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 sent me fortune." And then he drew a dial from his poke, 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 one hour more 'twill be eleven ; 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 cour tier, 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 cramm'd In mangled forms.-O, that I were a fool! Duke S. Thou shalt have one. Jaq. It is my only suit; 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? 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. Fie 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 th' embossed sores, and headed evils, That can therein tax any private party? 1 NOT TO seem senseless of the bob:] The old copies read, seem senseless of the bob ;" which appears wrong, not merely as regards the meaning, but the measure: both are completed by the insertion of "Not to," supplied by Theobald; though they may not be the very words accidentally omitted by the compositor, or which had dropped out in the press. 2 Till that the WEARY very means do ebb?] The old copies give this line literatim as follows: "Till that the wearie verie meanes do ebbe ?" which Pope altered thus, Malone and other modern editors following him :-"Till that the very very means do ebb ?" A clear sense can be made out of the passage as it stands in the old text, and we therefore reprint it; but the compositor may have misread wearie for "wearing," and transposed cery; and if we consider Jaques to be railing against pride and excess of apparel, the meaning may be, that "the very wearing means,” or means of wearing fine clothes, "do ebb." To read "very, very," with Pope and others, is poor, and unlike Shakespeare. The cost of princes on unworthy shoulders? That says, his bravery is not on my cost, His folly to the mettle of my speech? There then; how then? what then? Let me see wherein My tongue hath wrong'd him: if it do him right, 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 dis tress, 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 bred3, 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 force, More than your force move us to gentleness. 3 - yet am I INLAND bred,] The word occurs again in Act. iii. sc. 2, "who was in his youth an inland man.' "Inland was generally used in our old writers in opposition to upland, which meant rustic and unpolished. Orl. I almost die for food, and let me have it. Duke S. Sit down and feed, and welcome to our table. I thought, that all things had been savage here, Of stern commandment. But whate'er you are, Under the shade of melancholy boughs, Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time, 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, And we will nothing waste till you return. Orl. I thank ye; and be bless'd for your good com fort! [Exit. Duke S. Thou seest, we are not all alone unhappy : This wide and universal theatre Presents more woful pageants, than the scene Wherein we play in. Jaq. Even in the cannon's mouth. And then, the justice, With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances1; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Is second childishness, and mere oblivion; Re-enter ORLANDO, with ADAM. Duke S. Welcome. burden, And let him feed. 4 Orl. Set down your venerable I thank you most for him. and MODERN instances ;] i. e. common instances. The use of the word in this sense is frequent. |