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204

“That I allow, and fain confess

That words would fail me to express

My boundless thanks; but yet I heard,

Methinks, one most unseemly word,

Both wanton and inconsequent,

Which, if thereon my wit were spent,

All lightly I could show to be

Most gross, used indecorously,

Leaving you bare of all excuse.”

“I know the word that doth induce

Thy wrath,” quoth she, “but thou shalt hear

Me later purge and make all clear

That word, if such be thy desire.”

“That certainly shall I require.

Most clearly in my memory fixed

Is that unseemly word you mixed

In your discourse, when you began

To rail at justice dealt to man.

But my great master bid me not

(His counsel ne’er have I forgot)

Speak any ribald word, and he

Shall be obeyed implicitly.

But since that word I did not name,

To me ’twill not be counted shame