DON JOHN
I cannot hide

what I am. I must be sad when I have cause, and

smile at no man’s jests; eat when I have stomach,

and wait for no man’s leisure; sleep when I am

drowsy, and tend on no man’s business; laugh when

I am merry, and claw no man in his humor.

CONRADE

Yea, but you must not make the full show of

this till you may do it without controlment. You

have of late stood out against your brother, and he

hath ta’en you newly into his grace, where it is

impossible you should take true root but by the fair

weather that you make yourself. It is needful that

you frame the season for your own harvest.

DON JOHN

I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a

rose in his grace, and it better fits my blood to be

disdained of all than to fashion a carriage to rob

love from any. In this, though I cannot be said to be

a flattering honest man, it must not be denied but I

am a plain-dealing villain. I am trusted with a

muzzle and enfranchised with a clog; therefore I

have decreed not to sing in my cage. If I had my

mouth, I would bite; if I had my liberty, I would do

my liking. In the meantime, let me be that I am, and

seek not to alter me.