_Awd_. I, I know who 'tis: he hath no interest in mee in the world: here comes the man you meane. (Enter William) _Clo_. It is meat and drinke to me to see a clowne, by my troth, we that haue good wits, haue much to answer for: we shall be flouting: we cannot hold. _Will_. Good eu'n _Audrey._ _Awd_. God ye good eu'n _William_. _Will_. And good eu'n to you sir. _Clo_. Good eu'n gentle friend. Couer thy head, couer thy head: Nay prethee bee couer'd. How olde are you Friend? _Will_. Fiue and twentie Sir. _Clo_. A ripe age: Is thy name _William_? _Will_. _William_, Sir. _Clo_. A faire name. Was't borne i' the Forrest heere? _Will_. I [Aye] Sir, I thanke God. _Clo_. Thanke God: A good answer: Art rich? _Will_. 'Faith Sir, so, so. _Clo_. So, so, is good, very good, very excellent good: and yet it is not, it is but so, so: Art thou wise? _Will_. I [Aye] sir, I haue a prettie wit. _Clo_. Why, thou saist well. I do now remember a saying: The Foole doth thinke he is wise, but the wise man knowes himselfe to be a Foole.... You do loue this maid? _Will_. I do Sir. _Clo_. Giue me your hand: art thou Learned? _Will_. No Sir. _Clo_. Then learne this of me, To haue is to haue. For it is a figure in Rhetoricke, that drink being powr'd out of a cup into a glasse, by filling the one, doth empty the other. For all your Writers do consent, that _ipse_ is hee: now you are not _ipse_, for I am he. _Will_. Which he Sir? _Clo_. He Sir, that must marrie this woman. Firstly I want to call your attention to Touchstone the courtier who is playing clown and who we are told "uses his folly like a stalking horse and under the presentation of that he shoots his wit." Notice that Touchstone refuses to be married to Awdrey (who probably represents the plays of Shakespeare) by a-Mar-text_, and she declares that the Clown William "has no interest in mee in the world." William--shall we say Shakspeare of Stratford?--enters and is greeted as "gentle" (_i. e_. he is possessed of a coat of arms). He says "Thank God" he was born in the forest here (Ardennes, very near in sound to Arden). "Thank God" is repeated by Touchstone and as it is the same phrase that is used by Sogliardo in Ben Jonson's play I expect that it was an ejaculation very characteristic of the real man of Stratford and I am confirmed in this belief because in the folio edition of Ben Jonson's plays the phrase is changed to "I thank _them_" which has no meaning. The clown of Ardennes is rich but only rich for a clown (Shakspeare of Stratford was not really rich, New Place cost only L60).