SCENE I.-The Sea Coast.

Enter ANTONIO and SEBASTIAN.

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

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: it were a bad recompense for your love, to lay any of them on you.

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

Seb. No, sooth, sir: my determinate voyage 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, Antonio, my name is Sebastian, which I called Roderigo. 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 pleased, would we had so ended! but you, sir, altered that; for some hour before you took me from the breach of the sea was my sister drowned.

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, overfar believe that, yet thus far I will boldly publish her, she bore a mind that envy could not but call fair. She is drowned already, sir, with salt water, though I seem to drown her remembrance again with more.

1. My determinate voyage is mere extravagancy. 'The final point of my intended progress is rambling and uncertain.' Shakespeare here uses "determinate" with a mingled sense of ' resolution' and 'termination,' while employing "extravagancy" to signify 'wandering' and 'vacillation.'

་

2. To express myself. To confide to you who I am.' Shakespeare's delicacy of propriety in such questions of courtesy, due between man and man, cannot be too much admired and emulated. See Note 73, Act iii., "Merchant of Venice."

3 Messaline. Both times that this name occurs in the play, the Folio spells it thus; and it is probably a poetically-invented name that Shakespeare gives to the birth-place of Viola and Sebastian. The real names most nearly approaching it are Mitylene and Messina.

4. Estimable wonder. In Shakespeare's way of using the active and passive form, the one for the other (see Note 111, Act i.), we believe that he here uses "estimable" for estimating.' Therefore, we take Sebastian to mean that though (because of her being thought to much resemble himself) he could not,

Ant. Pardon me, sir, your bad entertainment. Seb. Oh, good Antonio, forgive me your

trouble!

Ant. If you will not murder 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 recovered, desire it not. Fare ye 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: 6 farewell. [Exit.

Ant. The gentleness of all the gods go with thee!

I have many enemies in Orsino's court,
Else would I very shortly see thee there :
But, come what may, I do adore thee so,7
That danger shall seem sport, and I will go. [Exit.

SCENE 11.-A Street.

Enter VIOLA, MALVOLIO following. Mal. Were not you even now with the Countess Olivia ?

Vio. Even now, sir; on a moderate pace I have since arrived but hither.

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 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.8

with such estimating admiration (as this which he had just citedthat she was "accounted beautiful"), believe her beauty to be so excessive, yet he would fearlessly bear witness to her mental excellence.

5. So near the manners of my mother. This beautiful way of making a man say that he is almost betrayed into tears that more befit a woman, has been repeated by Shakespeare else

where.

6. I am bound to the Count Orsino's court. Be it remarked that the brother, as well as the sister, naturally repairs to one who was known to their father, and of whom they have heard him speak. See Note 22, Act i.

7. I do adore thee so. There is great subtlety of dramatic art in thus making the sea-captain so bewitched and fascinated by the graces of young Sebastian; it admirably harmonises with and accounts for the enthralment of Olivia, and her spell-bound fancy for the twin-image that is to her one and the same person. 8. To report your lord's taking of this. Receive it so. "This" and "it" here refer to the message now sent, not to

VUL. I.

78

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 returned; if it be worth stooping for, there it lies in your eye; if not, be it his that finds it. [Exit.

Vio. I left no ring with her: what means this

lady?

Fortune forbid, my outside have not charm'd her!
She made good view of me; indeed, so much,
That methought her eyes 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" enemy does much.
How easy is it for the proper-false 12

In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!
Alas! our frailty is the cause, not we;
For such as we are made of, such we be.13

How will this fadge ?14 my master loves her dearly;

And I, poor monster, fond 15 as much on him;
And she, mistaken, 16 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,—

the ring. Malvolio's words mean-'to report the way in which your lord takes what my lady says. Understand it thus.'

9. She took the ring of me. Viola perceiving that Olivia has framed an excuse to blind her steward whom she sends, and willing to aid her in screening herself, accepts the version given of the ring's having been sent from Orsino to the Countess ; which, moreover, affords a ready and plausible motive for refusing to take it now herself.

