Oli. Moft wonderful!

Seb. Do I ftand there: I never had a brother:
Nor can there be that deity in my nature,
Of here and every where. I had a fifter,
Whom the blind waves and furges have devour'd:-
Of charity, what kin are you to me? [To VIOLA.
What countryman? what name? what parentage?
Vio. Of Meffaline: Sebaftian was my father;
Such a Sebaftian was my brother too,

So went he fuited to his watry tomb;
If fpirits can affume both form and suit,
You come to fright us.

Seb. A fpirit I am, indeed;

But am in that dimenfion grofly clad,
Which from the womb. I did participate.
Were you a woman as the reft goes even,
I fhould my tears let fall upon your cheek,
And fay-Thrice welcome, drown'd Viola!
Vio. My father had a mole upon his brow.
Seb. And fo had mine.

Vio. And dy'd that day when Viola from her
Had number'd thirteen years.

[birth
Seb. O, that record is lively in my foul!
He finished, indeed, his mortal act,
That day that made my fifter thirteen years.
Vio. If nothing lets to make us happy both,
But this my mafculine ufurp'd attire,

Do not embrace me, till each circumstance
Of place, time, fortune, da cohere and jump,
That I am Viola: which to confirm,

I'll bring you to a captain in this town
Where lie my maid's weeds; by whofe gentle help
I was preferv'd, to ferve this noble count:
All the occurrence of my fortune fince

Hath

Hath been between this lady and this lord.
Seb. So comes it, lady, you have been mistook:
[TO OLIVIA.

But nature to her bias drew in that.
You would have been contracted to a maid;
Nor are you therein by my life deceiv'd,
You are betroth'd both to a maid and man.

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 thousand times,
[To VIOLA.
Thou never fhouldft love woman like to me.
Vio. And all thofe fayings, I will over-fwear;
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 maid's 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 diftract,

Re-enter Clown with a letter.

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

Clo. Truly, madam, he holds Belzebub at the ftave'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

you to-day morning; but as a madman'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 madman.-By the Lord, madamOli. How now, art thou mad?

Clo. No, madam. I do but read madness: an your ladyship will have it as it ought to be, you muft allow vox.

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

Clo. So I do, Madonna; 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 coufin rule over me, yet have I the benefit of my fenfes, as well as your ladyfhip. I have your own letter that induc'd me to the femilance I put on; with the which, I doubt not but to do myfelf much right, or you much fhame. Think of me as you pleafe. I leave my duty a little unthought of, and fpeak out of my injury. The madly us'd MALVOLIO. Cli. Did he write this? Clo. Ay, madam.

Duke. This favours not much of distraction.
Oli. See him deliver'd, Fabian; bring him hither,

[Exit FABIAN

My lord, fo pleafe you, thefe things further thought
To think me as well a fifter as a wife, [on,
One day fhall crown the alliance on't, fo pleafe you,
Here at my houfe, and at my proper coit.
Duke. Madam, I am most apt to embrace your offer.

Your

Your mafter quits you: and, for your fervice done

him,

So much against the metal of your fex, [T, VIOLA.
So far beneath your foft and tender breeding,
And fince you call'd me mafter for fo long,
Here is my hand; you fall from this time be
Your mafter's mistress.

Oli. A fifter?-you are she.

Re-enter FABIAN, with MALVOLIO.

Duke. Is this the madman?

Oli. Ay, my lord, this fame: How now, Malvolio? Mal. Madam, you have done me wrong, notoOli. Have I, Malvolio? no. [rious wrong.

Mal. Lady, you have. Pray you, perufe that You must not now deny it is your hand,

[letter:

in hand, or phrafe; nor your invention :

Write from it, if you can,
Or, fay, 'tis not your feal,
You can fay none of this: Well, grant it then,
And tell me in the modelty of honour,
Why you have given me fuch clear lights of favour
Bade me come fmiling and cross-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 houfe, vifited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck, and gull,
That e'er invention play'd on? tell me why?

Oli. Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though, I confefs, much like the character:
But, out of queftion, 'tis Maria's hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was fhe

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

And

And in fuch forms which here were prefuppofed
Upon thee in the letter. Pr'ythee, be content:
This practice hath moft fhrewdly pafs'd upon thee:
But when we know the grounds, and authors of it,
Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge
Of thine own caufe.

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 Toby,
Set this device against Malvolio here,
Upon fome ftubborn and uncourteous parts
We had conceiv'd against him; Maria writ
The letter, at Sir Toby's great importance;
In recompence whereof, he hath marry'd 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, fame atchieve greatnefs, and fome have greatness thrown upon them. I was one, fir, in this interlude; one fir Topas, fir; 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 file not, he's gegg'd: And thus the whirligig of time brings in his re

venges.

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 entreat him to a peace:

He hath not told us of the captain yet;

When