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 maid's weeds; (21) by whofe gentle help
I was preferr❜d to ferve this noble Duke.

All the occurrence of my fortune fincé

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 share in this moft happy wreck."
Boy, thou haft fáid to me a thousand times, [To Viol
Thou never fhould't love woman like to me.
Vio. And all thofe fayings will I 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.

by whofe gentle help

(21) I was preferv'd to serve this noble Duke.] Tho' this be fense, and poffeffes all the printed copies, yet I fufpect, from the fimilitude in the two words preferv'd and ferve (a fameness of found, which Shakespeare would, probably, have avoided;) the copyifts, or men at prefs, committed a flight mistake, When the Captain and Viola first appear upon the Stage, the fays to him;

I'll ferve this Duke;

Thou shalt prefent me, &c.

I therefore believe, the Author wrote, as I have reform'd the Text; by whofe gentle help

I was preferr'd to ferve this noble Duke;

So in The Taming of the Shrew;

If you, Hortenfio,

Or, Signor Grémie, you know any fuch,

Prefer them hither.

So, in Julius Cæfar;

08. Fellow, wilt thou beftow thy time with me?

Stra. Ay, if Meffala will prefer me to you,

"

HS

Vio.

Vio. The captain, that did bring me firft 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 mè,

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

Enter the Clown with a letter, and Fabian.
A most extracting frenzy of mine own
From my remembrance clearly banish'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 giv'n it you to-day. morning. But as a mad-man's epiftles are no gospels, 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 Oli. How now, art mad?

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 Princess, and give ear.

Oli. Read it you, firrah.

[Fo Fabian. Fab. [Reads.] By the Lord, Madam, you wrong me, and the world fall 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' barve 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 pleafe: I leave my duty a little unthonght of, and speak out of my injury, The madly us'd. Malvolio.

Oli. Did he write this?
Cle. Ay, Madam.

Dukes

Duke. This favours not much of distraction.

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

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

Duke. Madam, I am moft apt t'embrace your offer.
Your mafter quits you; and for your service done him,
So much against the metal of your fex,

[To Viol.. 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 mafter's mistress.

Oli. A fifter,

you are fhe.

Enter Malvolio.

Duke. Is this the madman ?

Oli. Ay, my Lord, the fame: how now, Malvolio?
Mal. Madam, you have done me wrong, notorious
Oli. Have I, Malvolio? no.
[wrong.
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,.
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 imprison'd,
Kept in a dark houfe, vifited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck, and guil,
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 question, 'tis Maria's hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was fhe

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

And

And in fuch forms which here were prefuppos'd
Upon thee in the letter: pr'ythee, be content;
This practice hath moft fhrewdly paft 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 Sir 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 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, some atchieve greatness, and fome have greatness thrust upon them. I was one, Sir, in this interlude; one Sir Topas, Sir: but that's all by the Lord, fool, I am not mad; but do you remember, Madam, why laugh you at fuch barren rafcal? an you smile not, he's gagg'd: and thus the whirl-gigg of time brings fn his revenges.

one :

Mal. I'll be reveng'd on the whole pack of you. [Exit,
Oli. He hath been moft 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 fifter,
We will not part from hence.-Cesario, come;
(For fo you fhall be, while you are a man ;)
But when in other habits you are feen,
Orfino's mistress, and his fancy's queen.

[Exeunt

Clown

Clown fings.

When that I was an 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.

'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,

For the rain, &c.

But when I came, alas! to wive,

With hey, ho, &c.

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

But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, &c.

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

A great while ago the world begun,

With hey, ho, &c.

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

And we'll ftrive to please you every day. [Exit.

THE