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Enter Sir TOBY BELCH.

Oli. By mine honour, half drunk.-What is he at the gate, coufin?

Sir To. A gentleman.

Oli. A gentleman? What gentleman?

Sir To. Tis a gentleman here 9 — A plague o'thefe pickle-herrings !-How now, fot?

Clo. Good Sir Toby,

Oli. Coufin, coufin, how have you come fo early by this lethargy?

Sir To. Lechery! I defy lechery: There's one at the gate.

Oli. Ay, marry; what is he?

Sir To. Let him be the devil, an he will, I care not: give me faith, fay I. Well, it's all one.

Oli. What's a drunken man like, fool?

[Exit.

Clown. Like a drown'd man, a fool, and a madman: one draught above heat' makes him a fool; the fecond mads him; and a third drowns him.

Oli. Go thou and feek the coroner, and let him fit o' my coz; for he's in the third degree of drink, he's drown'd go, look after him.

Clown. He is but mad yet, Madonna; and the fool fhall look to the madman. [Exit Clown.

Re-enter MALVOLIO.

Mal. Madam, yond young fellow fwears he will speak with you. I told him you were fick; he takes on him to understand fo much, and therefore comes to speak with you: I told him you were asleep; he seems to have a fore-knowledge of that too, and therefore comes to speak with you. What is to be faid to him, lady? he's fortified against any denial.

Oli. Tell him, he shall not speak with me.

9 'Tis a gentleman bere-] Sir Toby was going to defcribe the gentleman, but is interrupted by the effects of his pickle-berring. STEEV. 1 - above beat-] i. e. above the state of being warm in a proper degree. STEEVENS.

Mal

Mal. He has been told fo; and he fays, he'll ftand at your door like a fheriff's poft, and be the fupporter to a bench, but he'll speak with you.

Oli. What kind of man is he?

Mal. Why, of man kind.

Oli. What manner of man?

Mal. Of very ill manner; he'll fpeak with you, will you, or no.

Oli. Of what perfonage, and years, is he?

Mal. Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a fquafh is before 'tis a peafcod, or a codling when 'tis almoft an apple: 'tis with him e'en standing water 3, between boy and man. He is very wellfavour'd, and he fpeaks very fhrewifhly; one would think, his mother's milk were scarce out of him.

Oli. Let him approach: Call in my gentlewoman.
Mal. Gentlewoman, my lady calls.

Re-enter MARIA.

[Exit:

Oli. Give me my veil: come, throw it o'er my face; We'll once more hear Orfino's embassy.

Enter VIOLA.

Vio. The honourable lady of the house, which is fhe? Oli. Speak to me, I shall answer for her; Your will ? Vio. Moft radiant, exquiûte, and unmatchable beauty, -I pray you, tell me, if this be the lady of the house,

2- ftand at your door like a sheriff's poft,] It was the custom for that officer to have large pofts fet up at his door, as an indication of his office. The original of which was, that the king's proclamations, and other publick Acts, might be affixed thereon by way of publication. So, Jonfon's Every Man out of bis Humour:

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"To the lord Chancellor's tomb, or the brives pofts."

WARBURTON.

Dr. Letherland was of opinion, that by this poft is meant a poft to mount his horfe from, a horfeblock, which, by the cuftom of the city, is ftill placed at the sheriff's door." STEEVENS.

3-'tis with bim e'en ftanding water,] The old copy has-in. The emendation was made by Mr. Steevens. In the first folio e'en and in are very frequently confounded. See Vol. III. p. 373, n. 9. MALONE.

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for I never faw her: I would be loth to caft away my fpeech; for, befides that it is excellently well penn'd, I have taken great pains to con it. Good beauties, let me fuftain no fcorn; I am very comptible, even to the leaft finifter ufage.

Oli. Whence came you, fir?

Vio. I can fay little more than I have ftudied, and that question's out of my part. Good gentle one, give me modeft affurance, if you be the lady of the houfe, that I may proceed in my fpeech.

Oli. Are you a comedian?

Vio. No, my profound heart: and yet, by the very fangs of malice, I fwear, I am not that I play. Are you the lady of the house?

Oli If I do not ufurp myself, I am.

Vio. Moft certain, if you are fhe, you do ufurp yourfelf; for what is yours to beftow, is not yours to referve. But this is from my commiffion: I will on with my speech in your praife, and then thew you the heart of my meffage.

Oli. Come to what is important in't: I forgive you the praise.

Vio. Alas, I took great pains to ftudy it, and 'tis poetical.

Oli. It is the more like to be feign'd; I pray you, keep it in. I heard, you were faucy at my gates; and allow'd your approach, rather to wonder at you than to hear you. If you be not mad, be gone; if you have reafon, be brief: 'tis not that time of moon with me, to make one in fo fkipping a dialogue'.

