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Mal. "One Sir Andrew."

Sir And. I knew 'twas I; for many do call me fool. Mal. [Seeing the letter.] What employment have we here?

Fab. Now is the woodcock near the gin.

Sir To. O, peace! and the spirit of humours intimate reading aloud to him!

Mal. [Taking up the letter.] By my life, this is my lady's hand! these be her very C's, her U's, and her T's; and thus makes she her great P's. It is, in contempt of question, her hand.

Sir And. Her C's, her U's, and her T's: Why that? Mal. [Reads.] "To the unknown beloved, this, and my good wishes:" her very phrases!-By your leave, wax.-Soft"!-and the impressure her Lucrece, with which she uses to seal: 'tis my lady. To whom should this be?

Fab. This wins him, liver and all.

Mal. [Reads.] "Jove knows, I love;

66

But who?

Lips do not move:

No man must know."

"No man must know."-What follows? the number's altered. No man must know:"-if this should be thee, Malvolio?

Sir To. Marry, hang thee, brock'!

11 By your leave, wax.-Soft !] Malone contends that the word "Soft" applies to the wax, and is not an exclamation; but Steevens shows that the wax used for letters at this period was not commonly "soft." There can be no doubt that "soft!" here is to be taken exactly in the same sense as "softly!" and "soft!" used by Malvolio afterwards.

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- brock !] i. e. badger. Malone says very truly that "brock" was used in the same way by other authors in Shakespeare's time, and quotes the following from Peele's "Merry Conceited Jests :"-"This self-conceited brock had George invited," &c. Malone gives the date of 1657 to this production, but the Rev. Mr. Dyce printed the "Jests" in his excellent edition of Feele's Works, ii. 263, from a copy dated 1627. There can be no doubt that they first appeared soon after Peele's death, which occurred before Meres published his Palladis Tamia in 1598, where he is spoken of as dead: the earliest known copy of Peel's "Jests" is dated 1607.

Mal. [Reads.] "I may command, where I adore ;
But silence, like a Lucrece knife,

With bloodless stroke my heart doth gore:
M, O, A, I, doth sway my life."

Fab. A fustian riddle.

Sir To. Excellent wench, say I.

Mal. "M, O, A, I, doth sway my life."-Nay, but first, let me see,-let me see,—let me see.

Fab. What a dish of poison has she dressed him! Sir To. And with what wing the stannyel checks at it?!

Mal. "I may command where I adore." Why, she may command me: I serve her; she is my lady. Why, this is evident to any formal capacity3. There is no obstruction in this.-And the end,-what should that alphabetical position portend? if I could make that resemble something in me,-Softly!-M, O, A, I.— Sir To. O! ay, make up that. He is now at a cold

scent.

Fab. Sowter will cry upon't, for all this, though it be as rank as a fox.

Mal. M,-Malvolio:-M,-why, that begins my

name.

Fab. Did not I say, he would work it out? the cur is excellent at faults.

Mal. M.-But then there is no consonancy in the sequel, that suffers under probation: A should follow, but O does.

Fab. And O! shall end, I hope.

2 And with what wing the STANNYEL checks at it!] In the old copies stallion is misprinted for "stannyel," which signifies a species of hawk. The judicious change was made by Sir T. Hanmer.

3 to any FORMAL capacity.] i. e. To any one in his senses-not deranged. See "Measure for Measure,” Vol. ii. p. 96, note 8 ; and "Comedy of Errors," in the same vol. p. 168, note 2.

4 SOWTER will cry upon't,] Sowter is used for the name of a dog, which having found the scent gives tongue. Fabian afterwards carries on the allusion: "the cur is excellent at faults."

VOL. III.

B b

O!

Sir To. Ay, or I'll cudgel him, and make him cry,

Mal. And then I comes behind.

Fab. Ay, an you had any eye behind you, you might see more detraction at your heels, than fortunes before you.

Mal. M, O, A, I:-this simulation is not as the former;—and yet, to crush this a little, it would bow

to me, for every one of these letters are in my name. Soft! here follows prose.-[Reads.] "If this fall into thy hand, revolve. In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great3, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Thy fates open their hands; let thy blood and spirit embrace them. And, to inure thyself to what thou art like to be, cast thy humble slough, and appear fresh. Be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants: let thy tongue tang arguments of state: put thyself into the trick of singularity. She thus advises thee, that sighs for thee. Remember who commended thy yellow stockings, and wished to see thee ever cross-gartered': I say, remember. Go to, thou art made, if thou desirest to be so; if not, let me see thee a steward still, the fellow of servants, and not worthy to touch fortune's fingers. Farewell. She that would alter services with thee,

The fortunate-unhappy."

