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Clo. Good master Fabian, grant me another re-I know not what 'twas, but distraction. quest.

Fab. Any thing.

Clo. Do not desire to see this letter.

Fab. That is, to give a dog, and, in recompense, desire my dog again.

Enter Duke, Viola, and attendants.
Duke. Belong you to the lady Olivia, friends?
Clo. Ay, sir; we are some of her trappings.
Duke. I know thee well; How dost thou, my
good fellow?

Clo. Truly, sir, the better for my foes, and the worse for my friends.

Duke. Just the contrary; the better for thy friends.

Clo. No, sir, the worse.
Duke. How can that be?

Duke. Notable pirate! thou salt-water thief!
What foolish boldness brought thee to their mercies,
Whom thou, in terms so bloody, and so dear,
Hast made thine enemies?

Ant.
Orsino, noble sir,
Be pleas'd that I shake off these names you give me,
Antonio never yet was thief, or pirate,
Though, I confess, on base and ground enough,
Orsino's enemy. A witchcraft drew me hither:
From the rude sea's enrag'd and foamy mouch
That most ungrateful boy there, by your side,
His life I gave him, and did thereto add
Did I redeem; a wreck past hope he was:
All his in dedication: for his sake,
My love, without retention, or restraint,

Did I expose myself, pure for his love, Into the danger of this adverse town; Clo. Marry, sir, they praise me, and make an ass Where being apprehended, his false cunning Drew to defend him, when he was beset; of me; now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass: so (Not meaning to partake with me in danger,) that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of myself; and by my friends I am abused: so that, Taught him to face me out of his acquaintance, conclusions to be as kisses, if your four negatives While one would wink; denied me mine own And grew a twenty-years-removed thing, make your two affirmatives, why, then the worse for my friends, and the better for my foes. Duke. Why, this is excellent.

Clo. By my troth, sir, no; though it please you to be one of my friends.

Duke. Thou shalt not be the worse for me; there's gold.

Clo. But that it would be double-dealing, sir, I would you could make it another.

Duke. O, you give me ill counsel.

Clo. Put your grace in your pocket, sir, for this once, and let your flesh and blood obey it.

Duke. Well, I will be so much a sinner to be a double-dealer; there's another.

Clo. Primo, secundo, tertic, is a good play; and the old saying is, the third pays for all: the triplex, sir, is a good tripping measure; or the bells of St. Bennet, sir, may put you in mind; One, two, three. Duke. You can fool no more money out of me at this throw: if you will let your lady know, I am here to speak with her, and bring her along with you, it may awake my bounty further.

Clo. Marry, sir, lullaby to your bounty, till I come again. go, sir; but I would not have you to think, that my desire of having is the sin of covetousness: but, as you say, sir, let your bounty take a nap, I will awake it anon. [Exit Clown.

Enter Antonio and Officers.

Vio. Here comes the man, sir, that did rescue me.
Duke. That face of his I do remember well;
Yet, when I saw it last, it was besmear'd
As black as Vulcan, in the smoke of war:

A bawbling vessel was he captain of,
For shallow draught, and bulk, unprizable:
With which such scathful' grapple did he make
With the most noble bottom of our fleet,
That very envy, and the tongue of loss,
Cry'd fame and honour on him.-What's the matter?
1 Of. Orsino, this is that Antonio,
That took the Phoenix, and her fraught, from
Candy:

2

And this is he, that did the Tiger board,
When your young nephew Titas lost his leg:
Here in the streets, desperate of shame, and state,
In private brabble did we apprehend him.
Vio. He did me kindness, sir; drew on my side;
But, in conclusion, put strange speech upon me,
(1) Mischievous. (2) Freight.

purse,

Which I had recommended to his use
Not half an hour before.
Vio.
How can this be?
Duke. When came he to this town?
Ant. To-day, my lord; and for three months
before

(No interim, not a minute's vacancy,)
Both day and night did we keep company.

Enter Olivia and attendants.

Duke. Here comes the countess; now heaven
walks on earth..

But for thee, fellow, fellow, thy words are madness:
Three months this youth hath tended upon me;
But more of that anon.--Take him aside.

Oli. What would my lord, but that he may not
Wherein Olivia may seem serviceable?-
have,
Cesario, you do not keep promise with me.

Vio. Madam?

Duke. Gracious Olivia,

Oli. What do you say, Cesario?-Good my
lord,--

Vio. My lord would speak, my duty hushes me.
Oli. If it be aught to the old tune, my lord,
It is as fat and fulsome to mine ear,
As howling after music.

Duke.

Still so cruel?

Oli. Still so constant, lord.

Duke. What! to perverseness? you uncivil lady,
To whose ingrate and unauspicious altars
My soul the faithfull'st offerings hath breath'd out,
That e'er devotion tender'd! What shall I do?
Oli. Even what it please my lord, that shall be

come him.

