The Works of William Shakespeare

Oli. Still so constant, lord.

Duke. What, to perverseness? you uncivil lady,
To whose ingrate and unauspicious altars
My soul the faithfull'st offerings hath breathed out
That e'er devotion tender'd! What shall I do?
Oli. Even what it please my lord, that shall
become him.

Duke. Why should I not, had I the heart
to do it,

120

Like to the Egyptian thief at point of death,
Kill what I love?-a savage jealousy
That sometime savours nobly. But hear me this:
Since you to non-regardance cast my faith,
And that I partly know the instrument

That screws me from my true place in your
favour,

Live you the marble-breasted tyrant still;
But this your minion, whom I know you love,
And whom, by heaven I swear, I tender dearly,
Him will I tear out of that cruel
Where he sits crowned in his master's spite.
Come, boy, with me; my thoughts are ripe in
mischief:

eye,

I'll sacrifice the lamb that I do love,
To spite a raven's heart within a dove.

130

Vio. And I, most jocund, apt and willingly,
To do you rest, a thousand deaths would die.
Oli. Where goes Cesario?

Vio.
After him I love
More than I love these eyes, more than my life,
More, by all mores, than e'er I shall love wife.
If I do feign, you witnesses above
Punish my life for tainting of

my love!

140

Oli. Ay me, detested! how am I beguiled! Vio. Who does beguile you? who does do you wrong?

Oli. Hast thou forgot thyself? is it so long? Call forth the holy father.

Come, away!

Duke.
Oli. Whither, my lord? Cesario, husband, stay.
Duke. Husband!
Oli.

Ay, husband: can he that deny?
Duke. Her husband, sirrah!
V'io.

150

No, my lord, not I.
Oli. Alas, it is the baseness of thy fear
That makes thee strangle thy propriety:
Fear not, Cesario; take thy fortunes up;
Be that thou know'st thou art, and then thou art
As great as that thou fear'st.

Enter Priest.

O, welcome, father!
Father, I charge thee, by thy reverence,
Here to unfold, though lately we intended
To keep in darkness what occasion now
Reveals before 'tis ripe, what thou dost know
Hath newly pass'd between this youth and me.
Priest. A contract of eternal bond of love,
Confira'd by mutual joinder of your hands,
Attested by the holy close of lips,
Strengthen'd by interchangement of your rings;
And all the ceremony of this compact
Seal'd in my function, by my testimony:

160

Since when, my watch hath told me, toward

my grave

I have travell'd but two hours.

When time hath sow'd a grizzle on thy case?
Or will not else thy craft so quickly grow,
That thine own trip shall be thine overthrow? 170
Farewell, and take her; but direct thy feet
Where thou and I henceforth may never meet.
Vio. My lord, I do protest-
Oli.
O, do not swear!
Hold little faith, though thou hast too much fear.
Enter SIR ANDREW.

Sir And. For the love of God, a surgeon!
Send one presently to Sir Toby.

Oli. What's the matter?

Sir And. He has broke my head across and has given Sir Toby a bloody coxcomb too: for the love of God, your help! I had rather than forty pound I were at home.

181

Oli. Who has done this, Sir Andrew? Sir And. The count's gentleman, one Cesario: we took him for a coward, but he's the very devil incardinate.

Duke. My gentleman, Cesario?

Sir And. Od's lifelings, here he is! You broke my head for nothing: and that that I did, I was set on to do't by Sir Toby.

Vio. Why do you speak to me? I never hurt
you:

You drew your sword upon me without cause;
But I bespake you fair, and hurt you not.

Sir To. That's all one: has hurt me, and there's the end on't. Sot, didst see Dick surgeon, sot?

Clo. O, he's drunk, Sir Toby, an hour agone; his eyes were set at eight i' the morning.

Sir To. Then he's a rogue, and a passy measures panyn: I hate a drunken rogue.

Oli. Away with him! Who hath made this havoc with them?

Sir And. I'll help you, Sir Toby, because we'll be dressed together.

I must have done no less with wit and safety.
You throw a strange regard upon me, and by that
I do perceive it hath offended you:
Pardon me, sweet one, even for the vows
We made each other but so late ago.
Duke. One face, one voice, one habit, and
two persons,

Duke. (thou dissembling cub! what wilt A natural perspective, that is and is not!

thou be

Seb. Antonio, O my dear Antonio!

Seb. Do I stand there? I never had a bro- How does he, sirrah?
ther:

Nor can there be that deity in my nature,
Of here and every where. I had a sister,
Whom the blind waves and surges have devour'd.
Of charity, what kin are you to me?
What countryman? what name? what parentage?
Vio. Of Messaline: Sebastian was my father;
Such a Sebastian was my brother too,
So went he suited to his watery tomb:
If spirits can assume both form and suit
You come to fright us.

