JULIA  Some love of yours hath writ to you in rhyme.

LUCETTA        That I might sing it, madam, to a tune,

Give me a note; your ladyship can set

As little by such toys as may be possible.

JULIA Best sing it to the tune of ‘Light o’ Love’.

LUCETTA It is too heavy for so light a tune.

JULIA Heavy? Belike it hath some burden, then?

LUCETTA Ay, and melodious were it, would you sing it.

JULIA And why not you?

LUCETTA I cannot reach so high.

JULIA Let’s see your song.

[She reaches for the letter, but Lucetta keeps it away]

How now, minion?

LUCETTA Keep tune there still – so you will sing it out.   (1.2.79-89)

 

Julia tries a different tack: some love of yours hath writ to you in rhyme, mostly—again—setting up another comic set piece. It’s yours, isn’t it? A poem written to you, not to me? Alright, if that’s what you think, responds Lucetta: that I might sing it, madam, to a tune, give me a note—if it’s a rhyme I’ll be able to set it to music. You start me off. And then you can continue this fiction that you don’t care about such trivial things: your ladyship can set as little by such toys as may be possible. (There are some textual issues here to do with punctuation. Noted.) Best sing it to the tune of ‘Light o’ love’—exactly what an audience would expect, singing new words to an existing tune; this was a well-known one, but it suggests fickleness and inconstancy. But it’s too weighty a matter for that, too heavy for so light a tune, retorts Lucetta. Oh, heavy? belike it hath some burden, then? a load, a weight to carry or support (sometimes meant sexually, as when the Nurse tells Juliet that she will ‘bear the burden’ on her wedding night) but it’s also a refrain. Here it also means that the letter is significant: well, we know that! Ay, yes, and melodious were it, would you sing it: if you actually read the letter you’d find it very pleasing, no doubt, a fine tune. Why not you? Does Julia actually want Lucetta to read her the letter? Perhaps. But I cannot reach so high. The notes of this putative melody are out of my range—and so is Proteus, as a gentleman. Let’s see your song. (The stage direction is editorial; it might be that she does grab it, and start to read.) But—how now, minion? What’s all this, you hussy? Back to accusing Lucetta of being a go-between, a bawd for Proteus. Keep tune there still—so you will sing it out; don’t get distracted! don’t lose your temper and take it out on me again! Just read the damn letter!