Plays and Poems

Duke. Her husband, sirrah!
Vio.

Oli. Alas! it is the baseness of thy fear

That makes thee strangle thy propriety.

Fear not, Cesario; take thy fortunes up;

Sir To. That's all one: has hurt me, and there's the end on 't. Sot, didst 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, anda passy-measures pavin. I hate a drunken rogue.

Oli. Away with him! Who hath made this havoc with them?

21)

Sir And. I'll help you, Sir Toby, because we'll

Be that thou know'st thou art, and then thou art be dressed together.

As great as that thou fear'st.

Enter Priest.

O welcome, father!

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 pass'd between this youth and me.
Priest. A contract of eternal bond of love, 160
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 compact
Seal'd in my function, by my testimony:

Since when, my watch hath told me, toward

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. Excunt Clown, FABIAN, Sir TOBY, and Sir ANDREW.

Enter SEBASTIAN.

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

man;

231

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 !

170

Ant. Sebastian are you?
Seb.

O! do not swear: Hold little faith, though thou hast too much fear. Enter Sir ANDREW AGUECHEEK

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!

231

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,

Sir And. For the love of God, a surgeon! send Whom the blind waves and surges have devour'd.

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

Here comes Sir Toby halting; you shall hear | But this my masculine usurp'd attire,

Do not embrace me till each circumstance

Of place, time, fortune, do cohere and jump 260
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. To OLIVIA. So comes it, lady, you have been mistook;

270

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.
Duke. Be not amaz'd; right noble is his blood.
If this be so, as yet the glass seems true,
I shall have share in this most happy wreck.
To VIOLA. Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand
times

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; 28)

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.
A most extracting frenzy of mine own
From my remembrance clearly banish'd his. 290

Re enter Clown, with a letter, and FABIAN.
How does he, sirrah?

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

Oli. Open 't, 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?

300

Clo. No, madam, I do but read madness: an

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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, 30
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,

your ladyship will have it as it ought to be, you Upon thee in the letter. Prithee, be content: 30

must allow vox.

Oli. Prithee, read i' thy right wits.

Clo. So I do, madonna; but to read his right

And in such forms which here were pre-suppos'd This practice hath most shrewdly pass'd upon

thee;

But when we know the grounds and authors of it,

wits is to read thus: therefore perpend, my Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge

princess, and give ear.

Oli. To FABIAN. Read it you, sirrah.

310

Fab. 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 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, 320

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,
Most freely I confess, myself and Toby
Set this device against Malvolio here,
Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts
We had conceiv'd against him. Maria writ
The letter at Sir Toby's great importance;
In recompense whereof he hath married her.
How with a sportful malice it was follow'd,

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 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 reveng'd on the whole pack of

But when I came to man's estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
'Gainst kraves and thieves men shut their gates,
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 beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
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.

410

Exit.

Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen, Officers, and Servants, Shepherds and Shepherdesses, Guards, etc.

TIME, as Chorus.

SCENE.-Sometimes in Sicilia, sometimes in Bohemia.

ACT I.

SCENE I. Sicilia. An Antechamber in LEONTES' Palace.

Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS.

Arch. If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.

Cam. I think, this coming summer, the King of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.

Arch. Wherein our entertainment shall shame ns we will be justified in our loves: for indeed, Cam. Beseech you,

Arch. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my

have been royally attorneyed with interchange | The by-gone day proclaim'd: say this to him,

of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!

Arch. I think there is not in the world either malice or matter to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young Prince Mamillius: it is a gentleman of the greatest promise that ever came into my note.

Cam. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him. It is a gallant child; one that indeed physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh; they that went on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to see him a man,

Arch. Would they else be content to die?

Cam. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.

Arch. If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one. Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The Same. A Room of State in the
Palace.

Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, HERMIONE, MA-
MILLIUS, CAMILLO, and Attendants.

Pol. Nine changes of the watery star have been
The shepherd's note since we have left our throne
Without a burden: time as long again
Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks;
And yet we should for perpetuity

Go hence in debt; and therefore, like a cipher,
Yet standing in rich place, I multiply

With one 'We thank you' many thousands more
That go before it.

He's beat from his best ward.
Leon.

