The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare

Enter Falstaff.
Fal. There was, mine host, an old fat woman
even now with me; but she's gone.
Sim. Pray you, sir, was't not the wise woman

of Brentford ?

Fal. Ay, marry, was it, muscle-shell; what would you with her?

Sim. My master, sir, my master Slender, sent to her, seeing her go through the streets, to know, sir, whether one Nym, sir, that beguiled him of a chain, had the chain, or no.

Fal. I spake with the old woman about it.
Sim. And what says she, I pray, sir?
Fal. Marry, she says, that very same man that
eguiled master Slender of his chain, cozened
Sim. I would I could have spoken with the
oman herself: I had other things to have spoken
ith her too, from him.

im of it.

Fal. What are they? let us know.
Host. Ay, come; quick.

Sim. I may not conceal them, sir.
Fal. Conceal them, or thou diest.

Sim. Why, sir, they were nothing but about
mistress Anne Page; to know if it were my
master's fortune to have her, or no.
Fal. Tis, 'tis his fortune.

Sim. What, sir?

Fal. To have her,-or no: Go; say the man told me so.

should come to the ear of the court, how I have
been transformed, and how my transformation
hath been washed and cudgelled, they would
melt me out of my fat, drop by drop, and liquor
fishermen's boots with me; I warrant they
would whip me with their fine wits till I were
as crestiallen as a dried pear. I never prospered
since I forswore myself at Primero. Well, if
my wind were but long enough to say my pray-
ers, I would repent.-
Enter Mrs. Quickly.
Now whence come you?

Quick. From the two parties forsooth.
the other, and so they shall be both bestowed!
Fal. The devil take one party, and his dam
have suffered more for their sakes, more than
is able to bear.
the villanous inconstancy of man's disposition

Quick. And have not they suffered? Yes, 1 warrant, speciously one of them; mistress Ford, good heart, is beaten black and blue, that you cannot see a white spot about her.

Fal. What tell'st thou me of black and blue! was beaten myself into all the colours of the rainbow, and I was like to be apprehended for the witch of Brentford; but that my admirable dexterity of wit, my counterfeiting the action wo-stable had set me i' the stocks, i' the common of an old woman, deliver'd me, the knave constocks, for a witch.

Sim. May I be so bold to say so, sir? Fal. Ay, sir Tyke; who more bold? Sim. I thank your worship: I shall make my master glad with these tidings. [Exit Simple. Host. Thou art clerkly, thou art clerkly, Sir John was there a wise woman with thee? Fal. Ay, that there was, mine host; one that hath taught me more wit than ever I learned before in my life and I paid nothing for it neither, but was paid for my learning.

Enter Bardolph.

Quick. Sir, let me speak with you in your warrant, to your content. Here is a letter will chamber; you shall hear how things go; and 1 say somewhat. Good hearts, what ado here is to bring you together! Sure, one of you does not serve heaven well, that you are so crossed.

Fal. Come up into my chamber. [Exeunt.
SCENE VI. Another Room in the Garter Inn.
Enter Fenton and Host.

Host. Master Fenton, talk not to me: my
Fent. Yet hear me speak: Assist me in my

Bard. Out, alas, sir! cozenage! mere cozen-mind is heavy, I will give over all.
age!

Host. Where be mine horses? speak well of them, varletto.

Bard. Run away with the cozeners: for so soon as I came beyond Eton, they threw me off, from behind one of them, in a slough of mire; and set spurs, and away, like three German devils, three Dr. Faustuses.

Host. Thy are gone but to meet the duke, villain: do not say they be fled; Germans are

honest men.

purpose,

And, as I am a gentleman, I'll give thee
A hundred pound in gold, more than your loss.
Host. I will hear you, master Fenton; and 1
will, at the least, keep your counsel.
With the dear love I bear to fair Anne Page;
Fent. From time to time I have acquainted you
Who mutually hath answer'd my affection
(So far forth as herself might be her chooser,)
Even to my wish: I have a letter from her
Of such contents as you will wonder at ;
The mirth whereof so larded with my matter,
That neither, singly, can be manifested,
Without the show of both;-wherein fat Falstaff
Hath a great scene: the image of the jest
[Showing the letter.

