Oli. How say you to that, Malvolio? Mal. I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal: I saw him put down the other day with an ordinary fool that has no more brain than a stone. Look you now, he's out of his guard already unless you laugh and minister occasion to him, he is gagg'd. I protest I take these wise men, that crow so at these set kind of fools, no better than the fools' zanies.* : Oli. O! you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and taste with a distemper'd appetite. To be generous, guiltless, and of free disposition, is to take those things for bird-bolts," that you deem cannon-bullets: There is no slander in an allow'd fool, though he 4 Douce explained this to mean "fools' baubles;" which has been generally received. But Mr. Dyce says, "The fools' zanies' is equivalent to the buffoons, or mimics, of the fools ;' zany, both as a substantive and verb, being commonly used in that sense by our early writers." In proof of this he quotes from Drayton, "Thou art the Fowler, and dost show us shapes, And we are all thy zanies, thy true apes." And again from Marston,— Laughs them to scorn, as man doth busy apes, To which we will add the following from Donne's verses "To "Then write, that I may follow, and so be All which seem pretty decisive of the question. H. 5 Bird-bolts were short thick arrows with obtuse ends, used for shooting young rooks and other birds. An allow'd fool was the domestic fool or court fool, like the Clown in All's Well that Ends Well, and like Touchstone in As You Like It; that is, the jester by profession, who dressed in motley; with whom folly was an art; and whose functions are so do nothing but rail; nor no railing in a known discreet man, though he do nothing but reprove. Clo. Now, Mercury endue thee with leasing," for thou speakest well of fools! Re-enter MARIA. Mar. Madam, there is at the gate a young gentleman much desires to speak with you. Oli. From the count Orsino, is it? Mar. I know not, madam: 'tis a fair young man, and well attended. Oli. Who of my people hold him in delay ? Oli. Fetch him off, I pray you: he speaks nothing but madman: Fie on him! [Exit MARIA.] Go you, Malvolio: if it be a suit from the Count, I am sick, or not at home; what you will, to dismiss it. [Exit MALVOLIO.] Now you see, sir, how your fooling grows old, and people dislike it. Clo. Thou hast spoke for us, madonna, as if thy eldest son should be a fool; whose skull Jove cram with brains; for here he comes, one of thy kin, has a most weak pia mater.8 Enter Sir TOBY BELCH. Oli. By mine honour, half drunk. at the gate, cousin? Sir To. A gentleman. Oli. A gentleman! what gentleman ? What is he admirably set forth by Jaques in the last-mentioned play, Act ii. sc. 7. H. 7 That is, lying. The Clown means, that unless Olivia lied she could not "speak well of fools;" therefore he prays Mercury to endue her with leasing. 8 The membrane that covers the brain. H. Sir To. 'Tis a gentleman here. A plague o'these pickle-herrings ! — How now, sot?? Oli. Cousin, cousin, how have you come so early by this lethargy? Sir To. Lechery! I defy lechery: There's one at the gate. Oli. Ay, marry; what is he? Sir To. Let him be the devil, an he will, I care not give me faith, say I. Well, it's all one. [Exit. Oli. What's a drunken man like, fool? Clo. Like a drown'd man, a fool, and a madman : one draught above heat makes him a fool; the second mads him; and a third drowns him. Oli. Go thou and seek the coroner, and let him sit o' my coz; for he's in the third degree of drink ; he's drown'd go, look after him. Clo. He is but mad yet, madonna; and the fool shall look to the madman. [Exit Clown. Re-enter MALVOLIO. Mal. Madam, yond' young fellow swears he will speak with you. I told him you were sick; he takes on him to understand so much, and therefore comes to speak with you: I told him you were asleep; he seems to have a foreknowledge of that too, and therefore comes to speak with you. What is to be said to him, lady? he's fortified against any denial. Oli. Tell him, he shall not speak with me. Mal. He has been told so; and he says he'll 9 Sot is often used by the Poet for fool; as in The Merry Wives Dr. Caius says,- -"Have you make-a de sot of us?" H. stand at your door like a sheriff's post,10 and be the supporter to a bench, but he'll speak with you. Oli. What kind of man is he? Mal. Why, of man kind. Oli. What manner of man? Mal. Of very ill manner : he'll speak with you, will you or no. Oli. Of what personage and years is he? Mal. Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a squash is before 'tis a peascod, or a codling" when 'tis almost an apple: 'tis with him e'en standing water, between boy and man. He is very well-favour'd, and he speaks very shrewishly one would think his mother's milk were scarce out of him. : Oli. Let him approach: Call in my gentlewoman. Mal. Gentlewoman, my lady calls. [Exit. Re-enter MARIA. Oli. Give me my veil; come, throw it o'er my face: We'll once more hear Orsino's embassy. Enter VIOLA. Vio. The honourable lady of the house, which is she? Oli. Speak to me; I shall answer for her: Your will? Vio. Most radiant, exquisite, and unmatchable beauty. - I pray you tell me, if this be the lady of 10 The sheriffs formerly had painted posts set up at their doors on which proclamations and placards were affixed. 11 A codling, according to Mr. Gifford, means an involucrum or kell, and was used by our old writers for that early state of vegetation, when the fruit, after shaking off the blossom, began to assume a globular and determinate shape. the house, for I never saw her: I would be loth to cast away my speech; for, besides that it is excellently well penn'd, I have taken great pains to con it. Good beauties, let me sustain no scorn; I am very comptible even to the least sinister usage. Oli. Whence came you, sir? 12 Vio. I can say little more than I have studied, and that question's out of my part. Good gentle one, give me modest assurance if you be the lady of the house, that I may proceed in my speech. Oli. Are you a comedian ? Vio. No, my profound heart! and yet, by the very fangs of malice I swear, I am not that I play. Are you the lady of the house? Oli. If I do not usurp myself, I am. Vio. Most certain, if you are she, you do usurp yourself; for what is yours to bestow, is not yours to reserve. But this is from my commission: I will on with my speech in your praise, and then show you the heart of my message. Oli. Come to what is important in't: I forgive you the praise. Vio. Alas! I took great pains to study it, and 'tis poetical. Oli. It is the more like to be feigned: I pray you, keep it in. I heard you were saucy at my gates; and allow'd your approach, rather to wonder at you than to hear you. If you be not mad, be gone; if you have reason, be brief: 'tis not that time of moon with me to make one in so skipping a dialogue. Mar. Will you hoist sail, sir? here lies your way. Vio. No, good swabber: I am to hull 13 here a 12 That is, susceptible, or sensitive. The proper meaning of the word is accountable. H. 13 To hull means to drive to and fro upon the water without sails or rudder. |