Page:As You Like It (1919) Yale.djvu/37

As You Like It, II. i

That from the hunters' aim had ta'en a hurt,

Did come to languish; and, indeed, my lord,

The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans

That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat

Almost to bursting, and the big round tears

Cours'd one another down his innocent nose

In piteous chase; and thus the hairy fool,

Much marked of the melancholy Jaques,

Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook,

Augmenting it with tears.

Duke S.But what said Jaques?

Did he not moralize this spectacle?

First Lord. O, yes, into a thousand similes.

First, for his weeping into the needless stream;

'Poor deer,' quoth he, 'thou mak'st a testament

As worldlings do, giving thy sum of more

To that which had too much': then, being there alone,

Left and abandon'd of his velvet friends;

''Tis right,' quoth he; 'thus 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?'

Thus most invectively he pierceth through

The body of the country, city, court,

Yea, and of this our life; swearing that we

Are mere usurpers, tyrants, and what's worse,

 38 tears; cf. n.

39 Cours'd: pursued

44 moralize: interpret, give a moral sense to

46 needless: not in need, i.e., of more water

48 worldlings: men of this world (?)

50 velvet: i.e., because of their soft coats (?); cf. n.

52 flux of company; cf. n.

anon: presently

55 greasy: i.e., with excess prosperity

56 fashion: prevalent way, what is to be expected

58 invectively: with denunciation 