And do not fhare the fleeces that I graze;
My Mafter is of churlish difpofition,
And little recks to find the way to heav'n
By doing deeds of hospitality :

Befides, his Cote, his flocks, and bounds of feed.
Are now on fale, and at our sheep-cote now,
By reafon of his abfence, there is nothing
That ye will feed on; but what is, come fee;
And in my voice most welcome shall ye be '.

Rof. What is he, that fhall buy his flock and pafture?

Cor. That young fwain, that ye faw here but erewhile,

That little cares for buying any thing.

Rof. I pray thee, if it ftand with honesty,
Buy thou the cottage, pafture, and the flock,
And thou fhalt have to pay for it of us.
Cel. And we will mend thy wages.

--I like this place, and willingly could wafte
My time in it.

Cor. Affuredly, the thing is to be fold;
Go with me. If you like, upon report,
The foil, the profit, and this kind of life,
I will your very faithful feeder be;

And buy it with your gold right fuddenly. [Exeunt.

SCENE

V.

Enter Amiens, Jaques, and others.

SONG.

Under the green-wood tree,

Who loves to lie with me,

▾ And in my voice right wel- far as I have power to bid you

And tune his merry note.

Unto the fweet bird's throat,

Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he fee

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather.

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

Ami. It will make you melancholy, Monfieur Jaques.

Jaq. I thank it

more, I pr'ythee, more

I can fuck melancholy out of a Song, as a weazel fucks eggs: more, I pr'ythee, more.

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

you.

Jaq. I do not defire you to please me, I do defire you to fing; come, come, another ftanzo; call you 'em ftanzo's?

Ami. What you will, Monfieur Jaques.

Jaq. Nay, I care not for their names, they owe me nothing.- Will you fing?

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 Compliments, 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, fing; and you that will not, hold your

tongues.

Ami. Well, I'll end the fong. Sirs, cover the while; -the Duke will dine 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 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.

* In old editions, ragged.

SONG

SON G.

Who doth ambition fhun,

And loves to lie* i'th' Sun,
Seeking the food he eats,

And pleas'd with what he gets;

Come hither, come hither, come hither ;
Here fhall be fee.

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather.

Jaq. I'll give thee a verfe to this note, that I made

yesterday in defpight of

Ami. And I'll fing it.

Jaq. Thus it goes.

my invention.

If it do come to pass.
That any man turn afs;
Leaving his wealth and cafe
A ftubborn will to please,
Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame†;
Here fhall be fee

Grofs fools as be,

An' if he will come to me.

Ami. What's that's ducdame?

Faq. 'Tis a Greek invocation, to call fools into a circle.I'll go to 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 prepar❜d. [Exeunt, feverally.

Old Edition, to live.

+ For ducdame Sir T. Hanmer, very acutely and judiciously, reads,

D 3

duc ad me. That is, bring him

to me.

SCENE

1

Adam. Dear master, I can go no further. O, I die for food! here lie I down, and meafure out my grave. Farewel, kind mafter.

Orla. 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 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'st cheerly; and I'll be with you quickly! Yet thou lieft 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 Defert. Cheerly, good Adam. [Exeunt.

SCENE VII.

Another part of the FOREST.

Enter Duke Sen. and Lords.

[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.

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 mufical,
We fhall have fhortly difcord in the spheres.
Go, feek him. Tell him, I would fpeak with him.

Enter Jaques.

1 Lord. He faves my labour by his own approach. Duke

Duke Sen. Why, how now, Monfieur, what a life

is this,

That your poor friends must woo your company?

What! you look merrily.

I met a fool i'th' forest,

Jaq. A fool, a fool;

A motley fool a miserable world—2

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 set 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 poke,
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;
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,

2A motley fool; a miferable WORLD!] What! because he met a motley fool, was it therefore a miferable world? This is sadly blundered; we should read,

a miferable VARLET.

His head is altogether running on this fool, both before and after thefe words, and here he calls him a miferable varlet, notwithftanding he railed on lady fortune in good terms, &c, Nor is the

change we make fo great as appears at first fight.

WARBURTON.

I fee no need of changing world to varlet, nor, if a change were neceffary, can I guess how it fhould be certainly known that varlet is the true word. A miferable world is a parenthetical exclamation, frequent among melancholy men, and natural to Jaques at the fight of a fool, or at the hearing of reflections on the fragility of life.