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ACT I, SCENE I.

DUKE ORSINO's palace.

Enter DUKE ORSINO, CURIO, and other Lords; Musicians attending

DUKE ORSINO
001: If music be the food of love, play on;
002: Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
003: The appetite may sicken, and so die.
004: That strain again! it had a dying fall:
005: O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
006: That breathes upon a bank of violets,
007: Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
008: 'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
009: O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,
010: That, notwithstanding thy capacity
011: Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
012: Of what validity and pitch soe'er,
013: But falls into abatement and low price,
014: Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
015: That it alone is high fantastical.

CURIO
016: Will you go hunt, my lord?

DUKE ORSINO
017: What, Curio?

CURIO
018: The hart.

DUKE ORSINO
019: Why, so I do, the noblest that I have:
020: O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
021: Methought she purged the air of pestilence!
022: That instant was I turn'd into a hart;
023: And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,
024: E'er since pursue me.
[Enter VALENTINE]
025: How now! what news from her?

VALENTINE
026: So please my lord, I might not be admitted;
027: But from her handmaid do return this answer:
028: The element itself, till seven years' heat,
029: Shall not behold her face at ample view;
030: But, like a cloistress, she will veiled walk
031: And water once a day her chamber round
032: With eye-offending brine: all this to season
033: A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh
034: And lasting in her sad remembrance.

DUKE ORSINO
035: O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame
036: To pay this debt of love but to a brother,
037: How will she love, when the rich golden shaft
038: Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else
039: That live in her; when liver, brain and heart,
040: These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and fill'd
041: Her sweet perfections with one self king!
042: Away before me to sweet beds of flowers:
043: Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.

Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE II.

The sea-coast.

Enter VIOLA, a Captain, and Sailors

VIOLA
001: What country, friends, is this?

Captain
002: This is Illyria, lady.

VIOLA
003: And what should I do in Illyria?
004: My brother he is in Elysium.
005: Perchance he is not drown'd: what think you, sailors?

Captain
006: It is perchance that you yourself were saved.

VIOLA
007: O my poor brother! and so perchance may he be.

Captain
008: True, madam: and, to comfort you with chance,
009: Assure yourself, after our ship did split,
010: When you and those poor number saved with you
011: Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother,
012: Most provident in peril, bind himself,
013: Courage and hope both teaching him the practise,
014: To a strong mast that lived upon the sea;
015: Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back,
016: I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves
017: So long as I could see.

VIOLA
018: For saying so, there's gold:
019: Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,
020: Whereto thy speech serves for authority,
021: The like of him. Know'st thou this country?

Captain
022: Ay, madam, well; for I was bred and born
023: Not three hours' travel from this very place.

VIOLA
024: Who governs here?

Captain
025: A noble duke, in nature as in name.

VIOLA
026: What is the name?

Captain
027: Orsino.

VIOLA
028: Orsino! I have heard my father name him:
029: He was a bachelor then.

Captain
030: And so is now, or was so very late;
031: For but a month ago I went from hence,
032: And then 'twas fresh in murmur,--as, you know,
033: What great ones do the less will prattle of,--
034: That he did seek the love of fair Olivia.

VIOLA
035: What's she?

Captain
036: A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count
037: That died some twelvemonth since, then leaving her
038: In the protection of his son, her brother,
039: Who shortly also died: for whose dear love,
040: They say, she hath abjured the company
041: And sight of men.

VIOLA
042: O that I served that lady
043: And might not be delivered to the world,
044: Till I had made mine own occasion mellow,
045: What my estate is!

Captain
046: That were hard to compass;
047: Because she will admit no kind of suit,
048: No, not the duke's.

VIOLA
049: There is a fair behavior in thee, captain;
050: And though that nature with a beauteous wall
051: Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee
052: I will believe thou hast a mind that suits
053: With this thy fair and outward character.
054: I prithee, and I'll pay thee bounteously,
055: Conceal me what I am, and be my aid
056: For such disguise as haply shall become
057: The form of my intent. I'll serve this duke:
058: Thou shall present me as an eunuch to him:
059: It may be worth thy pains; for I can sing
060: And speak to him in many sorts of music
061: That will allow me very worth his service.
062: What else may hap to time I will commit;
063: Only shape thou thy silence to my wit.