5 - some are BORN great,] "Some are become great," is the reading of the old folios; but no doubt it is an error, and Rowe corrected it from the subsequent repetition of the words by Malvolio and the Clown.

6 Remember who commended thy yellow stockings,] By various passages quoted by Steevens, (which it would be easy to multiply) it appears that yellow stockings were more or less worn from about the middle of the reign of Elizabeth to the breaking out of the civil wars.

7

cross-gartered :] It seems also to have been the fashion to wear garters crossed, but no authority for it has been produced quite as old as this comedy. The earliest I have met with is in "The Woman Hater," 1607.

8 The fortunate-unhappy.] This letter is most confusedly printed in the old folios, those of later date making no improvement upon the older impressions. As a proof of the confusion, the end of it, where it is mixed up with what Malvolio says, may be quoted literatim :-" Farewell, Shee that would alter

Day-light and champaign discovers not more": this is open. I will be proud, I will read politic authors, I will baffle Sir Toby, I will wash off gross acquaintance, I will be point-device' the very man. I do not now fool myself, to let imagination jade me, for every reason excites to this, that my lady loves me. She did commend my yellow stockings of late; she did praise my leg being cross-gartered; and in this she manifests herself to my love, and with a kind of injunction drives me to these habits of her liking. I thank my stars I am happy. I will be strange, stout, in yellow stockings, and cross-gartered, even with the swiftness of putting on. Jove, and my stars be praised! -Here is yet a postscript. [Reads.] "Thou canst not choose but know who I am. If thou entertainest my love, let it appear in thy smiling: thy smiles become thee well; therefore in my presence still smile, dear my sweet, I pr'ythee."―Jove, I thank thee.—I will smile: I will do every thing that thou wilt have me.

[Exit. Fab. I will not give my part of this sport for a pension of thousands to be paid from the Sophy.

Sir To. I could marry this wench for this device.
Sir And. So could I too.

Sir To. And ask no other dowry with her, but such

another jest.

Sir And. Nor I neither.

Enter MARIA.

Fab. Here comes my noble gull-catcher.

Sir To. Wilt thou set thy foot o' my neck?

services with thee, the fortunate unhappy daylight and champian discovers not more."

Day-light and CHAMPAIGN discovers not more,] That is, day-light and open country do not discover more. Champaign (spelt champian in the old editions) was not an uncommon word for a wide expanse of country.

1

I will be POINT-DEVICE,] A frequent expression, meaning exactly, and with great nicety. See p. 59, note 4.

Sir And. Or o' mine either?

Sir To. Shall I play my freedom at tray-trip', and become thy bond-slave?

Sir And. I'faith, or I either.

Sir To. Why, thou hast put him in such a dream, that when the image of it leaves him he must run mad. Mar. Nay, but say true: does it work upon him? Sir To. Like aqua-vitæ with a midwife.

Mar. If you will then see the fruits of the sport, mark his first approach before my lady: he will come to her in yellow stockings, and 'tis a colour she abhors; and cross-gartered, a fashion she detests; and he will smile upon her, which will now be so unsuitable to her disposition, being addicted to a melancholy as she is, that it cannot but turn him into a notable contempt. If you will see it, follow me.

Sir To. To the gates of Tartar, thou most excellent devil of wit!

Sir And. I'll make one too.

[Exeunt.

ACT III. SCENE I.

OLIVIA'S Garden.

Enter VIOLA, and Clown.

Vio. Save thee, friend, and thy music. Dost thou live by thy tabor3?

Clo. No, sir; I live by the church.

2 at TRAY-TRIP,] Tray-trip, or trey-trip, seems, by various quotations, to have been a game at which dice were employed. By "play my freedom," Sir Toby means, stake his freedom.

3 Dost thou live by thy tabor?] Theatrical fools often appeared with a tabor, and in the representation of "Tarlton" (see the Bridgewater Catalogue, p. 300) he is furnished with one. The clown's reply, "No, sir; I live by the church," is not intelligible, if we do not suppose him to have wilfully misunderstood Viola to ask whether he lived near the sign of the tabor, which might either be a music-shop or a tavern.

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