makes she her great P's. It is, in contempt of question, her hand. Sir And. Her C's, her U's, and her T's: Why that? Mal. [reads] To the unknown beloved, this, and my good wishes: her very phrases!-By your leave, wax.-Soft!-and the impressure her Lucrece, with which she uses to seal: 'tis my lady: To whom should this be? Fab. This wins him, liver and all. Lips do not move, No man must know. No man must know.-What follows? the numbers altered!-No man must know:-If this should be thee, Malvolio? Sir To. Marry, hang thee, brock 11! 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 dressed him! Sir To. And with what wing the stannyel 12 checks at it! Mal. I may command where I adore. Why, she may command me; I serve her, she is my lady. 11 i.e. badger, a term of contempt. So in the Merry Conceited Jests of George Peele :-' This self-conceited brock.' 12 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.' Why, this is evident to any formal capacity 13. 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 up that:—he is now at a cold scent. Fab. Sowter 14 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 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, 0. 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 13 i. e. to any one in his senses, or whose capacity is not out of form. 14 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. embrace them. And, to inure thyself to what thou art like to be, cast thy humble slough 15, and appear fresh. Be opposite 16 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 wished to see thee ever crossgartered1: 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,-The fortunate-unhappy. Day-light and champian 18 discovers not more: this is open. I will be proud, I will read politick authors, I will baffle Sir Toby, I will wash off gross acquaintance, I will be point-de-vice 19, 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-gartered; 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 cross-gartered, even with the swiftness of putting on. Jove, and my stars be praised!-Here is yet a postscript. 15 Skin of a snake. 16 i. e. adverse, hostile. 17 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. 18 Open country. 19 i. e. 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. 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 20 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 And. Or o' mine either? Sir To. Shall I play my freedom at tray-trip 21, and become thy bond-slave? Sir And. I'faith, or I either. 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 20 Alluding to Sir Robert Shirley, who was just returned in the character of ambassador from the Sophy. He boasted of the great rewards he had received, and lived in London with the utmost splendour. 21 An old game played with dice or tables. Thus in Machiavel's Dog. Sig. B. 4to. 1617. 'But leaving cards, let's go to dice awhile, abhors; and cross-gartered, 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 musick: Dost thou live by thy tabor1? 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. Vio. So thou may'st 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 turned outward! Vio. Nay, that's certain; they, that dally nicely with words, may quickly make them wanton. 1 Tarleton, in a print before his Jests, 4to. 1611, is represented with a Tabor. But the instrument is found in the hands of fools, long before the time of Shakspeare. 2 Kid. Ray has a proverb He hath a conscience like a cheverel's skin.' See note on K. Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 4.. |