Duke. Be not amaz'd: right-noble is his blood: If this be fo, as yet the glafs feems true,

I fhall have fhare in this moft happy wreck.

Boy, thou haft faid to me a thoufand times, [To Vio.
Thou never should'ft love woman like to me.

Vio. And all thofe fayings will I over-swear,
And all thofe fwearings keep as true in foul;
As doth that orbed continent the fire,
That fevers day from night.

Duke. Give me thy hand,

And let me fee thee in thy woman's weeds.

Vio. The captain, that did bring me first on fhore, Hath my maids garments: he upon fome action Is now in durance, at Malvolio's fuit,

A gentleman and follower of my lady's.

Oli. He fhall enlarge him: fetch Malvolio hither. And yet, alas, now I remember me,

They fay, poor gentleman! he's much distract.

Enter the Clown with a letter, and Fabian.

* A moft extracting frenzy of mine own From my remembrance clearly banish'd his. How does he, firrah?

Clo. Truly, Madam, he holds Belzebub at the stave's end, as well as a man in his cafe may do : h'as here writ a letter to you, I fhould have given't you to day morning. But as a mad-man's epiftles are no gofpels, fo it skills not much, when they are deliver'd.

Oli. Open't, and read it.

Clo. Look then, to be well edify'd, when the fool delivers the mad-man-By the Lord, Madam,

[Reads.

4 A moft extracting frenzy-] i. e. A frenzy that drew me away from every thing but its own object.

Clo. No, Madam, I do but read madness: an your Ladyship will have it as it ought to be, you must allow Vox.

Oli. Pr'ythee, read it, i'thy right wits.

Clo. So I do, Madona ; but to read his right wits, is to read thus: therefore perpend, my princefs, and give ear.

Oli. Read it you, firrah.

[To Fabian. Fab. [Reads.] By the Lord, Madam, you wrong me, and the world fhall know it: though you have put me into darkness, and given your drunken Uncle rule over me, yet have I the benefit of my fenfes as well as your Ladyship. I have your own Letter, that induced me to the femblance I put on; with the which I doubt not, but to do myself much right, or you much shame: think of me, as you please: I leave my duty a little unthought of, and speak out of my injury.

Oli. Did he write this?

Clo. Ay, Madam.

The madly us'd Malvolio.

Duke. This favours not much of diftraction.

Oli. See him deliver'd, Fabian; bring him hither.
My Lord, so please you, these things further thought on,
To think me as well a fifter, as a wife;

One day shall crown th' alliance on't, so please you,
Here at my house, and at my proper cost.

Duke. Madam, I am moft apt t'embrace your offer.
Your mafter quits you; and for your fervice done him,
So much against the metal of your fex, [To Viola.
So far beneath your foft and tender breeding;
(And fince you call'd me mafter for fo long,)
Here is my hand, you shall from this time be
Your master's mistress.

Oli. A fifter, you are fhe.

SCENE

Enter Malvolio,

Duke. Is this the mad-man?

Oli. Ay, my Lord, this fame; how now, Malvolio?
Mal. Madam, you have done me wrong, notorious

wrong.

Oli. Have 1, Malvolio? no.

;

Mal. Lady, you have; pray you, perufe that Letter. You must not now deny it is your hand. Write from it if you can, in hand or phrase; Or fay, 'tis not your feal, nor your invention; You can fay none of this. Well, grant it then And tell me in the modefty of honour, Why you have given me fuch clear lights of favour, Bad me come smiling, and crofs-garter'd to you, To put on yellow ftockings, and to frown Upon Sir Toby, and the lighter people : And acting this in an obedient hope, Why have you fuffer'd me to be imprifon'd, Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest, And made the most notorious geck, and gull, That e'er invention plaid on? tell me, why? Oli. Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing, Tho', I confefs, much like the character: But, out of queftion, 'tis Maria's hand. And now I do bethink me, it was she

First told me, thou waft mad; then cam'ft thou fmiling,

And in fuch forms which here were presuppos'd
Upon thee in the letter: pr'ythee, be content;
This practice hath moft fhrewdly past upon thee;
But when we know the grounds, and authors of it,

5-here were prefuppos'd] Prefuppos'd, for impofed.

Thou

Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge

Of thine own cause.

Fab. Good Madam, hear me fpeak;
And let no quarrel, nor no brawl to come,
Taint the condition of this prefent hour
Which I have wondred at. In hope it fhall not,
Moft freely I confefs, myself and Sir Toby
Set this device against Malvolio here,
Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts
We had conceiv'd against him. Maria writ
The letter, at Sir Toby's great importance;
In recompence whereof, he hath married her.
How with a fportful malice it was follow'd,
May rather pluck on laughter than revenge;
If that the injuries be juftly weigh'd,
That have on both fides paft.

Oli. Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled thee? Clo. Why, fome are born great, fome atchieve greatnefs, and fome have greatness thrust upon them. I was one, Sir, in this interlude; one Sir Topas, Sir; but that's all one by the Lord, fool, I am not mad; but do you remember, Madam,-why laugh you at fuch a barren rafcal? an you fmile not, he's gagg'd: and thus the whirl-gigg of time brings in his revenges. Mal. I'll be reveng'd on the whole pack of you. [Exit.

Oli. He hath been most notoriously abus'd.
Duke. Purfue him, and intreat him to a peace:
He hath not told us of the captain yet;
When that is known, and golden time convents,
A folemn combination fhall be made

Of our dear fouls. Mean time, sweet sister,
We will not part from hence.-Cefario, come;
(For fo you shall be, while you are a man ;)
But when in other habits you are feen,
Orfino's mistress, and his fancy's Queen.

[Exeunt.

Clown

6

Clown fings.

• When that I was a little tiny boy,
With bey, bo, the wind and the rain:
A foolish thing was but a toy,

For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came to man's eftate,
With bey, bo, &c.

'Gainft knaves and thieves men shut their gate,

For the rain, &c.

But when I came, alas! to wive,

With bey, bo, &c.

By fwaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain, &c.

But when I came unto my beds,
With bey, bo, &c.

With tofs-pots ftill had drunken beads,
For the rain, &c.

A great while ago the world begun,
With bey, bo, &c.

But that's all one, our play is done;

And we'll ftrive to please you every day.

[Exit.

6 When that I was, &c.] This wretched ftuff not Shakespear's, but the Players!

THE