ACT V. SCENE I.
The forest
Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY
| TOUCHSTONE. | We shall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Audrey.
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| AUDREY. | Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old
gentleman's saying.
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| TOUCHSTONE. | A most wicked Sir Oliver, Audrey, a most vile Martext.
But, Audrey, there is a youth here in the forest lays claim to
you.
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| AUDREY. | Ay, I know who 'tis; he hath no interest in me in the
world; here comes the man you mean.
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Enter WILLIAM
| TOUCHSTONE. | It is meat and drink to me to see a clown. By my troth,
we that have good wits have much to answer for: we shall be
flouting; we cannot hold.
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| WILLIAM. | Good ev'n, Audrey.
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| AUDREY. | God ye good ev'n, William.
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| WILLIAM. | And good ev'n to you, sir.
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| TOUCHSTONE. | Good ev'n, gentle friend. Cover thy head, cover thy
head; nay, prithee be cover'd. How old are you, friend?
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| WILLIAM. | Five and twenty, sir.
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| TOUCHSTONE. | A ripe age. Is thy name William?
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| WILLIAM. | William, sir.
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| TOUCHSTONE. | A fair name. Wast born i' th' forest here?
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| WILLIAM. | Ay, sir, I thank God.
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| TOUCHSTONE. | 'Thank God.' A good answer.
Art rich?
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| WILLIAM. | Faith, sir, so so.
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| TOUCHSTONE. | 'So so' is good, very good, very excellent good; and
yet it is not; it is but so so. Art thou wise?
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| WILLIAM. | Ay, sir, I have a pretty wit.
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| TOUCHSTONE. | Why, thou say'st well. I do now remember a saying:
'The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to
be a fool.' The heathen philosopher, when he had a desire to eat
a grape, would open his lips when he put it into his mouth;
meaning thereby that grapes were made to eat and lips to open. You do love this maid?
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| WILLIAM. | I do, sir.
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| TOUCHSTONE. | Give me your hand. Art thou learned?
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| WILLIAM. | No, sir.
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| TOUCHSTONE. | Then learn this of me: to have is to have; for it is a
figure in rhetoric that drink, being pour'd out of cup into a
glass, by filling the one doth empty the other; for all your
writers do consent that ipse is he; now, you are not ipse, for I
am he.
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| WILLIAM. | Which he, sir?
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| TOUCHSTONE. | He, sir, that must marry this woman. Therefore, you
clown, abandon- which is in the vulgar leave- the society- which
in the boorish is company- of this female- which in the common is
woman- which together is: abandon the society of this female; or,
clown, thou perishest; or, to thy better understanding, diest;
or, to wit, I kill thee, make thee away, translate thy life into
death, thy liberty into bondage. I will deal in poison with thee,
or in bastinado, or in steel; I will bandy with thee in faction;
will o'er-run thee with policy; I will kill thee a hundred and
fifty ways; therefore tremble and depart.
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| AUDREY. | Do, good William.
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| WILLIAM. | God rest you merry, sir
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Exit
Enter CORIN
| CORIN. | Our master and mistress seeks you; come away, away.
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| TOUCHSTONE. | Trip, Audrey, trip, Audrey. I attend, I attend.
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Exeunt
Next
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ACT V. SCENE I.