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).
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