Oli. See him deliver'd, Fabian; bring him hither. [Exit Fabian. My lord, so please you, these things further thought on, To think me as well a sister as a wife, One day shall crown the alliance on't, so please you, Here at my house, and at my proper cost. Duke. Madam, I am most apt to embrace your offer. Your master quits you; [To Viola.] and, for your service done him, So much against the mettle1 of your sex, Your master's mistress. shall from this time be Have I, Malvolio? no. Mal. Lady, you have. Pray you, peruse that letter: You must not now deny it is your hand, (1) Frame and constitution. Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest, Oli. Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing, First told me, thou wast mad; then cam'st in smiling, Of thine own cause. Fab. Good madam, hear me speak; Which I have wonder'd at. In hope it shall not, Oli. Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled3 thee! Clo. Why, some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrown upon them. I was one, sir, in this interlude; one sir Topas, sir; but that's all one :-By the Lord, fool, I am not mad, But do you remember? Madam, why laugh you at such a barren rascal? an you smile not, he's gagg'd: And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. (1) Fool. (2) Importunacy. (3) Cheated. Mal. I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you. [Exit. Of our dear souls--Meantime, sweet sister, SONG. Clo. When that I was and a little tiny boy, A foolish thing was but a toy, For the rain it raineth every day. But when I came to man's estate, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, 'Gainst knave and thief men shut their gate, For the rain it raineth every day. But when I came, alas! to wive, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, But when I came unto my bed, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, A great while ago the world begun, (1) Shall serve. [Exit. This play in the graver part elegant and easy, and in some of the lighter scenes exquisitely humorous. Ague-cheek is drawn with great propri ety, but his character is, in a great measure, that of natural fatuity, and is therefore not the proper prey of a satirist. The soliloquy of Malvolio is truly comic; he is betrayed to ridicule merely by his pride. The marriage of Olivia, and the suc ceeding perplexity, though well enough contrived to divert on the stage, wants credibility, and fails to produce the proper instruction required in the drama, as it exhibits no just picture of life. JOHNSON. |