Captain
064: Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be:
065: When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not see.

VIOLA
066: I thank thee: lead me on.

Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE III.

OLIVIA'S house.

Enter SIR TOBY BELCH and MARIA

SIR TOBY BELCH
001: What a plague means my niece, to take the death of
002: her brother thus? I am sure care's an enemy to life.

MARIA
003: By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier o'
004: nights: your cousin, my lady, takes great
005: exceptions to your ill hours.

SIR TOBY BELCH
006: Why, let her except, before excepted.

MARIA
007: Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modest
008: limits of order.

SIR TOBY BELCH
009: Confine! I'll confine myself no finer than I am:
010: these clothes are good enough to drink in; and so be
011: these boots too: an they be not, let them hang
012: themselves in their own straps.

MARIA
013: That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard
014: my lady talk of it yesterday; and of a foolish
015: knight that you brought in one night here to be her wooer.

SIR TOBY BELCH
016: Who, Sir Andrew Aguecheek?

MARIA
017: Ay, he.

SIR TOBY BELCH
018: He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria.

MARIA
019: What's that to the purpose?

SIR TOBY BELCH
020: Why, he has three thousand ducats a year.

MARIA
021: Ay, but he'll have but a year in all these ducats:
022: he's a very fool and a prodigal.

SIR TOBY BELCH
023: Fie, that you'll say so! he plays o' the
024: viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four languages
025: word for word without book, and hath all the good
026: gifts of nature.

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

SIR TOBY BELCH
032: By this hand, they are scoundrels and subtractors
033: that say so of him. Who are they?

MARIA
034: They that add, moreover, he's drunk nightly in your company.

SIR TOBY BELCH
035: With drinking healths to my niece: I'll drink to
036: her as long as there is a passage in my throat and
037: drink in Illyria: he's a coward and a coystrill
038: that will not drink to my niece till his brains turn
039: o' the toe like a parish-top. What, wench!
040: Castiliano vulgo! for here comes Sir Andrew Agueface.

Enter SIR ANDREW

SIR ANDREW
041: Sir Toby Belch! how now, Sir Toby Belch!

SIR TOBY BELCH
042: Sweet Sir Andrew!

SIR ANDREW
043: Bless you, fair shrew.

MARIA
044: And you too, sir.

SIR TOBY BELCH
045: Accost, Sir Andrew, accost.

SIR ANDREW
046: What's that?

SIR TOBY BELCH
047: My niece's chambermaid.

SIR ANDREW
048: Good Mistress Accost, I desire better acquaintance.

MARIA
049: My name is Mary, sir.

SIR ANDREW
050: Good Mistress Mary Accost,--

SIR TOBY BELCH
051: You mistake, knight; 'accost' is front her, board
052: her, woo her, assail her.

SIR ANDREW
053: By my troth, I would not undertake her in this
054: company. Is that the meaning of 'accost'?

MARIA
055: Fare you well, gentlemen.

SIR TOBY BELCH
056: An thou let part so, Sir Andrew, would thou mightst
057: never draw sword again.

SIR ANDREW
058: An you part so, mistress, I would I might never
059: draw sword again. Fair lady, do you think you have
060: fools in hand?

MARIA
061: Sir, I have not you by the hand.

SIR ANDREW
062: Marry, but you shall have; and here's my hand.

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

SIR ANDREW
065: Wherefore, sweet-heart? what's your metaphor?

MARIA
066: It's dry, sir.

SIR ANDREW
067: Why, I think so: I am not such an ass but I can
068: keep my hand dry. But what's your jest?

MARIA
069: A dry jest, sir.

SIR ANDREW
070: Are you full of them?

MARIA
071: Ay, sir, I have them at my fingers' ends: marry,
072: now I let go your hand, I am barren.

Exit

SIR TOBY BELCH
073: O knight thou lackest a cup of canary: when did I
074: see thee so put down?