Enter Sir Hugh Evans. Eva. Where is mine host? Host. What is the matter, sir? Eva. Have a care of your entertainments: there is a friend of mine come to town, tells me, there is three cousin germans that has cozened I'll show you here at large. Hark, good mine all the hosts of Readings, of Maidenhead, of Colebrook, of horses and money. I tell you for good-To-night at Herne's oak, just 'twixt twelve and will, look you: you are wise and full of gibes one, and vlouting-stogs; and it is not convenient you Must my sweet Nan present the fairy queen; should be cozened: Fare you well. [Exit.

Enter Doctor Caius.

Caius. Vere is mine Host de Jarterre? Host. Here, master doctor, in perplexity, and doubtful dilemma.

Caius. I cannot tell vat is dat: but it is tell-a me, dat you make grand preparations for a duke de Jarmany: by my trot, dere is no duke, dat the court is know to come; I tell you for good vill: adieu. [Exit. Host. Hue and cry, villain, go-assist me, knight; I am undone:-fly, run, hue and cry, villain! I am undone !

[Exeunt Host and Bardolph. Fal. I would all the world might be cozened; or I have been cozen'd and beaten too. If it

host:

The purpose why is here: in which disguise,
While other jests are something rank on foot,
Her father hath commanded her to slip
Away with Slender, and with him at Eton
Immediately to marry: she hath consented:
Now, sir,

Her mother, even strong against that match,
And firm for doctor Caius, hath appointed
That he shall likewise shuffle her away,
While other sports are tasking of their minds,
And at the deanery, where a priest attends,
Straight marry her: to this her mother's plot
She, seemingly obedient, likewise hath
Made promise to the doctor;-Now thus it rests.
Her father means she shall be all in white;
And in that habit, when Slender sees his time
To take her by the hand, and bid her go,

She shall go with him:- her mother hath in-|
tended,

The better to denote her to the doctor,
(For they must all be mask'd and vizarded,)
That, quaint in green she shall be loose enrob'd,
With ribands pendant, flaring 'bout her head;
And when the doctor spies his vantage ripe,
To pinch her by the hand, and, on that token,
The maid hath given consent to go with him.
Host. Which means she to deceive? father or
mother?

SCENE III. The Street in Windsor. Enter Mrs. Page, Mrs. Ford, and Dr. Caius. Mrs. Page. Master doctor, my daughter is in green; when you see your time, take her by the hand, away with her to the deanery, and despatch it quickly: Go before into the park; we two must go together.

Caius. I know vat I have to do; Adien. Mrs. Page. Fare you well, sir. [Erit Caius.] My husband will not rejoice so much at the abuse Fent. Both, my good host, to go along with me: of Falstaff, as he will chafe at the doctor's mar. And here it rests,-that you'll procure the vicarrying my daughter: but 'tis no matter; better To stay for me at church, 'twixt twelve and one, And, in the lawful name of marrying, To give our hearts united ceremony. Host. Well, husband your device; I'll to the

vicar:

Bring you the maid, you shall not lack a priest.
Fent. So shall I ever more be bound to thee;
Besides, I'll make a present recompense.

ACT V.

[Ereunt.

SCENE I. A Room in the Garter Inn.

Enter Falstaff and Mrs. Quickly. Fal. Pr'ythee, no more prattling;-go.-I'll hold: This is the third time; I hope good luck lies in odd numbers. Away, go; they say there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death.Away.

Quick. I'll provide you a chain; and I'll do what I can to get you a pair of horns. Fal Away, Isay; time wears: hold up your [Exit Mrs. Quickly.

Dead and mince.

Enter Ford.

How now, master Brook? Master Brook, the matter will be known to-night, or never. Be you in the Park about midnight, at Herne's oak, and you shall see wonders.

Ford. Went you not to her yesterday, sir, as you told me you had appointed?

a little chiding, than a great deal of heart-break.
Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now, and her troop
of fairies? and the Welsh devil, Hugh?
Mrs. Page. They are all couched in a pit hard
by Herne's oak with obscured lights; which at
the very instant of Falstaff's and our meeting,
they will at once display to the night.

Mrs. Ford. That cannot choose but amaze him. Mrs. Page. If he be not amazed, he will be mocked; if he be amazed, he will every way be mocked.

Mrs. Ford. We'll betray him finely.
Mrs. Page. Against such lewdsters, and their
lechery,

Those that betray them do no treachery.
Mrs. Ford. The hour draws on; To the oak
to the oak!
[Exeunt'

SCENE IV. Windsor Park.
Enter Sir Hugh Evans and Fairies.
Eva. Trib, trib, fairies; come; and remember
the pit; and when I give the watch-'or dз, do as
your parts; be pold, I pray you; follow me into
pid you; Come, come; trib, trib. [Exeunt.