Duke. Why should I not, had I the heart to do it,
Like to the Egyptian thief, at point of death,
Kill what I love; a savage jealousy,
That sometime savours nobly?--But hear me this.
Since you to non-regardance cast my faith,
And that I partly know the instrument
That screws me from my true place in your favour,
Live vou, the marble-breasted tyrant, still;
But this your minion, whom, I know, you love,
And whom, by heaven, I swear, I tender dearly,
Him will I tear out of that cruel eye,

(3) Dull, gross.

Where he sits crowned in his master's spite.

Sir And. Od's lifelings, here he is :-You broke

Come boy, with me; my thoughts are ripe in mis-my head for nothing; and that that I did, I was

chief:

I'll sacrifice the lamb that I do love,

To spite a raven's heart within a dove.

set on to do't by sir Toby.

Vio. Why do you speak to me? I never hurt you: [Going. You drew your sword upon me, without cause; But I bespake you fair, and hurt you not.

Vio. And I, most jocund, apt, and willingly, To do you rest, a thousand deaths would die.

[Following.

Oli. Where goes Cesario? After him I love, Vio. More than I love these eyes, more than my life, More, by all mores, than e'er I shall love wife: If I do feign, you witnesses above, Punish my life, for tainting of my love!

Oli. Ah, me, detested! how am I beguil'd! Vio. Who does beguile you? who does do you wrong?

Duke.

O'i. Hast thou forgot thyself? Is it so long?Call forth the holy father. [Exit an Attendant. Come away. [To Viola. Oli. Whither, my lord?-Cesario, husband, stay. Duke. Husband? O'i. Av, 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:1
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.-0, 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,
Conûrmed 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 compact
Seal'd in my function, by my testimony:

Since when, my watch hath told me, toward my

grave,

I have travelled but two hours.

Duke. O, thou dissembling cub! what wilt thou be,
When time hath sew'd a grizzle on thy case?2
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,—
O, do not swear:
Hold little faith, though thou hast too much fear.
Enter Sir Andrew Ague-cheek, with his head

O'i.

broke.

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

Oi. What's the matter?

Sir And. He has broke my head across, and has given sir Toby a bloody coxcomb too: for the love of God, your help: I had rather than forty pound, I were at home.

O'i. Who has done this, sir Andrew?

Sir And. The count's gentleman, one Cesario: we took him for a coward, but he's the very devil incardinate.

Duke. My gentleman, Cesario?

(1) Disown thy property. (2) Skin.
Otherways. (4) Serious dancers.

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 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?

Clo. O he's drunk, sir Toby, an hour agone; his eyes were set at eight i' the morning.

Sir To. Then he's a rogue. After a passy-mea. sure, or a pavin, I hate a drunken rogue.

Oli. Away with him: who hath made this havoc 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 cox. comb, 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 Toby, 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. Were you a woman, as the rest goes even, I should my tears let fall upon your cheek, And say-Thrice welcome, drowned Viola! Vio. My father had a molé upon his brow. Seb. And so had mine.

(5) Out of charity tell me.

Vio. And died that day when Viola from her birth with the which I doubt not but to do myself much Had number'd thirteen years.

Seb. O, that record is lively in my soul!

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,
Where lie my maiden weeds; by whose gentle help,
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, deceiv'd;
You are betroth'd both to a maid and man.

right, or you much shame. Think of me as you please. I leave my duty a little unthought of, and speak out of my injury.

The madly-used Malvolio,

Oli. Did he write this?
Clo. Ay, madam.
Duke. This savours not much of distraction.
Oli. See him deliver'd, Fabian; bring him hither.
[Exit Fabian,

My lord, so please you, these things further thought

on,

To think me as well a sister as a wife,
One day shall crown the alliance on't, so please you,
Here at my house, and at my proper cost.

Duke. Madam, I am most apt to embrace your
offer,-

Your master quits you; [To Viola.] and, for your
service done him,

So much against the mettle of your sex,
So far beneath your soft and tender breeding,

Duke, Be not amaz'd; right noble is his blood.And since you call'd me master for so long,

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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:-

And yet, alas, now I remember me,
They say, poor gentleman, he's much distract,

Re-enter Clown, with a letter.

A most extracting frenzy of mine own
From my remembrance clearly banish'd his.
How does he, sirrah?

Cla. Truly, madam, he holds Belzebub at the stave's end, as well as a man in his case may do: he has here writ a letter to you; I should have given it to you to-day morning; but as a madman's epistles are no gospels, so it skills not much, when they are delivered.

Oli. Open it, and read it.

Clo. Look then to be well edified, when the fool delivers the madman:-By the Lord, madam,Oli. How now! art thou mad?

Clo. No, madam, I do but read madness: your ladyship will have it as it ought to be, must allow vox.2

Here is my hand; you shall from this time be
Your master's mistress.

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Mol.
Notorious wrong.

