When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.
(Much Ado About Nothing.)
Pointz. Come, your reason, Jack,—your reason.
Falstaff. Give you a reason on compulsion! If reasons were as plenty as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion, I.
(1 Henry IV, ii, 4.)
Reason needs to be given its old pronunciation, “raison” (or raisin) in order to understand Falstaff’s pun.
Still I cannot believe in clairvoyance—because the thing is impossible.
Samuel Rogers, 1763-1855 (Table Talk).