and she's a great lubberly boy: If it had not been i' the church, I would have swinged him, or he should have swinged me. If I did not think it had been Anne Page, would I might never stir, and 'tis a post-master's boy.

Page. Upon my life, then, you took the wrong.

Slen. What need you tell me that? I think so, when I took a boy for a girl: If I had been married to him, for all he was in woman's apparel, I would not have had him.

Page. Why, this is your own folly: Did not I tell you, how you should know my daughter by her garments?

Slen. I went to her in white, and cried mum, and she cried budget, as Anne and I had appointed; and yet it was not Anne, but a post-master's boy.

Eva. Jeshu! Master Slender, cannot you see but marry poys? Page. O, I am vexed at heart: What shall I do?

Mrs. Page. Good George, be not angry: I knew of your purpose; turned my daughter into green; and, indeed, she is now with the doctor at the deanery, and there married.

Enter CAIUS.

Caius. Vere is mistress Page? by gar, I am cozened; I ha' married un garçon, a boy; un paisan, by gar, a boy; it is not Anne Page: by gar, I am cozened.

Mrs. Page. Why, did you not take her in green?

Caius. Ay, be gar, and 'tis a boy: be gar, I'll raise all Windsor.
[Exit CAIUS.
Ford. This is strange: who hath got the right Anne?
Page. My heart misgives me: Here comes master Fenton.
Enter FENTON and ANNE PAGE.

How now, master Fenton ?

Anne. Pardon, good father, good my mother, pardon!

Page. Now, mistress, how chance you went not with master Slender?

Mrs. Page. Why went you not with master doctor, maid?
Fent. You do amaze* her: Hear the truth of it

You would have married her most shamefully,
Where there was no proportion held in love.
The truth is, She and I, long since contracted,
Are now so sure that nothing can dissolve us.
The offence is holy, that she hath committed:
And this deceit loses the name of craft,
Of disobedience, or unduteous title;
Since therein she doth evitatet and shun

A thousand irreligious cursed hours,

Which forced marriage would have brought upon her.
Ford. Stand not amazed: here is no remedy:-

In love, the heavens themselves do guide the state:

Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate.

Fal. I am glad, though you have ta'en a special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanced.

Confound her by your questions.

+ Avoid.

Page. Well, what remedy? Fenton, heaven give thee joy! What cannot be eschew'd, must be embraced.

Fal. When night-dogs run, all sorts of deer are chased.
Eva. I will dance and eat plums at your wedding.

Mrs. Page. Well, I will muse no further:-Master Fenton,
Heaven give you many, many merry days!
Good husband, let us every one go home,
And laugh this sport o'er by a country fire;
Sir John and all.

Ford. Let it be so:-Sir John,

To master Brook you yet shall hold your word:
For he, to-night, shall lie with mistress Ford.

[Exeunt.

ORSINO, Duke of Illyria.

FABIAN,

SEBASTIAN, a Young Gentleman, CLOWN,} Servants to Olivia.

Brother to Viola.

ANTONIO, a Sea-captain, Friend to Sebastian.

'}

A SEA-CAPTAIN, Friend to Viola.
VALENTINE, Gentlemen attend-
CURIO,
ing on the Duke.
SIR TOBY BELCH, Uncle of invia.
SIR ANDREW AGUE-CHEEK.
MALVOLIO, Steward to Olivia.

OLIVIA, a rich Countess.
VIOLA, in love with the Duke.
MARIA, Olivia's Woman.

LORDS, PRIESTS, SAILORS, OFFICERS, MUSICIANS, and other Attendants.

SCENE. A City in Illyria; and the Sea-coast near it.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-An Apartment in the Duke's Palace.

Enter DUKE, CURIO, LORDS; Musicians attending.

Duke. If music be the food of love, play on,—
Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.-
That strain again;-it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing, and giving odour.-Enough; no more
"Tis not so sweet now, as it was before.
O, spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou!
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity* and pitch soever,
But falls into abatement and low price

* Value.

Even in a minute! so full of shapes is fancy,
That it alone is high-fantastical.*

Cur. Will you go hunt, my lord?

Duke. What, Curio?

Cur. The hart.

Duke. Why, so I do, the noblest that I have
O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,

Methought, she purged the air of pestilence;
That instant was I turn'd into a hart;

And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,

E'er since pursue me.-How now? what news from her?
Enter VALENTINE.

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

Duke. O, she, that hath a heart of that fine frame,
To pay this debt of love but to a brother,

How will she love, when the rich golden shaft
Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else
That live in her! when liver, brain, and heart,
These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and fill'd
(Her sweet perfections), with one self-same king!-
Away before me to sweet beds of flowers;
Love-thoughts lie rich, when canopied with bowers.

SCENE II-The Sea-coast.

Enter VIOLA, CAPTAIN, and Sailors.

Vio. What country, friends, is this?

Cap. Illyria, lady.

Vio. And what should I do in Illyria?

My brother, he is in Elysium.

[Exeunt.

Perchance, he is not drown'd:-What think you, sailors?
Cap. It is perchance that you yourself were saved.

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 that 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.

Fantastical to the height.

+ Heated.

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?

Cap. A noble duke, in nature,

As in name.

Vio. What is his name?

Cap. Orsino.

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; 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 abjured the company

And sight of men.

Vio. O, that I served that lady:

And might not be deliver'd 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 pray thee, 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,-
It may be worth thy pains; for I can sing,
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;
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. 1 thank thee: Lead me on.

* Approve.

[Exeun!