Oli,
Have I, Malvolio? no.
Mal. Lady, you have. Pray you, peruse that
letter:

You must not now deny it is your hand,
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, 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:
an This practice hath most shrewdly pass'd upon thee;
But, when we know the grounds and authors of it,
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,

you

Oli. Pr'ythee, read i' thy right wits. Clo, So I do, madonna; but to read his right wits, is to read thus: therefore perpend, my princess, and give ear.

Oli. Read it you, sirrah, [To Fabian. Which I have wonder'd at. In hope it shalt not, Fab. [reads. By the Lord, madam, you wrong Most freely I confess, myself, and Toby, me, and the world shall know it: though you have Set this device against Malvolio here, put me into darkness, and given your drunken Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts cousin rule over me, yet have I the benefit of my We had conceiv'd against him: Maria writ senses as well as your ladyship. I have your own The letter, at sir Toby's great importance;" letter that induced me to the semblance I put on; In recompence whereof, he hath married her, How with a sportful malice it was follow'd,

(1) Hinders. (2) Voice. (4) Frame and constitution.

(3) Attend. (5) Inferior.

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

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. I was one, sir, in this interlude; one sir To pas, 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.
[Exit.
Oli. He hath been most notoriously abus'd.
Duke. Pursue him, and entreat him to peace:-

He hath not told us of the captain yet;
When that is known, and golden time convents,
A solemn combination shall be made

Of our dear souls-Meantime, sweet sister,
We will not part from hence.-Cesario, come ;-
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.

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But when I came to man's estate,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knave and thief men shut their gate,
For the rain it 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.
But when I came unto my bed,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken head,
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 play is in the graver part elegant and easy, and in some of the lighter scenes exquisitely humo rous. Ague-cheek is drawn with great propriety, but his character is, in a great measure, that of natural fatuity, and is therefore not the proper prey of a satirist. The soliloquy of Malvolio is truly comic; he is betrayed to ridicule merely by his pride. The marriage of Olivia, and the succeeding perplexity, though well enough contrived to divert on the stage, wants credibility, and fails to produce the proper instruction required in the dra ma, as it exhibits no just picture of life.

JOHNSON.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

Vincentio, duke of Vienna.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Clown, servant to Mrs. Over-done. Abhorson, an executioner.

Angelo, lord deputy in the duke's absence.

Escalus, an ancient lord, joined with Angelo in Barnardine, a dissolute prisoner.

the depulation.

Claudio, a young gentleman.

Lucio, a fantastic.

Two other like gentlemen.

Varrius, a gentleman, servant to the duke.

Provost.

Thomas,

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two friars.

Elbow, a simple constable.

Froth, a foolish gentleman.

ACT 1.

SCENE I-An apartment in the Duke's palace. Enter Duke, Escalus, Lords, and attendants.

ESCALUS,

Escal. My lord.

Duke.

Duke. Of government the properties to unfold, Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse; Since I am put to know that your own science, Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice My strength can give you: then no more remains But that to your sufficiency, as your worth is able, And let them work. The nature of our people, Our city's institutions, and the terms For common justice, you are as pregnant2 in, As art and practice hath enriched any That we remember: there is our commission, From which we would not have you warp.-Call hither,

I say, bid come before us Angelo.

[Exit an attendant. What figure of us think you he will bear? For you must know, we have with special soul Elected him our absence to supply; Lent him our terror, drest him with our love; And given his deputation all the organs Of our own power: what think you of it? Escal. If any in Vienna be of worth To undergo such ample grace and honour, It is lord Angelo.

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Isabella, sister to Claudio.
Mariana, betrothed to Angelo.
Juliet, beloved by Claudio.
Francisca, a nun.

Mistress Over-done, a bawd.

Lords, gentlemen, guards, officers, and other attendants.

Scene, Vienna.

Thyself upon thy virtues, them on thee.
Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do;
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike
As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd,
But to fine issues: nor nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,

Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech
To one that can my part in him advértise;
Hold therefore, Angelo;

In our remove, be they at full ourself;
Mortality and mercy in Vienna
Live in thy tongue and heart: Old Escalus,
Though first in question, is thy secondary:
Take thy commission.

Ang.
Now, good my lord,
Let there be some more test made of my metal,
Before so noble and so great a figure
Be stamp'd upon it.

Duke.

No more evasion: We have with a leaven'd and prepared choice Proceeded to you; therefore take your honours. Our haste from hence is of so quick condition, That it prefers itself, and leaves unquestion'd Matters of needful value. We shall write to you, As time and our concernings shall impórtune, How it goes with us; and do look to know What doth befall you here. So, fare you well: To the hopeful execution do I leave you Of your commissions.

Ang.
Yet, give leave, my lord,
That we may bring you something on the way.
Duke. My haste may not admit it;

Nor need you, on mine honour, have to do
With any scruple: your scope is as mine own;
So to enforce, or qualify the laws,

As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand;
I'll privily away: I love the people,
But do not like to stage me to their eyes:
Though it do well, I do not relish well
Their loud applause, and aves vehement;

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