Vio. Most radiant, exquisite, and unmatchable beauty, I pray you, tell me, if this be the lady of the house, for I never saw her: I would be loth to cast away my speech; for, besides that it is excellently well penn'd, I have taken great pains to 20 con it. Good beauties, let me sustain no scorn; I am very compatible', even to the least sinister

usage.

Oli. Whence came you, sir?

Vio. I can say little more than I have studied, 25 and that question's out of my part. Good gentle one, give me imodest assurance, if you be the lady of the house, that I may proceed in my speech.

Oli. Are you a comedian ?

Vio. No, my profound heart: and yet, by the 30 very fangs of malice, I swear, I am not that I play. Are you the lady of the house?

Oli. If I do not usurp myself, I am.

Vio. Most certain, if you are she, you do usurp yourself; for what is yours to bestow, is not yours 35 to reserve. But this is from my commission; I will on with my speech in your praise, and then shew you the heart of my message.

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

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

Vio. Most sweet lady,

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

Vio. In Orsino's boson.

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

Oli. O, I have read it; it is heresy. Have you

no more to say?

Vio. Good madam, let me see your face.

Oli. Have you any commission from your lord to negotiate with my face? you are now out of your text: but we will draw the curtain, and shew you the picture. Look you, sir, such a one I was this present': Is't not well done? [Unveiling. Vio. Excellently done, if God did all. Oli. "Tis in grain, sir; 'twill endure wind and [white Vio. 'Tis beauty truly blent", whose red and Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on: Lady, you are the cruell'st she alive, If you will lead these graces to the grave, And leave the world no copy.

weather.

Oli. O, sir, I will not be so hard-hearted; I will give out diverse schedules of my beauty: It shall be inventoried; and every particle, and utensil, 40 labell'd to my will; as, item, two lips indifferent

Oli. It is the more like to be feign'd; I pray you, keep it in. I heard, you were saucy at my gates, and allowed your approach, rather to wonder 45 at you than to hear you. If you be not mad, be gone; if you have reason, be brief: 'tis not that time of the moon with me, to make one in so skipping a dialogue.

Mar. Will you hoist sail, sir? here lies your 50

way.

Vio. No, good swabber; I am to hull' here a little longer. Some mollification for your giant', sweet lady.

Oli. Tell me your mind.

Vio. I am a messenger.

Oli. Sure, you have some hideous matter to deliver, when the courtesy of it is so fearful. Speak your office.

That is, very submissive.

upon the water, without sails or rudder.

4

red; item, two grey eyes, with lids to them;
item, one neck, one chin, and so forth. Were
you sent hither to 'praise' me?

Vio. I see you what you are: you are too proud;
But, if you were the devil, you are fair.
My lord and master loves you: O, such love
Could be but recompens'd, though you were
The non-pareil of beauty!
[crown'd

Oli. How does he love me?
Vio. With adorations, with fertile tears,
With groans that thunder love, with sighs of fire.
Oli. Your lord does know my mind, I cannot

love him:

Yet I suppose him virtuous, know him noble,
55 Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth;
In voices well divulg'd, free, learn'd, and valiant;
And, in dimension, and the shape of nature,
A gracious person: but yet I cannot love him;
He might have took his answer long ago.

i. e. wild, frolick, mad. 3 To hull means to drive to and fro Meaning, her waiting-maid, who was so eager to prevent his delivering his message. i. e. I am. gi. e. blended, mixed. i. e. to appraise or

value me.

Vio. If I did love you in my master's flame,
With such a suffering, such a deadly life,
In your denial I would find no sense,
I would not understand it.

Oli. Why, what would you?

Vio. Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
And call upon my soul within the house;
Write loyal cantos of contemned love,
And sing them loud even in the dead of night;
Haloo your name to the reverberate hills,
And make the babbling gossip of the air
Cry out, Olivia! O, you should not rest
Between the elements of air and earth,
But you should pity me.

Lage?

Oli. You might do much: What is your parent-15
Fio. Above my fortunes, yet my state is well:

I am a gentleman.

Ol. Get you to your lord;

I cannot love him: let him send no more;
Unless, perchance, you come to me again,
To tell me how he takes it. Fare you well:

I thank you for your pains: spend this for me.
Vio. I'am no fee'd post, lady; keep your purse;
My master, not myself, lacks recompence.
Love make his heart of flint, that you shall love;
And let your fervour, like my master's, be
Plac'd in contempt! Farewell, fair cruelty. [Exit.

