[Enter OLIVIA and MARIA.] OLIVIA I have sent after him. He says he'll come;
How shall I feast him? what bestow on him?
For youth is bought more oft than begged or borrowed.
I speak too loud.--
Where's Malvolio?--He is sad and civil,
And suits well for a servant with my fortunes;--
Where is Malvolio?
MARIA He's coming, madam:
But in very strange manner. He is sure possessed.
OLIVIA Why, what's the matter? does he rave?
MARIA No, madam, he does nothing but smile: your ladyship were
best to have some guard about you if he come;
For, sure, the man is tainted in his wits.
OLIVIA Go call him hither.--I'm as mad as he,
If sad and merry madness equal be.--
[Enter MALVOLIO.] How now, Malvolio?
MALVOLIO Sweet lady, ho, ho.
[Smiles fantastically.] OLIVIA Smil'st thou?
I sent for thee upon a sad occasion.
MALVOLIO Sad, lady? I could be sad: this does make some
obstruction in the blood, this cross-gartering. But what of that?
If it please the eye of one, it is with me as the very true
sonnet is: 'Please one and please all.'
OLIVIA Why, how dost thou, man? what is the matter with thee?
MALVOLIO Not black in my mind, though yellow in my legs.
It did come to his hands, and commands shall be executed.
I think we do know the sweet Roman hand.
OLIVIA Wilt thou go to bed, Malvolio?
MALVOLIO To bed? ay, sweetheart; and I'll come to thee.
OLIVIA God comfort thee! Why dost thou smile so, and kiss thy hand so
oft?
MARIA How do you, Malvolio?
MALVOLIO At your request? Yes; nightingales answer daws.
MARIA Why appear you with this ridiculous boldness before my lady?
MALVOLIO 'Be not afraid of greatness':--'twas well writ.
OLIVIA What meanest thou by that, Malvolio?
MALVOLIO 'Some are born great,'--
OLIVIA Ha?
MALVOLIO 'Some achieve greatness,'--
OLIVIA What say'st thou?
MALVOLIO 'And some have greatness thrust upon them.'
OLIVIA Heaven restore thee!
MALVOLIO 'Remember who commended thy yellow stockings;'--
OLIVIA Thy yellow stockings?
MALVOLIO 'And wished to see thee cross-gartered.'
OLIVIA Cross-gartered?
MALVOLIO 'Go to: thou an made, if thou desirest to be so:'--
OLIVIA Am I made?
MALVOLIO 'If not, let me see thee a servant still.'
OLIVIA Why, this is very midsummer madness.
[Enter Servant.] SERVANT Madam, the young gentleman of the Count Orsino's is
returned; I could hardly entreat him back; he attends your
ladyship's pleasure.
OLIVIA I'll come to him.
[Exit Servant.] Good Maria, let this fellow be looked to. Where's my cousin Toby?
Let some of my people have a special care of him; I would not
have him miscarry for the half of my dowry.
[Exeunt OLIVIA and MARIA.] MALVOLIO O, ho! do you come near me now? No worse man than Sir
Toby to look to me? This concurs directly with the letter: she
sends him on purpose, that I may appear stubborn to him; for she
incites me to that in the letter. 'Cast thy humble slough,' says
she;--'be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants,--let thy
tongue tang with arguments of state,--put thyself into the trick
of singularity;--and consequently, sets down the manner how; as,
a sad face, a reverend carriage, a slow tongue, in the habit of
some sir of note, and so forth. I have limed her; but it is
Jove's doing, and Jove make me thankful! And, when she went away
now, 'Let this fellow be looked to;' Fellow! not Malvolio, nor
after my degree, but fellow. Why, everything adheres together;
that no dram of a scruple, no scruple of a scruple, no obstacle,
no incredulous or unsafe circumstance,--What can be said?
Nothing, that can be, can come between me and the full prospect
of my hopes. Well, Jove, not I, is the doer of this, and he is to
be thanked.
[Re-enter MARIA, with SIR TOBY BELCH and FABIAN.] SIR TOBY Which way is he, in the name of sanctity? If all the
devils of hell be drawn in little, and Legion himself possessed
him, yet I'll speak to him.
FABIAN Here he is, here he is:--How is't with you, sir? how is't with
you, man?
MALVOLIO Go off; I discard you; let me enjoy my private; go off.
MARIA Lo, how hollow the fiend speaks within him! did not I tell
you?--Sir Toby, my lady prays you to have a care of him.
MALVOLIO Ah, ha! does she so?
SIR TOBY Go to, go to; peace, peace, we must deal gently with him;
let me alone. How do you, Malvolio? how is't with you? What, man!
defy the devil: consider, he's an enemy to mankind.
