Not Peer Reviewed
- Edition: Two Gentlemen of Verona
Two Gentlemen of Verona (Modern)
- Texts of this edition
- Facsimiles
Lance, by mine honesty, welcome to Padua.
Forswear not thy self, sweet youth, for I am 875not welcome. I reckon this always, that a man is never 876undone till he be hanged, nor never welcome to a place 877till some certain shot be paid, and the hostess say wel878come.
Come on, you madcap. I'll to the alehouse 880with you presently, where, for one shot of five pence, 881thou shalt have five thousand welcomes. But sirrah, how 882did thy master part with Madam Julia?
Marry after they closed in earnest, they parted 884very fairly in jest.
But shall she marry him?
No.
How then? Shall he marry her?
No, neither.
What, are they broken?
No, they are both as whole as a fish.
Why then, how stands the matter with them?
Marry thus, when it stands well with him, it 893stands well with her.
What an ass art thou. I understand thee not.
What a block art thou, that thou canst not! 896My staff understands me.
What thou sayst?
Ay, and what I do too. Look thee, I'll but lean, 899and my staff understands me.
It stands under thee indeed.
Why, stand-under and under-stand is all one.
But tell me true, will't be a match?
Ask my dog, if he say Ay, it will; if he say 904no, it will; if he shake his tail, and say nothing, it 905will.
The conclusion is, then, that it will.
Thou shalt never get such a secret from me, but 908by a parable.
'Tis well that I get it so. But Lance, how sayst 910thou that my master is become a notable lover?
I never knew him otherwise.
Then how?
A notable lubber, as thou reportest him to 914be.
Why, thou whoreson ass, thou mistak'st me,
Why fool, I meant not thee, I meant thy 917master.
I tell thee, my master is become a hot lover.
Why, I tell thee, I care not, though he burn 920himself in love. If thou wilt, go with me to the ale- 921house. If not, thou art a Hebrew, a Jew, and not worth 922the name of a Christian.
Why?
Because thou hast not so much charity in thee as 925to go to the ale with a Christian. Wilt thou go?
At thy service.