10. Her eyes had lost her tongue. "Lost" is here used in the sense of bewildered,' 'confounded,' 'confused,'' deprived of its right powers.' Olivia's eyes, fixed upon the page, and absorbed in looking on him, allowed her speech to wander incoherently.

11. Pregnant. Here used for dextrous,' 'adroit,' 'artful.' Shakespeare employs the word for well skilled (see Note 6, Act i., "Measure for Measure"), and for skilful in working harm.

12. Proper-false. A compound word employed to express 'specious,' 'fair-seeming ;' at once handsome and delusive. The whole sentence means-' How easy is it for those who look fair, and are false, to make an impression on women's soft hearts!' "Proper" is often used for 'handsome,' 'comely,' 'good-looking.' See Note 1, Act iv., "Two Gentlemen of Verona."

13. Such as we are made of, such we be. The Folio misprints 'if' for "of" here. Tyrwhitt first suggested the correction.

How will this ultimately accord?' occur accordantly.' See Note

14. How will this fadge? Fadge" means 'suit,' 'fit,' 43, Act v., "Love's Labour's Lost."

15. Fond. Here used as an active verb; for love fondly,' 'dote.' Viola calls herself by the whimsical epithet 66 poor monster," in allusion to her seeming manhood and real womanhood; combining, as it were, the two sexes in her own person.

SCENE III.-A Room in OLIVIA'S House.

Enter Sir TOBY BELCH and Sir ANDREW AGUECHEEK.

Sir To. Approach, Sir Andrew: not to be a-bed after midnight is to be up betimes; and diluculo surgere, ,18 thou knowest,—

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 unfilled 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 19 consist of the four elements ?20

Sir And. Faith, so they say; but, I think, it rather consists of eating and drinking.21

Sir To. Thou art a scholar; let us therefore eat and drink.-Marian, I say! a stoop 22 of wine! Sir And. Here comes the fool, i' faith.

Enter Clown.

Clo. How now, my hearts! did you never see the picture of we three ?23

Viola's enumeration of the various contrarieties that succeed each other in the case she is considering.

17. O Time, thou must, &c. Again does Viola, with the spirit of gentle reliance that characterises her, commit the solution of her difficulties to Time and its benign sway. See Note 22, Act i.

16. And she, mistaken. "And" here has been changed to 'as;' but "and" gives just the effect of iteration required by

18. Diluculo surgere. Sir Toby carelessly quotes but a portion of the Latin proverb, Diluculo surgere saluberrimum est; which, being interpreted, is, 'To rise early is most wholesome.' The commentators mention that this proverb is found in Lily's Grammar; probably in confirmation of their theory adverted to in Note 39, Act i, "Taming of the Shrew." It is certainly likely that that book was known to Shakespeare.

19. Does not our life. The Folio prints this 'does not our lives,' and in most editions since it appears 'do not our lives;' but the "it" in Sir Andrew's reply shows the reading in the text to be correct.

20. Consist of the four elements? In allusion to the then prevalent belief that man was composed of the elements fire, air, earth, and water; and that their commixture in his composition produced in him every kind of perfection, mental and bodily. Not only does Shakespeare himself elsewhere refer to this belief, but other writers of his time have passages alluding to it.

21. Consists of eating and drinking. Sir Andrew's matterof-fact reply is a good satire on those who were incapable of appreciating the poetry of the belief, and a good rebuke to those who maintained it with affected exaggeration as well as with too literal a faith.

22. Stoop. A vessel for holding liquor; Dutch, stoope. The measure called "a stoop" contained about half a gallon. The word was used for a flagon, or bowl; and here it seems to mean the latter-a vessel containing sufficient drink to serve for the whole company.

23. The picture of we three. An ale-house sign; whereon

Sir To. Welcome, ass.

25

Now let's have a catch.

Sir And. By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast.24 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 spokest of Pigrogromitus, of the Vapians passing the equinoctial of Queubus: 26 'twas very good, i' faith. I sent thee sixpence for thy leman: 27 hadst it?

Clo. I did impeticos thy gratillity; 28 for Malvolio's nose is no whipstock: 29 my lady has a white hand, and the Myrmidons are no bottle-ale houses. Sir And. Excellent! why, this is the best fooling, when all is done. Now, a song.