MALVOLIO Do you know what you say?
MARIA La you, an you speak ill of the devil, how he takes it at
heart! Pray God he be not bewitched.
FABIAN Carry his water to the wise woman.
MARIA Marry, and it shall be done to-morrow morning, if I live. My
lady would not lose him for more than I'll say.
MALVOLIO How now, mistress!
MARIA O lord!
SIR TOBY Pr'ythee hold thy peace; this is not the way. Do you not
see you move him? let me alone with him.
FABIAN No way but gentleness; gently, gently: the fiend is rough,
and will not be roughly used.
SIR TOBY Why, how now, my bawcock? how dost thou, chuck.
MALVOLIO Sir?
SIR TOBY Ay, Biddy, come with me. What, man! 'tis not for gravity
to play at cherry-pit with Satan. Hang him, foul collier!
MARIA Get him to say his prayers; good Sir Toby, get him to pray.
MALVOLIO My prayers, minx?
MARIA No, I warrant you, he will not hear of godliness.
MALVOLIO Go, hang yourselves all! you are idle shallow things: I
am not of your element; you shall know more hereafter.
[Exit.] SIR TOBY Is't possible?
FABIAN If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as
an improbable fiction.
SIR TOBY His very genius hath taken the infection of the device, man.
MARIA Nay, pursue him now; lest the device take air and taint.
FABIAN Why, we shall make him mad indeed.
MARIA The house will be the quieter.
SIR TOBY Come, we'll have him in a dark room and bound. My niece
is already in the belief that he's mad; we may carry it thus, for
our pleasure and his penance, till our very pastime, tired out of
breath, prompt us to have mercy on him: at which time we will
bring the device to the bar, and crown thee for a finder of
madmen. But see, but see.
[Enter SIR ANDREW AGUE-CHEEK.] FABIAN More matter for a May morning.
SIR ANDREW Here's the challenge, read it; I warrant there's vinegar and
pepper in't.
FABIAN Is't so saucy?
SIR ANDREW Ay, is't, I warrant him; do but read.
SIR TOBY Give me.
[Reads.] 'Youth, whatsoever thou art, thou art but a
scurvy fellow.'
FABIAN Good and valiant.
SIR TOBY 'Wonder not, nor admire not in thy mind, why I do
call thee so, for I will show thee no reason for't.'
FABIAN A good note: that keeps you from the blow of the law.
SIR TOBY 'Thou comest to the Lady Olivia, and in my sight
she uses thee kindly: but thou liest in thy throat; that is not
the matter I challenge thee for.'
FABIAN Very brief, and to exceeding good senseless.
SIR TOBY 'I will waylay thee going home; where if it be
thy chance to kill me,'--
FABIAN Good.
SIR TOBY 'Thou kill'st me like a rogue and a villain.'
FABIAN Still you keep o' the windy side of the law. Good.
SIR TOBY 'Fare thee well; and God have mercy upon one of
our souls! He may have mercy upon mine; but my hope is better,
and so look to thyself. Thy friend, as thou usest him, and thy
sworn enemy, Andrew Ague-Cheek.'
If this letter move him not, his legs cannot: I'll give't him.
MARIA You may have very fit occasion for't; he is now in some
commerce with my lady, and will by and by depart.
SIR TOBY Go, Sir Andrew; scout me for him at the corner of the
orchard, like a bum-bailiff; so soon as ever thou seest him,
draw; and as thou drawest, swear horrible; for it comes to pass
oft that a terrible oath, with a swaggering accent sharply
twanged off, gives manhood more approbation than ever proof
itself would have earned him. Away.
SIR ANDREW Nay, let me alone for swearing.
[Exit.] SIR TOBY Now will not I deliver his letter; for the behaviour of
the young gentleman gives him out to be of good capacity and
breeding; his employment between his lord and my niece confirms
no less; therefore this letter, being so excellently ignorant,
will breed no terror in the youth: he will find it comes from a
clodpole. But, sir, I will deliver his challenge by word of
mouth, set upon Ague-cheek notable report of valour, and drive
the gentleman,--as I know his youth will aptly receive it,--into
a most hideous opinion of his rage, skill, fury, and impetuosity.
This will so fright them both that they will kill one another by
the look, like cockatrices.
[Enter OLIVIA and VIOLA.] FABIAN Here he comes with your niece; give them way till he take
leave, and presently after him.
SIR TOBY I will meditate the while upon some horrid message for a
challenge.
