1 Off. The man grows mad; away with him! Come, come, sir.

Ant. Lead me on.

[Exeunt Officers, with ANT. Vio. Methinks, his words do from such passion fly, That he believes himself; so do not I."

Prove true, imagination, O, prove true,

That I, dear brother, be now ta'en for you!

Sir To. Come hither, knight; come hither, Fabian; we 'll whisper o'er a couplet or two of most sage saws. Vio. He nam'd Sebastian; I my brother know Yet living in my glass;7 even such, and so, In favour was my brother; and he went Still in this fashion, colour, ornament, For him I imitate: O, if it prove,

Tempests are kind, and salt waves fresh in love! [Exit. Sir To. A very dishonest paltry boy, and more a coward than a hare: his dishonesty appears, in leaving his friend here in necessity, and denying him; and for his cowardship, ask Fabian.

Fab. A coward, a most devout coward, religious in it. Sir And. 'Slid, I'll after him again, and beat him. Sir To. Do, cuff him soundly, but never draw thy sword.

Sir And. An I do not,

Fab. Come, let 's see the event.

[Exit,

Sir To. I dare lay any money, 't will be nothing yet.

[Exeunt.

6 so do not I.] This, I believe, means, I do not yet believe myself, when, from this accident, I gather hope of my brother's life. Johnson.

71 I my brother know

Yet living in my glass;] I suppose Viola means-As often as I behold myself in my glass, I think I see my brother alive; i. e. I acknowledge that his resemblance survives in the reflection of my own figure. Steevens.

ACT IV.....SCENE I.

The Street before Olivia's House.

Enter SEBASTIAN and Clown.

Clo. Will you make me believe, that I am not sent for you?

Seb. Go to, go to, thou art a foolish fellow:

Let me be clear of thee,

Clo. Well held out, i' faith! No, I do not know you; nor I am not sent to you by my lady, to bid you come speak with her; nor your name is not master Cesario; nor this is not my nose neither.-Nothing, that is so, is so.

Seb. I pr'ythee, vent thy folly somewhere else: Thou know'st not me.

Clo. Vent my folly! He has heard that word of some great man, and now applies it to a fool. Vent my folly! I am afraid this great lubber, the world will prove a cockney.1-I pr'ythee now, ungird thy strangeness, and tell me what I shall vent to my lady; Shall I vent to her, that thou art coming?

Seb. I pr'ythee, foolish Greek, depart from me;

Vent my folly! He has heard that word of some great man, &c.] This affected word seems to have been in use in Shakspeare's time. In Melvil's Memoirs, p. 198, we have "My Lord Lindsay vented himself that he was one of the number," &c. Reed.

9 I am afraid this great lubber,] That is, affectation and foppery will overspread the world. Johnson.

1

66

prove a cockney.] So, in A Knight's Conjuring, by Decker: 'tis not their fault, but our mothers', our cockering mothers, who for their labour make us to be called Cockneys," &c. Steevens.

2 I pry thee, foolish Greek,] Greek, was as much as to say bawd or pander. He understood the Clown to be acting in that office. A bawdy-house was called Corinth, and the frequenters of it Corinthians, which words occur frequently in Shakspeare, especially in Timon of Athens, and Henry IV. Yet the Oxford editor alters it to Geck. Warburton.

Can our author have alluded to St. Paul's epistle to the Ro mans, c. i, v. 23?

to the Greeks foolishness." Steevens.

There's money for thee; if you tarry longer,

I shall give worse payment.

Clo. By my troth, thou hast an open hand:-These wise men, that give fools money, get themselves a good report after fourteen years' purchase.3

Enter Sir ANDREW, Sir TOBY, and FABIAN.

Sir And. Now, sir, have I met you again? there 's for you. [Striking SEB. Seb. Why, there 's for thee, and there, and there: Are all the people mad? [Beating Sir AND. Sir To. Hold, sir, or I'll throw your dagger o'er the house.

Clo. This will I tell my lady straight: I would not be in some of your coats for two-pence. [Exit Clo. Sir To. Come on, sir; hold. [Holding SEB. Sir And. Nay, let him alone, I 'll go another way to work with him; I'll have an action of battery against him, if there be any law in Illyria: though I struck him first, yet it 's no matter for that.

Seb. Let go thy hand.

3 get themselves a good report after fourteen years' purchase.] This seems to carry a piece of satire upon monopolies, the crying grievance of that time. The grants generally were for fourteen years; and the petitions being referred to a committee, it was suspected that money gained favourable reports from thence. Warburton.