Well said, Hermione.
Her. To tell he longs to see his son were strong:
But let him say so then, and let him go;
But let him swear so, and he shall not stay,
We'll thwack him hence with distaffs.
To POLIXENES. Yet of your royal presence I'll
adventure

The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia
You take my lord, I 'll give him my commission 40
To let him there a month behind the gest
Prefix'd for 's parting: yet, good deed, Leontes,
I love thee not a jar o' the clock behind
What lady she her lord. You'll stay?
Pol.

Her. Nay, but you will?

Pol.

Her. Verily!

No, madam.

I may not, verily

You put me off with limber vows; but I,
Though you would seek to unsphere the stars

Not your gaoler then,

But your kind hostess. Come, I'll question you
Of my lord's tricks and yours when you were boys:
You were pretty lordings then.

Pol.

We were, fair queen,

Two lads that thought there was no more behind
But such a day to-morrow as to-day,
And to be boy eternal.

Iler. Was not my lord the verier wag o' the

two?

Pol. We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk i' the sun,

And bleat the one at the other: what we chang'd
Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
The doctrine of ill-doing, no, nor dream'd
That any did. Had we pursu'd that life,
And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd
With stronger blood, we should have answer'd

heaven

Boldly 'not guilty;' the imposition clear'd
Hereditary ours,

Her.

By this we gather

You have tripp'd since.

Pol.

O! my most sacred lady, Temptations have since then been born to 's; for In those unfledg'd days was my wife a girl; Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes Of my young playfellow.

Her.

Grace to boot!

Of this make no conclusion, lest you say,
Your queen and I are devils; yet, go on:
The offences we have made you do we'll answer;
If you first sinn'd with us, and that with us
You did continue fault, and that you slipp'd not
With any but with us.

Leon.

Is he won yet?

Affection! thy intention stabs the centre:
Thou dost make possible things not so held,
At my request he would not. Communicat'st with dreams;-how can this
be?

140

Hor. He'll stay, my lord.
Leon.

Hermione, my dearest, thou never spok'st
To better purpose.
Her.

Leon.

Never?

Never, but once. Her. What! have I twice said well? when was 't before?

Leon. Aside.

Giving her hand to POLIXENES.
Too hot, too hot!

To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.
I have tremor cordis on me: my heart dances; 110
But not for joy; not joy. This entertainment
May a free face put on, derive a liberty

From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,
And well become the agent: 't may, I grant;
But to be paddling palms, and pinching fingers,
As now they are, and making practis'd smiles,
As in a looking-glass; and then to sigh, as 'twere
The mort o' the deer; O! that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows. Mamillius,
Art thou my boy?
Mam.

Leon.

Ay, my good lord.

I' fecks!

Why, that's my bawcock. What! hast smutch'd thy nose?

121

They say it's a copy out of mine. Come, captain,
We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, captain:
And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf,

Are all call'd neat. Still virginalling
Upon his palm! How now, you wanton calf!
Art thou my calf?

Mam.

Yes, if you will, my lord.

Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash and the shoots that I have,

To be full like me yet they say we are
Almost as like as eggs; women say so,
That will say any thing: but were they false
As o'er-dyed blacks, as wind, as waters, false
As dice are to be wish'd by one that fixes

130

No bourn 'twixt his and mine, yet were it true To say this boy were like me. Come, sir page, Look on me with your welkin eye: sweet villain! Most dear'st! my collop! Can thy dam? may 't be?

With what's unreal thou co-active art,
And fellow'st nothing: then 'tis very credent
Thou may'st co-join with something; and thou
dost.

And that beyond commission, and I find it,
And that to the infection of my brains
And hardening of my brows.

Pol.

What means Sicilia? Her. He something seems unsettled.

Pol.

How, my lord!
What cheer? how is 't with you, best brother?
Her.
You look

As if you held a brow of much distraction:
Are you mov'd, my lord ?

Leon.

No, in good earnest. 150

How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime
To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines
Of my boy's face, methoughts I did recoil
Twenty-three years, and saw myself unbreech'd,
In my green velvet coat, my dagger muzzled,
Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,

As ornaments oft do, too dangerous :

How like, methought, I then was to this kernel, This squash, this gentleman. Mine honest friend, Will you take eggs for money?

Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and ears a
fork'd one!

Go play, boy, play; thy mother plays, and I
Play too, but so disgrac'd a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave; contempt and clamour

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