[Footnote: "I hasten to obey your order.">[
ALB. Master, I want to…
MET. Master is derived from magis ter; it is as though you say "thrice greater."
ALB. May I die if I knew that; but, never mind, be it so. Master, then…
MET. Proceed.
ALB. So I would, but do not proceed to interrupt me thus. Once more, then, master, for the third time, my son causes me some uneasiness. You know that I love him, and that I always brought him up carefully.
MET. It is true: filio non potest praeferri nisi filius.
[Footnote: "To a son one can only prefer a son." An allusion to an article of feudal law.]
ALB. Master, I do not think this jargon at all necessary in common conversation. I believe you are a great Latin scholar and an eminent doctor, for I rely on those who have told me so; but in a conversation which I should like to have with you, do not display all your learning—do not play the pedant, and utter ever so many words, as if you were holding forth in a pulpit. My father, though he was a very clever man, never taught me anything but my prayers; and though I have said them daily for fifty years, they are still High-Dutch to me. Therefore, do not employ your prodigious knowledge, but adapt your language to my weak understanding.
MET. Be it so.