MASC. Mighty well.
LEL. Hear me out; here is something much cleverer still. The letter I
speak of was delivered to him, but can you imagine how? Only just in
time, for the messenger told me, had it not been for this droll device,
a fellow, who looked very foolish, was waiting to carry her off that
identical moment.
MASC. And you did all this without the help of the devil?
LEL. Yes. Would you have believed me capable of such a subtle piece of
wit? At least praise my skill, and the dexterity with which I have
utterly disconcerted the scheme of my rival.
MASC. To praise you as you deserve, I lack eloquence; and feel unequal
to the task. Yes, sufficiently to commend this lofty effort, this fine
stratagem of war achieved before our eyes, this grand and rare effect of
a mind which plans as many tricks as any man, which for smartness yields
to none alive, my tongue wants words. I wish I had the abilities of the
most refined scholars, so that I might tell you in the noblest verse, or
else in learned prose, that you will always be, in spite of everything
that may be done, the very same you have been all your life; that is to
say, a scatter-brain, a man of distempered reason, always perplexed,
wanting common sense, a man of left-handed judgment, a meddler, an ass,
a blundering, hare-brained, giddy fellow,--what can I think of? A.
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