SCENE V. Another part of the Park. Enter Falstaff disguised, with a buck's head on. Fal. The Windsor bell hath struck twelve; the minute draws on: Now, the hot-blooded gods assist me ;-Remember, Jove, thou wast a bull for thy Europa; love set on thy horns-O powFal. I went to her, master Brook, as you see, erful fove! that in some respects, makes a beast like a poor old man: but I came from her, mas-a man; in some other, a man a beast.-You were ter Brook, like a poor old woman. That same also, Jupiter, a swan, for the love of Leda ;-0, knave, Ford, her husband, hath the finest mad omnipotent love! how near the god drew to the devil of jealousy in him, master Brook, that complexion of a goose ?-A fault done first in ever governed frenzy. I will tell you. He beat the form of a beast;-O Jove, a beastly fault! and me grievously in the shape of a woman; for in then another fault in the semblance of a fowl; the shape of man, master Brook, I fear not Go- think on't, Jove: a foul fault.-When gods have liath with a weaver's beam; because I know hot backs, what shall poor men do ? For me, I also, life is a shuttle. I am in haste; go along am here a Windsor stag; and the fattest, I think, with me; I'll tell you all, master Brook. Since i' the forest: send me a cool rut-time, Jove, or Iplacked geese, played truant, and whipped top, who can blame me to piss my tallow? Who I knew not what it was to be beaten, till lately. comes here? my doe? Follow me: I'll tell you strange things of this knave Ford: on whom to-night I will be revenged, and I will deliver his wife into your hand-Follow: Strange things in hand, master Brook! follow. [Exeunt.

SCENE II. Windsor Park. Enter Page, Shallow, and Slender. Page. Come, come; we'll couch i' the castleditch, till we see the light of our fairies.-Remember, son Slender, my daughter.

ther.

Enter Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page. Mrs. Ford. Sir John? art thou there, my deer, my male deer?

Fal. My doe with the black scut ?-Let the sky rain potatoes; let it thunder to the tune o. Green Sleeves; hail kissing-comfits, and snow eringoes; let there come a tempest of provocation, I will shelter me here. [Embracing her. Mrs. Ford. Mistress Page is come with me. sweetheart.

Slen. Ay, forsooth; I have spoke with her, Fal. Divide me like a bride-buck, each a and we have a nay word how to know one ano-haunch: I will keep my sides to myself, my I come to her in white, and cry, mum; shoulders for the fellow of this walk, and my she cries, budget; and by that we know one ano-horns I bequeath your husbands. Am I a woodther. man? ha! Speak I like Herne the hunter?Shal. That's good too: But what needs either Why, now is Cupid a child of conscience; he your mum,or her budget; the white will decipher makes restitution. As I am a true spirit, welher well enough. It hath struck ten o'clock. come! [Noise within. Page. The night is dark; light and spirits will Mrs. Page. Alas! What noise? become it well. Heaven prosper our sport! Mrs. Ford. Heaven forgive our sins! No man means evil but the devil, and we shall Fal. What should this be? know him by his horns. Let's away; follow Mrs. Ford. [Exeunt. Mrs. Page. S

me.

Away, away.

[They run off.

Fal. I think, the devil will not have me damned, lest the oil that is in me should set hell on fire; he would never else cross me thus.

Enter Sir Hugh Evans, like a satyr; Mrs. Quickly, and Pistol; Anne Page, as the Fairy Queen, attended by her brother and others, dressed like fairies, with waxen tapers on their heads.

Quick. Fairies, black, gray, green, and white, You moon-shine revellers, and shades of night, You orphan-heirs of fixed destiny, Attend your office, and your quality. Crier Hobgoblin, make the fairy o-yes. Pist. Elves, list your names; silence, you airy toys.

