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Enter OLIVIA and a Priest.

Oli. Blame not this haste of mine. If you mean well,

Now go with me and with this holy man
Into the chantry4 by: there, before him,
And underneath that consecrated roof,
Plight me the full assurance of your faith;
That my most jealous and too doubtful soul
May live at peace: he shall conceal it,
Whiles you are willing it shall come to note,6
What time we will our celebration keep
According to my birth. What do you say?

Seb. I'll follow this good man, and go with you;

And, having sworn truth, ever will be true.

Oli. Then lead the way, good father; and heavens so

shine,

That they may fairly note this act of mine !7

[Exeunt.

4 A chantry was a little chapel, or particular altar in some cathedral or parochial church, endowed for the purpose of having Masses sung therein for the souls of the founders; a place for chanting.

5 Doubtful in the sense of fearful. The Poet often uses doubt for fear. 6 Whiles was often used thus in the sense of until.- Note, from the Latin notitia, is several times used by the Poet in the sense of knowledge. — The ceremony to which Olivia here so sweetly urges Sebastian is the ancient solemn troth-plight, as it was called, which, as it had the binding force of an actual marriage, might well give peace to an anxious maiden till the day of full nuptial possession should arrive.

7 A bright, glad sunshine falling upon a bride or new-made wife was formerly thought auspicious; it inspired a feeling that the Powers above were indeed smiling their benediction upon the act; and so was fitting cause for prayer beforehand, and of thanksgiving afterwards. Of course this was a fond old superstition: but I believe marriage is not even yet so far enlightened and "de-religionized" but that something of the old feeling still survives.

SCENE I.

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ACT V.

The Street before OLIVIA'S House.

Enter the Clown and FABIAN.

Fab. Now, as thou lovest me, let me see his letter.
Clo. Good Master Fabian, grant me another request.
Fab. Any thing.

Clo. Do not desire to see this letter.

Fab. This is, to give a dog, and, in recompense, desire my dog again.

Enter the DUKE, VIOLA, CURIO, and Attendants.

Duke. Belong you to the Lady Olivia, friends?
Clo. Ay, sir; we are some of her trappings.

Duke. I know thee well: how dost thou, my good fellow? Clo. Truly, sir, the better for my foes, and the worse for my friends.

Duke. Just the contrary; the better for thy friends.
Clo. No, sir, the worse.

Duke. How can that be?

Clo. Marry, sir, they praise me, and make an ass of me. Now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass : so that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of myself; and by my friends I am abused: so that, conclusions to be as kisses,1 if your

1 Warburton thought this should be, " conclusion to be asked is "; upon which Coleridge remarks thus: " Surely Warburton could never have wooed by kisses and won, or he would not have flounder-flatted so just and humorous, nor less pleasing than humorous, an image into so profound a nihility. In the name of love and wonder, do not four kisses make a double affirmative? The humour lies in the whispered 'No!' and the inviting 'Don't!' with which the maiden's kisses are accompanied, and thence com

four negatives make your two affirmatives, why, then the worse for my friends, and the better for my foes.

Duke. Why, this is excellent.

Clo. By my troth, sir, no; though it please you to be one of my friends.

Duke. Thou shalt not be the worse for me: there's gold. [Gives money.

Clo. But that it would be double-dealing, sir, I would you could make it another.

Duke. O, you give me ill counsel.

Clo. Put your grace in your pocket, sir, for this once, and let your flesh and blood obey it.

Duke. Well, I will be so much a sinner to be a doubledealer: there's another. [Gives money.

Clo. Primo, secundo, tertio, is a good play; and the old saying is, the third pays for all: the triplex, sir, is a good tripping measure; as the bells of Saint Bennet, sir, may put you in mind, - one, two, three.

Duke. You can fool no more money out of me at this throw if you will let your lady know I am here to speak with her, and bring her along with you, it may awake my bounty further.

Clo. Marry, sir, lullaby to your bounty till I come again. I go, sir; but I would not have you to think that my desire of having is the sin of covetousness: but, as you say, sir, let your bounty take a nap, I will awake it anon.

Vio. Here comes the man, sir, that did rescue me.

[Exit.

pared to negatives, which by repetition constitute an affirmative." The Cambridge Editors, however, note upon the passage thus: "The meaning seems to be nothing more recondite than this: as in the syllogism it takes two premisses to make one conclusion, so it takes two people to make one kiss."

2 The Clown puns so swiftly here that it is not easy to keep up with him. The quibble lies between the two senses of grace as a title and as a gracious impulse or thought.

Enter Officers, with ANTONIO.

Duke. That face of his I do remember well; Yet, when I saw it last, it was besmear'd

As black as Vulcan in the smoke of war:

A bawbling vessel was he captain of,

For shallow draught and bulk unprizable ;3

With which such scathful grapple did he make
With the most noble bottom of our fleet,
That very envy and the tongue of loss 4

Cried fame and honour on him.- What's the matter?
1 Off. Orsino, this is that Antonio

That took the Phoenix and her fraught from Candy;
And this is he that did the Tiger board,

When your young nephew Titus lost his leg:
Here in the streets, desperate of shame and state,5
In private brabble did we apprehend him.

Vio. He did me kindness, sir; drew on my side;
But, in conclusion, put strange speech upon me,
I know not what 'twas, but distraction.

Duke. Notable pirate! thou salt-water thief!
What foolish boldness brought thee to their mercies,
Whom thou, in terms so bloody and so dear,6
Hast made thine enemies?

8 Unprizable is evidently used here in the sense of worthless, or of no price. The Poet elsewhere has it in the opposite sense of inestimable. 4" The tongue of loss" here means the tongue of the loser; but is much more elegant. Scathful is harmful, damaging, or destructive.

6 Inattentive to his character or condition, like a desperate man.

6 Dear is used in the same sense here as in Hamlet: "Would I had met my dearest foe in Heaven!" Tooke has shown that this is much nearer the original sense of the word than the meaning commonly put upon it; dear being from the Anglo-Saxon verb to dere, which signifies to hurt. An object of love, any thing that we hold dear, may obviously cause us pain, distress, or solicitude: hence the word came to be used in the opposite senses of hateful and beloved.

Ant.

Orsino, noble sir,

Be pleased that I shake off these names you give me :
Antonio never yet was thief or pirate,

Though, I confess, on base and ground enough,
A witchcraft drew me hither:

Orsino's enemy.

That most ingrateful boy there by your side,
From the rude sea's enraged and foamy mouth
Did I redeem; a wreck past hope he was:

His life I gave him, and did thereto add
My love, without retention or restraint,
All his in dedication; for his sake
Did I expose myself, pure for his love,
Unto the danger of this adverse town;
Drew to defend him when he was beset:
Where being apprehended, his false cunning-
Not meaning to partake with me in danger-
Taught him to face me out of his acquaintance,
And grew a twenty-years-removed thing.

While one would wink; denied me mine own purse,
Which I had recommended to his use

Not half an hour before.

Vio.

How can this be?

Duke. When came he to this town?

Ant. To-day, my lord: and for three months before

No interim, not a minute's vacancy —

Both day and night did we keep company.

Duke. Here comes the Countess: now Heaven walks on

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But for thee, fellow, fellow, thy words are madness:
Three months this youth hath tended upon me;

But more of that anon. - Take him aside.

Enter OLIVIA and Attendants.

Oli. What would my lord, but that he may not have,

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