Nath. Perge, good Master Holofernes, perge;
so it shall please you to abrogate scurrility.
Hol. I will something affect the letter; for it 56
argues facility.
'The preyful princess pierc'd and prick'd a pretty pleasing pricket;
Some say a sore; but not a sore, till now made sore with shooting.
The dogs did yell; put L to sore, then sorel jumps from thicket; 60
Or pricket, sore, or else sorel; the people fall a hooting.
If sore be sore, then L to sore makes fifty sores one sorel!
Of one sore I a hundred make, by adding but one more L.'
Nath. A rare talent! 64
Dull. [Aside.] If a talent be a claw, look how
he claws him with a talent.
Hol. This is a gift that I have, simple, simple;
a foolish extravagant spirit, full of forms, figures, 68
shapes, objects, ideas, apprehensions, motions,
revolutions. These are begot in the ventricle of
memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater,
and delivered upon the mellowing of occasion. 72
But the gift is good in those in whom it is acute,
and I am thankful for it.
Nath. Sir, I praise the Lord for you, and so
may my parishioners; for their sons are well 76
tutored by you, and their daughters profit very
54 Perge: proceed
56 affect the letter: make use of alliteration
59 sore: a deer of the fourth year
60 sorel: a deer of the third year
65 talent: talon
66 claws: scratches pleasantly, flatters
70 ventricle: a division of the brain here called pia mater
