Wife. Oh, Master Geraldine, Flattery in men’s an adjunct of their sex, This country breeds it, and for that, so far You needed not to have travelled. Young Geraldine. Truth’s a word That should in every language relish well, Nor have I that exceeded. Wife. Sir, my husband Hath took much pleasure in your strange discourse About Jerusalem and the Holy Land: How the new city differs from the old, What ruins of the Temple yet remain, And whether Sion, and those hills about, With the adjacent towns and villages, Keep that proportioned distance as we read; And then in Rome, of that great pyramis Reared in the front, on four lions mounted; How many of those idol temples stand, First dedicated to their heathen gods, Which ruined, which to better use repaired; Of their Pantheon, and their Capitol,-- What structures are demolished, what remain. Wincott. And what more pleasure to an old man’s ear, That never drew save his own country’s air, Than hear such things related? I do exceed him In years, I must confess, yet he much older Than I in his experience. Prudentilla. Master Geraldine, May I be bold to ask you but one question, The which I’d be resolved in? Young Geraldine. Anything That lies within my knowledge. Wincott. Put him to’t. Do, sister, you shall find him, make no doubt, Most pregnant in his answer. Prudentilla. In your travels Through France, through Savoy, and through Italy, Spain, and the Empire, Greece and Palestine, Which breeds the choicest beauties? Young Geraldine. In troth, lady, I never cast on any in those parts A curious eye of censure,[3.03] since my travel Was only aimed at language, and to know; These passed me but as common objects did-- Seen, but not much regarded. Prudentilla. Oh, you strive To express a most unheard-of modesty, And seldom found in any traveller, Especially of our country, thereby seeking To make yourself peculiar. Young Geraldine. I should be loth Profess in outward show to be one man, And prove myself another. Prudentilla. One thing more: Were you to marry, you that know these climes, Their states and their conditions, out of which Of all these countries would you choose your wife?