SIR ANDREW
075: Never in your life, I think; unless you see canary
076: put me down. Methinks sometimes I have no more wit
077: than a Christian or an ordinary man has: but I am a
078: great eater of beef and I believe that does harm to my wit.

SIR TOBY BELCH
079: No question.

SIR ANDREW
080: An I thought that, I'ld forswear it. I'll ride home
081: to-morrow, Sir Toby.

SIR TOBY BELCH
082: Pourquoi, my dear knight?

SIR ANDREW
083: What is 'Pourquoi'? do or not do? I would I had
084: bestowed that time in the tongues that I have in
085: fencing, dancing and bear-baiting: O, had I but
086: followed the arts!

SIR TOBY BELCH
087: Then hadst thou had an excellent head of hair.

SIR ANDREW
088: Why, would that have mended my hair?

SIR TOBY BELCH
089: Past question; for thou seest it will not curl by nature.

SIR ANDREW
090: But it becomes me well enough, does't not?

SIR TOBY BELCH
091: Excellent; it hangs like flax on a distaff; and I
092: hope to see a housewife take thee between her legs
093: and spin it off.

SIR ANDREW
094: Faith, I'll home to-morrow, Sir Toby: your niece
095: will not be seen; or if she be, it's four to one
096: she'll none of me: the count himself here hard by woos her.

SIR TOBY BELCH
097: She'll none o' the count: she'll not match above
098: her degree, neither in estate, years, nor wit; I
099: have heard her swear't. Tut, there's life in't,
100: man.

SIR ANDREW
101: I'll stay a month longer. I am a fellow o' the
102: strangest mind i' the world; I delight in masques
103: and revels sometimes altogether.

SIR TOBY BELCH
104: Art thou good at these kickshawses, knight?

SIR ANDREW
105: As any man in Illyria, whatsoever he be, under the
106: degree of my betters; and yet I will not compare
107: with an old man.

SIR TOBY BELCH
108: What is thy excellence in a galliard, knight?

SIR ANDREW
109: Faith, I can cut a caper.

SIR TOBY BELCH
110: And I can cut the mutton to't.

SIR ANDREW
111: And I think I have the back-trick simply as strong
112: as any man in Illyria.

SIR TOBY BELCH
113: Wherefore are these things hid? wherefore have
114: these gifts a curtain before 'em? are they like to
115: take dust, like Mistress Mall's picture? why dost
116: thou not go to church in a galliard and come home in
117: a coranto? My very walk should be a jig; I would not
118: so much as make water but in a sink-a-pace. What
119: dost thou mean? Is it a world to hide virtues in?
120: I did think, by the excellent constitution of thy
121: leg, it was formed under the star of a galliard.

SIR ANDREW
122: Ay, 'tis strong, and it does indifferent well in a
123: flame-coloured stock. Shall we set about some revels?

SIR TOBY BELCH
124: What shall we do else? were we not born under Taurus?

SIR ANDREW
125: Taurus! That's sides and heart.

SIR TOBY BELCH
126: No, sir; it is legs and thighs. Let me see the
127: caper; ha! higher: ha, ha! excellent!

Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE IV.

DUKE ORSINO's palace.

Enter VALENTINE and VIOLA in man's attire

VALENTINE
001: If the duke continue these favours towards you,
002: Cesario, you are like to be much advanced: he hath
003: known you but three days, and already you are no stranger.

VIOLA
004: You either fear his humour or my negligence, that
005: you call in question the continuance of his love:
006: is he inconstant, sir, in his favours?

VALENTINE
007: No, believe me.

VIOLA
008: I thank you. Here comes the count.

Enter DUKE ORSINO, CURIO, and Attendants

DUKE ORSINO
009: Who saw Cesario, ho?

VIOLA
010: On your attendance, my lord; here.

DUKE ORSINO
011: Stand you a while aloof, Cesario,
012: Thou know'st no less but all; I have unclasp'd
013: To thee the book even of my secret soul:
014: Therefore, good youth, address thy gait unto her;
015: Be not denied access, stand at her doors,
016: And tell them, there thy fixed foot shall grow
017: Till thou have audience.

