And, Benedick, love on, I will requite thee;
Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand;
If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee
To bind our loves up in an holy band:
For others say thou dost deserve; and I
Believe it better than reportingly.
And Benedick, on his part, is equally sincere in his repentance with
equal reason, after he has heard the grey-beard, Leonato, and his
friend, 'Monsieur Love', discourse of the desperate state of his
supposed inamorata.
This can be no trick; the conference was sadly borne.--They have the
truth of this from Hero. They seem to pity the lady; it seems her
affections have the full bent. Love me! why, it must be requited. I
hear how I am censur'd: they say, I will bear myself proudly, if I
perceive the love come from her; they say too, that she will rather
die than give any sign of affection.--I did never think to marry; I
must not seem proud:--happy are they that hear their detractions,
and can put them to mending. They say, the lady is fair; 'tis a
truth, I can bear them witness: and vir-tuous;--'tis so, I cannot
reprove it; and wise--but for loving me;--by my troth it is no
addition to her wit;--nor no great argument of her folly, for I will
be horribly in love with her.--I may chance to have some odd quirks
and remnants of wit broken on me, because I have rail'd so long
against marriage: but doth not the appetite alter? A man loves the
meat in his youth, that he cannot endure in his age.
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