Sir To. Come on; there is sixpence for you; let's have a song.

Sir And. There's a testril 30 of me too: if one knight give a―31

Clo. Would you have a love-song, or a song of good life ? 32

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

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

In delay there lies no plenty;

Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty,3 33

Youth's a stuff will not endure.

Sir And. A mellifluous voice, as I am 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 contagion. But shall we make the welkin dance 34 indeed ? shall we rouse the night-owl in a catch

that will draw three souls out of one weaver 35 shall we do that?

Sir And. at a catch.36 Clo. By'r lady, sir, and some dogs will catch well.

An you love me, let's do 't: I am dog

Sir And. Most certain. Let our catch be, "Thou knave."

Clo. "Hold thy peace, thou knave," 37 knight? I shall be constrained in't to call thee knave, knight.

Sir And. 'Tis not the first time I have constrained one to call me knave. Begin, fool: it begins, "Hold thy peace."

Clo. I shall never begin, if I hold my peace.
Sir And. Good, i' faith. Come, begin.

was represented two louts drinking, and beneath which was the inscription, "We three loggerheads be;" making the reader thereof call himself a loggerhead. The Clown waggishly turns this allusion into a means of calling the two knights fools equally with himself, the acknowledged fool.

24 An excellent breast. "Breast" was often used for 'singing-voice' in Shakespeare's time.

25. I had rather than forty shillings I had, &c. This same phrase is used by Master Slender (" Merry Wives," Acti., sc. 1); between whose vapid yet vapouring diction and that of Sir Andrew there exists a wonderful folly-family likeness; and yet how individually distinct are the portraits of the two men kept! 26. Pigrogromitus, of the Vapians, &c. A specimen of the jester's wonted style of inventive mystification; similar to his quoting "Quinapalus." See Note 67, Act i.

27. Leman. 'Lover,' 'sweetheart;' a term applied to both men and women. See Note 15, Act iv., "Merry Wives."

28. I did impeticos thy gratillity. The Clown's facetious mode of saying, 'I did impetticoat thy gratuity.'

29 Whipstock. The handle of a whip. Feste is flourishing on with his jumble of apparent sententiousness and "best fooling." 30. Testril. An old form of 'testern,' or 'tester;' sixpence. See Note 12, Act i., "Two Gentlemen of Verona "

31. If one knight give a-. In the Folio, this is not printed as a broken or interrupted speech, but merely as if it were a typographical error of omission. Possibly there may have originally been some platitude of a reason given by Sir Andrew for his giving a similar piece of money with his brother "knight,"

Sir Toby; but, printed as a broken speech, it serves well to indicate Aguecheek's flabby attempt to imitate his knightly model, trying to give a reason, and failing from sheer incompetence to express himself.

32. Good life? Used here for 'virtuous conduct,' 'decent behaviour;' as we find "good life" employed to express 'character for virtue and decent conduct,' in "Merry Wives," Act iii., sc. 3, where Mrs. Page says to Mrs. Ford, "Defend your reputation, or bid farewell to your good life for ever."

33. Sweet and twenty. This was formerly used as a term of endearment, and may be so employed here; but we think it likely to mean 'sweetly and twenty times.'

34. Make the welkin dance. 'Drink till we make the sky

36. I am dog at a catch. This was an idiomatic form of expression, instead of 'I am a dog at a catch;' and it is, moreover, characteristic of Sir Andrew's diction, who has just said, "As I am true knight."

37. "Hold thy peace, thou knave." A copy of this threepart catch exists in a book entitled "Pammelia, Musick's Miscellanie," 1618; and the composition is so contrived that each of the singers calls the other "knave" in turn.

Enter MALVOLIO.

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 alehouse of my lady's house, that ye squeak out your coziers' catches 44 without any mitigation 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! 45

Sir To. your chain with crumbs.50-A stoop of wine, Maria!

