Rom. Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes
With nimble soles; I have a soul of lead
So stakes me to the ground I cannot move. 16
Mer. You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings,
And soar with them above a common bound.
Rom. I am too sore enpierced with his shaft
To soar with his light feathers; and so bound 20
I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe:
Under love's heavy burden do I sink.
Mer. And, to sink in it, should you burden love;
Too great oppression for a tender thing. 24
Rom. Is love a tender thing? it is too rough,
Too rude, too boisterous; and it pricks like thorn.
Mer. If love be rough with you, be rough with love;
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. 28
Give me a case to put my visage in:
[Putting on a mask.]
A visor for a visor! what care I,
What curious eye doth quote deformities?
Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me. 32
Ben. Come, knock and enter; and no sooner in,
But every man betake him to his legs.
Rom. A torch for me; let wantons, light of heart,
Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels, 36
For I am proverb'd with a grandsire phrase;
I'll be a candle-holder, and look on.
The game was ne'er so fair, and I am done.
Mer. Tut! dun's the mouse, the constable's own word: 40
16 So stakes: which so fastens
21 pitch: a term in falconry denoting the height of a hawk's flight
30 visor for a visor: a mask for a mask-like face
31 quote: observe
35 wantons: triflers
36 rushes: the common Elizabethan floor covering
37 proverb'd: provided with a proverb; cf. n.
grandsire phrase: old saying
40 dun's the mouse; cf. n.
