In this uncivil and unjust extent 8 Against thy peace. Go with me to my house; He started one poor heart of mine in thee." Seb. What relifh is in this ?3 how runs the ftream? Or I am mad, or else this is a dream :— Let fancy ftill my sense in Lethe steep; If it be thus to dream, ftill let me fleep! Oli. Nay, come, I pr'ythee: 'Would, thoud'st be rul'd by me! Seb. Madam, I will, Oli. O, fay fo, and fo be! [Exeunt. SCENE II. A room in Olivia's houfe. Enter MARIA and Clown. Mar. Nay, I pr'ythee, put on this gown, and this beard: make him believe, thou art fir Topas the curate; do it quickly I'll call fir Toby the whilft. [Exit MARIA. Clo. Well, I'll put it on, and I will diffemble myself 4 in't; and I would I were the firft that ever diffembled in fuch a gown. 8 Extent is, in law, a writ of execution, whereby goods are feized for the King. It is therefore taken here for violence in general. JOHNSON. 9 A coarfe expreffion for made up, as a bad tailor is called a botcher, and to botch is to make clumfily. JOHNSON. 2 I know not whether here be not an ambiguity intended between beart and bart. The fenfe however is eafy enough. He that offends thee, attacks one of my bearts; or, as the ancients expreffed it, balf my heart. JOHNSON. The equivoque fuggefted by Dr. Johnson was, I have no doubt, intended. Heart in our author's time was frequently written bart; and Shakspeare delights in playing on these words. MALONE. 3 How does this tafte? What judgement am I to make of it? JOHNSON. 4 i. e. difguife myfelf. MALONE. Shakspeare has here stumbled on a Latinifm: Thus Ovid, speaking of Achilles : «Veste virum longa dissimulatus erat. STEEVINS. gown. I am not tall enough to become the function well;s nor lean enough to be thought a good student: but to be faid, an honest man, and a good housekeeper, goes as fairly, as to fay, a careful man, and a great scholar. The competitors enter.7 Enter SIR TOBY BELCH, and MARIA. Sir To. Jove bless thee, mafter parfon. Clo. Bonos diés, fir Toby: for as the old hermit of Prague, that never faw pen and ink, very wittingly faid to a niece of king Gorboduc, That, that is, is : fo I, being mafter parfon, am mafter parfon; For what is that, but that ; and is, but is? Sir To. To him, fir Topas. Clo. What, hoa, I fay,-Peace in this prison! Sir To. The knave counterfeits well; a good knave. Clo. Sir Topas, the curate, who comes to vifit Malvolio the lunatick. Mal. Sir Topas, fir Topas, good fir Topas, go to my lady. Clo. Out, hyperbolical fiend! how vexest thou this man? talkeft thou nothing but of ladies? Sir To. Well faid, mafter parfon. 5 This cannot be right. feription of a careful man. S2 Mal. Not tall enough, perhaps means not of fufficient beight to overlook a pulpit. STEEVENS. 6 This refers to what went before: I am not tall enough to become the function well, nor lean enough to be thought a good ftudent: it is plain then Shakspeare wrote:-as to fay a graceful man, i. e. comely. To this the Oxford editor fays, rectè. WARBURTON. A careful man, I believe, means a man who has fuch a regard for his character, as to intitle him to ordination. STEEVENS. 7 That is, the confederates or affociates. The word competitor is used in the fame fenfe in Richard III. and in the Two Gentlemen of Verona. M. MASON. 8 This is a very humourous banter of the rules established in the schools, that all reafonings are ex præcognitis & præconceffis, which lay the foundation of every fcience in thefe maxims, whatfoever is, is; and it is impoffible for the fame thing to be and not to be; with much trifling of the like kind. WARBURTON. 2 Mal. Sir Topas, never was man thus wrong'd: good fir Topas, do not think I am mad; they have laid me here in hideous darkness. Clo. Fye, thou dishonest Sathan! I call thee by the most modeft terms; for I am one of thofe gentle ones, that will ufe the devil himself with courtesy; Say'ft thou, that house is dark? Mal. As hell, fir Topas. Clo. Why, it hath bay windows 2 tranfparent as barricadoes, and the clear ftones towards the fouth-north are as luftrous as ebony; and yet complaineft thou of obstruction? Mal. I am not mad, fir Topas; I fay to you, this house is dark. Clo. Madman, thou erreft: I fay, there is no darkness, but ignorance; in which thou art more puzzled, than the Egyptians in their fog. Mal. I fay, this houfe is as dark as ignorance, though ignorance were as dark as hell; and I fay, there was never man thus abused: I am no more mad than you are; make the trial of it in any conftant queftion.3 Clo. What is the opinion of Pythagoras, concerning wildfowl? Mal. That the foul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird. Clo. What think'st thou of this opinion? Mal. I think nobly of the foul, and no way approve his opinion. Clo. Fare thee well: Remain thou ftill in darkness: thou fhalt 9 That manfion, in which you are now confined. The clown gives this pompous appellation to the small room in which Malvolio, we may fuppofe, was confined, to exafperate him. The word it in the clown's next fpeech plainly means Malvolio's chamber, and confirms this interpretation. MALONE. 