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Stood on th’ extremest verge of the swift brook,

Augmenting it with tears.

Duke S.

But what said Jaques?

Did he not moralize this spectacle?

1. 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 abandoned 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,

To fright the animals and to kill them up

In their assign’d and native dwelling-place.

Duke S.

And did you leave him in this contemplation?