Ha!
SCENE VII.--ALBERT, METAPHRASTUS.
MET. _Mandatum tuum euro diligenter_.
[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.
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