Bene. Tarry, sweet Beatrice.
Beat. I am gone, though I am here. There is no love in you—Nay,
I pray you let me go.
Though three explanations have been already offered, there is room for further conjecture. From the latter words of Beatrice it is clear that Benedick had stopped her from going. She may therefore intend to say that notwithstanding she is detained by force, she is in reality absent; her heart is no longer Benedick's.
ACT V.
Scene 1. Page 524.
Leon. His May of youth, and bloom of lustyhood.
An allusion to these lines in the old calendars that describe the state of man:
"As in the month of Maye all thyng is in myght
So at xxx yeres man is in chyef lykyng.
Pleasaunt and lusty, to every mannes syght
In beaute and strength, to women pleasyng."
In the Notbrowne mayde we have the expression lusty May. Capel's edit. p. 6. Roger Ascham, speaking of young men, says; "It availeth not to see them well taught in yong yeares, and after when they come to lust and youthfull dayes, to give them licence to live as they lust themselves." Scholemaster, 1571, fo. 13. See a former note in p. [45].