Sir To. Shall I bid him go, and Spare not? Sir To. Out o'time, fir! ye lie.-Art any more than a steward? Doit thou think, because thou art virtuous, there fhall be no more cakes and ale 2? Clown. Yes, by Saint Anne; and ginger fhall be hot i'the mouth too. Sir To. Thou'rt i'the right.-Go, fir, rub your chain with crums 3A ftoop of wine, Maria! Mal. Miftrefs Mary, if you prized my lady's favour at any thing more than contempt, you would not give means for this uncivil rule; fhe fhall know of it, by this hand. [Exit. Mar. Out o'time, fir!] The old copy reads out o'tune. The emendation now adopted has been lately propofed by Mr. Mafon, who obferves that this fpeech evidently refers to what Malvolio had faid before: "Is there no respect of place-nor time in you? Sir To. We did keep time, fir, in our catches." The fame correction, I find, had been filently made by Theobald, and was adopted by the three fubfequent editors. Sr Toby is here repeating with indignation Malvolio's words. In the Mfs. of our author's age, tune and time are often quite undiftinguishable; the fecond ftroke of the feeming to be the first ftroke of the m, or vice verfa. Hence in Macbeth, A&t IV. fc. ult. edit. 1623, we have "This time goes manly," inftead of "This tune goes manly." MALONE. 2 Doft thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale ] It was the custom on holidays or faints' days to make cakes in honour of the day. The Puritans called this, fuperftition, and in the next page Maria fays, that Malvolio is fometimes a kind of PuriSee Quarlous's Account of Rabbi Bufy, A&t I. fc. iii. in Ben Jonfon's Bartholomew Fair. LETHERLAND. tan. 3 rub your chain with crums :] That ftewards anciently wore a chain as a mark of superiority over other fervants, may be proved from the following paffage in the Martial Maid of B. and Fletcher : "Doft thou think I fhall become the fleward's chair? Will not these flender haunches fhew well in a chain? Again, in Webster's Dutchefs of Malfy, 1623-Yea, and the chippings of the buttery fly after him to feour his gold chain."-The beft method of cleaning any gilt plate, is by rubbing it with crums. STEEVENS. 4- rule;] Rule is method of life; so mifrule is tumult and riot. JOHNSON. Rule, on this occafion, is fomething less than common method of life. It occafionally means the arrangement or conduct of a fettival or merrymaking, as well as behaviour in general. So, in the 27th song of Drayton's Polyolbion: "Caft Mar. Go fhake your ears. Sir And. 'Twere as good a deed, as to drink when a man's a hungry, to challenge him to the field; and then to break promife with him, and make a fool of him. Sir To. Do't, knight; I'll write thee a challenge; or I'll deliver thy indignation to him by word of mouth. Mar. Sweet fir Toby, be patient for to-night; fince the youth of the count's was to-day with my lady, fhe is much out of quiet. For monfieur Malvolio, let me alone with him if I do not gull him into a naywords, and make him a common recreation, do not think I have wit enough to lie ftraight in my bed: I know, I can do it. Sir To. Poffefs us, poffefs us; tell us fomething of him. 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 reafon, 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-pleaser; an affection'd afs 7, that cons ftate without book, and utters it by great fwarths: 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 caufe to work. "Caft in a gallant round about the hearth they go, "And at each pause they kifs; was never feen fuch rule There was formerly an officer belonging to the court, called Lord of Mifrule. In the country, at all periods of feftivity, an officer of the fame kind was elected. STEEVENS. 5-a nayword,] A nayword is what has been fince called a byesword, a kind of proverbial reproach. STEEVENS. 6 Poffefs us,] That is, inform us, tell us, make us mafters of the matter. JOHNSON. an affection'd afs,] Affection'd means affected. In this fenfe, I believe, it is used in Hamlet" no matter in it that could indise the author of affection." i. e. affectation. STEEVENS. See Vol. II, p. 392, n. 1; and p. 414, n. S. MALONE Sir 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 himself 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 nose 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 horfe of that colour. Sir And. And your horse now would make him an ass3. 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 make a third, where he fhall find the letter; obferve his conftruction of it. For this night, to bed, and dream on the event. Farewel. [Exit. Sir To. Good night, Penthefilea 9. Sir And. Before me, fhe's a good wench. Sir To. She's a beagle, true-bred, and one that adores me; What o'that? Sir And. I was adored once too. Sir To. Let's to-bed, knight.-Thou had'st need fend for more money. Sir And. And your horfe now &c.] This conceit, though bad enough, fhews too quick an apprehenfion for fir Andrew. It should be given, I believe, to fir Toby; as well as the next fhort fpeech: 0, 'twill be admirable. Sir Andrew does not ufually give his own judgment on any thing, till he has heard that of fome other perfon. TYRWHITT. An anonymous writer afks, "does the ingenious critick imagine it probable that Maria would call fir Toby an afs ?" My learned friend is above taking notice of fuch flender criticifm. Maria in the fubfequent fpeech is not fpeaking of fir Andrew, or fir Toby, but of Malvolio. MALONE. Sir And. If I cannot recover your niece, I am a foul way out. Sir To. Send for money, knight; if thou haft her not i'the end, call me Cut 1· Sir And. If I do not, never truft 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. [Exeunt. A Room in the Duke's Palace. Enter Duke, VIOLA, CURIO, and Others. Duke. Give me fome mufick :-Now, good morrow, friends: Now, good Cefario, but that piece of fong, Cur. He is not here, fo pleafe your lordship, that fhould fing it. 1 call me Cut.] i. e. call me a borfe. So Falstaff in K. Henry IV. P. I. “spit in my face, call me borse." That this was the meaning of this expreilion is afcertained by a paffage in the Two Noble Kinfmen, 1634, A&. fc. iv: "He'll buy me a white Cat forth for to ride, "And I'll go feek him through the world that's fo wide." Again, in Sir John Oldcastle, 1600: "But mafter, 'pray ye, let me ride upon Cut. Curtal, which occurs in another of our author's plays, (i. e. a horse, whose tail has been docked,) and Cut, were probably fynonymous. MALONE. This contemptuous expreffion occurs in A Woman's a Weathercock, 1612, The Two Angry Women of Abington, 1599, and several times in Heywood's If you know not me, you know no body, 1633, P. II. STEEVENS. recolleted] 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. Duke. Duke. Who was it? Cur. Fefte, the jefter, 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 CURIO.-Mufick. 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 skittish in all motions elfe, Save, in the constant image of the creature That is belov'd.—How dost thou like this tune? Vio. It gives a very echo to the feat Where Love is thron'd3. Duke. Thou doft fpeak mafterly: My life upon't, young though thou art, thine eye Hath it not, boy? Vio. A little, by your favour. Duke. What kind of woman is't? Vio. Of your complexion. Duke. She is not worth thee then. What years, i'faith? Vio. About your years, my lord. Duke. Too old, by heaven; Let ftill the woman take An elder than herfelf; fo wears fhe to him, 3 -to the feat Where Love is thron'd.] i. e. to the heart. So, in Romeo and Juliet: "My bofom's lord [i. e. Love] fits lightly on his throne." Again, in Orbello: "Yield up O Love, thy crown, and bearted throne-." So before, in the first act of this play: when liver, brain and beart, "Thefe fovereign thrones, are all fupply'd and fill'd "(Her fweet perfections) with one felf-king." MALONE. 4-favour.] The word favour ambiguously used. JOHNSON. For its ancient fenfe, fee Vol. V. p. 79, n.4. MALONE. 5 An elder than berfelf;] Our author did not in this inftance follow his own doctrine. His wife was feven years older than him. MALONE. So |