The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans, Duke S. 1 Lord. O, yes, into a thousand similes. First, for his weeping in the needless stream; Poor deer, quoth he, thou makʼst a testament As worldlings do, giving thy sum of more To that which had too much: Then, being alone, Left and abandon'd of his velvet friends; Tis right, quoth he; this misery doth part The flux of company; Anon, a careless herd, Full of the pasture, jumps along by him, And never stays to greet him; Ay, quoth Jaques, Sweep on, you fat and greasy citizens; Tis just the fashion: Wherefore do you look Upon that poor and broken bankrupt there? GRATITUDE IN AN OLD SERVANT. But do not so: I have five hundred crowns, The thrifty hire I sav'd under your father, Which I did store, to be my foster-nurse, When service should in my old limbs lie lame, And unregarded age in corners thrown; Take that: and He that doth the ravens feed, Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, Be comfort to my age! Here is the gold; All this I give you: let me be your servant; Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty For in my youth I never did apply Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood: Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo The means of weakness and debility; Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, Frosty, but kindly: let me go with you; I'll do the service of a younger man DESCRIPTION OF A LOVER. O, thou didst then ne'er love so heartily: If thou remember'st not the slightest folly That ever love did make thee run into, Thou hast not lov'd: Or if thou hast not sat as I do now, Wearying thy hearer in thy mistress' praise, Or if thou hast not broke from company, DESCRIPTION OF A FOOL, AND HIS MORALIZING ON TIME. Good-morrow, fool, quoth I: No, sir, quoth he, Thus may we see, quoth he, how the world wags: Duke S. What fool is this? 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 biscuit * The fool was anciently dressed in a party-coloured coat. -he hath strange places cramm'd After a voyage, With observation, the which he vents A FOOL'S LIBERTY OF SPEECH. I must have liberty Withall, as large a charter as the wind, To blow on whom I please; for so fools have: APOLOGY FOR SATIRE Why, who cries out on pride, That says his bravery* is not on my cost, There then; How, what then? Let me see wherein A TENDER PETITION. But whate'er you are, That in this desert inaccessible, Under the shade of melancholy boughs, * Finery. If ever been where bells have knoll❜d to church; THE SEVEN AGES. All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players: And then, the whining school-boy, with his satchel, And shining morning face, creepnig like snail Unwillingly to school; And then, the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then, a soldier; Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden* and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation shifts Even in the cannon's mouth. And then, the justice Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. Heigh, ho! sing, heigh, ho! unto the green holly: As friends remember'd* not Heigh, ho! sing, heigh, ho! &c. ACT III. A SHEPHERD'S PHILOSOPHY. I know, the more one sickens, the worse at ease he is; and that he that wants money, means, and content, is without three good friends:-That the property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn: That good pasture makes fat sheep; and that a great cause of the night, is lack of the sun. That he, that hath learned no wit by nature or art, may complain of good breeding, or comes of a very dull kindred. CHARACTER OF AN HONEST AND SIMPLE SHEPHERD Sir, I am a true labourer; I earn that I eat, get that I wear; owe no maǹ hate, envy no man's happiness; glad of other men's good, content with my harm; and the greatest of my pride is, to see my ewes graze, and my lambs suck. DESCRIPTION OF A LOVER. A lean cheek; which you have not; a blue eye, and sunken; which you have not: an unquestionable spirit;t which you have not; a beard neglected; which you have not:-but I pardon you for that; for, simply, your having‡ in beard is a younger brother's revenue: Then your hose should be ungarter * Remembering. A spirit averse to conversation + Estate. |