VIOLA
018: Sure, my noble lord,
019: If she be so abandon'd to her sorrow
020: As it is spoke, she never will admit me.

DUKE ORSINO
021: Be clamorous and leap all civil bounds
022: Rather than make unprofited return.

VIOLA
023: Say I do speak with her, my lord, what then?

DUKE ORSINO
024: O, then unfold the passion of my love,
025: Surprise her with discourse of my dear faith:
026: It shall become thee well to act my woes;
027: She will attend it better in thy youth
028: Than in a nuncio's of more grave aspect.

VIOLA
029: I think not so, my lord.

DUKE ORSINO
030: Dear lad, believe it;
031: For they shall yet belie thy happy years,
032: That say thou art a man: Diana's lip
033: Is not more smooth and rubious; thy small pipe
034: Is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound,
035: And all is semblative a woman's part.
036: I know thy constellation is right apt
037: For this affair. Some four or five attend him;
038: All, if you will; for I myself am best
039: When least in company. Prosper well in this,
040: And thou shalt live as freely as thy lord,
041: To call his fortunes thine.

VIOLA
042: I'll do my best
043: To woo your lady:
[Aside]
044: yet, a barful strife!
045: Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife.

Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE V.

OLIVIA'S house.

Enter MARIA and Clown

MARIA
001: Nay, either tell me where thou hast been, or I will
002: not open my lips so wide as a bristle may enter in
003: way of thy excuse: my lady will hang thee for thy absence.

Clown
004: Let her hang me: he that is well hanged in this
005: world needs to fear no colours.

MARIA
006: Make that good.

Clown
007: He shall see none to fear.

MARIA
008: A good lenten answer: I can tell thee where that
009: saying was born, of 'I fear no colours.'

Clown
010: Where, good Mistress Mary?

MARIA
011: In the wars; and that may you be bold to say in your foolery.

Clown
012: Well, God give them wisdom that have it; and those
013: that are fools, let them use their talents.

MARIA
014: Yet you will be hanged for being so long absent; or,
015: to be turned away, is not that as good as a hanging to you?

Clown
016: Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage; and,
017: for turning away, let summer bear it out.

MARIA
018: You are resolute, then?

Clown
019: Not so, neither; but I am resolved on two points.

MARIA
020: That if one break, the other will hold; or, if both
021: break, your gaskins fall.

Clown
022: Apt, in good faith; very apt. Well, go thy way; if
023: Sir Toby would leave drinking, thou wert as witty a
024: piece of Eve's flesh as any in Illyria.

MARIA
025: Peace, you rogue, no more o' that. Here comes my
026: lady: make your excuse wisely, you were best.

Exit

Clown
027: Wit, an't be thy will, put me into good fooling!
028: Those wits, that think they have thee, do very oft
029: prove fools; and I, that am sure I lack thee, may
030: pass for a wise man: for what says Quinapalus?
031: 'Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.'
[Enter OLIVIA with MALVOLIO]
032: God bless thee, lady!

OLIVIA
033: Take the fool away.

Clown
034: Do you not hear, fellows? Take away the lady.

OLIVIA
035: Go to, you're a dry fool; I'll no more of you:
036: besides, you grow dishonest.

Clown
037: Two faults, madonna, that drink and good counsel
038: will amend: for give the dry fool drink, then is
039: the fool not dry: bid the dishonest man mend
040: himself; if he mend, he is no longer dishonest; if
041: he cannot, let the botcher mend him. Any thing
042: that's mended is but patched: virtue that
043: transgresses is but patched with sin; and sin that
044: amends is but patched with virtue. If that this
045: simple syllogism will serve, so; if it will not,
046: what remedy? As there is no true cuckold but
047: calamity, so beauty's a flower. The lady bade take
048: away the fool; therefore, I say again, take her away.

OLIVIA
049: Sir, I bade them take away you.

Clown
050: Misprision in the highest degree! Lady, cucullus non
051: facit monachum; that's as much to say as I wear not
052: motley in my brain. Good madonna, give me leave to
053: prove you a fool.

OLIVIA
054: Can you do it?

Clown
055: Dexterously, good madonna.