Re-enter Malvolio.

Mal. Here, madam, at your service.

Oli. Run after that same peevish messenger,
The county's man; he left this ring behind him,
Would I, or not; tell him, I'll none of it.
Desire him not to flatter with his lord,

20 Nor hold him up with hopes; I am not for him:
If that the youth will come this way to-morrow,
I'll give him reasons for't. Hye thee, Malvolio.
Mal. Madam, I will.
[Exit.

25

Oi. I do I know not what; and fear to find
Mine eyes too great a flatterer for my mind.
Fate, shew thy force: Ourselves we do not owe;
What is decreed, must be; and be this so! [Exit,

АСТ II.

SCENE I..

The Street.

Enter Antonio and Sebastian.

Ant. WILL you stay no longer? nor will you not, that I go with you?

40

Seb. By your patience, no: my stars shine darkly over me; the malignancy of my fate might, perhaps, distemper yours; therefore I shall crave of you your leave, that I may bear my evils alone: 45 It were a bad recompence for your love, to lay any of them on you.

Ant. Let me yet know of you, whither you are bound.

Seb. No, in sooth, sir; my determinate voyage 50 is mere extravagancy. But I perceive in you so excellent a touch of modesty, that you will not extort from me what I am willing to keep in; therefore it charges me in manners the rather to express myself: you must know of me then, 55 Antonio, my name is Sebastian, which I called Rodorigo: my father was that Sebastian of Messaline, whom I know you have heard of: he left behind him, myself, and a sister, both born in an hour: if the heavens had been pleas'd, would we 60 had so ended! But you, sir, alter'd that; for, some hour before you took me from the beach of the

That is, to reveal myself,

sea, was my sister drown'd.

Ant. Alas, the day!

Seb. A lady, sir, though it was said she much resembled me, was yet of many accounted beautiful:

but, though I could not, with such estimable wonder', over-far believe that, yet thus far I will bold ly publish her, she bore a mind that envy could not but call fair: she is drown'd already, sir, with salt water, though I seem to drown her remembrance again with more.

Ant. Pardon me, sir, your bad entertainment. Seb. O good Antonio, forgive me your trouble. Ant. If you will not murther me for my love, let me be your servant.

Seb. If you will not undo what you have done, that is, kill him whom you have recover'd, desire it not. Fare you well at once: my bosom is full of kindness; and I am yet so near the manners of my mother, that upon the least occasion more, mine eyes will tell tales of me. I am bound to the count Orsino's court: farewel. [Exit. Ant. The gentleness of all the gods go with I have many enemies in Orsino's court, [thee! Else would I very shortly see thee there: But come what may, I do adore thee so, That danger should seem sport, and I will go.

21. e. wonder and esteem.

[Exit.

SCENE

Mal. She returns this ring to you, sir; you might have saved me my pains, to have taken it away yourself. She adds moreover, that you should put 10 your lord into a desperate assurance she will none of him: And one thing more; that you be never so hardy to come again in his affairs, unless it be to report your lord's taking of this. Receive it so. Vio. She took the ring of me, I'll none of it. Mal. Come, sir, you peevishly threw it to her; and her will is, it should be so return'd: if it be worth stooping for, there it lies in your eye; if not, be it his that finds it.

[Exit.

15

Vio. I left no ring with her: What means this 20
lady?

Fortune forbid, my outside have not charm'd her!
She made good view of me; indeed so much,
That,sure methought hereyes had lost her tongue',
For she did speak in starts distractedly.
She loves me, sure: the cunning of her passion
Invites me in this churlish messenger.
None of my lord's ring! why, he sent her none.
I am the man;-If it be so, (as 'tis)
Poor lady, she were better love a dream.
Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness,
Wherein the pregnant 2 enemy does much.
How easy is it, for the proper false 3

In women's waxen hearts to set their forms *!
Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we;
For, such as we are made, if such we be.
How will this fadge?? My master loves her dearly:
And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me:
What will become of this? As I am man,
My state is desperate for my master's love;
As I am woman, now alas the day!
What thriftless sighs shall

Olivia breathe?
poor
O time, thou must untangle this, not I:

It is too hard a knot for ine to untye.

