Oli. Whither, my lord?
Duke. Husband?
Oli.

Ay, husband; Can he that deny? Duke. Her husband, sirrah ? Vio.

No, my lord, not I.
Oli. Alas, it is the baseness of thy fear,
That makes thee strangle thy propriety :
Fear not, Cesario, take thy fortunes up;
Be that thou know'st thou art, and then thou art
As great as that thou fear'st.. O, welcome, father:
Re-enter Attendant and Priest.
Father, I charge thee, by thy reverence,
Here to unfold (though lately we intended
To keep in darkness, what occasion now
Reveals before 'tis ripe,) what thou dost know
Hath newly past between this youth and me.
Priest. A contract of eternal bond of love,
Confirm'd by mutual joinder of your hands,
Attested by the holy close of lips,

Strengthen'd by interchangement of your rings;
And all the ceremony of this compáct
Seal'd in my function, by my testimony:

Since when, my watch hath told me, toward my grave,

I have travell'd but two hours.

Duke. O, thou dissembling cub! what wilt thou be, When time hath sow'd a grizzle on thy case? Or will not else thy craft so quickly grow, That thine own trip shall be thine overthrow? Farewell, and take her; but direct thy feet, Where thou and I henceforth may never meet. Vio. My lord, I do protest, Oli. O, do not swear; Hold little faith, though thou hast too much fear. Enter Sir ANDREW AGUE-CHEEK, with his head broke.

Sir And. For the love of heaven, a surgeon; send one presently to sir Toby.

Oli. What's the matter?

Sir And. If a bloody coxcomb be a hurt, you have hurt me; I think, you set nothing by a bloody coxcomb.

Enter Sir TOBY BELCH, drunk, led by the Clown. Here comes sir Toby halting, you shall hear more: but if he had not been in drink, he would have tickled you othergates 9 than he did.

Duke. How now, gentleman? how is't with you? Sir To. That's all one; he has hurt me, and there's the end on't. Sot, did'st see Dick surgeon,

sot?

his

Clo. O he's drunk, sir Toby, an hour agone; eyes were set at eight i'the morning. Sir To. Then he's a rogue, and a passy-measures pavin'; I hate a drunken rogue.

Oli. Away with him: Who hath made this havock with them?

Sir And. I'll help you, sir Toby, because we'll be dressed together.

Sir To. Will you help an ass-head, and a coxcomb, and a knave? a thin-faced knave, a gull? Oli. Get him to bed, and let his hurt be look'd to. [Exeunt Clown, Sir Toвy, and Sir ANDREW. Enter SEBASTIAN.

Seb. I am sorry, madam, I have hurt your kins

man;

But had it been the brother of my blood,

I must have done no less, with wit, and safety.
You throw a strange regard upon me, and
By that I do perceive it hath offended you;
Pardon me, sweet one, even for the vows
We made each other but so late ago.

Duke. One face, one voice, one habit, and two

persons;

A natural perspective, that is, and is not.
Seb. Antonio, O my dear Antonio !
How have the hours rack'd and tortur'd me,
Since I have lost thee!

Ant. Sebastian are you?

Seb. Fear'st thou that, Antonio? Ant. How have you made division of yourself?— An apple, cleft in two, is not more twin Than these two creatures. Which is Sebastian? Oli. Most wonderful!

Seb. Do I stand there? I never had a brother:
Nor can there be that deity in my nature,
Of here and every where. I had a sister,
Whom the blind waves and surges have devour'd :-
Of charity, what kin are you to me? [TO VIOLA.
What countryman? what name? what parentage
Vio. Of Messaline: Sebastian was my father;
Such a Sebastian was my brother too,
So went he suited to his watery tomb :

If spirits can assume both form and suit,
You come to fright us.

Seb.
A spirit I am, indeed;
But am in that dimension grossly clad,
Which from the womb I did participate.
I should my tears let fall upon your cheek,
Were you a woman, as the rest goes even,
And say-Thrice welcome, drown'd Viola!
Vio. My father had a mole upon his brow.
Seb. And so had mine.

Vio. And died that day when Viola from her birth Had number'd thirteen years.

Seb. O, that record is lively in soul!

my

Serious dances,

He finished, indeed, his mortal act.

That day that made my sister thirteen years.
Vio. If nothing lets to make us happy both,
But this my masculine usurp'd attire,
Do not embrace me, till each circumstance
Of place, time, fortune, do cohere, and jump,
That I am Viola: which to confirm,

I'll bring you to a captain in this town,

Duke. This savours not much of distraction. Oli. See him deliver'd, Fabian; bring him hither. [Exit FABIAN.

I was preserv'd, to serve this noble count:
All the occurrence of my fortune since
Hath been between this lady and this lord.

Seb. So comes it, lady, you have been mistook : [TO OLIVIA.

But nature to her bias drew in that.
You would have been contracted to a maid;
Nor are you therein, by my life, deceived,
You are betroth'd both to a maid and man.
Duke. Be not amaz'd; right noble
If this be so, as yet the glass seems true,
I shall have share in this most happy wreck :
Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times,

his blood.

[TO VIOLA.

Thou never should'st love woman like to me.
Vio. And all those sayings will I over-swear;
And all those swearings keep as true in soul,
As doth that orbed continent the fire
That severs day from night.

Duke.
Give me thy hand;
And let me see thee in thy woman's weeds.

Vio. The captain, that did bring me first on shore, Hath my maid's garments: he, upon some action,

Is now in durance; at Malvolio's suit,
A gentleman, and follower of my lady's.
Oli. He shall enlarge him; Fetch Malvolio

hither:

Clo. No, madam, I do but read madness: an your ladyship will have it as it ought to be, you must allow vor.

2

Oli. Pr'ythee, read i'thy right wits.

