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And she is dead; which nothing, but to close
Her eyes myself, could win me to believe,
More than to see this ring. Take him away. 120
[Guards seize Bertram.
My fore-past proofs, howe'er the matter fall,
Shall tax my fears of little vanity,
Having vainly fear'd too little. Away with him!
We'll sift this matter further.

Ber.

If you shall prove This ring was ever hers, you shall as easy Prove that I husbanded her bed in Florence,

Where yet she never was. [Exit, guarded. King. I am wrapp'd in dismal thinkings. Enter a Gentleman.

Gent. Gracious sovereign, Whether I have been to blame or no, I know not: Here's a petition from a Florentine, 130 Who hath for four or five removes come short To tender it herself. I undertook it, Vanquish'd thereto by the fair grace and speech Of the poor suppliant, who by this I know Is here attending: her business looks in her With an importing visage; and she told me, In a sweet verbal brief, it did concern Your highness with herself.

King. [Reads] Upon his many protestations to marry me when his wife was dead, I blush to say it, he won me. Now is the Count Rousillon a widower: his vows are forfeited to me, and my honour's paid to him. He stole from Florence, taking no leave, and I follow him to his country for justice: grant it me, O king! in you it best lies; otherwise a seducer flourishes, and a poor maid is undone. DIANA CAPILET. Laf. I will buy me a son-in-law in a fair, and toll for this: I'll none of him."

King. The heavens have thought well on thee, Lafeu,

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To bring forth this discovery. Seek these suitors:
Go speedily and bring again the count.
I am afeard the life of Helen, lady,
Was foully snatch'd.

Count.

Now, justice on the doers!

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You give away myself, which is known mine;
For I by vow am so embodied yours,
That she which marries you must marry me,
Either both or none.

Laf. Your reputation comes too short for my daughter; you are no husband for her.

Ber. My lord, this is a fond and desperate creature,

Whom sometime I have laugh'd with: let your highness

Lay a more noble thought upon mine honour 180 Than for to think that I would sink it here.

King. Sir, for my thoughts, you have them ill to friend

Till your deeds gain them: fairer prove your honour

Than in my thought it lies.
Dia.
Good my lord,
Ask him upon his oath, if he does think
He had not my virginity.

King. What say'st thou to her?
Ber.

She's impudent, my lord,
And was a common gamester to the camp.
Dia. He does me wrong, my lord; if I were so,
He might have bought me at a common price:
Do not believe him. O, behold this ring,
Whose high respect and rich validity
Did lack a parallel; yet for all that
He gave it to a commoner o' the camp,
If I be one.

Count. He blushes, and 'tis it: Of six preceding ancestors, that gem, Conferr'd by testament to the sequent issue, Hath it been owed and worn. This is his wife; That ring's a thousand proofs. King.

Methought you

said

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You saw one here in court could witness it.
Dia. I did, my lord, but loath am to produce
So bad an instrument: his name's Parolles.
Laf. I saw the man to-day, if man he be.
King. Find him, and bring him hither.
[Exit an Attendant.
Ber.
What of him?
He's quoted for a most perfidious slave,
With all the spots o' the world tax'd and de-
bosh'd;

Whose nature sickens but to speak a truth.
Am I or that or this for what he'll utter,
That will speak any thing?

She hath that ring of yours.

King. Ber. I think she has: certain it is I liked her, And boarded her i' the wanton way of youth: 211 She knew her distance and did angle for me, Madding my eagerness with her restraint, As all impediments in fancy's course Are motives of more fancy; and, in fine, Her infinite cunning, with her modern grace, Subdued me to her rate: she got the ring; And I had that which any inferior might At market-price have bought.

Dia. I must be patient: You, that have turn'd off a first so noble wife, 220

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Par. He loved her, sir, and loved her not. King. As thou art a knave, and no knave. What an equivocal companion is this!

250 Par. I am a poor man, and at your majesty's command.

Laf. He's a good drum, my lord, but a naughty orator.

Dia. Do you know he promised me marriage? Par. Faith, I know more than I'll speak. King. But wilt thou not speak all thou knowest? Par. Yes, so please your majesty. I did go between them, as I said; but more than that, he loved her for indeed he was mad for her, and talked of Satan and of Limbo and of Furies and I know not what: yet I was in that credit with them at that time that I knew of their going to bed, and of other motions, as promising her marriage, and things which would derive me ill will to speak of; therefore I will not speak what I know.

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King. This ring was mine; I gave it his first wife.

280

Dia. It might be yours or hers, for aught I know.

King. Take her away; I do not like her now; To prison with her: and away with him. Unless thou tell'st me where thou hadst this ring, Thou diest within this hour.

Dia.

King. Take her away.

I'll never tell you.

Dia.
I'll put in bail, my liege.
King. I think thee now some common cus-

tomer.

Dia. By Jove, if ever I knew man, 'twas you. King Wherefore hast thou accused him all this while?

289 Dia. Because he's guilty, and he is not guilty: He knows I am no maid, and he'll swear to't; I'll swear I am a maid, and he knows not. Great king, I am no strumpet, by my life; I am either maid, or else this old man's wife. King. She does abuse our ears: to prison with her.

