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I do perceive it hath offended you;

Pardon me, fweet one, even for the vows

We made each other, but fo late ago.

Duke. One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons,

A natʼral perspective, that is, and is not!

Seb. Antonio, o my dear Antonio!

How have the hours rack'd and tortur'd me,
Since I have loft thee!

Ant. Sebaftian are you?

Seb. Fear'ft thou that, Antonio !

Ant. How have you made divifion of yourself?
An apple cleft in two, is not more twin
Than these two creatures. Which is Sebaftian?
Oli. Moft wonderful!

Seb. Do I ftand there? I never had a brother:
Nor can there be a deity in my nature
Of here and every where. I had a fifter,
Whom the blind waves and furges have devour'd:
Of charity, what kin are you to me?
What countryman? what name? what parentage?
Vio. Of Metelin; Sebaftian was my father,

Such a Sebaftian was my brother too:
So went he suited to his wat'ry tomb.
If spirits can affume both form and fuit,
You come to fright us.

Seb. A spirit I am, indeed,

But am in that dimension grofly clad,
Which from the womb I did participate.
Were you a woman, as the reft goes even,
I should my tears let fall upon your cheek,
And fay, thrice welcome, drowned Viola!

Vio. My father had a mole upon his brow.
Seb. And fo had mine.

Vio. And dy'd that day when Viola from her birth
Had number'd thirteen years.

Seb. O, that record is lively in my foul;

[to Viola,

He

He finished, indeed, his mortal act

That day that made my fifter thirteen years.

Vio. If nothing lets to make us happy both,
But this my masculine ufurp'd attire,

Do not embrace me, till each circumstance
Of place, time, fortune, do cohere and jump,
That I am Viola: which to confirm,

I'll bring you to a captain in this town

Where lie my maiden weeds; by whose gentle help
I was preferr'd to ferve this noble duke.
All the occurrents of my fortune fince

Have been between this lady, and this lord.
Seb. So comes it, lady, you have been mistook :
But nature to her bias drew in that.

You would have been contracted to a maid;
Nor are you therein, by my life, deceiv'd,
You are betroth'd both to a maid and man.

Duke. Be not amaz'd: right noble is his blood:
If this be fo, as yet the glass seems true,
I shall have share in this most happy wreck.
Boy, thou haft faid to me a thousand times,
Thou never fhould'ft love woman like to me.
Vio. And all those fayings will I over-fwear,
And all those swearings keep as true in foul,
As doth that orbed continent the fire
That fevers day from night.

Duke. Give me thy hand,

And let me see thee in thy woman's weeds.

Vio. The captain that did bring me first on shore, Hath my maids garments: he, upon fome action,

Is now in durance, at Malvolio's fuit,

A gentleman and follower of my lady's.

Oli. He fhall enlarge him: fetch Malvolio hither. And yet, alas, now I remember me,

They fay, poor gentleman, he's much distract.

[to Olivia.

[to Viola.

SCENE

SCENE VI.

Enter the Clown with a letter, and Fabian.

A most distracting frenzy of mine own
From my remembrance clearly banish'd his.
How does he, firrah?

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Clo. Truly, madam, he holds Belzebub at the stave's end as well as a man in his cafe may do: h'as here writ a letter to you, I fhould have given't you to day morning: but as a madman's epiftles are no gofpels, so it skills not much when they are deliver❜d. Oli. Open't, and read it.

Clo. Look then to be well edify'd, when the fool delivers the madman-By the lord, madam,

Oli. How now, art mad?

[reads.

Clo. No, madam, I do but read madness: an your ladyship will have it as it ought to be, you must allow vox.

Oli. Pr'ythee, read it i'thy right wits.

Clo. So I do, madona; but to read his right wits, is to read thus therefore perpend, my princefs, and give ear.

Oli. Read it you, firrah. [to Fabian. Fab. [reads.] By the lord, madam, you wrong me, and the world fhall know it: though you have put me into darkness, and given your drunken uncle rule over me, yet have I benefit of my senses as well as your ladyship. I have your own letter, that induced me to the femblance I put on; with the which I doubt not but to do myfelf much right, or you much shame: think of me as you please: I leave my duty a little unthought of, and speak out of my injury. The madly us'd Malvolio.

Oli. Did he write this?

Clo. Ay, madam.

Duke. This favours not much of distraction.

Oli. See him deliver'd, Fabian, bring him hither.

My lord, fo please you, these things further thought on,
To think me as well a fifter, as a wife,

VOL. II.

Rrr

One

One day shall crown th' alliance on't, so please you,
Here at my house, and at my proper cost.

Duke. Madam, I am most apt t'embrace your offer.
Your mafter quits you; and, for your service done him,
So much against the metal of your fex,

So far beneath your foft and tender breeding,
And fince you call'd me mafter for fo long,
Here is my hand; you shall from this time be
Your master's mistress, and his fifter fhe.

[to Viola.

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Duke. Is this the madman?

Oli. Ay, my lord, this fame: how now, Malvolio?
Mal. Madam, you have done me wrong,

Notorious wrong.

Oli. Have I, Malvolio? no.

Mal. Lady, you have: pray you, peruse that letter.
You must not now deny it is your hand;

Write from it, if you can, in hand or phrase,
Or fay, 'tis not your feal, nor your invention:
You can fay none of this. Well, grant it then,
And tell me in the modesty of honour,

Why you have given me fuch clear lights of favour,
Bad me come smiling, and cross-garter'd to you,
To put on yellow ftockings, and to frown
Upon fir Toby, and the lighter people?
And, acting this in an obedient hope,
Why have you suffer'd me to be imprison'd,
Kept in a dark house, vifited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck, or gull,
That e'er invention play'd on? tell me, why?

Oli. Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though, I confefs, much like the character:
But, out of queftion, 'tis Maria's hand.

And

And now, I do bethink me, it was fhe

First told me thou wast mad; then cam'ft thou smiling,
And in fuch forms which here were presuppos'd
Upon thee in the letter: pr'ythee, be content;
This practice hath moft fhrewdly past upon thee;
But, when we know the grounds and authors of it,
Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge
Of thine own cause.

Fab. Good madam, hear me fpeak,

And let no quarrel, nor no brawl to come,
Taint the condition of this present hour,
Which I have wonder'd at. In hope it fhall not,
Most freely I confefs, myself and Toby
Set this device against Malvolio here,
Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts
We had conceiv'd against him. Maria writ
The letter, at fir Toby's great importance,
In recompence whereof he hath married her.
How with a sportful malice it was follow'd,
May rather pluck on laughter than revenge,
If that the injuries be justly weigh'd,
That have on both fides paft.

Oli. Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled thee!

Clo. Why, fome are born great, fome atchieve greatness, and fome have greatness thrust upon them. I was one, fir, in this interlude; one fir Topas, fir; but that's all one: by the lord, fool, I am not mad: but do you remember, madam, why laugh you at fuch a barren rascal? an you smile not, he's gagg'd: and thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.

Mal. I'll be reveng'd on the whole pack of you.
Oli. He hath been most notoriously abus'd.
Duke. Purfue him, and entreat him to a peace:

He hath not told us of the captain yet;
When that is known, and golden time convents,
A folemn combination fhall be made

Of our dear fouls. In the mean time, sweet fister,

Rrr 2

[Exit.

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