Perhaps fourteen years' purchase was, in Shakspeare's time, the highest price for land. Lord Bacon's Essay on Usury mentions sixteen years purchase. "I will not give more than according to fifteen years purchase, said a dying usurer to a clergyman, who advised him to study for a purchase of the kingdom of heaven." Tollet.

Mr. Heath thinks the meaning is, "-purchase a good report [or character] at a very extravagant price." Malone.

Dr. Warburton's conjecture that there is here a reference to monopolies, is, I believe, unfounded. Mr. Tollett and Mr. Heath are probably right. Sir Josiah Child, in his Discourse on Trade, says, "-certainly, anno 1621, the current price of lands in England was twelve years purchase; and so I have been assured by many ancient men whom I have questioned particularly as to this matter; and I find it so by purchases made about that time by my own relations and acquaintance." Sir Thomas Culpepper, senior, who wrote in 1621, affirms, "that land was then at twelve years purchase." Reed.

Sir To. Come, sir, I will not let you go. Come, my young soldier, put up your iron: you are well flesh'd;

come on.

Seb. I will be free from thee. What wouldst thou

now?

If thou dar'st tempt me further, draw thy sword.

[Draws. Sir To. What, what? Nay, then I must have an ounce or two of this malapert blood from you. [Draws. Enter OLIVIA.

Oli. Hold, Toby; on thy life, I charge thee, hold.
Sir To. Madam?

Oli. Will it be ever thus? Ungracious wretch,
Fit for the mountains, and the barbarous caves,
Where manners ne'er were preach'd! out of my sight!
Be not offended, dear Cesario:-

Rudesby, be gone!-I pr'ythee, gentle friend,

[Exeunt Sir To. Sir AND. and FAB. Let thy fair wisdom, not thy passion, sway In this uncivil and unjust extent

Against thy peace. Go with me to my house;
And hear thou there how many fruitless pranks
This ruffian hath botch'd up,5 that thou thereby
May'st smile at this: thou shalt not choose but go;
Do not deny: Beshrew his soul for me,

He started one poor heart of mine in thee."

4 In this uncivil and unjust extent-] Extent is, in law, a writ of execution, whereby goods are seized for the King. It is therefore taken here for violence in general. Johnson.

5 This ruffian bath botch'd up,] A coarse expression for made up, as a bad tailor is called a botcher, and to botch is to make clumsily. Johnson.

Dr. Johnson is certainly right. A similar expression occurs in Antony and Cleopatra:

if you'll patch a quarrel,

"As matter whole you 've not to make it with."

Again, in King Henry V:

"Do botch and bungle up damnation."

Steevens.

6 He started one poor heart of mine in thee.] I know not whether here be not an ambiguity intended between heart and bart. The sense however is easy enough. He that offends thee, attacks one of my hearts; or, as the ancients expressed it, half my heart. Johnson.

Seb. What relish is in this?7 how runs the stream? Or I am mad, or else this is a dream;

Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep;
If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!

Oli. Nay, come, I pr'ythee: 'Would thou 'dst be rul'd by me!

Mar. Nay, I pr'ythee, put on this gown, and this beard; make him believe, thou art sir Topas1 the curate; do it quickly: I'll call sir Toby the whilst.

[Exit. MAR.

Clo. Well, I'll put it on, and I will dissemble myself in 't; and I would I were the first that ever dissembled in such a gown. I am not fat enough to become the function well; nor lean enough to be thought a

The equivoque suggested by Dr. Johnson was, I have no doubt, intended. Heart in our author's time was frequently written bart, and Shakspeare delights in playing on these words. Malone.

7 What relish is in this?] How does this taste? What judg ment am I to make of it?

8

Johnson.

sir Topas -] The name of Sir Topas is taken from Chaucer. Steevens.

9 - I will dissemble myself —] i. e. disguise myself.

Malone. Shakspeare has here stumbled on a Latinism: Thus Ovid, speaking of Achilles :

"Veste virum longa dissimulatus erat." Steevens.

1 I am not fat enough to become the function well;] The old copy reads-tall enough: but this cannot be right. The word wanted should be part of the description of a careful man. I should have no objection to read-pale. Tyrwhitt.

Not tall enough, perhaps means not of sufficient height to over. look a pulpit. Dr. Farmer would read fat instead of tall, the former of these epithets, in his opinion, being referable to the following words-a good house-keeper. Steevens.