Dia. Good mother, fetch my bail. Stay, royal sir: [Exit Widow. The jeweller that owes the ring is sent for, And he shall surety me. But for this lord, Who hath abused me, as he knows himself, Though yet he never harm'd me, here I quit him: He knows himself my bed he hath defiled; And at that time he got his wife with child: Dead though she be, she feels her young one kick So there's my riddle: one that's dead is quick: And now behold the meaning.

Re-enter Widow, with HELENA,

3ΟΙ

King. Is there no exorcist Beguiles the truer office of mine eyes? Is't real that I see? Hel. No, my good lord; 'Tis but the shadow of a wife you see, The name and not the thing. Ber.

Both, both. O, pardon! Hel. O my good lord, when I was like this maid,

310 I found you wondrous kind. There is your ring; And, look you, here's your letter; this it says: 'When from my finger you can get this ring And are by me with child,' &c. This is done: Will you be mine, now you are doubly won? Ber. If she, my liege, can make me know this clearly,

I'll love her dearly, ever, ever dearly.

Hel. If it appear not plain and prove untrue, Deadly divorce step between me and you! O my dear mother, do I see you living? Laf. Mine eyes smell onions; I shall weep

anon:

320

[To Parolles] Good Tom Drum, lend me a handkercher: so,

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To pay this debt of love but to a brother,
How will she love, when the rich golden shaft
Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else
That live in her; when liver, brain and heart,

Enter DUKE, CURIO, and other Lords; Mu- These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and fill'd

sicians attending.

Duke. If music be the food of love, play on;

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:

O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,

Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more: 'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.

O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,
That, notwithstanding thy capacity

Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe'er,

But falls into abatement and low price,

Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.

Cur. Will you go hunt, my lord?
Duke.

Cur. The hart.

ΙΟ

What, Curio?

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Duke. Why, so I do, the noblest that I have: O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, Methought she purged the air of pestilence! That instant was I turn'd into a hart; And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, E'er since pursue me.

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Her sweet perfections with one self king!
Away before me to sweet beds of flowers:
Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.
[Exeunt.

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you

Assure yourself, after our ship did split,
When you and those poor number saved with
Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother, II
Most provident in peril, bind himself,
Courage and hope both teaching him the practice,
To a strong mast that lived upon the sea;
Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back,
I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves
So long as I could see.

Vio. For saying so, there's gold:
Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,
Whereto thy speech serves for authority,
The like of him. Know'st thou this country?
Cap. Ay, madam, well; for I was bred and

born

Not three hours' travel from this very place.
Vio. Who governs here?

Cap. A noble duke, in nature as in name.
Vio. What is his name?
Cap. Orsino.

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Cap.
That were hard to compass;
Because she will admit no kind of suit,
No, not the duke's.

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Sir To. With drinking healths to my niece: I'll drink to her as long as there is a passage in my throat and drink in Illyria: he's a coward and a coystrill that will not drink to my niece till his brains turn o' the toe like a parish-top. What, wench! Castiliano vulgo! for here comes Sir Andrew Agueface.

Enter SIR ANDREW AGUECHEEK. Sir And. Sir Toby Belch! how now, Sir Toby 50 Belch!

Vio. There is a fair behaviour in thee, captain;
And though that nature with a beauteous wall
Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee
I will believe thou hast a mind that suits
With this thy fair and outward character.
I prithee, and I'll pay thee bounteously,
Conceal me what I am, and be my aid
For such disguise as haply shall become
The form of my intent. I'll serve this duke:
Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him:
It may be worth thy pains; for I can sing
And speak to him in many sorts of music
That will allow me very worth his service.
What else may hap to time I will commit;
Only shape thou thy silence to my wit.
Cap. Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be:
When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not see.
Vio. I thank thee: lead me on.

SCENE III. OLIVIA'S house.

60

[Exeunt.

Enter SIR TOBY BELCH and MARIA. Sir To. What a plague means my niece, to take the death of her brother thus? I am sure care's an enemy to life.

Mar. By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier o' nights: your cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions to your ill hours.

Sir To. Why, let her except, before excepted. Mar. Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modest limits of order.

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Sir To. Confine! I'll confine myself no finer than I am these clothes are good enough to drink in; and so be these boots too: an they be not, let them hang themselves in their own straps. Mar. That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard my lady talk of it yesterday; and of a foolish knight that you brought in one night here to be her wooer.

Sir To. Who, Sir Andrew Aguecheek?
Mar. Ay, he.

Sir To. He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria.
Mar. What's that to the purpose?
Sir To. Why, he has three thousand ducats a

year.

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Sir To.

Sir And.

Sweet Sir Andrew!

Bless you, fair shrew.

Mar. And you too, sir.

Sir To. Accost, Sir Andrew, accost.
Sir And.. What's that?

Sir To. My niece's chambermaid.

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Sir And Good Mistress Accost, I desire better acquaintance.

Mar. My name is Mary, sir.

Sir And. Good Mistress Mary Accost,

Sir To. You mistake, knight: 'accost' is front her, board her, woo her, assail her.

60

Sir And. By my troth, I would not undertake her in this company. Is that the meaning of

'accost'?

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