Vio. Even now, Sir; on a moderate pace I have fince arrived but hither. Mal. She returns this ring to you, Sir; you might have faved me my pains, to have taken it away your felf. She adds moreover, that you fhould put your Lord into a desperate affurance, the will none of him. And one thing more, that you be never fo hardy to come again in his affairs, unless it be to report your Lord's taking of this: receive it fo. Vio. She took the ring of me, I'll none of it. Mal. Come, Sir, you peevishly threw it to her, and her will is, it should be fo return'd: if it be worth ftooping for, there it lyes in your eye; if not, be it his that finds it. [Exit. Vio. I left no ring with her; what means this Lady? Fortune forbid, my outfide have not charm'd her! She made good view of me; indeed, fo much, That, fure, methought, her eyes had loft her tongue, For the did speak in Starts diftractedly: She loves me, fure; the cunning of her paffion None of my Lord's ring? why, he fent her none. Poor Lady, fhe were better love a Dream. In womens waxen hearts to fet their forms! How will this fadge? my Mafter loves her dearly, [Exit. SCENE SCENE changes to Olivia's Houfe. Enter Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew. Sir To. A Pproach, Sir Andrew: not to be a-bed af ter midnight, is to be up betimes; and Diluculo furgere, thou know'ft, Sir And. Nay, by my troth, I know not but I know, to be up late, is to be up late. Sir To. A falfe conclufion: I hate it, as an unfill'd Can; to be up after midnight, and to go to bed then, is early; fo that to go to bed after midnight, is to go to bed betimes. Does not our life confift of the four elements? Sir And. 'Faith, fo they fay; but, I think, it rather confifts of eating and drinking. Sir To. Th'art a fcholar, let us therefore eat and drink. Maria! I fay!-a ftoop of wine. Enter Clown. Sir And. Here comes the fool, i'faith. Clo. How now, my hearts? did you never see the picture of we three ? Sir To. Welcome, afs, now let's have a Catch. Sir And. (5) By my troth, the fool has an excellent breaft. I had rather than forty fhillings I had fuch a leg, and so sweet a breath to fing, as the fool has. Infooth, thou waft in very gracious fooling last night, (5) By my Troth, the Fool has an excellent Breaft.] I have been advis'd to read, Breath, here. But the Text is, certainly, right without any Alteration. The Allufion is not to the Clown having a white Skin, but a good Power in finging. It was a Phrafe in Vogue, in our Author's Time. In a Spanish Vocabulary, printed in Queen Elizabeth's Reign, Aquel tiene linda box is thus expounded; He has a good Breaft; i. e. as we now fay, good Lungs, to hold out in finging. So Ben Jonson, in his Mafque of Gipfies metamorphos'd; An excellent Song, and a fweet Song fter, and would have done rarely in a Cage, with a Dife of Water and Hempfeed; fine Breast of his own! And Beaumont and Fletcher, in their Pilgrim; Pray you, ftay a little : Let's hear him fing, b’as a fine Breast. when when thou fpok'ft of Pigrogromitus, of the Vapians pasfing the Equinoctial of Queubus: 'twas very good, i'faith: (6) I fent thee Six-pence for thy Leman, hadft it? Clo. I did impeticos thy gratillity; for Malvolio's nofe is no whip-ftock. My Lady has a white hand, and the Myrmidons are no bottle-ale houses. Sir And. Excellent: why, this is the best fooling, when all is done. Now, a Song. Sir To. Come on, there's Six-pence for you. Let's have a Song. Sir And. There's a teftril of me too; if one Knight give a Clo. Would you have a Love-fong, or a Song of good life? Sir To. A Love-fong, a Love-fong. Sir And. Ay, ay, I care not for good life. Clown fings. O Miftrefs mine, where are you roaming? Every wife man's fon doth know. Sir And. Excellent good, i'faith! Clo. What is love? 