Ducdame, ducdame, ducdàme;" Here shall he see, Gross fools as he, An if he will come to Ami. Ami. What's that ducdame? 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. 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 ducdàme ;] For ducdàme, Sir Thomas Hanmer, very acutely and judiciously, reads duc ad me, that is, bring him to me. Dr. Farmer thinks it is evidently a word coined for the nonce. of a dinner, if there live any thing in this desert. Cheerly, good Adam! [Exeunt. SCENE VII. A table set out. 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 is this, That your poor friends must woo your company? 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, 5-compact of jars,] i. e. made up of discords. 6 Call me not fool, till heaven hath sent me fortune:] Fortuna favet fatuis, is, as Mr. Upton observes, the saying here alluded to; or, as in Publius Syrus: "Fortuna, nimium quem fovet, stultum facit." And looking on it with lack-lustre eye, 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 Jaq. O worthy fool!-One that hath been a courtier; And says, if ladies be but young, and fair, After a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd In mangled forms:-O, that I were a fool! Duke S. Thou shalt have one. Jaq. It is my only suit ;7 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, 7 only suit;] Suit means petition, not dress. Doth very foolishly, although he smart, Even by the squandring glances of the fool. 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, And all the embossed sores, and headed evils, That says, his bravery' is not on my cost, 8 if not, &c.] Unless men have the prudence not to appear touched with the sarcasms of a jester, they subject themselves to his power; and the wise man will have his folly anatomised, that is, dissected and laid open, by the squandring glances or random shots of a fool. JOHNSON. 9 -for a counter,] About the time when this play was written, the French counters (i. e. pieces of false money used as a means of reckoning) were brought into use in England. 1 his bravery-] i. e. his fine clothes. |