PERSONS REPRESENTED. Orsino, duke of Illyria. Sebastian, a young gentleman, brother to Viola. Valentine, Curio, gentlemen attending on the duke. Sir Toby Belch, uncle to Olivia. Malvolia, steward to Olivia. Fabian, Clown, } servants to Olivia. Olivia, a rich countess. Viola, in love with the duke. Maria, Olivia's woman. Lords, Priests, Sailors, Officers, Musicians, and other Attendants. SCENE, a city in Illyria; and the sea-coast near it. THE TWELFTH-NIGHT: OR, WHAT YOU WILL. ACT I. SCENE I. An Apartment in the DUKE'S Palace. 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. What, Curio? Cur. The heart. 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; N And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, E'er since pursue me.-How now? what news from her? Enter VALENTINE. Val. So please my lord, I might not be admitted, But from her hand-maid 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, That live in her! when liver, brain, and heart, Love thoughts lie rich, when canopy'd with bowers. SCENE II. The Sea-coast. [Exeunt. Enter VIOLA, CAPTAIN, and SAILORS. Vio. What country, friends, is this? Cap. Illyria, lady. [sailors? Vio. And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium. Perchance, he is not drown'd:-What think you, Cap. It is perchance, that you yourself were saved. Vio. O my poor brother! and so, perchance, may he be. Cap. True, madam: and, to comfort you with chance, Assure yourse!f, after our ship did split, When you, and that poor number sav'd with you, (Courage and hope both teaching him the practice) I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves, 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? 5 Cap. Ay, madam, well; for I was bred and born, Not three hours travel from this very place. Vio. Who governs here? Cap. A noble duke in nature, as in name. Cap. Orsino. Vio. Orsino? I have heard my father name him: He was a bachelor then. Cap. And so is now, Or was so very late for but a month Ago I went from hence; and then 'twas fresh Vio. What's she? Cap. A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count That dy'd some twelve-month since; then leaving her In the protection of his son, her brother, Who shortly also dy'd: for whose dear love, They say, she hath abjur'd the company And sight of men. Vio. O, that I serv'd that lady; And might not be deliver'd to the world, Cap. That were hard to compass; Because she will admit no kind of suit, No, not the duke's. Vio. There is a fair behaviour in thee, captain; I will believe, thou hast a mind that suits Cap. Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be: Vio. I thank thee: Lead me on. [Exeunt. SCENE III. A Room in OLIVIA's House. Enter Sir TOBY BELCH and MARIA. Sir To. What a plague means my niece, to take the death of her brother thus? I am sure, care's an enemy to life. Mar. By my troth, sir Toby, you must come in earlier o'nights; your cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions to your ill hours. Sir.To. Why, let her except before excepted. Mar. Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modest limits of order. Sir To. Confine? I'll confine myself no finer than I am these clothes are good enough to drink in, and so be these boots too; an they be not, let them hang themselves in their own straps. Mar. That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard my lady talk of it yesterday; and of a foolish knight, that you brought in one night here, to be her wooer. 1 Sir To. Who? Sir Andrew Ague-cheek? Mar. Ay, he. Sir To. He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria. Sir To. Why, he has three thousand ducats a year. Mar. Ay, but he'll have but a year in all these ducats; he's a very fool, and a prodigal. Sir To. Fie, that you'll say so! he plays o'the viol de-gambo, and speaks three or four languages word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of nature. Mar. He hath, indeed--almost natural: for, besides that he's a fool, he's a great quarreller; and, but that he hath the gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quarrelling, 'tis thought among the prudent, he would quickly have the gift of a grave. Sir To. By this hand, they are scoundrels, and substractors, that say so of him. Who are they? Mar. They that add moreover, he's drunk nightly in your company. Sir To. With drinking healths to my niece; I'll drink to her as long as there's a passage in my throat, and drink in Illyria: He's a coward, and a coystill, that will not drink to my niece, 'till his brains turn o'the toe like |