Page 888 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

LAFEW

I will subscribe for thee, thou art both knave and [30] fool.

CLOWN
At your service.

LAFEW
No, no, no.

CLOWN
Why, sir, if I cannot serve you I can serve as great a prince as you are. [35]

LAFEW
Who’s that? A Frenchman?

CLOWN
Faith, sir, ’a has an English name; but his fisnomy is more hotter in France

than there.

LAFEW
What prince is that?

CLOWN
The Black Prince, sir, alias the prince of darkness, [40] alias the devil.

LAFEW
Hold thee, there’s my purse. I give thee not this to suggest thee from thy
master thou talkest of; serve him still.

CLOWN
I am a woodland fellow, sir, that always loved a [45] great fire, and the

master I speak of ever keeps a good fire. But sure he is the prince of the
world; let his nobility remain in’s court. I am for the house with the narrow
gate, which I take to be too little for pomp to enter; some that humble
themselves may, but the many will be [50] too chill and tender, and they’ll be

for the flowery way that leads to the broad gate and the great fire.