37.

HGravelet in & del. Vol: 3.P:177.

G.Var Gucht Scul

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 fince

Hath been between this Lady, and this Lord.
Seb. So comes it, Lady, you have been mistook :
[Te 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 shall have share in this moft happy wreck.
Boy, thou haft faid to me a thousand times, [To Vio.
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.

(21)

by whofe gentle help

I was preferv'd to firve this noble Duke.] Tho' this be fenfe, 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;

Fll 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 Sbrew;

--

If you, Hortenfio,

Or, Signor Gremie, you know any fuch,

Prefer them hither.

So, in Julius Cæfar;

07. Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?

Stra, Ay, if Messale will prefer me to you, G. &f,

H 5

Vie

Vio, The captain, that did bring me first on shore, Hath m my maid's garments: he upon fome action

1s now in durance, at Malvolio's fuit,

A gentleman and follower of my Lady's."
30% 40
Oli. He hall enlarge him: fetch Malvolio hither.
And yet, alas, now I remember me,
They fay, poor gentleman, he's much diftract.

Enter the Clown with a letter, and Fabian.

A moft extracting frenzy of mine own
From my remembrance clearly banish'd his.
How does he, firrah 20

"

Clo. Truly, Madam, he holds Belzebub at the flave'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 gofpels, fo it fkills 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,

Oli. How now, art mad?

[Reads.

Clo. No, Madam, I do but read madness: an your Ladyship will have it as it ought to be, you must. allow Vox.

الله

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 Princefs, and give ear.

Oli. Read it you, firrah.

"

[To 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 bave 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 The madly us'd Malvolio..

of my injury,

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

Duke This favours not much of diftraction.

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, fo pleafe you, Here at my house, and at my proper coft..

Duke. Madam, I am most apt t'embrace your offer. Your mafter quits you; and for your fervice 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 master for fo long,) Here is my hand, you shall from this time be Your mafter's mistress.

Oli. A fifter,

-you are she..

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 phrafe; 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 imprifon'd,
Kept in a dark houfe, vifited by the prieft,
And made the most notorious geck, and gull,
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 queftion, 'tis Maria's hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was the

First told me, thou waft mad; then cam't thou fmiling,.

And

And in fuch forms which here were presuppos'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, 1.8
Taint the condition of this prefent hour,
Which I have wondred at. In hope it shall not,
Moft freely I confefs, myself and Sir Toby
Set this device against Malvolio here,

Upon fome stubborn and uncourteous parts
We had conceiv'd against him. Maria weit va
The letter, at Sir Toby's great importance,;;
In recompence 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 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 a barren rafcal? an you Smile not, he's gagg'd: and thus the whirl-gigg of time brings in his revenges.

one:

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

[Exeunt

Clown