2 A bay-window is the fame as a bow-window; a window in a recefs, or bay. See A. Wood's Life, published by T. Hearne, 1730,' p. 548 and 553. STEEVENS. See Minfheu's DICT, in v. "A bay-window,-because it is builded in manner of a baie or rode for fhippes, that is, round. L. Cavæ feneftræ. G. Une feneftre fort anthors de la maison." MALONE. 3 A fettled, a determinate, a regular question. JOHNSON. Rather, in any regular conversation, for fo generally Shakspeare uses the word question. MALONE. fhalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras, ere I will allow of thy wits; and fear to kill a woodcock, 4 left thou difpoffefs the foul of thy grandam. Fare thee well. Mal. Sir Topas, fir Topas, Sir To. My most exquifite fir Topas! Mar. Thou might ft have done this without thy beard, and gown; he fees thee not. Sir To. To him in thine own voice, and bring me word how thou find❜ft him: I would, we were well rid of this knavery. If he may be conveniently deliver'd, I would he were; for I am now fo far in offence with my niece, that I cannot pursue with any fafety this fport to the upshot. Come by and by to my chamber. [Exeunt SIR TOBY and MARIA. CLo. Hey Robin, jolly Robin,6 Tell me how thy lady does: S 3 [Singing. Mal. 4 The Clown mentions a woodcock particularly, becaufe that bird was fuppofed to have very little brains, and therefore was a proper ancestor for a man out of his wits. MALONE. 5 A phrafe taken from the actor's ability of making the audience cry either with mirth or grief. WARBURTON. I rather think this expreffion borrowed from sportfmen, and relating to the qualifications of a complete spaniel. JOHNSON. A cloak for all kinds of knavery; taken from the Italian proverb, Tu bai mantillo da ogni acqua. SMITH. I can turn my hand to any thing; I can affume any character I pleafe; like a fish, I can fwim equally in all waters. The equivoque fuggefted in the following note may, however, have been alfo in our author's thoughts. MALONE. The word water, as ufed by jewellers, denotes the colour and luftre of diamonds, and from thepce is applied, though with lefs propriety, to the colour and hue of other precious ftones. I think that Shakspeare, in this place, alludes to this fefe of the word water, not to thofe adopted either by Johnfon or Warburton. The Clown is complimented by fir Toby, for perfonating fir Topas fo exquifitely; to which he replies, that he can put on all colours, alluding to the word Top z, which is the name of a jewel, and was also that of the Curate. M. MASON. Mr. Henley has adopted the fame idea; and adds,-that "the Clown in his reply plays upon the name of Topas, and intimates that he could fuftain as well the character of any other perfon, let him be called by what gem he might." STEEVENS. This fong fhould certainly begin: 66 Hey Clo. She loves another-Who calls, ha? Mal. Good fool, as ever thou wilt deserve well at my hand, help me to a candle, and pen, ink, and paper; as I am a gentleman, I will live to be thankful to thee for't. Clo. Mafter Malvolio! Mal. Ay, good fool. Clo. Alas, fir, how fell you befides your five wits ? Mal. Fool, there was never man fo notoriously abused : I am as well in my wits, fool, as thou art. Clo. But as well? then you are mad, indeed, if you be no better in your wits than a fool. Mal. They have here property'd me; keep me in darknefs, fend minifters to me, affes, and do all they can to face me out of my wits. Clo. Advife you what you fay; the minifter is here.Malvolio, Malvolio, thy wits the heavens restore! endeavour thy felf to fleep, and leave thy vain bibble babble. Mal. Sir Topas, 2 Clo. Maintain no words with him, good fellow.-Who, "Hey, jolly Robin, tell to me "Alas, why is the fo? FARMER. I, fir? This fong feems to be alluded to in the following paffage of The Mer chandifes of Popish Priestes, 4to. 1629, Sign, F. 2.-"there is no one fo lively and jolly as St. Mathurine. I can beft defcribe you this arch finger, by fuch common phrafe as we use of him whom we fee very lively and pleafantly difpofed, we fay this, His bead is full of jelly Robbins." REED. 8 Thus the five fenfes were anciently called. STEEVENS. The Wits, Dr. Johnfon fome where obferves, were reckoned five in analogy to the five fenfes. From Stephen Hawes's poem called Graunde Amoure, ch. xxiv. edit. 1554, it appears that the five wits were" common wit, imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory." Wit in our author's time was the general term for the intellectual power. Male E. 9 They have taken poffeflion of me, as of a man unable to look to him. felf. JOHNSON. 2 Here the Clown in the dark acts two perfons, and counterfeits, by vatiatiǝ |