Cricket, to Windsor chimneys shalt thou leap: Where fires thou find'st unrak'd, and hearths

unswept,

Quick. About, about;

Search Windsor Castle, elves, within and out:
Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room:
That it may stand till the perpetual doom,
In state as wholesome, as in state 'tis fit;
Worthy the owner, and the owner it.
The several chairs of order look you scour
With juice of balm, and every precious flower:
Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest,
With loyal blazon, evermore be blest !
And nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you sing,
Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring:
The expressure that it bears, green let it be,
More fertile-fresh than all the field to see;
And, Hony soit qui mal y pense, write,
In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue and white;
Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,
Buckled below fair knighthood's bending knee;
Fairies use flowers for their charactery.
Away; disperse: But, 'till 'tis one o'clock,
Our dance of custom, round about the oak
Of Herne the hunter, let us not forget.
Eva. Pray you, lock hand in hand; yourselves
in order set:

And twenty glowworms shall our lanterns be,
To guide our measure round about the tree.
But, stay; I smell a man of middle earth.
Fal. Heaven defend me from that Welsh
fairy, lest he transform me to a piece of cheese!
Pist. Vile worm, thou wast o'erlook'd even
in thy birth.

Quick. With trial fire touch me his finger-end; If he be chaste, the flame will back descend, And turn him to no pain; but if he start, It is the flesh of a corrupted heart. Pist. A trial, come.

Eva. will this wood take fire?

ComeThey burn him with their tapers.

Fal. Oh, oh, oh!

Quick. Corrupt, corrupt, and tainted in desire! About him fairies; sing a scornful rhyme: And as you trip, still pinch him to your time. Eva. It is right; indeed he is full of lecheries and iniquity.

SONG.

Fye on sinful fantasy!
Fye on lust and luxury!
Lust is but a bloody fire,
Kindled with unchaste desire,

During this song, the fairies pinch Falstaff. Doctor Caius comes one way, and steals away a fairy in green; Slender another way, and takes off a fairy in white; and Fenton comes, and steals away Mrs. Anne Page. A noise of hunting is made within. All the fairies run away. Falstaff pulls off his buck's head, and rises.

Enter Page, Ford, Mrs. Page, and Mrs. Ford. They lay hold on him.

Page. Nay, do not fly: I think, we have watch'd you now;

Will none but Herne the hunter serve your turn? Mrs. Page. I pray you, come; hold up the

jest no higher :

wives?

Now, good Sir John, how like you Windsor See you these, husband ? do not these fair yokes Become the forest better than the town?

Ford. Now, sir, who's a cuckold now ?-Mas ter Brook, Falstaff's a knave, a cuckoldy knave; here are his horns, maɛter Brook: And, master Brook, he hath enjoyed nothing of Ford's but his buck basket, his cudgel, and twenty pounds of money, which must be paid to master Brook; his horses are arrested for it, master Brook.

Mrs. Ford. Sir John, we have had ill luck, we could never meet. I will never take you for my love again, but I will always count you my deer.

Fal. I do begin to perceive that 1 am made an ass.

Ford. Ay, and an ox too; both the proofs are

extant.

Fal. And these are not fairies? I was three or four times in the thought, they were not fairies; and yet the guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness of the foppery into a received belief, in despite of the teeth of all rhyme and reason, that they were fairies. See now, how wit may be made a Jack-a-lent, when 'tis upon ill employment!

Eva. Sir John Falstaff, serve Got, and leave your desires, and fairies will not pinse you. Ford. Well said, fairy Hugh.

Eva. And leave you your jealousies too, I pray you.

Ford. I will never mistrust my wife again, till thou art able to woo her in good English. Fal. Have I laid my brain in the sun, and dried it, that it wants matter to prevent so gross o'er-reaching as this 7 Am I ridden with a Welsh goat too? Shall I have a coxcomb of frize? 'tis time I were choked with a piece of toasted cheese.

Eva. Seese is not good to give putter; your pelly is all putter.

Fal. Seese and putter ? Have I lived to stand at the taunt of one that makes fritters of English 7 This is enough to be the decay of lust and

late walking through the realme

Mrs. Page. Why, Sir John, do you think, though we would have thrust virtue out of our hearts by the head and shoulders, and have given ourselves without scruple to hell, that ever the devil could have made you our delight? Ford. What, a hodge-pudding 7 a bag of flax? Mrs. Page. A puffed man?

Page. Old, cold, withered, and of intolerable entrails?

Ford. And one that is as slanderous as Satan? Page. And as poor as Job?

Ford. And as wicked as his wife 7

Eva. And given to fornications, and to ta- green; and, indeed, she is now with the doctor verns, and sack, and wine, and metheglins, and at the deanery, and there married. to drinkings, and swearings and starings, pribEnter Caius. bles and prabbles?

