_Herc._ As, indeed, why should any woman only love
any[188] one man, since it is reasonable women should affect
all perfection,[189] but all perfection never rests in one man.
Many men have many virtues, but ladies should love
many virtues, therefore ladies should love many men;
for as in women, so in men; some women hath only a
good eye,--one can discourse beautifully, if she do not
laugh,--one's well-favoured to her nose,--another hath
only a good brow,--t'other a plump lip,--a third only
holds beauty to the teeth, and there the soil alters; some,
peradventure, hold good to the breast, and then downward
turn like the dreamt-of image,[190] whose head was
gold, breast silver, thighs iron, and all beneath clay and
earth; one only winks eloquently,--another only kisses
well,--t'other only talks well,--a fourth only lies well;
so, in men, one gallant has only a good face,--another
has only a grave methodical beard, and is a notable wise
fellow until he speaks,--a third only makes water well,
and that's a good provoking quality,--one only swears
well,--another only speaks well,--a third only does well.
All in their kind good: goodness is to be best affected,
therefore they; it is a base thing, and indeed an impossible,
for a worthy mind to be contented with the whole
world, but most vile and abject to be satisfied with one
point or prick[191] of the world. 394
_Zoy._ Excellent Faunus! I kiss thee for this, by this
hand.
_Sir Amor._ I thought as well: kiss me too, dear mistress.
_Zoy._ No, good Sir Amoroso;[192] your teeth hath taken
rust, your breath wants airing, and indeed I love sound
kissing. Come, gallants, who'll run a caranto, or leap a
levalto? 401
_Herc._ Take heed, lady, from offending or bruising the
hope of your womb.
_Zoy._ No matter; now I ha' the sleight, or rather the
fashion of it, I fear no barrenness.
_Herc._ O, but you know not your husband's aptness.
_Zoy._ Husband! husband! as if women could have no
children without husbands.
_Nym._ Ay, but then they will not be so like your husband. 410
_Zoy._ No matter, they'll be like their father; 'tis honour
enough to my husband that they vouchsafe to call him
father, and that his land shall descend to them. (Does
he not gnash his very teeth in anguish?) Like our husband?
I had rather they were ungroan'd for. Like our
husband?--prove such a melancholy jealous ass as he
is? (Does he not stamp?)
_Nym._ But troth, your husband has a good face.
_Zoy._ Faith, good enough face for a husband. Come,
gallants, I'll dance to mine own whistle: I am as light
now as----Ah! [_she sings and dances_]. A kiss to you,
to my sweet free servants. Dream on me, and adieu.
[_Exit_ ZOYA.
ZUCCONE _discovers himself_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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