SCENE

Olivia's House.

25

301

Sir And. Nay, by my troth, I know not; but I know to be up late, is to be up late.

Sir To. A false conclusion; I hate it as an unfill'd can to be up after midnight, and to go to bed then, is early; so that, to go to bed after midnight, is to go to bed betimes. Does not our life consist of the four elements?

Sir And. 'Faith, so they say; but, I think, it rather consists of eating and drinking.

6

Sir To. Thou art a scholar; let us therefore eat and drink.-Marian, I say!-a stoop of wine! Enter Clown.

Sir And. Here comes the fool, i'faith.

Clo. How now, my hearts? Did you never see the picture of we three?

Sir To. Welcome, ass. Now let's have a catch. Sir And. By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast'. I had rather than forty shillings I had such a leg, and so sweet a breath to sing, as the fool has. In sooth, thou wast in very gracious fooling last night, when thou spok'st of Pigrogromitus, of the Vapians passing the equinoctial of Queubus: 'twas very good, 'faith. I sent thee sixpence for thy leman; Had'st it?

Clo. I did impeticoat thy gratuity; for Malvolio's nose is no whip-stock: My lady has a white hand, and the Myrmidons are nobottle-ale houses.

Sir And. Excellent! Why, this is the best fooling, when all is done. Now, a song.

Sir To. Come on; there is six-pence for you? let's have a song.

Sir And. There's a testril of me too: if one knight give a

Clo. Would you have a love-song, or a song of 35 good life?

140

[Exit 45

III.

Enter Sir Toby and Sir Andrew.

Sir To. Approach, Sir Andrew: not to be a-bed after midnight, is to be up betines: and diluculo

surgere, thou know'st,—

2

501

Sir To. A love-song, a love-song.

Sir And. Ay, ay; I care not for good life.

Clown sings.

O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true-love's coming,
That can sing both high and low :
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers' meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.
Sir And. Excellent good, i'faith.
Sir To. Good, good.

Clo. What is love? 'tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come, is still unsure:

In delay there lies no plenty;

Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty ",
Youth's a stuff will not endure.

That is, her tongue was talking of the duke, while her eyes were gazing on his messenger. Pregnant means dexterous or ready. Mr. Steevens thus happily explains this obscure passage: "Viola has been condemning those who disguise themselves, because Olivia had fallen in love with a specious appearance. How easy is it, she adds, for those who are at once proper (i. e. fair in their appearance) and false, (i. e. deceitful) to make an impression on the hearts of women!-The proper false is certainly a less elegant expression than the fair deceiver, but seems to mean the same thing: a proper man, was the ancient phrase for a handsome man." To set their forms, means, to plant their images; i. e. to make an impression on their easy minds. To fudge, is to suit, to fit. ' i, e. a cup. i. e. voice. i. e. thy mistress. Meaning probably a jolly or merry song, agreeably to the bon vivant of the French, from which the phrase seems to be adopted. 10 In some counties sweet and twenty is a phrase of endearment.

5

Sir And. A mellifluous voice, as I am a true] knight.

Sir To. A contagious breath.

Sir And. Very sweet and contagious, i'faith. Sir To. To hear by the nose, it is dulcet in 5 contagion. But shall we make the welkin dance, indeed'? Shall we rouse the night-owl in a catch,| that will draw three souls' out of one weaver? shall we do that?

Sir And. An you love me, let's do't: I am a 10 dog at a catch.

Clo. By'r Lady, sir, and some dogs will catch well. Sir A. Most certain: let our catch be,Thou knave. Clo. Hold thy peace, thou knave, knight? I shall be constrain'd in't to call thee knave, knight. 15 Sir And. 'Tis not the first time I have constrain'd one to call me knave. Begin fool; it begins, Hold thy peace.

Cio. I shall never begin if I hold my peace.
Sir And. Good, i'faith come, begin.
[They sing a catch.

Enter Maria.

lady bade me tell you, that though she harbours you as her kinsman, she's nothing ally'd to your disorders. If you can separate yourself and your misdemeanors, you are welcome to the house; if not, an it would please you to take leave of her, she is very willing to bid you farewell.

Sir To. Farewell, dear heart, since I must needɛ be gone.