Fal. Well, I am your theme; you have the
start of me; I am dejected; 1 am not able to
answer the Welsh flannel; ignorance itself is a
plummet o'er me: use me as you will.
Ford. Marry, sir, we'll bring you to Windsor,to
one master Brook, that you have cozened of mo-
ney, to whom you should have been a pander:
over and above that you have suffered, I think,
to repay that money will be a biting affliction.
Mrs. Ford. Nay, husband, let that go to make
amends;

Forgive that sum, and so we'll all be friends.
Ford. Well, here's my hand; all's forgiven

at last.

Page. Yet be cheerful, knight: thou shalt eat a posset to-night at my house; where I will desire thee to laugh at my wife, that now laughs 4 thee: Tell her, master Slender hath married her daughter.

Mrs. Page. Doctors doubt that: If Anne Page be my daughter, she is, by this, doctor Caius' wife. [Aside. Enter Slender.

Slen. Whoo! ho! ho! father Page! Page. Son! how now? how now son ? have you despatched?

Sen. Despatched !-I'll make the best in Gloucestershire know on't: 'would, I were hanged, la, else.

Page. Of what, son?

Caius. Vere is mistress Page 7 By gar, I am cozened: I ha' married un garcon, a boy; un paisan, by gar, a boy: it is not Anne Page; by gar, I am cozened.

Mrs. Page. Why, did you take her in green?
Caius. Ay, be gar, and 'tis a boy; be gar, I'll
raise all Windsor.
[Exit Caius.
Ford. This is strange! Who hath got the right
Anne 7
Page. My heart misgives me: Here comes
master Fenton.

Enter Fenton and Anne Page.
How now, master Fenton ?

Anne. Pardon, good father! good my mother, pardon !

Page. Now, mistress! how chance you went
not with master Slender ?
Mrs. Page. Why went you not with master
doctor, maid?

Fent. You do amaze her: Hear the truth of it.
You would have married her most shamefully,
Where there was no proportion held in love.
The truth is, she and I, long since contracted,
Are now so sure that nothing can dissolve us.
The offence is holy that she hath committed:
And this deceit loses the name of craft,
Of disobedience, or unduteous title;
Since therein she doth evitate and shun
A thousand irreligious cursed hours,
Which forced marriage would have brought
upon her.

Ford. Stand not amazed: here is no remedy:
In love, the heavens themselves do guide the

state:

Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate. Fal. I am glad, though you have ta'en a special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanced.

Slen. I came yonder at Eton to marry mistress Anne Page, and she's a great lubberly boy. If it had not been i' the church, I would have swinged him, or he should have swinged me. If I did not think it had been Anne Page, would I might never stir, and 'tis a post-master's boy. Page. Upon my life then you took the wrong. Slen. What need you tell me that? I think so, when I took a boy for a girl: If I had been married to him, for all he was in woman's ap-What parel, I would not have had him.

Page. Why, this is your own folly. Did not 1 tell you, how you should know my daughter by her garments?

Slen. I went to her in white, and cry'd mum; and she cry'd budget, as Anne and I had appointed; and yet it was not Anne, but a postmaster's boy.

Era. Jeshu Master Slender, cannot you see bat marry poys?

Page. O, I am vexed at heart: What shall I do? Mrs. Page. Good George, be not angry: 1 knew of your purpose: turned my daughter into

Page. Well, what remedy 7 Fenton, heaven give thee joy!

cannot be eschew'd, must be embrac'd. Fal. When night-dogs run, all sorts of deer are chas'd. [ding. Eva. I will dance and eat plums at your wedMrs. Page. Well, I will inuse no further :

Master Fenton,

Heaven give you many, many merry days!
Good husband, let us every one go home,
And laugh this sport o'er by a country fire;
Sir John and all.

Ford.

Let it be so-Sir John,
To master Brook you yet shall hold your word;
For he to-night shall lie with mistress Ford.
[Exeunt.

TWELFTH NIGHT; OR, WHAT YOU WILL.

ORSINO, Duke of Myria.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

SIR ANDREW AGUE-CHEEK.

SEBASTIAN, a young Gentleman, Brother to | MALVOLIO, Steward to Olivia.

Viola.

ANTONIO, a Sea Captain, friend to Sebas- Clown,

tian.

A Sea Captain, Friend to Viola.

FABIAN, Servants to Olivia.
OLIVIA, a rich Countess.
VIOLA, in love with the Duke.

VALENTINE, Gentlemen attending on the MARIA, Olivia's Woman.
CURIO,
Duke.
SIR TOBY BELCH, Uncle of Olivia.

