VALENTINE, JEREMY.
VALENTINE
From a riddle you can expect nothing but a riddle. There's my
instruction and the moral of my lesson.
JEREMY
What, is the lady gone again, sir? I hope you understood one
another before she went?
VALENTINE
Understood! She is harder to be understood than a piece of
Egyptian antiquity or an Irish manuscript: you may pore till you
spoil your eyes and not improve your knowledge.
JEREMY
I have heard 'em say, sir, they read hard Hebrew books
backwards; maybe you begin to read at the wrong end.
VALENTINE
They say so of a witch's prayer, and dreams and Dutch almanacs
are to be understood by contraries. But there's regularity and
method in that; she is a medal without a reverse or inscription, for
indifference has both sides alike. Yet, while she does not seem to
hate me, I will pursue her, and know her if it be possible, in spite
of the opinion of my satirical friend, Scandal, who says -
That women are like tricks by sleight of hand,
Which, to admire, we should not understand.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. There is no record Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon.
