Page:Love's Labour's Lost (1925) Yale.djvu/43

Love's Labour's Lost, III. i

Arm. Fetch hither the swain: he must carry

me a letter.

Moth. A message well sympathized: a horse

to be ambassador for an ass.

Arm. Ha, ha! what sayest thou?

Moth. Marry, sir, you must send the ass upon

the horse, for he is very slow-gaited. But I go.

Arm. The way is but short: away!

Moth. As swift as lead, sir.

Arm. The meaning, pretty ingenious?

Is not lead a metal heavy, dull, and slow?

Moth. Minime, honest master; or rather, master, no.

Arm. I say, lead is slow.

Moth. You are too swift, sir, to say so.

Is that lead slow which is fir'd from a gun?

Arm. Sweet smoke of rhetoric!

He reputes me a cannon; and the bullet, that's he:

I shoot thee at the swain.

Moth. Thump, then, and I flee.

[Exit.]

Arm. A most acute juvenal; volable and free of grace!

By thy favour, sweet welkin, I must sigh in thy face:

Most rude melancholy, valour gives thee place.

My herald is return'd.

Moth. A wonder, master! here's a costard broken in a shin.

Arm. Some enigma, some riddle: come, thy l'envoy; begin.

Cost. No egma, no riddle, no l'envoy; no salve

 54 well sympathized: i.e. the message is well suited to the bearer

63 Minime: by no means

68 Thump: bang!

69 volable: quick of wit

70 welkin: sky

73 costard: head