OLIVIA
056: Make your proof.

Clown
057: I must catechise you for it, madonna: good my mouse
058: of virtue, answer me.

OLIVIA
059: Well, sir, for want of other idleness, I'll bide your proof.

Clown
060: Good madonna, why mournest thou?

OLIVIA
061: Good fool, for my brother's death.

Clown
062: I think his soul is in hell, madonna.

OLIVIA
063: I know his soul is in heaven, fool.

Clown
064: The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's
065: soul being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen.

OLIVIA
066: What think you of this fool, Malvolio? doth he not mend?

MALVOLIO
067: Yes, and shall do till the pangs of death shake him:
068: infirmity, that decays the wise, doth ever make the
069: better fool.

Clown
070: God send you, sir, a speedy infirmity, for the
071: better increasing your folly! Sir Toby will be
072: sworn that I am no fox; but he will not pass his
073: word for two pence that you are no fool.

OLIVIA
074: How say you to that, Malvolio?

MALVOLIO
075: I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a
076: barren rascal: I saw him put down the other day
077: with an ordinary fool that has no more brain
078: than a stone. Look you now, he's out of his guard
079: already; unless you laugh and minister occasion to
080: him, he is gagged. I protest, I take these wise men,
081: that crow so at these set kind of fools, no better
082: than the fools' zanies.

OLIVIA
083: Oh, you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and taste
084: with a distempered appetite. To be generous,
085: guiltless and of free disposition, is to take those
086: things for bird-bolts that you deem cannon-bullets:
087: there is no slander in an allowed fool, though he do
088: nothing but rail; nor no railing in a known discreet
089: man, though he do nothing but reprove.

Clown
090: Now Mercury endue thee with leasing, for thou
091: speakest well of fools!

Re-enter MARIA

MARIA
092: Madam, there is at the gate a young gentleman much
093: desires to speak with you.

OLIVIA
094: From the Count Orsino, is it?

MARIA
095: I know not, madam: 'tis a fair young man, and well attended.

OLIVIA
096: Who of my people hold him in delay?

MARIA
097: Sir Toby, madam, your kinsman.

OLIVIA
098: Fetch him off, I pray you; he speaks nothing but
099: madman: fie on him!
[Exit MARIA]
100: Go you, Malvolio: if it be a suit from the count, I
101: am sick, or not at home; what you will, to dismiss it.
[Exit MALVOLIO]
102: Now you see, sir, how your fooling grows old, and
103: people dislike it.

Clown
104: Thou hast spoke for us, madonna, as if thy eldest
105: son should be a fool; whose skull Jove cram with
106: brains! for,--here he comes,--one of thy kin has a
107: most weak pia mater.

Enter SIR TOBY BELCH

OLIVIA
108: By mine honour, half drunk. What is he at the gate, cousin?

SIR TOBY BELCH
109: A gentleman.

OLIVIA
110: A gentleman! what gentleman?

SIR TOBY BELCH
111: 'Tis a gentle man here--a plague o' these
112: pickle-herring! How now, sot!

Clown
113: Good Sir Toby!

OLIVIA
114: Cousin, cousin, how have you come so early by this lethargy?

SIR TOBY BELCH
115: Lechery! I defy lechery. There's one at the gate.

OLIVIA
116: Ay, marry, what is he?

SIR TOBY BELCH
117: Let him be the devil, an he will, I care not: give
118: me faith, say I. Well, it's all one.

Exit

OLIVIA
119: What's a drunken man like, fool?

Clown
120: Like a drowned man, a fool and a mad man: one
121: draught above heat makes him a fool; the second mads
122: him; and a third drowns him.

OLIVIA
123: Go thou and seek the crowner, and let him sit o' my
124: coz; for he's in the third degree of drink, he's
125: drowned: go, look after him.

Clown
126: He is but mad yet, madonna; and the fool shall look
127: to the madman.

Exit

Re-enter MALVOLIO

MALVOLIO
128: Madam, yond young fellow swears he will speak with
129: you. I told him you were sick; he takes on him to
130: understand so much, and therefore comes to speak
131: with you. I told him you were asleep; he seems to
132: have a foreknowledge of that too, and therefore
133: comes to speak with you. What is to be said to him,
134: lady? he's fortified against any denial.

