Twelfth Night (7 page)
Authors: William Shakespeare
Offers a purse
VIOLA
I am no
fee’d post
267
, lady; keep your purse.
My master, not myself, lacks recompense.
Love make his heart of flint that you shall love
269
,
And let your fervour, like my master’s, be
Placed in contempt! Farewell, fair cruelty.
Exit
OLIVIA
‘What is your parentage?’
‘Above my fortunes, yet my state is well;
I am a gentleman.’ I’ll be sworn thou art.
Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit,
Do give thee five-fold
blazon.
Not too fast.
Soft
276
, soft!
Unless
the master were the
man.
277
How now?
Even so quickly may one
catch the plague?
278
Methinks I feel this youth’s perfections
With an invisible and subtle stealth
To creep in at mine eyes. Well, let it be.
What ho, Malvolio!
Enter Malvolio
MALVOLIO
Here, madam, at your service.
OLIVIA
Run after that same
peevish
284
messenger,
The
county’s
285
man. He left this ring behind him,
Gives a ring
Would I
286
or not. Tell him I’ll none of it.
Desire
him not to
flatter with
287
his lord,
Nor
hold him up with hopes.
288
I am not for him.
If that the youth will come this way tomorrow,
I’ll give him reasons for’t.
Hie
290
thee, Malvolio.
MALVOLIO
Madam, I will.
Exit
OLIVIA
I do I know not what, and fear to find
Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind.
293
Fate, show thy force. Ourselves we do not
owe.
294
What is decreed must be, and be this so.
[
Exit
]
running scene 6
Enter Antonio and Sebastian
ANTONIO
Will you stay no longer?
Nor will you not
1
that I go
with you?
SEBASTIAN
By your
patience
, no. My stars shine
darkly
3
over me;
the
malignancy
of my fate might perhaps
distemper
4
yours;
therefore I shall
crave
of you your
leave
5
that I may bear my
evils
6
alone. It were a bad recompense for your love to lay any
of them on you.
ANTONIO
Let me yet know of you whither you are bound.
SEBASTIAN
No,
sooth
, sir: my
determinate
9
voyage is mere
extravagancy.
10
But I perceive in you so excellent a touch of
modesty
that you will not extort from me what I
am willing
11
to keep in. Therefore
it charges me in manners
12
the rather to
express
13
myself. You must know of me then, Antonio, my
name is Sebastian, which I
called
14
Roderigo. My father was
that Sebastian of
Messaline
15
whom I know you have heard of.
He left behind him myself and a sister, both born in
an hour.
16
If the heavens had been pleased, would we had so ended. But
you, sir, altered that, for
some
18
hour before you took me from
the
breach
19
of the sea was my sister drowned.
ANTONIO
Alas the day!
SEBASTIAN
A lady, sir, though it was said she much resembled
me, was yet of many accounted beautiful. But though I
could not with such
estimable wonder
overfar
23
believe that,
yet thus far I will boldly
publish
24
her: she bore a mind that
envy
25
could not but call fair. She is drowned already, sir, with
salt water, though I seem to drown her remembrance again
with
more.
27
ANTONIO
Pardon me, sir, your bad
entertainment.
28
SEBASTIAN
O, good Antonio, forgive me
your trouble.
29
ANTONIO
If you will not
murder me for my love
30
, let me be your
servant.
SEBASTIAN
If you will not undo what you have done, that is, kill
him whom you have
recovered
33
, desire it not. Fare ye well at
once. My bosom is full of
kindness
, and I am
yet
34
so near the
manners of my mother
35
that upon the least occasion more
mine eyes will
tell tales of me.
36
I am bound to the Count
Orsino’s court. Farewell.
Exit
ANTONIO
The
gentleness
38
of all the gods go with thee!
I have many enemies in Orsino’s court,
Else
40
would I very shortly see thee there.
But come what may, I do adore thee so,
That danger shall seem
sport
42
, and I will go.
Exit
running scene 7
Enter Viola and Malvolio at several doors
MALVOLIO
Were not you
ev’n
1
now with the Countess Olivia?
VIOLA
Even now, sir,
on
2
a moderate pace I have since
arrived
but hither.
3
Shows a ring
MALVOLIO
She returns this ring to you, sir. You
might have saved me my pains, to have taken it away
yourself. She adds, moreover, that you should put your lord
into a
desperate assurance
7
she will none of him. And one
thing more, that you be never so
hardy
8
to come again in his
affairs, unless it be to report your lord’s
taking of this.
9
Receive
it
10
so.
VIOLA
She took the ring of me. I’ll none of it.
MALVOLIO
Come, sir, you
peevishly
12
threw it to her, and her will
Throws it on the ground
is, it should be
so
13
returned. If it be worth
stooping for, there it lies in your
eye.