[Exeunt SIR TOBY, FABIAN, and MARIA.] OLIVIA I have said too much unto a heart of stone,
And laid mine honour too unchary on it:
There's something in me that reproves my fault;
But such a headstrong potent fault it is
That it but mocks reproof.
VIOLA With the same 'haviour that your passion bears
Goes on my master's griefs.
OLIVIA Here, wear this jewel for me; 'tis my picture;
Refuse it not; it hath no tongue to vex you:
And, I beseech you, come again to-morrow.
What shall you ask of me that I'll deny,
That, honour saved, may upon asking give?
VIOLA Nothing but this, your true love for my master.
OLIVIA How with mine honour may I give him that
Which I have given to you?
VIOLA I will acquit you.
OLIVIA Well, come again to-morrow. Fare thee well;
A fiend like thee might bear my soul to hell.
[Exit.] [Re-enter SIR TOBY BELCH and SIR FABIAN.] SIR TOBY Gentleman, God save thee.
VIOLA And you, sir.
SIR TOBY That defence thou hast, betake thee to't. Of what nature
the wrongs are thou hast done him, I know not; but thy
intercepter, full of despite, bloody as the hunter, attends
thee at the orchard end: dismount thy tuck, be yare in thy
preparation, for thy assailant is quick, skilful, and deadly.
VIOLA You mistake, sir; I am sure no man hath any quarrel to me;
my remembrance is very free and clear from any image of offence
done to any man.
SIR TOBY You'll find it otherwise, I assure you: therefore, if you
hold your life at any price, betake you to your guard; for your
opposite hath in him what youth, strength, skill, and wrath, can
furnish man withal.
VIOLA I pray you, sir, what is he?
SIR TOBY He is knight, dubbed with unhacked rapier and on carpet
consideration; but he is a devil in private brawl; souls and
bodies hath he divorced three; and his incensement at this moment
is so implacable that satisfaction can be none but by pangs of
death and sepulchre: hob, nob is his word; give't or take't.
VIOLA I will return again into the house and desire some conduct
of the lady. I am no fighter. I have heard of some kind of men
that put quarrels purposely on others to taste their valour:
belike this is a man of that quirk.
SIR TOBY Sir, no; his indignation derives itself out of a very
competent injury; therefore, get you on and give him his desire.
Back you shall not to the house, unless you undertake that with
me which with as much safety you might answer him: therefore on,
or strip your sword stark naked; for meddle you must, that's
certain, or forswear to wear iron about you.
VIOLA This is as uncivil as strange. I beseech you, do me this
courteous office as to know of the knight what my offence to him
is; it is something of my negligence, nothing of my purpose.
SIR TOBY I Will do so. Signior Fabian, stay you by this gentleman
till my return.
[Exit SIR TOBY.] VIOLA Pray you, sir, do you know of this matter?
FABIAN I know the knight is incensed against you, even to a mortal
arbitrement; but nothing of the circumstance more.
VIOLA I beseech you, what manner of man is he?
FABIAN Nothing of that wonderful promise, to read him by his form,
as you are like to find him in the proof of his valour. He is
indeed, sir, the most skilful, bloody, and fatal opposite that
you could possibly have found in any part of Illyria. Will you
walk towards him? I will make your peace with him if I can.
VIOLA I shall be much bound to you for't. I am one that would
rather go with sir priest than sir knight: I care not who knows
so much of my mettle.
[Exeunt.] [Re-enter SIR TOBY With SIR ANDREW.] SIR TOBY Why, man, he's a very devil; I have not seen such a
virago. I had a pass with him, rapier, scabbard, and all, and he
gives me the stuck-in with such a mortal motion that it is
inevitable; and on the answer, he pays you as surely as your feet
hit the ground they step on. They say he has been fencer to the
Sophy.
SIR ANDREW Pox on't, I'll not meddle with him.
SIR TOBY Ay, but he will not now be pacified: Fabian can scarce
hold him yonder.
SIR ANDREW Plague on't; an I thought he had been valiant, and so
cunning in fence, I'd have seen him damned ere I'd have
challenged him. Let him let the matter slip and I'll give him
my horse, grey Capilet.
SIR TOBY I'll make the motion. Stand here, make a good show on't;
this shall end without the perdition of souls.
[Aside.] Marry,
I'll ride your horse as well as I ride you.
[Re-enter FABIAN and VIOLA.] I have his horse
[To FABIAN.] to take up the quarrel; I have
persuaded him the youth's a devil.
FABIAN He is as horribly conceited of him; and pants and looks pale, as
if a bear were at his heels.