Seb.
A spirit I am indeed;
But am in that dimension grossly clad
Which from the womb I did participate.
Were you a woman, as the rest goes even,
I should my tears let fall upon your cheek,
And say "Thrice-welcome, drowned Viola!'

Vio. My father had a mole upon his brow.
Seb. And so had mine.

240

250

Vio. And died that day when Viola from her birth

Had number'd thirteen years.

Seb. O, that record is lively in my soul!
He finished indeed his mortal act
That day that made my sister thirteen years.

Vio. If nothing lets to make us happy both
But this my masculine usurp'd attire,
Do not embrace me till each circumstance
Of place, time, fortune, do cohere and jump
That I am Viola: which to confirm,
I'll bring you to a captain in this town,
Where lie my maiden weeds; by whose gentle
help

I was preserved to serve this noble count.
All the occurrence of my fortune since
Hath been between this lady and this lord.

260

Seb. (To Olivia] So comes it, lady, you have
been mistook:

But nature to her bias drew in that.
You would have been contracted to a maid;
Nor are you therein, by my life, deceived,
You are betroth'd both to a maid and man.
Duke. Be not amazed; right noble is his
blood.

270

290

Clo. Truly, madam, he holds Belzebub at the staves's end as well as a man in his case may do: has here writ a letter to you; I should have given 't you to-day morning, but as a madman's epistles are no gospels, so it skills not much when they are delivered.

Oli. Open 't, and read it.

Clo. Look then to be well edified when the fool delivers the madman. [Reads] By the Lord, madam,'

Oli. How now! art thou mad?

300

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

Oli. Prithee, read i' thy right wits.

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

Oli. Read it you, sirrah. [To Fabian. Fab. [Reads] By the Lord, madam, you wrong me, and the world shall know it: though you have put me into darkness and given your drunken cousin rule over me, yet have I the benefit of my senses as well as your ladyship. I have your own letter that induced me to the semblance 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.

THE MADLY-USED MALVOLIO.'
Oli. Did he write this?
Clo. Ay, madam.

320

Duke. This savours not much of distraction. Oli. See him deliver'd, Fabian; bring him [Exit Fabian.

hither.

My lord, so please you, these things further
thought on,

To think me as well a sister as a wife,
One day shall crown the alliance on 't, so please
you,

Here at my house and at my proper cost.

Duke. Madam, I am most apt to embrace your offer.

[To Viola] Your master quits you; and for your
service done him,

So much against the mettle of your sex,
So far beneath your soft and tender breeding,
And since you call'd me master for so long,
Here is my hand: you shall from this time be
Your master's mistress.
Oli.
A sister! you are she.

Re-enter FABIAN, with MALVOLIO.
Duke. Is this the madman?

Oli.

How now, Malvolio!

Mal

330

Ay, my lord, this same.

Madam, you have done me wrong,

Notorious wrong.

Oli.

Have I, Malvolio? no.

Mal. Lady, you have. Pray you, peruse that letter.

You must not now deny it is your hand:
Write from it, if you can, in hand or phrase; 340
Or say 'tis not your seal, not your invention:
You can say none of this: well, grant it then
And tell me, in the modesty of honour,
Why you have given me such clear lights of
favour,

350

Bade me come smiling and cross-garter'd to you,
To put on yellow stockings and to frown
Upon Sir Toby and the lighter people;
And, acting this in an obedient hope,
Why have you suffer'd me to be imprison'd,
Kept in a dark house, visited 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 confess, much like the character:
But out of question 'us Maria's hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was she

First told me thou wast mad; then camest in smiling,

And in such forms which here were presupposed Upon thee in the letter. Prithee, be content: This practice hath most shrewdly pass'd upon thee;

360
But when we know the grounds and authors of it,
Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge
Of thine own cause.
Fab.
Good madam, hear me speak,
And let no quarrel nor no brawl to come
Taint the condition of this present hour,
Which I have wonder'd at. In hope it shall not,
Most freely I confess, myself and Toby
Set this device against Malvolio here,
Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts

We had conceived against him: Maria writ 370
The letter at Sir Toby's great importance;
In recompense whereof he hath married her.
How with a sportful malice it was follow'd,
May rather pluck on laughter than revenge;
If that the injuries be justly weigh'd
That have on both sides pass'd.

Oli. Alas, poor fool, how have they baffled thee!

Clo. Why, 'some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrown 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 such a barren rascal? an you smile not, he's gagged:' and thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. Mal. I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you. (Exit. Oli. He hath been most notoriously abused. Duke. Pursue him, and entreat him to a peace: He hath not told us of the captain yet: When that is known and golden time convents, A solemn combination shall be made Of our dear souls. Meantime, sweet sister, We will not part from hence. Cesario, come; For so you shall be, while you are a man; But when in other habits you are seen, Orsino's mistress and his fancy's queen.

390

[Exeunt all, except Clown.

Clo. [Sings]
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, 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 estate,
With hey, ho, &c.

