SCENE VI.
Duke.
Let all the rest give place. Once more, Cesario,
Get thee to yond same sovereign cruelty:
-- 152 --
Tell her, my love, more noble than the world,
Prizes not quantity of dirty lands;
The parts, that fortune hath bestow'd upon her,
Tell her, I hold as giddily as fortune:
5 note
But 'tis that miracle, and Queen of Gems,
That nature pranks, her Mind, attracts my soul.
Vio.
But if she cannot love you, Sir—
Duke.
6 noteI cannot be so answer'd.
Vio.
Sooth, but you must.
Say, that some Lady, as, perhaps, there is,
Hath for your love as great a pang of heart
As you have for Olivia: you cannot love her;
You tell her so; must she not then be answer'd?
Duke.
There is no woman's sides
Can bide the beating of so strong a passion,
As love doth give my heart: no woman's heart
So big to hold so much; they lack retention.
Alas, their love may be call'd appetite:
No motion of the liver, but the palate,
That suffers surfeit, cloyment, and revolt;
But mine is all as hungry as the sea,
And can digest as much; make no compare
Between that love a woman can bear me,
And that I owe Olivia.
Vio.
Ay, but I know—
Duke.
What dost thou know?
-- 153 --
Vio.
Too well what love women to men may owe;
In faith, they are as true of heart, as we.
My father had a daughter lov'd a man,
As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,
I should your Lordship.
Duke.
And what's her history?
&plquo;Vio.
&plquo;A blank, my Lord: she never told her love,
&plquo;But let concealment, like a worm i'th' bud,
&plquo;Feed on her damask cheek: she pin'd in thought;
&plquo;And, with a green and yellow melancholy,
&plquo;7 note
She sat like Patience on a monument,
&plquo;Smiling at grief. Was not this love, indeed?&prquo;
-- 154 --
We men may say more, swear more, but, indeed,
Our shews are more than will; for still we prove
Much in our vows, but little in our love.
Duke.
But dy'd thy sister of her love, my boy?
Vio.
8 note
I'm all the daughters of my fathers' house,
And all the brothers too—and yet I know not—
Sir, shall I to this Lady?
Duke.
Ay, that's the theam.
To her in haste; give her this jewel: say,
My love can give no place, bide no denay.
[Exeunt.
Alexander Pope [1747], The works of Shakespear in eight volumes. The Genuine Text (collated with all the former Editions, and then corrected and emended) is here settled: Being restored from the Blunders of the first Editors, and the Interpolations of the two Last: with A Comment and Notes, Critical and Explanatory. By Mr. Pope and Mr. Warburton (Printed for J. and P. Knapton, [and] S. Birt [etc.], London) [word count] [S11301].