ALB. Master, I do not think this jargon at all necessary in common conversation. I believe you are a great Latin scholar and an eminent doctor, for I rely on those who have told me so; but in a conversation which I should like to have with you, do not display all your learning--do not play the pedant, and utter ever so many words, as if you were holding forth in a pulpit. My father, though he was a very clever man, never taught me anything but my prayers; and though I have said them daily for fifty years, they are still High-Dutch to me. Therefore, do not employ your prodigious knowledge, but adapt your language to my weak understanding. MET. Be it so. ALB. My son seems to be afraid of matrimony; whenever I propose a match to him, he seems indifferent, and draws back. MET. Perhaps he is of the temper of Mark Tully's brother, whom he writes about to Atticus. This is what the Greeks call _athanaton_.... [Footnote: Immortal.] ALB. For Heaven's sake! you ceaseless teacher, I pray you have done with the Greeks, the Albanians, the Sclavonians, and all the other nations you have mentioned; they have nothing to do with my son. MET. Well then, your son...? ALB. I do not know whether a secret love does not burn within him. Something disturbs him, or I am much deceived; for I saw him yesterday, when he did not see me, in a corner of the wood, where no person ever goes. MET. In a recess of a grove, you mean, a remote spot, in Latin _secessus_. Virgil says, _est in secessu locus_... [Footnote: "There is a remote spot"] ALB. How could Virgil say that, since I am certain that there was not a soul in that quiet spot except us two? MET. I quote Virgil as a famous author, who employed a more correct expression than the word you used, and not as a witness of what you saw yesterday. ALB. I tell you I do not need a more correct expression, an author, or a witness, and that my own testimony is sufficient. MET. However, you ought to choose words which are used by the best authors: _tu vivendo bonos, scribendo sequare peritos_, as the saying is. [Footnote: "Regulate your conduct after the example of good people, your style after good authors."] ALB. Man or devil, will you hear me without disputing? MET. That is Quintilian's rule. ALB. Hang the chatterbox! MET. He has a very learned sentence upon a similar subject, which, I am sure, you will be very glad to hear. ALB. I will be the devil to carry you off, you wretch. Oh! I am very much tempted to apply something to those chops. MET. Sir, what is the reason that you fly in such a passion! What do you wish me to do? ALB. I have told you twenty times; I wish you to listen to me when I speak. MET. Oh! undoubtedly, you shall be satisfied if that is all. I am silent. ALB. You act wisely. MET. I am ready to hear what you have to say. ALB. So much the better. MET. May I be struck dead if I say another word! ALB. Heaven grant you that favour.