Vio. And all those sayings will I over-swear;
And all those swearings keep as true in soul
As doth that orbed continent the fire

That severs day from night.

Duke.

Give me thy hand,
And let me see thee in thy woman's weeds.
Vio. The captain that did bring me first on shore
Hath my maid's garments: he upon some action
Is now in durance, at Malvolio's suit,

A gentleman, and follower of my lady's.

Oli. He shall enlarge him: fetch Malvolio hither:
And yet, alas, now I remember me,

They say, poor gentleman, he 's much distract.
Re-enter Clown with a letter, and Fabian.

A most extracting frenzy of mine own

From my remembrance clearly banish'd his.
How does he, sirrah?

Clo. Truly, madam, he holds Belzebub at the stave'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?

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. 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.

Oli. Did he write this?

Clo. Ay, madam.

THE MADLY-USED MALVOLIO.

Duke. This savours not much of distraction.

Oli. See him deliver'd, Fabian; bring him hither. [Exit Fabian.

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 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.

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;
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,
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 'tis 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;
But when we know the grounds and authors of it,
Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge.

[him,

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
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.
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.

Clo. [Sings]

[Exit.

[Exeunt all, except Clown.

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.

'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,

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 strive to please you every day.

[Exit.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

LEONTES, king of Sicilia.

CAMILLO,

AUTOLYCUS, a rogue.

MAMILLIUS, young prince of Sicilia.

ANTIGONUS,

Cleomenes,

·Four Lords of Sicilia.

DION,

POLIXENES, king of Bohemia.

FLORIZEL, prince of Bohemia.

ARCHIDAMUS, a Lord of Bohemia.

Old Shepherd, reputed father of Perdita.

Clown, his son.

A Mariner,

A Gaoler.

HERMIONE, queen to Leontes.

PERDITA, daughter to Leontes and Her mione.

PAULINA, wife to Antigonus.

EMILIA, a lady attending on Hermione.
MOPSA,
DOKCAS,
Shepherdesses.

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

Shepherdesses.

Time, as Chorus.

SCENE: Partly in Sicilia, and partly in Bohemia.

ACT I-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 indeed

Cam. 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