Mal. Nay, good sir Toby.

Clo. His eyes do shew his days are almost done.
Mal. Is't even so?

Sir To. But I will never die.

Clo. Sir Toby, there you lie.

Mal. This is much credit to you.
Sir To. Shall I bid him go?
Clo. What an if you do?

[Singing.

Sir To. Shall I bid him go, and spare not?
Clo. O no, no, no, no, you dare not.

Sir To. Out o'tune, sir, ye lie.--Art any more 20than a steward? Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale1? Clo. Yes, by saint Anne; and ginger shall be hot i the mouth too.

Mar. What a catterwauling do you keep here? If my lady have not call'd up her steward, Malvolio, and bid him turn you out of doors, never 25

trust me.

Sir To. My lady's a Cataian', we are politicians: Malvolio's a Peg-a-Ramsey, and Three merrymen be we'.

Am not I consanguineous? am I not of her blood: 30
Tilly-valley, lady! There dwelt a man in Babylon,
lady, lady!
[Singing.

Clo. Beshrew me, the knight's in admirable fooling.

Sir And. Ay, he does well enough, if he be 35 dispos'd, and so do I too; he does it with a better grace, but I do it more natural.

Sir To. O the twelfth day of December,—
Mar. For the love o'God, peace. [Singing.
Enter Malvolio.

Sir To. Thou'rt i' the right.-Go, sir, rub your chain with crums":-A stoop of wine, Maria!—

Mal. Mistress Mary, if you priz'd my lady's favour at any thing more than contempt, you would not give means for this uncivil rule; she shall know of it, by this hand. [Exit.

Mar. Go shake your ears.

Sir And. "Twere as good a deed, as to drink when a man's a hungry, to challenge him to the field; and then to break promise with him, and make a fool of him.

Sir To. Do't, knight; I'll write thee a challenge; or I'll deliver thy indignation to him by word of mouth.

Mar. Sweet Sir Toby, be patient for to-night: since the youth of the count's was to-day with my 40ady, she's much out of quiet. For monsieur Malvolio, let me alone with him: if I do not gull him into a nayword", and make him a common recreation, do not think I have wit enough to lie straight in my bed: I know I can do it.

Mal. My masters, are you mad? or what are you? Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night? Do ye make an ale-house of my lady's house, that ye squeak out your coziers' catches without any mi-45 tigation or remorse of voice? Is there no respect of place, persons, nor time, in you?

Sir To. We did keep time, sir, in our catches. Sneck up!

Sir To. Possess us', possess us; tell us something of him.

Mar. Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind of puritan.

Mal. Sir Toby, I must be round with you. My 50ja

old songs.

6

Sir And. O, if I thought that, I'd beat him like dog.

1 That is, drink till the sky seems to turn round.” 2 This expression of the power of musick, is familiar with our author. Much ado about Nothing: "Now is my soul ravished. Is it not strange that sheep's-guts should hale souls out of men's bodies?"-Why he says three souls, is, because he is speaking of a catch in three parts; and the peripatetic philosophy, then in vogue, very liberally gave every man three souls; the vegetative or plastic, the animal, and the rational. A term of reproach. See note, p. 52. The name of a very obscene old song. This is a conclusion common to many Tiliy-valley was an interjection of contempt, in use at that time. Lady, lady, is the burthen of the song, of which Sir Toby was probably reminded, by saying, Tilly-valley, lady." 8 A cozir is a taylor, from the French word coudre, to sew. " Mr. Steevens thinks we should read Sneakcup, i. e. one who takes his glass in a sneaking manner; but afterwards adds that sneck the door is a north-country expression for latch the door. I surmise that it means go hang yourself, in which the sense is good in five examples brought by Mr. Steevens. S. A. Alluding to the custom on holidays or saints' days to make cakes in the honour of the day, which the Puritans called superstition. "Stewards formerly wore a chain as a mark of superiority over other servants. i. e. behaviour. i. e. a bye-word, a kind of proverbial reproach. 14 i. e. inform us, tell us.

10

Sir

Sir To. She's a beagle, true-bred, and one that 40 Than women's are. adores me; What o'that?

'alluding to a cut or curtail dog.

• i. e. studied. i. e. some beauty, or complexion. vacant, or easy in mind. i. c. it is plain, simple truth. times of simplicity.