Thou'rt i' the right.-Go, sir, rub

Mal. Mistress Mary, if you prized my lady's favour at anything more than contempt, you would not give means for this uncivil rule; 51 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

make a fool of him.

your disorders. If you can separate yourself and

your misdemeanours, 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. [Singing.]

Farewell, dear heart, since I must needs be gone. "7 Mar. Nay, good Sir Toby.

Clo. [Singing.]

Mal.

His eyes do show his days are almost done.
Is't even so?

Sir To. [Singing.] But I will never die.
Clo. Sir Toby, there you lie.
Mal. This is much credit to you.
Sir To. [Singing.] Shall I bid him go?
Clo. [Singing.] What an if you do?

Sir To. [Singing.] Shall I bid him go, and spare not? Clo. [Singing.] Oh, no, no, no, no, you dare not. Sir To. Out o' time, sir ?48 ye lie.-Art any more than a steward? Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale ?49 Clo. Yes, by Saint Anne; and ginger shall be hot i' the mouth too.

44. Coziers' catches. A "cozier " was a botcher of old clothes, or a mender of old shoes. French, coudre, to sew; participle past, cousu, sewed.

45. Sneck up! This was a scoffing interjection, tantamount to 'go hang!' and here has the added humorous effect of a hiccup. 46. Round with you. 'Blunt with you,' 'frank with you.' See Note 10, Act ii., "Comedy of Errors."

47. Farewell, dear heart, since I, &c. This ballad, containing some of the snatches quoted alternately by Sir Toby and the Clown, appears in the first volume of "Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry."

48. Out o' time, sir? The Folio prints 'tune' instead of "time" (Theobald's correction); and perhaps 'tune' was here used in the sense of "time," as we have shown was the case formerly. See Note 24, Act v., "As You Like It." But as Sir Toby seems to refer to Malvolio's previous words, and his own rejoinder, it seems probable that "time" was the word, repeated exactly, having left its sound on the knight's ear, and merely misprinted. "Time" and 'tune,' the one word erroneously printed for the other, was a frequent typographical mistake.

49 Because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? A fling at Malvolio's Puritanism; the Puritans being violent denouncers of merry-makings, cake-eatings, carousals, and such other customary observances of holidays and festivals in old England. The Clown follows this up by swearing "by Saint Anne;" the Puritans not only objecting to swearing, but

Sir To. Do 't, knight: I'll write thee a chal

lenge; 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 lady, she is much out of quiet. For Monsieur Malvolio, let me alone with him: if I do not gull him into a nay-word,53 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.

Sir To. Possess 54 us, possess us; tell us something of him.

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

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

Sir To. What! for being a Puritan? thy exquisite reason, dear knight?

Sir And. I have no exquisite reason for 't, but I have reason good enough.55

Mar. The devil a Puritan that he is, or anything constantly, but a time-pleaser; an affectioned 56 ass, that cons 57 state without book, and utters it by great swarths; the best persuaded of

having peculiar abhorrence of invoking the saints, as well as of observing saints' days.

50. Rub your chain with crumbs. It was usual with stewards in great houses to wear a gold chain, as a badge of office, and mark of distinction over inferior servants; and these chains were kept bright by rubbing them with bread-crumbs.

51. Rule. Here used for 'revel;' in the same way as we have pointed out in Note 25, Act iii., "Midsummer Night's Dream."

52. Challenge him to the field. The Folio omits "to"

here.

53. A nay-word. The Folio prints 'an ayword' here; but as Shakespeare uses nay-word," it is probably the term here. See Note 45, Act ii., "Merry Wives." There it is used more in the sense of watchword;' here, more in the sense of 'byword.' 54. Possess. Tell, inform. See Note 9, Act iv., "Measure for Measure."

55. Reason good enough. The bullying coward Sir Andrew's reason was all-sufficient; inasmuch as the Puritans were known to conscientiously avoid fighting.

56. Affectioned. Used here for 'affected.' 57. Cons.

Here used for 'knows by rote,' 'has by heart;' so

as to repeat it "without book."

58. Swarths. Swarth, or swath, is as much grass as a mower cuts at one stroke of his scythe; and figuratively represents the pompous sweep of sentence that a large talker promulgates.