'tis not hereafter: Prefent mirth bath prefent laughter: (6) I fent thee fix pence for thy Lemon, had ft it.] Bat the Clown was neither Pantler, nor Butler. The Poet's Word was certainly miftaken by the Ignorance of the Printers. I have reftor'd, leman, i. e. I fent thee Sixpence to spend on thy Miftrefs. So, in Merry Wives of Windfor; -as jealous as Ford, that fearch'd a bollow Wallnut for his Wife's Leman ; 2 Henr. IV. A Cup of Wine, that's brisk and fine, And drink unto the Leman mine; The Word was used indifferently, to fignify, either a Miftress, or Gallant; as the Word, Lover, ftood for Both Sexes. VOL. II. Ii What's What's to come, is still unfure; Then come kifs me, Sweet, and twenty: Sir And. A mellifluous voice, as I am a true Knight. Sir And. Very fweet and contagious, i'faith. Sir Ta. To hear by the nofe, it is dulcet in contagion. But fhall we make the welkin dance, indeed? (7) Shall we rouze the night-owl in a Catch, that will draw three fouls out of one Weaver? fhall we do that? Sir And. An you love me, let's do't: I am a dog at a Catch. Clo. By'r Lady, Sir, and fome dogs will catch well. Sir And. Moft certain; let our Catch be, Thou knave. Clo. Hold thy peace, thou knave, Knight. I fhall be constrain'd in't, to call thee knave, Knight. (7) Shall we rowze the Night-owl in a Catch, that will draw three Souls out of one Weaver ?] i. e. by which he fhall be thrice transported, or equally transported with every one of us three Singers. As for drawing out the Soul, this is a Phrafe, which, as it feems, our Author delights to ufe, to exprefs the ravishing Power of Mufick. Much Ado about Nothing. Now is his Soul ravish'd. Is it not firange that Sheeps' Guts should hale Souls out of Men's Bodies, &c. But, perhaps, by mentioning three Souls, Sir Toby may be hinting at the Peripatetic Philofophy (the Learning then in Vogue,) which very liberally gave to every Man three Souls, the Vegetative or Plaftic, the Animal, and the Rational. I would not imagine that Shakespeare had no further Drift in this, than either to expofe that Syftem, or make a Parade of his own Knowledge. Thofe, who are conversant in him, can't but observe, that he takes Delight on all Occafions to display the great Power and Force of Mufick. And here, in the most extraordinary Manner, he conveys to Us the Idea of that Power in its full Extent as we receive it from poetical Relations. For in fpeaking of its Power, to draw the three Souls out of a Man, viz. the Vegetative or Plaftic, the Senfitive or Animal, and the Rational or Human, he would infinuate to us all thofe furprizing Effects of Mufick that the Antients fpeak of, when they tell us of Amphion who mov'd Stones and Trees; Orpheus and Arion, who tam'd the Savages; and Timotheus, who govern'd as he pleas'd the Paffions of his human Auditors, by the irrefiftible Force of Harmony. So noble and extraordinary an Obfervation has our Author cover'd under the Ribaldry of a fantastick Character. Mr. Warburton. Sir And. 'Tis not the first time I have constrain'd one to call me knave. Begin, fool; it begins, Hold thy peace. Clo. I fhall never begin, if I hold my peace. Sir And. Good, i'faith: come, begin. Enter Maria. [They fing a Catch. Mar. What a catterwauling do you keep here? if my Lady have not call'd up her fteward, Malvolio, and bid him turn you out of doors, never truft me. Sir To. My Lady's a Catayan, we are Politicians, Malvolio's a Peg-a-Ramfey, and Three merry men be we. Am not I confanguinious? am I not of her blood? Tilly valley, Lady! there dwelt a man in Babylon, Lady, Lady. [Singing. Clo. Befhrew me, the Knight's in admirable fooling. Sir And. Ay, he does well enough if he be difpos'd, and fo do I too: he does it with a better grace, but I do it more natural. Sir To. O, the twelfth day of December, - [Singing. Mar. For the love o'God, peace. Enter Malvolio. Mal. My Masters, are you mad? or what are you? have you no wit, manners, nor honefty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night? do ye make an alehouse of my Lady's houfe, that ye fqueak out your Coziers Catches without any mitigation or remorse of voice? is there no refpect of place, persons, nor time in you? - Sir To. We did keep time, Sir, in our Catches. Sneck up! [Hiccoughs. Mal. Sir Toby, I must be round with you. My Lady bade me tell you, that the harbours you as her Uncle, fhe's nothing ally'd to your diforders. If you can separate your self and your misdemeanors, you are welcome to the House: if not, an it would please you to take leave of her, fhe is very willing to bid you fare wel. |