“Those girls of Italy, take heed of them;
They say, our French lack language to deny,
If they demand.” (AWEW.2.1)
How to Use. A befitting romantic Shakespeare line for tongue-in-cheek praise of Italian ladies and attractions thereof. With minimal poetic license you can change ‘Italy’ to any other country and ‘French’ to the other applicable nationality. E.G. “Those girls of Belgium, take heed of them; they say our Dutch lack language to deny, if they demand.” Though with the current animosities lurking between French and Dutch speaking Belgians different nationalities may happen to be more appropriate.
See “Your Daily Shakespeare” p. 31 from “All’s Well that Ends Well”.
In the actual play. The Florentines are engaged in a totally fictional war with Siena where they want a regime change and to establish freedom and democracy. The French lend support to the Florentines and as some French lords leave for Italy, the king offers words of warning.