OLIVIA
135: Tell him he shall not speak with me.

MALVOLIO
136: Has been told so; and he says, he'll stand at your
137: door like a sheriff's post, and be the supporter to
138: a bench, but he'll speak with you.

OLIVIA
139: What kind o' man is he?

MALVOLIO
140: Why, of mankind.

OLIVIA
141: What manner of man?

MALVOLIO
142: Of very ill manner; he'll speak with you, will you or no.

OLIVIA
143: Of what personage and years is he?

MALVOLIO
144: Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for
145: a boy; as a squash is before 'tis a peascod, or a
146: cooling when 'tis almost an apple: 'tis with him
147: in standing water, between boy and man. He is very
148: well-favoured and he speaks very shrewishly; one
149: would think his mother's milk were scarce out of him.

OLIVIA
150: Let him approach: call in my gentlewoman.

MALVOLIO
151: Gentlewoman, my lady calls.

Exit

Re-enter MARIA

OLIVIA
152: Give me my veil: come, throw it o'er my face.
153: We'll once more hear Orsino's embassy.

Enter VIOLA, and Attendants

VIOLA
154: The honourable lady of the house, which is she?

OLIVIA
155: Speak to me; I shall answer for her.
156: Your will?

VIOLA
157: Most radiant, exquisite and unmatchable beauty,--I
158: pray you, tell me if this be the lady of the house,
159: for I never saw her: I would be loath to cast away
160: my speech, for besides that it is excellently well
161: penned, I have taken great pains to con it. Good
162: beauties, let me sustain no scorn; I am very
163: comptible, even to the least sinister usage.

OLIVIA
164: Whence came you, sir?

VIOLA
165: I can say little more than I have studied, and that
166: question's out of my part. Good gentle one, give me
167: modest assurance if you be the lady of the house,
168: that I may proceed in my speech.

OLIVIA
169: Are you a comedian?

VIOLA
170: No, my profound heart: and yet, by the very fangs
171: of malice I swear, I am not that I play. Are you
172: the lady of the house?

OLIVIA
173: If I do not usurp myself, I am.

VIOLA
174: Most certain, if you are she, you do usurp
175: yourself; for what is yours to bestow is not yours
176: to reserve. But this is from my commission: I will
177: on with my speech in your praise, and then show you
178: the heart of my message.

OLIVIA
179: Come to what is important in't: I forgive you the praise.

VIOLA
180: Alas, I took great pains to study it, and 'tis poetical.

OLIVIA
181: It is the more like to be feigned: I pray you,
182: keep it in. I heard you were saucy at my gates,
183: and allowed your approach rather to wonder at you
184: than to hear you. If you be not mad, be gone; if
185: you have reason, be brief: 'tis not that time of
186: moon with me to make one in so skipping a dialogue.

MARIA
187: Will you hoist sail, sir? here lies your way.

VIOLA
188: No, good swabber; I am to hull here a little
189: longer. Some mollification for your giant, sweet
190: lady. Tell me your mind: I am a messenger.

OLIVIA
191: Sure, you have some hideous matter to deliver, when
192: the courtesy of it is so fearful. Speak your office.

VIOLA
193: It alone concerns your ear. I bring no overture of
194: war, no taxation of homage: I hold the olive in my
195: hand; my words are as fun of peace as matter.

OLIVIA
196: Yet you began rudely. What are you? what would you?

VIOLA
197: The rudeness that hath appeared in me have I
198: learned from my entertainment. What I am, and what I
199: would, are as secret as maidenhead; to your ears,
200: divinity, to any other's, profanation.

OLIVIA
201: Give us the place alone: we will hear this divinity.
[Exeunt MARIA and Attendants]
202: Now, sir, what is your text?

VIOLA
203: Most sweet lady,--

OLIVIA
204: A comfortable doctrine, and much may be said of it.
205: Where lies your text?

VIOLA
206: In Orsino's bosom.

OLIVIA
207: In his bosom! In what chapter of his bosom?

