. More, I pr'ythee, more. suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs. More, I pr'ythee, more.

Ami. My voice is ragged;1 I know, I cannot please

you.

Jaq. I do not desire you to please me, I do desire you to sing. Come, more; another stanza. Call you

them 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. Jaq. 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 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.

2

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.

SONG.

Who doth ambition shun, [All together here.
And loves to live i' the sun,

Seeking the food he eats,

And pleased with what he gets,

Come hither, come hither, come hither;

Here shall he see

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather.

1 Ragged and rugged had formerly the same meaning.
2 i. e. disputatious.

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

yesterday in despite of
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,
Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame ;1

Here shall he see

Gross fools as he,

An if he will come to me.

Ami. What's that ducdame?

1

Jaq. 'Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into a circle. I'll go sleep if I can; if I cannot, I'll rail against all the first-born of Egypt.

2

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

[Exeunt severally.

SCENE VI. The same.

Enter ORLANDO and ADAM.

Adam. Dear master, I can go no farther. 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

1 Sir Thomas Hanmer reads duc ad me, i. e. bring him to me, which reading Johnson highly approves.

2 "The first-born of Egypt," a proverbial expression for high-born persons; it is derived from Exodus xii. 29.

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 labor. 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. Cheerily, 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 labor 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 basked him in the sun,
And railed 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,

1 i. e. made up of discords. In the Comedy of Errors we have "compact of credit," for made up of credulity.

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 biscuit

After a voyage-he hath strange places crammed
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;2 Provided, that you weed your better judgments 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,

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

1 The fool was anciently dressed in a party-colored coat.

2 "My only suit," a quibble between petition and dress is here intended. 3 The old copies read only, seem senseless, &c. not to were supplied by Theobald.