LEAND. Proceed.

MASC. So far from being merciless, makes no difficulty in obliging some
people in private; you may believe me, after all she is not
stony-hearted, to any one who knows how to take her in the right mood.
She looks demure, and would fain pass for a prude; but I can speak of
her on sure grounds. You know I understand something of the craft, and
ought to know that kind of cattle.

LEAND. What! Celia?...

MASC. Yes, her modesty is nothing but a mere sham, the semblance of a
virtue which will never hold out, but vanishes, as any one may discover,
before the shining rays emitted from a purse.

[Footnote: This is an allusion to the rays of the sun, placed above the
crown, and stamped on all golden crown-pieces, struck in France from
Louis XI. (November 2, 1475) until the end of the reign of Louis XIII.
These crowns were called _ecus au soleil_. Louis XIV. took much
later for his device the sun shining in full, with the motto, _Nec
pluribus impar_.]

LEAND. Heavens! What do you tell me? Can I believe such words?

MASC. Sir, there is no compulsion; what does it matter to me? No, pray
do not believe me, follow your own inclination, take the sly girl and
marry her; the whole city, in a body, will acknowledge this favour; you
marry the public good in her.