Mar. Marry, fir, fometimes he is a kind of Puritan. Sir And. O, if I thought that, I'd beat him like a dog. Sir To. What, for being a Puritan ? thy exquifite reason, dear knight?

Sir And. I have no exquifite reafon for't, but I have reafon good enough.

Mar. The devil a Puritan that he is, or any thing conftantly but a time-pleafer; an affection'd afs, that cons state without book, and utters it by great fwarths: 2 the best perfuaded of himself, fo cramm'd, as he thinks, with excellencies, that it is his ground of faith, that all, that look on him, love him; and on that vice in him will my revenge find notable 'cause to work.

Sir To. What wilt thou do?

Mar. I will drop in his way fome obfcure epiftles of love; wherein, by the colour of his beard, the shape of his leg, the manner of his gait, the expreffure of his eye, forehead, and complexion, he fhall find himfelf moft feelingly perfonated: I can write very like my lady, your niece; on a forgotten matter we can hardly make diftinction of our hands. Sir To. Excellent! I fmell a device.

Sir And. I have't in my nofe too.

Sir To. He fhall think, by the letters that thou wilt drop, that they come from my niece, and that she is in love with him.

Mar. My purpofe is, indeed, a horse of that colour.

Sir And. And your horfe now would make him an ass.3 1
Mar. Afs, I doubt not.

Sir And. O, 'twill be admirable.

Mar. Sport royal, I warrant you: I know, my phyfick will work with him. I will plant you two, and let the fool

Q3

make

9 Affection'd means affected. In this fenfe, I believe, it is ufed in Hamlet "no matter in it that could indite the author of affection," i. e. affectation. STEEVENS.

2 A fwarth is as much grafs as a mower cuts down at one ftroke of his fcythe. STEEVENS.

3 This conceit, though bad enough, fhews too quick an apprehenfion for Sir Andrew. It should be given, I believe, to Sir Toby; as well as the next short fpeech: 0, 'twill be admirable. Sir Andrew does not usually give his own judgment on any thing, till he has heard that of fome other perfon. TYRWHITT.

make a third, where he fhall find the letter: observe his construction of it. For this night, to bed, and dream on the event. Farewel.

Sir To. Good night, Penthefilea.*

Sir And. Before me, fhe's a good wench.

[Exit.

Sir To. She's a beagle, true-bed, and one that adores me; What o'that?

>

Sir And. I was adored once too.

Sir To. Let's to bed, knight.-Thou hadft need fend for more money.

Sir And. If I cannot recover your niece, I am a foul way

out.

Sir To. Send for money, knight;3 if thou haft her not i'the end, call me Cut.4

Sir And. If I do not, never trust me, take it how you will. Sir To. Come, come; I'll go burn fome fack, 'tis too late to go to bed now: come, knight; come, knight.

SCENE IV.

A room in the Duke's palace.

[Exeunt.

Enter DUKE, VIOLA, CURIO, and Others. Duke. Give me fome mufick:-Now, good morrow, friends:

Now, good Cefario, but that piece of fong,
That old and antique fong we heard last night;
Methought, it did relieve my paffion much;
More than light airs, and recollected terms,
Of these molt brisk and giddy-paced times;——
Come, but one verse.

2 i. e. Amazo". STEEVENS.

Cur.

3 Sir Toby, in this inftance, exhibits a trait of Iago:-" Put money in thy purfe.' STEEVENS.

4 This term of contempt, perhaps, fignifies only-call me-gelding. STEEVENS.

Curtal, which occurs in another of our author's plays, (i, e. a horfe, wofe tail has been docked,) and Cut, were probably fynonymous.

MALONE.

5 -recollected-] Studied. WARBURTON. I rather think, that recollected fignifies, more nearly to its primitive fenfe, recalled, repeated, and alludes to the practice of compofers, who often prolong the fong by repetitions. JoHNSON.

Cur. He is not here, fo pleafe your lordship, that fhould fing it. Duke. Who was it?

Cur. Felte, the jester, my lord; a fool, that the lady Olivia's father took much delight in : he is about the house. Duke. Seek him out, and play the tune the while.

[Exit CUAIO-Musick. Come hither, boy; If ever thou shalt love, In the fweet pangs of it, remember me: For, fuch as I am, all true lovers are; Unftaid and fkittish in all motions elfe, Save, in the conftant image of the creature That is belov'd.-How doft thou like this tune? Vio. It gives a very echo to the feat Where Love is thron'd."

Duke. Thou doft fpeak masterly:

My life upon't, young though thou art, thine eye
Hath ftay'd upon fome favour that it loves;
Hath it not, boy?

Vio.

A little, by your favour.7
Duke. What kind of woman is't?
Vin.

Duke. She is not worth thee then.