400

'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their

SCENE I. Antechamber in LEONTES' palace.

Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS. Arch. If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.

Cam. I think, this coming summer, the King of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.

Arch. Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be justified in our loves; for indeedCam. Beseech you,

Arch. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence-in so rare-I know not what to say. We will give you sleepy drinks, that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us. Cam. You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely.

Arch Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me and as mine honesty puts

it to utterance.

Cam. Sicilia cannot show himself over kind to Bohemia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities and royal necessities made separation of their society, their encounters, though not personal, have been royally attorneyed with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!

Arch. I think there is not in the world either malice or matter to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamil

HERMIONE, queen to Leontes.

PERDITA, daughter te Leontes and Hermione. PAULINA, wife to Antigonus.

EMILIA, a lady attending on Hermione.

MOPSA,

DORCAS, Shepherdesses.

Other Lords and Gentlemen, Ladies, Officers, and Servants, Shepherds, and Shepherdesses.

Time, as Chorus.

SCENE: Sicilia, and Bohemia.

lius: it is a gentleman of the greatest promise that ever came into my note.

Cam. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: it is a gallant child; one that [ indeed physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh: they that went on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to see him a man.

Arch. Would they else be content to die? Cam. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.

Arch. If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. A room of state in the same.
Enter LEONTES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS,
POLIXENES, CAMILLO, and Attendants.
Pol. Nine changes of the watery star hath
been

The shepherd's note since we have left our throne
Without a burthen: time as long again
Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks;
And yet we should, for perpetuity,

Go hence in debt: and therefore, like a cipher,
Yet standing in rich place, I multiply
With one 'We thank you' many thousands moe
That go before it.

Leon.

Stay your thanks a while; And pay them when you part. Pol.

Sir, that's to-morrow. I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance Or breed upon our absence; that may blow No sneaping winds at home, to make us say 'This is put forth too truly:' besides, I have stay'd

Leon. We'll part the time between's then; And bleat the one at the other: what we changed and in that

I'll no gainsaying.
Pol.
Press me not, beseech you, so.
There is no tongue that moves, none, none i'
the world,

So soon as yours could win me: so it should now,
Were there necessity in your request, although
'Twere needful I denied it. My affairs

Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder
Were in your love a whip to me; my stay
To you a charge and trouble: to save both,
Farewell, our brother.

Leon. Tongue-tied our queen? speak you. Her. I had thought, sir, to have held my peace until

You had drawn oaths from him not to stay.
You, sir,

Charge him too coldly. Tell him, you are sure 30
All in Bohemia's well; this satisfaction
The by-gone day proclaim'd: say this to him,
He's beat from his best ward.

Leon.
Well said, Hermione.
Her. To tell, he longs to see his son, were

You put me off with limber vows; but I,

Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dream'd
That any did. Had we pursued that life,
And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd
With stronger blood, we should have answer'd
heaven

Boldly not guilty;' the imposition clear'd
Hereditary ours.

Her.
By this we gather
You have tripp'd since.

Her.

Pol. O my most sacred lady! Temptations have since then been born to's; for In those unfledged days was my wife a girl; Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes Of my young play-fellow. Grace to boot! Of this make no conclusion, lest you say Your queen and I are devils: yet go on; The offences we have made you do we'll answer, If you first sinn'd with us and that with us You did continue fault and that you slipp'd not With any but with us.

Leon.

Is he won yet?

Her. He'll stay, my lord.

Leon.

At my request he would not. Hermione, my dearest, thou never spokest To better purpose. Her.

Leon.

Never?

Never, but once.

Her. What! have I twice said well? when was't before?

I prithee tell me; cram's with praise, and make's As fat as tame things: one good deed dying tongueless

Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that.
Our praises are our wages: you may ride's
With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere
With spur we heat an acre. But to the goal:
My last good deed was to entreat his stay:
What was my first? it has an elder sister,

Though you would seek to unsphere the stars Or I mistake you: O, would her name were

Your guest, then, madam: To be your prisoner should import offending; Which is for me less easy to commit

Leon. Why, that was when ΙΟΙ Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to

death,

Ere I could make thee open thy white hand And clap thyself my love: then didst thou utter I am yours for ever.'

Her.

'Tis grace indeed.

Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose

twice:

The one for ever earn'd a royal husband;
The other for some while a friend.
Leon.

[Aside] Too hot, too hot!
To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.
I have tremor cordis on me: my heart dances;
But not for joy; not joy. This entertainment 111
May a free face put on, derive a liberty
From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,
And well become the agent; 't may, I grant;
But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are, and making practised smiles,
As in a looking-glass, and then to sigh, as 'twere
The mort o' the deer; O, that is entertainment

Pol. We were as twinn'd lambs that did frisk My bosom likes not, nor my brows! Mamillius,

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The Works of William Shakespeare, Volumul 1