To him, Marciall made answer in this wise:
"The very truth of me thou dost require.
The very truth is this, my friend dear:
The very truth thou wouldst not gladly hear."
And in good faith, uncle, the selfsame prelate that I told you my
tale of--I dare be bold to swear it, I know it so surely--had one
time drawn up a certain treaty that was to serve for a league
between that country and a great prince. In this treaty he himself
thought that he had devised his articles so wisely and composed
them so well, that all the world would approve them. Thereupon,
longing sore to be praised, he called unto him a friend of his, a
man well learned and of good worship, and very well expert in those
matters, as one who had been divers times ambassador for that
country and had made many such treaties himself. When he gave him
the treaty and he had read it, he asked him how he liked it, and
said, "But I pray you heartily, tell me the very truth." And that
he spake so heartily that the other thought he would fain have
heard the truth, and in that trust he told him a fault in the
treaty. And at the hearing of it he swore in great anger, "By the
mass, thou art a very fool!" The other afterward told me that he
would never tell him the truth again.
ANTHONY: Without question, cousin, I cannot greatly blame him.
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