“You dare do all that may become a man; who dare do more is none”

The expression “You dare do all that may become a man; who dare do more is none” appears in Lycell’s wedding toast to Drayton. Invoking Shakespeare, Lycell uses the line as more than ornament: its contrast between what a man may do and daring beyond that boundary gives his words an admonitory edge, though the toast leaves its precise personal implication unstated.

Meaning and Form

The sentence turns on a distinction between courage and excess. It first allows for daring within the bounds of what befits a man, then warns that going further can undo that identity. In the wedding scene, that tension makes the line sound both like praise of Drayton’s courage and a caution against overstepping; the text does not resolve it into a single explicit message.

The Wedding Toast

Lycell raises a glass and addresses the line to his “little brother,” presenting it as a paraphrase of Shakespeare. He follows it with a separate quotation addressed to the bride, urging that Adrienne bear only male children. The juxtaposition shifts the toast from fraternal counsel to a pointed pronouncement about the bride’s future, giving the speech a private meaning beneath its ceremonial form.

Reception and Significance

The guests whisper, and few understand Lycell’s rambling; some dismiss it as eccentricity or drunkenness. Adrienne, by contrast, knows what he means. That split reception makes the expression’s significance depend on who can read it: in public it passes as an odd toast, while for Adrienne it carries a meaning the surrounding celebration does not share.