My brother he is in Elysium.

Perchance, he is not drown'd:—what think you, sailors? Cap. It is perchance that you yourself were sav❜d.

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 those poor number saved with you',
Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother,
Most provident in peril, bind himself

(Courage and hope both teaching him the practice)
To a strong mast, that lived upon the sea;
Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back,
I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves
So long as I could see.

Vio.
For saying so there's gold.
Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,

Whereto thy speech serves for authority,
The like of him. Know'st thou this country?
Cap. Ay, madam, well; for I was bred and born,
Not three hours' travel from this very place.

Vio. Who governs here?

Vio. Orsino! I have heard my father name him:

He was a bachelor then.

Cap. And so is now, or was so very late;

For but a month ago I went from hence,

7 When you, and THOSE poor number saved with you,] Shakespeare uses "number" as the plural, and there is no need to alter "those" into that, as was done by Malone, Steevens, &c.

8

A noble duke, in nature

As in name.] Malone or Boswell silently interpolated his before "name." As the text now stands it is not exactly according to the old copies, where “A noble duke, in nature as in name," is made a line by itself, without regard to "Who governs here ?" preceding it, and "What is his name?" following it. It may be doubted which is the better regulation.

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.

Vio. What's she?

Cap. A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count That died some twelvemonth since; then leaving 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 pr'ythee, (and I'll pay thee bounteously,)
Conceal me what I am, and be my aid
For such disguise as haply shall become
The form of my intent. I'll serve this duke:
Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him.
be worth thy pains; for I can sing,

It may
And speak to him in many sorts of music,
That will allow me very worth his service.
What else may hap to time I will commit;

They say, she hath abjur'd the COMPANY

And SIGHT of men.] In all the old copies the passage stands as follows:

"They say she hath abjur'd the sight,

And company of men.'

The alteration, making "sight" and "company" change places, was introduced by Sir Thomas Hanmer; and it is unquestionably for the better, both as regards

metre and sense. Olivia has abjured not only the "company" but even the "sight" of men.

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 mine 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'.

10 He's as TALL a man as any's in Illyria.] The use of "tall" for courageous and bold was extremely common in the time of Shakespeare. In "The Merry Wives of Windsor," A. i. sc. 4, Simple says, "he is as tall a man of his hands, as any is between this and his head he hath fought with a warrener." In the same comedy, A. ii. sc. 1, Shallow speaks of "four tall fellows" as four courageous fellows. Instances innumerable might be collected from other writers of the same age. See Dodsley's Old Plays, last edit. vol. iii. p. 39. vol. v. p. 255. 388, &c.

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 violde-gamboys', 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 T. 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.

Sir T. With drinking healths to my niece. I'll drink to her, as long as there is a passage in my throat, and drink in Illyria. He's a coward, and a coystril2, that will not drink to my niece, till his brains turn o' the toe like a parish-top3. What, wench! Castiliano vulgo; for here comes Sir Andrew Ague-face.

Enter Sir ANDREW AGUE-CHEEK.

Sir And. Sir Toby Belch! how now, Sir Toby Belch? Sir To. Sweet sir Andrew.

1

he plays o' the VIOL-DE-GAMBOYS,] Meaning, of course, the viol-di-gambo, an instrument then much in use.

2 He's a coward, and a COYSTRIL,] A "coystril" is a kestrel, or bastard hawk the term was figuratively applied.

3

like a PARISH-TOP.] A large top was formerly kept in parishes or towns, for the exercise and amusement of the lower orders. See Dyce's Beaumont and Fletcher, "Thierry and Theodoret," vol. i. p. 138.

+ Castiliano rulgo ;] Sir Toby probably uses this as a drinking exclamation ; and in "The Rich Jew of Malta," by Marlowe, we have Riro Castiliano employed in the same way. Warburton supposed that vulgo should be printed colto, and that Maria was to put on a Castilian, or grave countenance on the approach of Sir Andrew.

Sir And. Bless you, fair shrew.

Mar. And you too, sir.

Sir To. Accost, sir Andrew, accost3.
Sir And. What's that?

Sir To. My niece's chamber-maid.

Sir And. Good mistress Accost, I desire better acquaintance.

Mar. My name is Mary, sir.

Sir And. Good Mistress Mary Accost,

Sir To. You mistake, knight: accost is front her, board her, woo her, assail her.

Sir And. By my troth, I would not undertake her in this company. Is that the meaning of accost?

Mar. Fare you well, gentlemen.

Sir To. An thou let part so, sir Andrew, would thou might'st never draw sword again!

Sir And. An you part so, mistress, I would I might never draw sword again. Fair lady, do you think you have fools in hand?

Mar. Sir, I have not you by the hand.

Sir And. Marry, but you shall have; and here's my hand.

Mar. Now, sir, thought is free: I pray you, bring your hand to the buttery-bar, and let it drink.

Sir And. Wherefore, sweet heart? what's your metaphor?

Mar. It's dry, sir.

5 ACCOST, Sir Andrew, ACCOST.] Sir Andrew did not understand the word 66 accost," and since the time of Dryden, who employs it, the use of it in this sense is rare. Sir Toby afterwards explains it, "front her, board her," &c. "Accost" is from the Fr. accoster, and means strictly, to come side by side, and more generally, to approach. Spenser, "Faerie Queene," book v. c. x. stanza 42, uses it more licentiously for the sake of the rhyme :

6

"For all the shores, which to the sea accoste,

He day and night doth ward, both far and wide.”

bring your hand to the BUTTERY-bar, and let it DRINK.] The buttery was the place from which meat and drink were formerly delivered. In the Induction to "The Taming of the Shrew," the lord tells a servant to take the players to the buttery. To have a dry hand was formerly considered a symptom of debility, as Steevens established by various quotations.