Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

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

Jaq. O worthy 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 shalt have one,
Jac. It is my only fuit;:

Provided, that you weed your better judgments
Of all opinion, that grows rank in them,
That I am wife. 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 gauled with my folly,
They most must laugh: and why, Sir, muft they fo?
The why is plain, as way to parish church;
He 4, whom a fool doth very wifely hit,
Doth very foolishly, although he fmart,
Not to feem fenfelefs of the bob. If not *.
The wife man's folly is anatomiz'd
Even by the fquandring glances of a fool.

[blocks in formation]

Inveft me in my motley, give me leave
To fpeak my mind, and I will through and through
Cleanfe the foul body of th' 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. Moft mifchievous foul fin, in chiding fin :

For thou thyself haft been a libertine,
As fenfual as the brutish fting itself ';
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 Sea,
'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 Prince's on unworthy shoulders?
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 baseft function,

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

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?

SE

55. As fenfual as the brutish fling.] though the brutish fting is capable of a fenfe not inconvenient

39

in this paffage, yet as it is a harsh and unutual mode of speech, 'I should read the brutish fty.

SCENE

SBEN E VIII.

Enter Orlando, with Sword drawn.

Orla. Forbear, and eat no more,

faq. Why, I have eat none yet.

Orla. Nor fhalt thou, 'till neceffity be ferv'd.
Jaq. What kind fhould this Cock come of?
Duke Sen. Art thou thus bolden'd, man, by thy
diftrefs;

Or elfe a rude defpifer of good manners,
That in civility thou feem'ft fo empty?
Orla. You touch'd my vein at first.

point"

The thorny,

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 fay:
He dies, that touches any of this fruit,
'Till I and my affairs are anfwered.
Jaq. If you will not

Be anfwered with reafon, I must die.

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;

[ocr errors]

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

Of ftern commandment. But whate'er you are,

The thorny point

Of sharp diftrefs has ta'en from me the fhew Of Smooth civility.] We might

read torn with more elegance, but elegance alone will not jufti fy alteration.

That in this defert inacceffible,

Under the shade of melancholy boughs,

Lose 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 eyelids 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 his fword.
Duke Sen, True is it, that we have seen 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
Limp'd in pure love; 'till he be firft fuffic'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 your return.

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

[Exit.

SCENE IX.

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

happy:

This wide and univerfal Theatre

" Then take upon command what help we have.] It seems neellary to read, then take upon

demand what help, &c. that is, ask for what we can fupply, and have it.

Pre

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

Jaq. All the world's a Stage,

And all the men and women meerly 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 fchool-boy with his fatchel,
And fhining morning-face, creeping like fnail
Unwillingly to fchool. And then, the lover;
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his miftrefs' 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 justice
In fair round belly, with good capon lin'a,
With eyes fevere, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wife faws and modern inftances,
And fo he plays his part. The fixth age shifts?
Into the lean and flipper'd pantaloon,
With fpectacles on nofe, and pouch on fide;
His youthful hofe well fav'd, a world too wide
For his thrunk thank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

3 Full of wife faws and modern inftances.] It is remarkable that Shakespear ules modern in the double fenfe that the Greeks ufed zao, both for recens and abfurdus. WARBURTON. I am in doubt whether modern is in this place ufed for abfurd: the meaning feems to be, that the juftice is full of old fayings and late examples...

9

-The fixth age fifts Into the lean and flipper'd pantaleon.] There is a greater

beauty than appears at first sight in this image. He is here comparing human life to a flage play, of feven acts, (which was no unusual divifion before our author's time.) The fixth he calls the lean and flipper'd pantaioon, alluding to that general charac ter in the Italian comedy, called Il Pantalóne; who is a thin ema ciated old man in flippers; and well designed, in that epithet, because Pantalóne is the only charafter that acts in flippers. WARB

And

« AnteriorContinuar »