Plays and Poems

Duke.
Oli. Whither, my lord? Cesario, husband, stay.
Duke. Husband!
Oli.

Ay, husband can he that deny?
Duke. Her husband, sirrah!
Vio.

150

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, and a passy-measures pavin. I hate a drunken rogue.

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

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 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

21)

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

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, FABIAN, 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,

221

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!

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. one presently to Sir Toby.

oli. What's the matter?

For

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

182

Of charity, what kin are you to me?
What countryman? what name? what parent-

age?

241

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 mole upon his brow. 250
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 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 madmau.

By the Lord, madam,—

Oli. How now! art thou mad?

300

Oli. Prithee, 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.

310

Oli. To FABIAN. Read it you, sirrah. 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

Oli. Mal. Lady, you have. letter.

You must not now deny it is your hand : 340
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 pre-suppos'd Upon thee in the letter. Prithee, be content : 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,
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,

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

377

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 you. Exit. Oli. He hath been most notoriously abus'd. Duke. Pursue him, and entreat him to a 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.

390

Exeunt all, except Clown.

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 came to man's estate,

400

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 wire,
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,

410

And we'll strive to please you every day.

Exit.

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

TIME, as Chorus.

SCENE.-Sometimes in Sicilia, sometimes in Bohemia.

knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence

SCENE I.-Sicilia. An Antechamber in LEONTES'-in so rare-I know not what to say. We will

ACT I.

give you sleepy drinks, that your senses, unin. telligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us.

Cam. You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely.

Arch. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utterance.

Cam. Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities and royal necessities made separation of their society, their encounters, though not personal,

have been royally attorneyed with interchange | The by-gone day proclaim'd: say this to him, of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have He's beat from his best ward. seemed to be together, though absent, shook Leon. Well said, Hermione. hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, Her. To tell he longs to see his son were strong: from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens But let him say so then, and let him go; continue their loves! But let him swear so, and he shall not stay, We 'll thwack him hence with distaffs. To POLIXEN ES. Yet of your royal presence I'll adventure

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.

Leon.
Stay your thanks awhile,
And pay them when you part.
Pol.

Sir, that's to-morrow. 10
I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance
Or breed upon our absence; that may blow
No sneaping winds at home, to make us say,
This is put forth too truly!' Besides, I have
stay'd

To tire your royalty.

Lem.
We are tougher, brother,
Than you can put us to 't.
Pol.

No longer stay.
Leon. One seven-night longer.
Pol.
Very sooth, to-morrow.
Leon. We'll part the time between's then;
and in that

I'll no gainsaying.
Pol.
Press me not, beseech you, so,
There is no tongue that moves, none, none i'
the world,

So soon as yours could win me: so it should now,
Were there necessity in your request, although
'Twere needful I denied it. My affairs
Do even drag me homeward; which to hinder
Were in your love a whip to me; my stay
To you a charge and trouble: to save both,
Farewell, our brother.

Leon. Tongue-tied, our queen? speak you.
Her. I had thought, sir, to have held my peace
until

You had drawn oaths from him not to stay.
You, sir,

Charge him too coldly tell him, you are sure 30
All in Bohemia 's well: this satisfaction

The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia
You take my lord, I'll give him my commission 4
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 with oaths,

Should yet say, 'Sir, no going.' Verily,
You shall not go a lady's 'verily ''s
As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet?
Force me to keep you as a prisoner,
Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees
When you depart, and save your thanks. How
say you?

My prisoner or my guest? by your dread 'verily,'
One of them you shall be.
Pol.
Your guest then, madam:
To be your prisoner should import offending;
Which is for me less easy to commit
Than you to punish.

Her.
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.

Her. 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 play fellow.

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.

I prithee tell me; cram 's with praise, and make's As fat as tame things: one good deed dying tongueless

Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that.
Our praises are our wages: you may ride's
With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere
With spur we heat an acre. But to the goal:
My last good deed was to entreat his stay:
What was my first? it has an elder sister,

Or I mistake you: O! would her name were
Grace.

But once before I spoke to the purpose: when? Nay, let me have 't; I long.

Leon.
Why, that was when 101
Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to
death,

Ere I could make thee open thy white hand
And clap thyself my love: then didst thou utter
'I am yours for ever.'
Her.

'Tis grace indeed.

Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose twice:

The one for ever earn'd a royal husband,
The other for some while a friend.

Giving her hand to POLIXENES.
Leon. Aside.
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?

Ay, my good lord.

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

Yes, if you will, my lord.

130

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
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?

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?

Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight.

161

Leon. You will! why, happy man be's dole!
My brother,

Are you so fond of your young prince as we
Do seem to be of ours?
Pol.
If at home, sir,
He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter,
Now my sworn friend and then mine enemy;
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all:
He makes a July's day short as December,
And with his varying childness cures in me
Thoughts that would thick my blood.

Leon.

170

So stands this squire Offic'd with me. We two will walk, my lord, And leave you to your graver steps. Hermione, How thou lov'st us, show in our brother's welcome:

Let what is dear in Sicily be cheap.
Next to thyself and my young rover, he's
Apparent to my heart.

Her.

If you would seek us, We are yours i' the garden: shall's attend you there?

Leon. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be found,

Be you beneath the sky. Aside. I am angling now,

Though you perceive me not how I give line.
Go to, go to!

How she holds up the neb, the bill to him!
And arms her with the boldness of a wife
To her allowing husband!

180

Exeunt POLIXENES, HERMIONE, and
Attendants.
Gone already!

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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