Lords, Priests, Sailors, Officers, Musicians,
and other Attendants.

Scene-A City in Illyria; and the Sea Coast near it.

ACT L

SCENE I. An Apartment in the Duke's Palace.
Ent. Duke, Curio, Lords; Musicians attending.
Duke. If musick be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again;-it had a dying fall:
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south,
Stealing, and giving odour.-Enough; no more,
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.

Val. So please my lord, I might not be admitted,

But from her handmaid do return this answer:
The element itself, till seven years heat,
Shall not behold her face at ample view;
But, Nke a cloistress, she will veiled walk,
And water once a day her chamber round
With eye-offending brine all this, to season
A brother's dead love, which she would keep
fresh,

And lasting, in her sad remembrance.

Or was so very late: for but a month
Ago I went from hence; and then 'twas fresh
In murmur, (as you know, what great ones do,
The less will prattle of,) that he did seek
The love of fair Olivia.
What's she?

Vio.

Cap. A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count That died some twelvemonth since; then leav ing her

In the protection of his son, her brother,
Who shortly also died: for whose dear love
They say she hath abjur'd the company
And sight of men.

Vio.
O, that I serv'd that lady:
And might not be delivered to the world,
Till I had made mine own occasion mellow,
What my estate is.
Cap.
That were hard to compass;
Because she will admit no kind of suit,"
No, not the duke's.

Vio. There is a fair behaviour in thee, captain; And though that nature with a beauteous wall Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee

I will believe, thou hast a mind that suits
With this thy fair and outward character.
I pray thee, and I'll pay thee bounteously,
Conceal me what I am; and be my aid
For such disguise as, haply, shall become

Duke. O, she, that hath a heart of that fine The form of my intent. I'll serve this duke;

frame,

To pay this debt of love but to a brother,
How will she love, when the rich golden shaft
Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else
That live in her! when liver, brain, and heart,
These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and

fill'd

(Her sweet perfections) with one self king! Away before me to sweet beds of flowers; Love-thoughts lie rich, when canopied with [Exeunt.

bowers.

SCENE II. The Sea Coast. Enter Viola, Captain, and Sailors. Vio. What country, friends, is this? Cap.

Illyria, lady. Vio. And what should I do in Illyria ? My brother he is in Elysium. Perchance he is not drown'd:-What think you, sailors?

Cap. It is perchance that you yourself were saved.

Vio. O my poor brother! and so, perchance, may he be.

Cap. True, madam and to comfort you with chance,

Assure yourself, after our ship did split,
When you, and that poor number saved with

Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him,
It may be worth thy pains; for I can sing
And speak to him in many sorts of musick,
That will allow me very worth his service.
What else may hap, to time I will commit;
Only shape thou thy silence to my wit.

Cap. Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be: When my tongue blabs, then let inine eyes not see! Vio. I thank thee: Lead me on. [Exeunt.

SCENE III. A Room in Olivia's House.

Enter Sir Toby Belch and Maria.

Sir To. What a plague means my niece, to take the death of, her brother thus? I am sure, care's an enemy to life.

Mar. By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier o'nights; your cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions to your ill hours.

Sir To. Why, let her except before excepted. Mar. Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modest limits of order.

Sir To. Confine? I'll confine myself no finer than I am: these clothes are good enough to drink in, and so be these boots too; an they be not, let them hang themselves in their own straps. Mar. That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard my lady talk of it yesterday; and of a foolish knight, that you brought in one night here, to be her wooer.

Sir To. Who, Sir Andrew Ague-cheek?
Mar. Ay, he.

Sir To. He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria.
Mar. What's that to the purpose?

Sir To. Why, he has three thousand ducats

a year.

Mar. Ay, but he'll have but a year in all these ducats; he's a very fool and a prodigal.

Sir To. Fie, that you'll say so! he plays o'the viol-de-gambo, and speaks three or four languages word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of nature.

Mar. He hath, indeed,-almost natural: for, besides that he's a fool, he's a great quarreller; and, but that he hath the gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quarrelling, 'tis thought among the prudent, he would quickly have the gift of a grave.

Sir To. By this hand they are scoundrels, and substractors, that say so of him. Who are they? Mar. They that add moreover, he's drunk nightly in your company.

« Zurück Weiter »

Books

The Dramatic Works of William Shakspeare: From the Text of the Corrected ...