That your poor friends must woo your company? Jaq. A fool, a fool!I met a fool i'th forest, As I do live by food, I met a fool; Who laid him down and bask'd him in the sun, Thus may we see, quoth he, how the world wags: A worthy fool! Motley's" the only wear. 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 bisket 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 ;° m 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."-REED. n motley-] A habit composed of various colours, the customary dress of a domestic fool. suit;] Suit means petition I believe, not dress.-JOHNSON. you weed your better judgments Provided that To blow on whom I please: for so fools have: He, that a fool doth very wisely hit, Doth, very foolishly, although he smart, Even by the squandering glances of the fool." To speak my mind, and I will through and through 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, As sensual as the brutish sting itself; And all the embossed sores, and headed evils, That can therein tax any private party? The cost of princes on unworthy shoulders? p - 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 anatomized, that is, dissected and laid open, by the squandering glances or random shots of a fool.-JOHNSON. q 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.-STEEVENS. brutish sting-] A line from Othello, -our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts," Is quoted by Steevens to illustrate these words. Dr. Johnson proposes to read sty for sting. Who can come in, and say, that I mean her, That says, his bravery3 is not on my cost, (Thinking that I mean him,) but therein suits His folly to the mettle of my speech? There then; How then, what then? Let me see wherein Enter ORLANDO, with his sword drawn. Orl. Forbear, and eat no more. Jaq. Why, I have eat none yet. Orl. Nor shalt not, till necessity be serv❜d. Jaq. Of what kind should this cock come of? Duke S. Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy distress; Or else a rude despiser of good manners, That in civility thou seem'st so empty ? Orl. You touch'd my vein at first; the thorny point Of bare distress hath ta'en from me the show Of smooth civility: yet am I inland bred, And know some nurture :" But forbear, I say; Till I and my affairs are answered. Jaq. An you will not be answered with reason, I must die. Duke S. What would you have? Your gentleness shall More than your force move us to gentleness. [force, Orl. I almost die for food, and let me have it. I thought, that all things had been savage here: And therefore put I on the countenance Of stern commandment: But whate'er you are, 8 his bravery-] i. e. His fine clothes. t inland-] i. e. Civilized, opposed to upland the old expression for rustick, which has become obsolete.-TODD. nurture.] i. e. Education. Under the shade of melancholy boughs, If ever been where bells have knoll'd to church; If ever from your eye-lids wip'd a tear, Orl. Then, but forbear your food a little while, Duke S. Go find him out, And we will nothing waste till you return. Orl. I thank ye; and be bless'd for your good comfort! [Exit. Duke S. Thou seest, we are not all alone unhappy : This wide and universal theatre Presents more woeful pageants than the scene All the world's a stage, Jaq. × And take upon command—] i. e. At your own command.—STEEVENS. Wherein we play in.] This manner of repeating the preposition, which some of the modern editors have altered, was in Shakspeare's time a familiar idiom of our language; in proof of which Mr. Malone has collected a long string of apposite quotations; they may be found in the last edition of his Shakspeare, vol. vi. p. 70. |