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 2190
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 2195
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. 2200
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? 2205
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. 2210
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? 2215
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 2220
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. 2225
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. 2230
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, 2235
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 2240
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. 2245
Touchstone. Trip, Audrey, trip, Audrey. I attend, I attend.
Exeunt
YOU ARE READING
As You Like It
General FictionAs You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggest...
