SCENE I. The forest. As You Like It  Shakespeare homepage  |  As You Like It  | Act 5, Scene 1 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  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. 

 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. 



 Enter WILLIAM  WILLIAM  Good even, Audrey. 

 AUDREY  God ye good even, William. 

 WILLIAM  And good even to you, sir. 

 TOUCHSTONE  Good even, gentle friend. Cover thy head, cover thy 

 head; nay, prithee, be covered. 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' the 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 sayest 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 poured out 

 of a 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; I will o'errun 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  Shakespeare homepage  |  As You Like It  | Act 5, Scene 1 

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