Mal. [Reads.] 66 I may command, where I adore; But silence, like a Lucrece knife, With bloodless stroke my heart doth gore: Fab. A fustian riddle! Sir To. Excellent wench, say I. Mal. "M, O, A, I, doth sway my life."-Nay, but first, let me see, let me see, let me see. - Fab. What a dish of poison has she dress'd him! Sir To. And with what wing the stannyel10 checks at it! Mal. "I may command where I adore." Why, she may command me: I serve her; she is my lady. Why, this is evident to any formal capacity." There is no obstruction in this. And the end, what should that alphabetical position portend? if I could make that resemble something in me, Softly!M, O, A, I.— Sir To. O! ay, make a cold scent. that: up He is now at Fab. Sowter 12 will cry upon't, for all this, though it be as rank as a fox. Mal. M,-Malvolio: - M, - why, that begins my name. Fab. Did not I say, he would work it out? the cur is excellent at faults. Mal. M:-But then there is no consonancy in the 10 The common stone-hawk, which inhabits old buildings and rocks. To check, says Latham in his book of Falconry, is, "when crows, rooks, pies, or other birds coming in view of the hawk, she forsaketh her natural flight to fly at them." "That is, to any one in his senses, or whose capacity is not out of form. 12 Sowter is here used as the name of a hound. Sowterly is often employed as a term of abuse a Sowter was a cobbler or botcher; quasi Sutor. sequel; that suffers under probation: A should follow, but O does. Fab. And O! shall end, I hope. Sir To. Ay, or I'll cudgel him, and make him cry, O! Mal. And then I comes behind. Fab. Ay, an you had any eye behind you, you might see more detraction at your heels, than fortunes before you. Mal. M, O, A, I:-This simulation is not as the former; - and yet, to crush this a little, it would bow to me, for every one of these letters are in my name. Soft! here follows prose. "If this fall into thy hand, revolve. In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Thy fates open their hands; let thy blood and spirit embrace them. And, to inure thyself to what thou art like to be, cast thy humble slough, and appear fresh. Be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants: let thy tongue tang arguments of state; put thyself into the trick of singularity: She thus advises thee, that sighs for thee. Remember who commended thy yellow stockings; and wish'd to see thee ever cross-garter'd: I say, remember. Go to; thou art made, if thou desirest to be so; if not, let me see thee a steward still, the fellow of servants, and not worthy to touch fortune's fingers. Farewell. She that would alter services with thee, 13 THE FORTUNATE UNHAPPY." Daylight and champaign discovers not more : this is open. I will be proud, I will read politic authors, I will baffle Sir Toby, I will wash off gross 13 A fashion once prevailed for some time of wearing the garters crossed on the leg. It should be remembered that rich and expensive garters worn below the knee were then in use. Olivia's detestation of these fashions probably arose from thinking them coxcomical. acquaintance, I will be point-device,1 the very man. I do not now fool myself, to let imagination jade me; for every reason excites to this, that my lady loves me. She did commend my yellow stockings of late, she did praise my leg being cross-garter'd; and in this she manifests herself to my love, and, with a kind of injunction, drives me to these habits ↓ of her liking. I thank my stars, I am happy. I will be strange, stout, in yellow stockings, and crossgarter'd, even with the swiftness of putting on. Jove and my stars be praised! — Here is yet a postscript. "Thou canst not choose but know who I am. If thou entertainest my love, let it appear in thy smiling; thy smiles become thee well: therefore in my presence still smile, dear my sweet, I pr'ythee." Jove, I thank thee.—I will smile; I will do every thing that thou wilt have me. [Exit. Fab. I will not give my part of this sport for a pension of thousands to be paid from the Sophy. Sir To. I could marry this wench for this device. Sir And. So could I too. Sir To. And ask no other dowry with her, but such another jest. Enter MARIA. Sir And. Nor I neither. Fab. Here comes my noble gull-catcher. Sir To. Wilt thou set thy foot o' my neck? Sir And. Or o' mine either? 14 That is, exactly the same in every particular. The etymology of this phrase is very uncertain. The most probable seems the French à point devisé. "A poinct," says Nicot, "adverbe. C'est en ordre et estat deu et convenable." We have also point blank, for direct, from the same source. Sir To. Shall I play my freedom at tray-trip,' and become thy bond-slave? Sir And. I'faith, or I either. 15 Sir To. Why, thou hast put him in such a dream, that when the image of it leaves him he must run mad. Mar. Nay, but say true; does it work upon him? Sir To. Like aqua-vitæ with a midwife. Mar. If you will, then, see the fruits of the sport, mark his first approach before my lady: he will come to her in yellow stockings, and 'tis a colour she abhors; and cross-garter'd, a fashion she detests : and he will smile upon her, which will now be so unsuitable to her disposition, being addicted to a melancholy as she is, that it cannot but turn him into a notable contempt: If you will see it, follow me. Sir To. To the gates of Tartar, thou most excellent devil of wit! Sir And. I'll make one too. [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. OLIVIA'S Garden. Enter VIOLA, and Clown with a tabor. Vio. Save thee, friend, and thy music: Dost thou live by thy tabor ? 1 15 Tyrwhitt conjectured that tray-trip was the game of draughts; and Mr. Knight produces a passage from Cecil's Correspondence, that favours the conjecture: "There is great danger of being taken sleepers at tray-trip, if the king sweep suddenly." An ancient satire called Machiavel's Dog gives further support : "But, leaving cards, let's go to dice awhile, To passage, treitrippe, hazard, or mum-chance." Play my freedom means play for my freedom; that is, stake it. H. Tarleton, in a print before his Jests, 4to. 1611, is represented Clo. No, sir; I live by the Church. Vio. Art thou a Churchman? Clo. No such matter, sir: I do live by the Church; for I do live at my house, and my house doth stand by the Church. - 2 Vio. So thou mayst say, the king lies by a beggar, if a beggar dwell near him; or, the Church stands by thy tabor, if thy tabor stand by the Church. Clo. You have said, sir.- To see this age! — A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit: How quickly the wrong side may be turn'd outward! Vio. Nay, that's certain: they, that dally nicely with words, may quickly make them wanton. Clo. I would, therefore, my sister had had no name, sir. Vio. Why, man ? Clo. Why, sir, her name's a word; and to dally with that word, might make my sister wanton: But, indeed, words are very rascals, since bonds disgrac'd them. Vio. Thy reason, man? Clo. Troth, sir, I can yield you none without words; and words are grown so false, I am loth to prove reason with them. Vio. I warrant thou art a merry fellow, and carest for nothing. Clo. Not so, sir; I do care for something; but in my conscience, sir, I do not care for you: if that be to care for nothing, sir, I would it would make you invisible. Vio. Art not thou the lady Olivia's fool? Clo. No, indeed, sir; the lady Olivia has no folly: with a Tabor. But the instrument is found in the hands of fools, long before the time of Shakespeare. That is, a kid glove, from the French chevreau. Ray has a proverb, "He hath a conscience like a cheverel's skin." |