Clo. So I do, madonna; but to read his right wits, is to read thus: therefore perpend3, my princess, and give ear.

Oli. Read it you, sirrah. [TO FABIAN. Fab. [Reads.] By the Lord, madam, you wrong me, and the world shall know it: though you have put me into darkness, and given your drunken cousin rule over me, yet have I the benefit of my senses as well as your ladyship. I have your own letter that induced me to the semblance I put on; with the which I doubt not but to do myself much right, or

Have I Malvolio? no.

Notorious wrong.
Oli.
You must not now deny it is your hand,
Mal. Lady, you have. Pray you peruse that letter:

Write from it, if you can, in hand, or phrase;
Or say, 'tis not your seal, nor your invention:
You can say none of this: Well, grant it then,
And tell me, in the modesty of honour,
Why you have given me such clear lights of favour;
Bade me come smiling, and cross-garter'd to you,
To put on yellow stockings, and to frown
Upon sir Toby, and the lighter people:
And, acting this in an obedient hope,
Why have you suffer'd me to be imprison'd,
Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck 5, and gull,
That e'er invention play'd on? tell me why.

Oli. Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though I confess much like the character:
But out of question, 'tis Maria's hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was she
First told me, thou wast mad; then cam'st in smiling,
And in such forms which here were presuppos'd
Upon thee in the letter. Pr'ythee, be content:
But when we know the grounds and authors of it,
This practice hath most shrewdly pass'd upon thee;
Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge
Of thine own cause.
Fab.

Good madam, hear me speak; And let no quarrel, nor no brawl to come, Taint the condition of this present hour, Which I have wonder'd at. In hope it shall not, Set this device against Malvolio here, Most freely I confess, myself, and Toby, Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts We had conceived against him: Maria writ The letter, at sir Toby's great importance 6; In recompense whereof, he hath married her. How with a sportful malice it was follow'd,

May rather pluck on laughter than revenge;
If that the injuries be justly weigh'd,
That have on both sides past.

I

Oli. Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled thee! Clo. Why, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrown upon them. was one, sir, in this interlude; one sir Topas, sir; but that's all one: - - By the Lord, fool, I am not mad; But do you remember? Madam, why laugh you at such a barren rascal? an you smile not, he's gagg'd: And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.

Mal. I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you.

For so you shall be, while you are a man:
But, when in other habits you are seen,
Orsino's mistress, and his fancy's queen. [Exeunt.

SONG.

Clo. When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I come to man's estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knave and thief men shut their gate,
For the rain raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.
A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.

(Exit.

THIS comedy contains scenes which are truly worthy of the first of dramatic poets. Isabella pleading with Angelo in behalf of mercy to her brother, and afterwards insisting that his life must not be purchased by the sacrifice of her chastity, is an object of such interest, as to make the reader desirous of overlooking the many great defects which are to be found in other parts of this play. The story is little suited to a comedy. The wickedness of Angelo is so atrocious, that I recollect only one instance of a similar kind being recorded in history*; and that is considered by many persons as of doubtful authority. His crimes, indeed, are not completed, but he supposes them to be so; and his guilt is as great as it would have been, if the person of Isabella had been violated, and the head of Ragozine had been Claudio's. This monster of iniquity appears before the Duke, defending his cause with unblushing boldness; and after the detection of his crimes, he can scarcely be said to receive any punishment. A hope is even expressed that he will prove a good husband, but for no good namely, because he has been a little bad. Angelo abandoned bis contracted wife for the most despicable of all reasons, the loss of her fortune. He added to his guilt not only insensibility to her affliction, but the detestable aggravation of injuring her reputation by an unfounded slander; ascribing his desertion of Mariana to levity in her conduct, of which she never was guilty. He afterwards betrayed the trust reposed in him by the Duke. He threatened Isabella that if she would not surrender her virtue, he would not merely put her brother to death, but make

reason

"His death draw out to lingering sufferance."

* Kirk.

And, finally, when he thought his object accomplished, he ordered Claudio to be murdered, in violation of his most solemn engagements.

These are the crimes, which, in the language of Mariana, are expressed by the words a little bad; and with a perfect knowledge of Angelo's having committed them, she

"Craves no other, nor no better man."

Claudio's life having been preserved by the Provost, it would not, perhaps, have been lawful to have put Angelo to death; but the Duke might with great propriety have addressed him in the words of Bolingbroke to Exton :

"Go, wander through the shades of night,
"And never show thy head by day nor light."

Other parts of the play are not without faults. The best characters act too much upon a system of duplicity and falsehood; and the Duke, in the first act, trifles cruelly with the feelings of Isabella, allowing her to suppose her brother to be dead much longer than the story of the play required. Lucio is inconsistent as well as profligate. He appears, in the first act, as the friend of Claudio, and in the fifth he assists the cause of Angelo, whom he supposes to be his murderer. Lastly, the indecent expressions with which many of the scenes abound are so interwoven with the story, that it is extremely difficult to separate the one from the other.

I trust, however, that I have succeeded in doing it, and I should not be sorry if the merit or demerit of the whole work were to be decided by the examination of this very extraordinary Play, as it is now printed in the Family Shakspeare.

VINCENTIO, Duke of Vienna.

CLOWN, Servant to Mrs. Overdone. ABHORSON, an Executioner.

deputation.

CLAUDIO, a young Gentleman.

Lucio, a Fantastic.

Two other like Gentlemen.

VARRIUS, a Gentleman, Servant to the Duke.

ISABELLA, Sister to Claudio.

MARIANA, betrothed to Angelo.

JULIET, beloved by Claudio.

FRANCISCA, a Nun.

Mistress OVERDONE.

Lords, Gentlemen, Guards, Officers, and other Attendants.