VIOLA
208: To answer by the method, in the first of his heart.

OLIVIA
209: O, I have read it: it is heresy. Have you no more to say?

VIOLA
210: Good madam, let me see your face.

OLIVIA
211: Have you any commission from your lord to negotiate
212: with my face? You are now out of your text: but
213: we will draw the curtain and show you the picture.
214: Look you, sir, such a one I was this present: is't
215: not well done?

Unveiling

VIOLA
216: Excellently done, if God did all.

OLIVIA
217: 'Tis in grain, sir; 'twill endure wind and weather.

VIOLA
218: 'Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
219: Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on:
220: Lady, you are the cruell'st she alive,
221: If you will lead these graces to the grave
222: And leave the world no copy.

OLIVIA
223: O, sir, I will not be so hard-hearted; I will give
224: out divers schedules of my beauty: it shall be
225: inventoried, and every particle and utensil
226: labelled to my will: as, item, two lips,
227: indifferent red; item, two grey eyes, with lids to
228: them; item, one neck, one chin, and so forth. Were
229: you sent hither to praise me?

VIOLA
230: I see you what you are, you are too proud;
231: But, if you were the devil, you are fair.
232: My lord and master loves you: O, such love
233: Could be but recompensed, though you were crown'd
234: The nonpareil of beauty!

OLIVIA
235: How does he love me?

VIOLA
236: With adorations, fertile tears,
237: With groans that thunder love, with sighs of fire.

OLIVIA
238: Your lord does know my mind; I cannot love him:
239: Yet I suppose him virtuous, know him noble,
240: Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth;
241: In voices well divulged, free, learn'd and valiant;
242: And in dimension and the shape of nature
243: A gracious person: but yet I cannot love him;
244: He might have took his answer long ago.

VIOLA
245: If I did love you in my master's flame,
246: With such a suffering, such a deadly life,
247: In your denial I would find no sense;
248: I would not understand it.

OLIVIA
249: Why, what would you?

VIOLA
250: Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
251: And call upon my soul within the house;
252: Write loyal cantons of contemned love
253: And sing them loud even in the dead of night;
254: Halloo your name to the reverberate hills
255: And make the babbling gossip of the air
256: Cry out 'Olivia!' O, You should not rest
257: Between the elements of air and earth,
258: But you should pity me!

OLIVIA
259: You might do much.
260: What is your parentage?

VIOLA
261: Above my fortunes, yet my state is well:
262: I am a gentleman.

OLIVIA
263: Get you to your lord;
264: I cannot love him: let him send no more;
265: Unless, perchance, you come to me again,
266: To tell me how he takes it. Fare you well:
267: I thank you for your pains: spend this for me.

VIOLA
268: I am no fee'd post, lady; keep your purse:
269: My master, not myself, lacks recompense.
270: Love make his heart of flint that you shall love;
271: And let your fervor, like my master's, be
272: Placed in contempt! Farewell, fair cruelty.

Exit

OLIVIA
273: 'What is your parentage?'
274: 'Above my fortunes, yet my state is well:
275: I am a gentleman.' I'll be sworn thou art;
276: Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit,
277: Do give thee five-fold blazon: not too fast:
278: soft, soft!
279: Unless the master were the man. How now!
280: Even so quickly may one catch the plague?
281: Methinks I feel this youth's perfections
282: With an invisible and subtle stealth
283: To creep in at mine eyes. Well, let it be.
284: What ho, Malvolio!

Re-enter MALVOLIO

MALVOLIO
285: Here, madam, at your service.

OLIVIA
286: Run after that same peevish messenger,
287: The county's man: he left this ring behind him,
288: Would I or not: tell him I'll none of it.
289: Desire him not to flatter with his lord,
290: Nor hold him up with hopes; I am not for him:
291: If that the youth will come this way to-morrow,
292: I'll give him reasons for't: hie thee, Malvolio.

MALVOLIO
293: Madam, I will.

Exit

OLIVIA
294: I do I know not what, and fear to find
295: Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind.
296: Fate, show thy force: ourselves we do not owe;
297: What is decreed must be, and be this so.