Your need to sustain;
Who, with dagger of lath,
In his rage and his wrath,

Cries, ah, ha! to the devil:
Like a mad lad,

Pare thy nails, dad;

Adieu, goodman devil.

[Exit.

SCENE III-OLIVIA'S GARDEN

Enter SEBASTIAN

SEB. This is the air; that is the glorious sun; This pearl she gave me, I do feel 't and see 't; And though 't is wonder that enwraps me thus, Yet 't is not madness. Where 's Antonio, then? I could not find him at the Elephant:

Yet there he was; and there I found this credit,

126 Pare thy nails] The devil owed it to his popular reputation to keep his nails unpared. According to Hen. V, IV, iv, 76, the "roaring devil i' th' old play " becomes an object of scorn when "every one may pare his nails with a wooden dagger."

127 Adieu, goodman devil] This, the original reading, is a playful ejaculation "good-bye, Mister Devil". - which doubtless concludes the old song. On the gratuitous assumption that the words were the clown's parting salute to Malvolio and that the speaker had no reason to address him as "devil," many feeble changes have been suggested, e. g., goodman Civil and goodman Drivel.

5 the Elephant] See supra, III, iii, 39, and note.

6 this credit] this belief or opinion. At line 15 "trust" is used in much the same sense.

That he did range the town to seek me out.
His counsel now might do me golden service;
For though my soul disputes well with my sense,
That this may be some error, but no madness,
Yet doth this accident and flood of fortune
So far exceed all instance, all discourse,
That I am ready to distrust mine eyes

And wrangle with my reason, that persuades me
To any other trust but that I am mad,

Or else the lady 's mad; yet, if 't were so,

She could not sway her house, command her followers,
Take and give back affairs and their dispatch
With such a smooth, discreet, and stable bearing
As I perceive she does: there's something in 't
That is deceivable. But here the lady comes.

Enter OLIVIA and Priest

OLI. Blame not this haste of mine. If you mean well, Now go with me and with this holy man Into the chantry by: there, before him, And underneath that consecrated roof, Plight me the full assurance of your faith; That my most jealous and too doubtful soul

12 all instance, all discourse] all example and argument.

66

18 Take dispatch] The first verb seems to govern only the first noun, and the second verb the second noun. 'Take affairs and give back their dispatch" means "take up business affairs and see to their discharge."

21 deceivable] Cf. Sidney's Arcadia, Bk. II, p. 179, 1. 29: "the deceivable [i. e., deceiving, deceptive] style of affection."

May live at peace. He shall conceal it
Whiles you are willing it shall come to note,
What time we will our celebration keep
According to my birth. What do you say?

SEB. I'll follow this good man, and go with you; And, having sworn truth, ever will be true.

OLI. Then lead the way, good father; and heavens so

shine,

That they may fairly note this act of mine!

[Exeunt.

29 Whiles... note] Until you are willing that it shall be announced. 30 our celebration] the marriage ceremony, the preliminary to which — the plighting of troth—is alone arranged for in this scene.

66

34-35 heavens.. act of mine!] Cf. Rom. and Jul., II, vi, 1–2 : So smile the heavens upon this holy act, That after hours with sorrow chide us not."

30

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 friends.

for my

DUKE. Just the contrary; the better for thy friends. CLO. No, sir, the worse.

DUKE. How can that be?

10

CLO. Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me; now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass: so that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of myself; and by my friends I am abused: so that, conclusions to be as kisses, if your four negatives make your two affirmatives, why then, the worse for my friends, and the better for 20 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.

18 conclusions to be as kisses] conclusions (in a syllogism) being like kisses (because duality is characteristic of both). Conclusions (in logic) come from the meeting of two premises as kisses come from the meeting of two persons' lips. The clown subtly quibbles in the words that follow on the grammatical rule, — “two negatives affirm,” — which Sidney in Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet lxiii, had already turned to poetic uses. 28-29 your grace . . . obey it] "Grace" is quibblingly used in the double sense of "a ducal title of courtesy" and "claim to salvation "in the theological meaning. The last suggestion is continued in "let your flesh and blood obey it" (i.e., let your unregenerate being obey your "ill counsel").