Mar. Will you hoift fail, fir? here lies your way.

4- I am very comptible,] Viola begs the may not be treated with fcorn, because the is very fubmiffive, even to lighter marks of reprehenLion.

5

STEEVENS.

fkipping a dialogue.] Wild, frolick, mad. JOHNSON. So, in K. Henry IV. P. I:

The skipping king, he ambled up and down," &c. STEEVENS. Again, in the Merchant of Venice:

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take pain

To allay with fome cold drops of modesty, 4 Thy skipping fpirit." MALONE.

Vio. No, good fwabber; I am to hull here a little. longer. Some mollification for your giant, fweet lady, Öli. Tell me your mind.

Vio. I am a meffenger.

Oli. Sure, you have fome hideous matter to deliver, when the courtesy of it is fo fearful. Speak your office. Vio. It alone concerns your ear. I bring no overture of war, no taxation of homage; I hold the olive in my hand my words are as full of peace as matter.

Oli. Yet you began rudely. What are you? What would you?

Vio. The rudeness, that hath appear'd in me, have I learn'd from my entertainment. What I am, and what I would, are as fecret as maiden-head: to your ears, divinity; to any other's, profanation.

Oli. Give us the place alone: we will hear this divinity. [Exit MARIA.] Now, fir, what is your text? Vio. Moft fweet lady,

Oli. A comfortable doctrine, and much may be faid of it. Where lies your text?

Vio. In Orfino's bofom.

Oli. In his bofom? in what chapter of his bofom?
Vio. To answer by the method, in the first of his heart.

6 1 am to hull bere-] To bull means to drive to and fro upon the water, without fails or rudder. STEEVENS.

7 Some mollification for your giant,] Ladies, in romance, are guarded by giants, who repel all improper or troublesome advances. Viola, feeing the waiting-maid fo eager to oppofe her meffage, intreats Olivia to pacify her giant. JOHNSON.

Viola likewife alludes to the diminutive fize of Maria, who is called on fubfequent occafions, little villain, youngest wren of nine, &c. STEEVENS.

So Falstaff to his page: "Sirrah, you giant, &c." King Henry IV. P. II. A& I. MALONE.

8 Tell me your mind.] These words, which in the old copy make part of Viola's last speech, were rightly attributed to Olivia by Dr. Warburton. MALONE.

Mind fignifies either bufinefs or inclination. Viola, taking advantage of the ambiguity of the word, replies as if Olivia had ufed it in the latter fenfe. WARBURTON.

As a meffenger, fhe was not to fpeak her own mind, but that of her employer. MASON,

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Oli. O, I have read it; it is herefy. Have you no more to say?

Vio. Good madam, let me fee your face.

Oli. Have you any commiffion from your lord to negotiate with my face? you are now out of your text: but we will draw the curtain, and fhew you the picture. Look you, fir, fuch a one I was this prefent: Is't not well done?? [Unveiling,

Vio. Excellently done, if God did all.

Oli. 'Tis in grain, fir; 'twill endure wind and weather.
Vio. 'Tis beauty truly blent', whofe red and white
Nature's own fweet and cunning hand lay'd on:
Lady, you are the cruel'ft the alive,

If you will lead thefe graces to the grave,
And leave the world no copy 2.

- Oli. O, fir, I will not be fo hard-hearted; I will give out diverse schedules of my beauty : It fhall be inventoried; and every particle, and utenfil, labell'd to my will:

• Look you, fir, fuch a one I was this prefent: Is't not well done?] She fays, I was this prefent, instead of faying I am; because he had once fhewn herfelf, and perfonates the beholder, who is afterwards to make the relation. STEEVENS.

I fufpect the author intended that Olivia should again cover her face with her veil, before the speaks these words. MALONE.

'Tis beauty truly blent,] i. e. blended, mix'd together. Blent is the antient participle of the verb to blend. STEEVENS.

2 If you will lead thefe graces to the

grave,

And leave the world no copy.] Shakspeare has copied himself in his 11th fonnet :

"She carv'd thee for her feal, and meant thereby

"Thou should't print more, nor let that copy die."

Again, in the 3d fonnet;

Die fingle, and thine image dies with thee." STEEVENS, Again, in his 9th fonnet:

"Ah! if thou iffuelefs fhalt hap to die,

"The world will wail thee like a makelefs wife;
"The world will be thy widow, and still weep
"That thou no form of thee baft left behind."

Again, in the 13th fonnet:

"O that you were yourself! but, love, you are
"No longer yours than you yourself here live:
"Against this coming end you should prepare,

And your feet femblance to fome other give." MALONE.

as,

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