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. 2200William. 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? 2205William. 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? 2215William. 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. 2230William. 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...