Jaq. [Aside] A material fool!
Aud. Well, I am not fair; and therefore I pray the gods make me honest.
[030] Touch. Truly, and to cast away honesty upon a foul slut were to put good meat into an unclean dish.
[032] Aud. I am not a slut, though I thank the gods I am foul.
Touch. Well, praised be the gods for thy foulness! sluttishness 035 may come hereafter. But be it as it may be, I will marry thee, and to that end I have been with Sir Oliver Martext the vicar of the next village, who hath promised to meet me in this place of the forest and to couple us.
Jaq. [Aside] I would fain see this meeting.
040 Aud. Well, the gods give us joy!
[041] Touch. Amen. A man may, if he were of a fearful heart, stagger in this attempt; for here we have no temple but [043] the wood, no assembly but horn-beasts. But what though? Courage! As horns are odious, they are necessary. It is 045 said, ‘many a man knows no end of his goods:’ right; many a man has good horns, and knows no end of them. Well, that is the dowry of his wife; ’tis none of his own [048] getting. Horns?—even so:—poor men alone? No, no; the noblest deer hath them as huge as the rascal. Is the single [050] man therefore blessed? No: as a walled town is more worthier than a village, so is the forehead of a married man more honourable than the bare brow of a bachelor; and by how much defence is better than no skill, by so much is a horn more precious than to want. Here comes Sir Oliver.
Enter Sir Oliver Martext.
055 Sir Oliver Martext, you are well met: will you dispatch us here under this tree, or shall we go with you to your chapel?