SIR TOBY There's no remedy, sir: he will fight with you for's oath sake:
marry, he hath better bethought him of his quarrel, and he finds
that now scarce to be worth talking of: therefore, draw for the
supportance of his vow; he protests he will not hurt you.
VIOLA [Aside] Pray God defend me! A little thing would make me
tell them how much I lack of a man.
FABIAN Give ground if you see him furious.
SIR TOBY Come, Sir Andrew, there's no remedy; the gentleman will,
for his honour's sake, have one bout with you: he cannot by the
duello avoid it; but he has promised me, as he is a gentleman and
a soldier, he will not hurt you. Come on: to't.
SIR ANDREW Pray God he keep his oath!
[Draws.] [Enter ANTONIO.] VIOLA I do assure you 'tis against my will.
[Draws.] ANTONIO Put up your sword:--if this young gentleman
Have done offence, I take the fault on me;
If you offend him, I for him defy you.
[Drawing.] SIR TOBY You, sir! why, what are you?
ANTONIO One, sir, that for his love dares yet do more
Than you have heard him brag to you he will.
SIR TOBY Nay, if you be an undertaker, I am for you.
[Draws.] [Enter two Officers.] FABIAN O good Sir Toby, hold; here come the officers.
SIR TOBY [To ANTONIO] I'll be with you anon.
VIOLA [To Sir Andrew.] Pray, sir, put your sword up, if you please.
SIR ANDREW Marry, will I, sir; and for that I promised you, I'll be
as good as my word. He will bear you easily and reins well.
FIRST OFFICER This is the man; do thy office.
SECOND OFFICER Antonio, I arrest thee at the suit
Of Count Orsino.
ANTONIO You do mistake me, sir.
FIRST OFFICER No, sir, no jot; I know your favour well,
Though now you have no sea-cap on your head.--
Take him away; he knows I know him well.
ANTONIO I Must obey.--This comes with seeking you;
But there's no remedy; I shall answer it.
What will you do? Now my necessity
Makes me to ask you for my purse. It grieves me
Much more for what I cannot do for you
Than what befalls myself. You stand amazed;
But be of comfort.
SECOND OFFICER Come, sir, away.
ANTONIO I must entreat of you some of that money.
VIOLA What money, sir?
For the fair kindness you have showed me here,
And part being prompted by your present trouble,
Out of my lean and low ability
I'll lend you something; my having is not much;
I'll make division of my present with you:
Hold, there is half my coffer.
ANTONIO Will you deny me now?
Is't possible that my deserts to you
Can lack persuasion? Do not tempt my misery,
Lest that it make me so unsound a man
As to upbraid you with those kindnesses
That I have done for you.
VIOLA I know of none,
Nor know I you by voice or any feature:
I hate ingratitude more in a man
Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,
Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
Inhabits our frail blood.
ANTONIO O heavens themselves!
SECOND OFFICER Come, sir, I pray you go.
ANTONIO Let me speak a little. This youth that you see here
I snatched one half out of the jaws of death,
Relieved him with such sanctity of love,--
And to his image, which methought did promise
Most venerable worth, did I devotion.
FIRST OFFICER What's that to us? The time goes by; away.
ANTONIO But O how vile an idol proves this god!
Thou hast, Sebastian, done good feature shame.
In nature there's no blemish but the mind;
None can be call'd deform'd but the unkind:
Virtue is beauty; but the beauteous-evil
Are empty trunks, o'erflourished by the devil.
FIRST OFFICER The man grows mad; away with him. Come, come, sir.
ANTONIO Lead me on.
[Exeunt Officers with ANTONIO.] VIOLA Methinks his words do from such passion fly
That he believes himself; so do not I.
Prove true, imagination; O prove true,
That I, dear brother, be now ta'en for you!
SIR TOBY Come hither, knight; come hither, Fabian; we'll whisper
o'er a couplet or two of most sage saws.
VIOLA He named Sebastian; I my brother know
Yet living in my glass; even such and so
In favour was my brother; and he went
Still in this fashion, colour, ornament,
For him I imitate. O, if it prove,
Tempests are kind, and salt waves fresh in love!
[Exit.] SIR TOBY A very dishonest paltry boy, and more a coward than a
hare: his dishonesty appears in leaving his friend here in
necessity, and denying him; and for his cowardship, ask Fabian.
FABIAN A coward, a most devout coward, religious in it.
SIR ANDREW 'Slid, I'll after him again and beat him.
SIR TOBY Do, cuff him soundly, but never draw thy sword.
SIR ANDREW And I do not,--
[Exit.] FABIAN Come, let's see the event.
SIR TOBY I dare lay any money 'twill be nothing yet.
[Exeunt.]