have faved me my pains, to have taken it away your felf. She adds moreover, that you should put your Lord into a defperate Affurance, fhe will none of him. And one thing more, that you be never fo hardy to come again in his affairs, unless it be to report your Lord's taking of this: receive it fo. 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 fhould be fo return'd: if it be worth ftooping for, there it lyes in your eye; if not, be it his that finds it. [Exit. She loves me, sure; the cunning of her paffion None of my Lord's ring; why, he fent her none, Poor Lady, the were better love a dream. In women's waxen hearts to fet their forms! Sir To. SCENE III. Changes to Olivia's Houfe. Enter Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew. [Exit. PPROACH, Sir Andrew: not to be Aa-bed after midnight, is to be up betimes; and Diluculo furgere, thou know'ft, Sir And. Nay, by my troth, I know not: but I know, to be up late, is to be up late. Sir To. A falfe conclufion: I hate it, as an unfill'd can; to be up after midnight, and to go to bed then, is early; fo that to go to bed after midnight, is to go to bed betimes. Does not our life confift of the four elements? Sir And. 'Faith, fo they fay; but 3, I think, it rather confifts of eating and drinking. The two next lines are perhaps tranfpofed, and should be read thus. For fuch as we are made, if fuch we be, Alas, our frailty is the caufe, not we. 3 I think, it rather confifts of eating and drinking.] A ridicule on the medical theory of that time, which fuppofed health to confift in the just temperament and balance of thefe elements in the human frame. WARBURT. Sir To. Th'art a fcholar, let us therefore eat and drink. Maria! I fay!-a ftoop 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, afs, now let's have a catch. Sir And. By my troth, the fool has an excellent breaft. I had rather than forty fhillings I had fuch a leg, and fo fweet a breath to fing, as the fool has. In footh, thou waft in very gracious fooling laft night, when thou fpok'ft of Pigrogromitus, of the Vapians paffing the Equinoctial of Queubus: 'twas very good, i'faith: I fent thee fix-pence for thy Lemon, hadft it? Clo. I did impeticos thy gratility; for Malvolio's nofe is no whip-tock. My Lady has a white hand, and the Myrmidons are no bottle-ale houfes. Sir And. Excellent: why, this is the best fooling, when all is done. Now, a Song Sir To. Come on, there's Six-pence for you. Let's have a Song. Sir And. There's a teftril of me too; if one Knight give a Clo. Would you have a Love-fong, or a Song of good life? Sir To. A Love-fong, a Love-fong. Sir And. Ay, ay, I care not for good life. 4 I fent thee fix-pence for thy Lemon, had'ft it?] But the Clown was neither Pantler, nor Butler. The Poet's Word was certainly miltaken by the Ignorance of the Printer. I have reftor'd, leman, i. e. I fent thee Six-pence to spend on thy Miftrefs. THEO. 5 I did impeticos, &c.] This, Sir T. Hanmer tell us, is the fame with impocket thy gratuity. He is undoubtedly right; but we must read, I did imperic at thy gratuity. The fools were kept in long coats, to which the allufion is made. There is yet much in this dialogue which I do not understand. Clown Clown fings. O miftrefs mine, where are you roaming? Clo. What is love? 'tis not hereafter, *Then come kiss me, fweet, and twenty, Sir And. A mellifluous voice, as I am a true Knight. Sir To. A contagious breath. Sir And. Very fweet and contagious, i'faith. Sir To. To hear by the nofe, it is dulcet in contagion. But fhall we make the weikin dance, indeed? Shall we rouze the night-owl in a catch, that will draw three fouls out of one weaver? fhall we do that? In delay there lies no plenty:] This is a proverbial faying corrupted; and should be read thus, In DECAY there lies no plenty. A reproof of avarice, which flores up perishable fruits till they decay. To thefe fruits the Poet, humorously, compares youth or virginity; which, he fays, is a Stuff fwill not endure. WARB. I believe delay is right. *Then come kifs me, fweet and twenty,] This line is ob fcure; we might read, Come, a kifs then, feet, and twenty. Sir Yet I know not whether the prefent reading be not right, for in fome counties fweet and twenty, whatever be the meaning, is a phrafe of endearment. 7 Make the velkin dance.] That is, drink till the fky feems to turn round. 8 draw three fouls out of one weaver?] Our Author reprefents weavers as much given to harmony in his time. I have fhewn the cause of it elsewhere. This expreffion of the power of mufick is familiar with our Au thor. Sir And. An you love me, let's do't: I am a dog at a catch. Clo. By'r Lady, Sir, and fome dogs will catch well. Sir And. Moft certain: let our catch be, Thou knave. Clo. Hold thy peace, thou knave, Knight. I fhall be constrain'd in't, to call thee knave, Knight. Sir And. 'Tis not the first time I have conftrain'd one to call me knave. Begin, fool; it begins, Hold thy peace. Clo. I fhall never begin, if I hold my peace. [They fing a catch". SCENE IV. Enter Maria. Mar. What a catterwauling do you keep here? if my Lady have not call'd up her fteward, Malvolio, and bid him turn you out of doors, never truft me. Sir To. My Lady's a Catayan, we are politicians, Malvolio's a Peg-a-Ramfey, and Three merry men be we. thor. Much ado about nothing. Now it is foul ravifhed. Is it not firange that Sheep's-guts should bale fouls out of men's bodies? Why, he fays, three fouls, is becaufe he is fpeaking of a catch in three parts. And the peripatetic philofophy, then in vogue, very liberally gave every man three fouls. The vegetative or plaftic, the animal, and the ratioal To this, too, Johnson alJudes, in his Poetafter; What, will I turn fkarke upon my friends? or my friends friends? I fcorn it with my three fouls. By the mention of thefe three, therefore, we may fuppofe it was Am |