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 bangs 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!

A worthy fool!-Motley's the only wear.
Duke Sen. What fool is this?

Jaq. Oworthy fool!-One that hath been a courtier; And fays, 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 ftrange places cramm'd
With obfervation, the which he vents

In mangled forms :-O that I were a fool!
I am ambitious for a motley coat.

Duke Sen. Thou fhalt have one.

Jaq. It is my only fuit; 5

Provided, that you weed your better judgments
Of all opinion, that grows rank in them,
That I am wife. I muft have liberty

Withal; as large a charter as the wind,

To blow on whom I pleafe; for fo fools have:
And they that are most gauled with my folly,

They most must laugh: And why, fir, muft they fo?
The why is plain as way to parish church:
He, that a fool doth very wifely hit,

Doth

Only fuit ;] Suit means petition, I believe, not drefs.

The poet meant a quibble. So act v. rel, but out of your fuit. STEEVENS.

JOHNSON. "Not out of your appa

He, that a fool doth very wifely hit,
Doth very foolishly, although he fmart,
·Seem fenfeless of the bob. If not, &c.]

Befides that the third verfe is defective one whole foot in measure,

the

Doth very foolishly, although he fmart,
Not to feem fenfelefs of the bob. If not, 7
The wife man's folly is anatomiz'd

Even by the fquandring glances of the fool.
Invest me in my motley; give me leave

To speak my mind, and I will through and through Cleanse the foul body of the infected world,

If they will patiently receive my medicine.

Duke Sen. Fie on thee! I can tell what thou wouldst do.

Jaq. What, for a counter, would I do, but good? Duke Sen. Most mischievous foul fin, in chiding

fin:

For thou thyself haft been a libertine,

As fenfual as the brutish fting itself:

8

And all the emboffed fores and headed evils,
That thou with licence of free foot haft caught,
Wouldst thou difgorge into the general world.
Jaq. Why, who cries out on pride,
That can therein tax any private party?
Doth it not flow as hugely as the fea,
'Till that the very very means do ebb?
What woman in the city do I name,
When that I fay the city-woman bears
The cost of princes on unworthy shoulders?

the tenour of what Jaques continues to fay, and the reafoning of the paffage, fhew it is no lefs defective in the fenfe. There is no doubt, but the two little monofyllables, which I have fupplied, were either by accident wanting in the manufoript cr by inadvertence were left out. THEOBALD.

7 If not, &c.] Unless men have the prudence not to appear touched with the farcafms of a jefter, they fubject themselves to his power, and the wife man will have his folly anatomised, that is diffected and laid open by the fquandring glances or random shots of a fool. JOHNSON.

As fenfual as the brutish fting] Though the brutish fting is capable of a fenfe not inconvenient in this paffage, yet as it is a harth and unusual mode of fpeech, I fhould read the brutish fly.

JOHNSON.

Who

Who can come in, and fay, that I mean her,
When fuch a one as fhe, fuch is her neighbour?
Or what is he of bafeft function,

That fays, his bravery is not on my coft;
(Thinking, that I mean him) but therein fuits
His folly to the metal of my fpeech?

There then; how then? what then? Let me fee wherein

My tongue hath wrong'd him: if it do him right, Then he hath wrong'd himself: if he be free, Why, then, my taxing, like a wild goofe, flies Unclaim'd of any man.-But who comes here?

Enter Orlando, with fword drawn.

Orla. Forbear, and eat no more.--
Faq. Why, I have eat none yet.

Orla. Nor fhalt not, 'till neceffity be ferv'd.
Jaq. Of what kind should this cock come of?
Duke Sen. Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy
distress;

Or else a rude defpifer of good manners,

That in civility thou feem'ft fo empty?

Orla. You touch'd my vein at first. The thorny point 9

Of bare diftrefs hath ta'en from me the fhew
Of smooth civility: yet am I inland bred,
And know fome nurture. But forbear, I say:
He dies, that touches any of this fruit,
'Till I and my affairs are answered.
Jaq. An you will not

Be answered with reason, I must die.

Of Smooth civility.]

We might read torn with more elegance, but elegance alone will

not juftify alteration. JOHNSON.

Duke

Duke Sen. What would you have? Your gentleness fhall force,

More than your force move us to gentleness.

Orla. I almoft die for food, and let me have it. Duke Sen. Sit down and feed; and welcome to our table.

Orla. Speak you fo gently ?-Pardon me, I pray

you;

I thought, that all things had been favage here;
And therefore put I on the countenance

Or ftern commandment. But whate'er you are,
That in this defert inacceffible,

Under the fhade of melancholy boughs,
Lofe and neglect the creeping hours of time;
If ever you have look'd on better days;

If ever been where bells have knoll'd to church;
If ever fate at any good man's feast;
If ever from your eye-lids wip'd a tear,
And known what 'tis to pity, and be pitied;
Let gentleness my ftrong enforcement be:
In the which hope I blush, and hide my fword.
[Sheathing bis fword.
Duke Sen. True is it, that we have feen better days;
And have with holy bell been knoll'd to church;
And fate at good men's feafts; and wip'd our eyes
Of drops, that facred pity hath engender'd:
And therefore fit you down in gentleness,
And take upon command what help we have,'
That to your wanting may be miniftred.

Orla. Then but forbear your food a little while,
Whiles, like a doe, I go to find my fawn,
And give it food. There is an old poor man,
Who after me hath many a weary step

And take upon command what help we have.] It seems neceffary to read, then take upon demand what help, &c. that is, ask for what we can fupply, and have it. JOHNSON.

Limp'd in pure love; 'till he be first suffic'd, Opprefs'd with two weak evils, age and hunger, I will not touch a bit.

Duke Sen. Go find him out,

And we will nothing wafte till you return.

Orla. I thank ye; and be blefs'd for your good

comfort!

[Exit. Duke Sen. Thou feeft, we are not all alone un

happy:

This wide and univerfal theatre

Prefents more woful pageants, than the scene
Wherein we play in.

Jaq. All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players :
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being feven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms:
And then, the whining school-boy with his fatchel,
And shining morning-face, creeping like fnail
Unwillingly to school:-And then, the lover;
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad

Made to his mistress' eye-brow:-Then, a foldier:
Full of ftrange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, fudden and quick in quarrel;
Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth :-And then, the juftice,
In fair round belly, with good capon lin❜d,
With eyes fevere, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wife faws and modern inftances, 3

And

2 Wherein we play in.] Thus the old copy. Mr. Pope more correctly reads,

3 Full of wife fars and modern inftances.] It is remarkable that Shakespeare ufes modern in the double fenfe that the Greeks used xairos, both for recens and abfurdus. WARBURTON.