Vio. About your years, my lord.

Of your complexion.
What years, i'faith?

Duke. Too old, by heaven; Let ftill the woman take
An elder than herself; so wears she to him,
So fways the level in her husband's heart.
For, boy, however we do praise ourselves,
Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm,
More longing, wavering, fooner loft and worn,

Than women's are.

6. e. to the heart. So, in Romeo and Juliet:

Vio.

"My bofom's lord [i. e. Love] fits lightly on his throne." The meaning is, (as Mr. Heath has obferved,) "It is fo confonant to the emotions of the heart, that they echo it back again." MALONE. 7 The word favour ambiguously used JOHNSON. Favour, in the preceding fpeech, fignifies countenance. STEVENS. 8Though loft and worn may mean loft and worn out, yet loft and won being, I think, better, these two words coming ufually and naturally together, and the alteration being very light, I would fo read in this place with Sir T. Hanmer. JOHNSON.

The text is undoubtedly right, and worn fignifies, confum:d, worn out. MALONE.

Vio.

I think it well, my lord.

Duke. Then let thy love be younger than thyfelf,
Or thy affection cannot hold the bent:

For women are as rofes; whose fair flower,
Being once difplay'd, doth fall that
very hour.
Vio. And fo they are: alas, that they are fo;
To die, even when they to perfection grow!

Re-enter CURIO, and CLOWN.

Duke. O fellow, come, the fong we had last night :Mark it, Cefario; it is old, and plain:

The fpinfters and the knitters in the fun,

And the free 9 maids, that weave their thread with bones, Do ufe to chaunt it; it is filly footh,2

And dallies with the innocence of love,3

Like the old age.4

Clo. Are you ready, fir?
Duke. Ays pr'ythee, fing.

CLO

SONG.

Come away, come away, death,
And in fad cypress let me be laid ;5
Fly away, fly away, breath;
I am flain by a fair cruel maid.

9 Perhaps, vacant, unengaged, caly in mind. JOHNSON.

[Mufick.

My

I rather think, that free means here-not having yet surrendered their liberty to man-unmarried. MALONE.

Is not free, unreferved, uncontrolled by the reftraints of female delicacy, forward, and fuch as fing plain fongs? HENLEY.

The precife meaning of this epithet cannot very eafily be pointed out. As Mr. Warton obferves, on another occafion," fair and free" are words often paired together in metrical romances. Chaucer, Drayton, Ben Jonfon, and many other poets employ the epithet free, with little certainty of meaning, Free, in the inftance before us, may commodiously fignify, artless, free from art, uninfluenced by artificial manners, undirected by faife refinement in their choice of ditties, STEEVENS.

It is plain, fimple truth. JOHNSON.

3. To dally is to play, to trifle. STEEVENS.

4 The old age is the ages paft, the times of fimplicity. JOHNSON. 5. e. in a shroud of cypress or cyprus. There was both black and white cyprus, as there is ftill black and white crape; and ancient fhrouds were always made of the latter.

STEEVENS,

My broud of white, ftuck all with yew,
O, prepare it;

My part of death no one fo true
Did fhare it..

On

Not a flower, not a flower feet,
my black coffin let there be frown;

Not a friend, not a friend greet

My poor corpfe, where my bones shall be thrown :-
A thousand thousand fighs to fave,
Lay me, O where

Sad true lover ne'er find my grave,
To weep there.

Duke. There's for thy pains.

Clo. No pains, fir; I take pleasure in finging, fir.
Duke. I'll pay thy pleasure then.

Clo. Truly, fir, and pleafure will be paid, one time or

another.

Duke. Give me now leave to leave thee.

Clo. Now, the melancholy god protect thee; and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffata, for thy mind is a very of I would have men of fuch conftancy put to fea, that their bufinefs might be every thing, and their intent every where: for that's it, that always makes a good voyage of nothing.-Farewel. [Exit Clown.

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Duke.

6 Though death is a part in which every one acts his are, yet of all these actors no one is fo true as I. JOHNSON.

7 A precious ftone of almoft all colours. POPE. The opal is a gem which varies its appearance as it is viewed in different lights. STEEVENS.

8 Both the prefervation of the antithefis, and the recovery of the fenfe, require we should read, and their intent, no where. Because a man who fuffers himself to run with every wind, and fo makes his business every where, cannot be faid to have any intent; for that word fignifies a determination of the mind to fomething. Befides, the conclusion of making a gond voyage of nothing, directs to this emendation. WARBURTON. An intent every where, is much the fame as an intent no where, as it hath no one particular place more in view than another. HEATH.

The prefent reading is preferable to Warburton's amendment. We cannot accufe a man of inconftancy who has no intents at all, though we may the man whofe intents are every where, that is, are continually varying. M. MASON.