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Section: ACT V. ] Scene: SCENE I.

                                                                                                                                                                                                

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ACT V. SCENE I.

ACT V. SCENE I.

The forest

Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY

  TOUCHSTONE. We shall find a time, Audrey; patience, gentle Audrey.

  AUDREY. Faith, the priest was good enough, for all the old

    gentleman's saying.

  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.

  AUDREY. Ay, I know who 'tis; he hath no interest in me in the

    world; here comes the man you mean.

                         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.

  WILLIAM. Good ev'n, Audrey.

  AUDREY. God ye good ev'n, William.

  WILLIAM. And good ev'n to you, sir.  

  TOUCHSTONE. Good ev'n, gentle friend. Cover thy head, cover thy

    head; nay, prithee be cover'd. How old are you, friend?

  WILLIAM. Five and twenty, sir.

  TOUCHSTONE. A ripe age. Is thy name William?

  WILLIAM. William, sir.

  TOUCHSTONE. A fair name. Wast born i' th' forest here?

  WILLIAM. Ay, sir, I thank God.

  TOUCHSTONE. 'Thank God.' A good answer.

    Art rich?

  WILLIAM. Faith, sir, so so.

  TOUCHSTONE. 'So so' is good, very good, very excellent good; and

    yet it is not; it is but so so. Art thou wise?

  WILLIAM. Ay, sir, I have a pretty wit.

  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?

  WILLIAM. I do, sir.  

  TOUCHSTONE. Give me your hand. Art thou learned?

  WILLIAM. No, sir.

  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.

  WILLIAM. Which he, sir?

  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.

  AUDREY. Do, good William.

  WILLIAM. God rest you merry, sir.                         Exit

                          Enter CORIN

  CORIN. Our master and mistress seeks you; come away, away.

  TOUCHSTONE. Trip, Audrey, trip, Audrey. I attend, I attend.

                                                          Exeunt

                                                                                                                                                                                                

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