Choose thou thy husband, and I'll pay thy dower;
For I can guess, that by thy honest aid,
Thou kept'st a wife herself, thyself a maid.-
Of that, and all the progress, more or less,
Resolvedly more leisure shall express:
All yet seems well; and if it end so meet,
The bitter past, more welcome is the sweet.
The king's a beggar, now the play is done :
All is well ended, if this suit be won,
That you express content; which we will pay,
With strife to please you, day exceeding day :
Ours be your patience then, and yours our parts;
Your gentle hands lend us, and take our hearts.

[Flourish.

[Exeunt.

TWELFTH NIGHT:

OR, WHAT YOU WILL.

DRAMATIS PERSONEÆ.

ORSINO, Duke of Illyria.

SEBASTIAN, a young Gentleman, Brother to VIOLA.
ANTONIO, a Sea Captain, Friend to SEBASTIAN.
A Sea Captain, Friend to VIOLA.

VALENTINE,Gentlemen attending on the Duke.

CURIO,

Lords, Priests, Sailors, Officers, Musicians, and other Attendants.

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

TWELFTH NIGHT:

OR, WHAT YOU WILL.

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, naught enters there,

Of what validity and pitch soe'er,

But falls into abatement and low price,

Even in a minute! so full of shapes is fancy,

That it alone is high-fantastical.

Cur. Will you go hunt, my lord?

Duke.

Cur.

What, Curio?

The hart.

Duke. Why, so I do, the noblest that I have:

O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
Methought she purg'd 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.-

Enter VALENTINE.

How now! what news from her?

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,
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 perfection) with one self king!—
Away before me to sweet beds of flowers:
Love-thoughts lie rich, when canopied with bowers.

SCENE II.-The Sea-ccast.
Enter VIOLA, Captain, and Sailors.

Vio. What country, friends, is this?

Cap.

Vio. And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium.

[Exeunt.

This is Illyria, lady.

Perchance, he is not drown'd :—what think you, sailors?
Cap. It is perchance that you yourself were sav'd.

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 those poor number sav'd 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 liv'd 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.

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.