14
If not, be
it his that finds it.
Exit
VIOLA
I left no ring with her. What means this lady?
Fortune forbid my
outside
17
have not charmed her!
She
made good view of
18
me, indeed so much
That methought her eyes had
lost
19
her tongue,
For she did speak in
starts
distractedly.
20
She loves me, sure. The cunning of her passion
Invites me
in
this
churlish
22
messenger.
None of my lord’s ring? Why, he sent her none;
I am the man. If it be so, as ’tis,
Poor lady, she
were better
25
love a dream.
Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness,
Wherein the
pregnant
enemy
27
does much.
How easy is it for the
proper-false
28
In women’s waxen hearts to
set their forms!
29
Alas,
our frailty is the cause, not we
30
,
For such as we are made of, such we be.
How will this
fadge?
32
My master loves her dearly,
And I, poor
monster
,
fond
33
as much on him,
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.
What will become of this? As I am man,
My
state is desperate for
36
my master’s love.
As I am woman — now alas the day! —
What
thriftless
38
sighs shall poor Olivia breathe?
O time, thou must untangle this, not I.
It is too hard a knot for me t’untie.
[Exit]
running scene 8
Enter Sir Toby and Sir Andrew
SIR TOBY
Approach
1
, Sir Andrew. Not to be abed after
midnight is to be up
betimes
2
, and
diluculo surgere
, thou
know’st—
SIR ANDREW
Nay, by my troth I know not, but I know to be up
late is to be up late.
SIR TOBY
A false conclusion. I hate it as an unfilled
can.
6
To be
up after midnight and to go to bed then is early: so that to go
to bed after midnight is to go to bed betimes. Does not our
lives
consist of the
four elements?
9
SIR ANDREW
Faith, so they say, but I think it rather consists of
eating and drinking.
SIR TOBY
Thou’rt a scholar; let us therefore eat and drink.
Enter Clown
[
Feste
]
SIR ANDREW
Here comes the fool, i’faith.
FESTE
How now, my
hearts!
Did you never see the
picture
15
of ‘we three’?
SIR TOBY
Welcome, ass. Now let’s have a
catch.
17
SIR ANDREW
By my troth the fool has an excellent
breast.
18
I had
rather than forty shillings I had such a
leg
19
, and so sweet a
breath to sing, as the fool has. In sooth
thou wast
20
in very
gracious fooling last night, when thou spokest of
Pigrogromitus, of the Vapians passing the
equinoctial
22
of
Queubus. ’Twas very good, i’faith. I sent thee sixpence for
FESTE
I did
impeticos
thy
gratillity
25
, for Malvolio’s nose is no
whipstock.
My lady has a white hand, and the
Myrmidons
26
are no
bottle-ale houses.
27
SIR ANDREW
Excellent. Why, this is the best fooling, when all is
done. Now, a song.
Gives a coin to Feste
SIR TOBY
Come on, there is sixpence for you. Let’s
have a song.
Gives another coin
SIR ANDREW
There’s a
testril of
32
me too. If one
knight give a—
FESTE
Would you have a love song, or a
song of good life?
34
SIR TOBY
A love song, a love song.
SIR ANDREW
Ay, ay. I care not for good life.
Sings
FESTE
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and hear, your true love’s coming,
That can sing both
high and low.
39
Trip
no further, pretty
sweeting
40
,
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man’s son doth know.
SIR ANDREW
Excellent good, i’faith.
SIR TOBY
Good, good.
Sings
FESTE
What is love? ’Tis not
hereafter
45
,
Present mirth hath present laughter.
What’s to come is
still
47
unsure.
In delay there lies no
plenty
48
,
Then come kiss me, sweet
and twenty
49
,
Youth’s a
stuff
50
will not endure.
SIR ANDREW
A mellifluous voice, as I am
true
51
knight.
SIR TOBY
A
contagious breath.
52
SIR ANDREW
Very sweet and contagious, i’faith.
SIR TOBY
To
hear by the nose
, it is
dulcet in contagion.
54
But
shall we make the
welkin
dance indeed? Shall we
rouse
55
the
night owl in a catch that will draw
three souls
56
out of one
weaver?
57
Shall we do that?
SIR ANDREW
An you love me, let’s do’t. I am
dog
58
at a catch.
FESTE
By’r lady
59
, sir, and some dogs will catch well.
SIR ANDREW
Most certain. Let our catch be,
‘Thou knave’.
60
FESTE
‘
Hold thy peace
61
, thou knave’, knight? I shall be
constrained
62
in’t to call thee knave, knight.
SIR ANDREW
’Tis not the first time I have constrained one to call
me knave. Begin, fool: it begins ‘Hold thy peace’.
FESTE
I shall never begin if I hold my peace.