end, as well as a man in his case may do; he has here writ a letter to you, I should have given it you to-day morning; but as a madman's epistles are no gospels, so it skills not 15 much when they are delivered. Oli. Open it, and read it.

Clo. Look then to be well edified, when the fool delivers the madman :-By the lord, madam,—

Oli. How now! art thou mad?

Clo. No, madam, I do but read madness: an your ladyship will have it as it ought to be, you must allow vux 16

Oli. Pr'ythee, read i̇'thy right wits.

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

Oli. Read it you, sirrah.

[TO FABIAN.

Fab. [Reads.] By the Lord, madam, you wrong me, and the world shall know it: though you have put me into darkness, and given your drunken cousin rule over me, yet have I the benefit of my senses as well as your ladyship. I have your own letter that induced me to the semblance I put on; with the which I doubt not but to do myself 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-used Malvolio.

Oli. Did he write this?

Clo. Ay, madam.

Duke. This savours not much of distraction.

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,

15 It skills not much, i. e. it signifies not much; a common idiom in our old writers.

16 You must allow vox. This may be explained: "If you will have the letter read in character, you must allow me to assume the voice or frantic tone of a madman."

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 t' embrace your offer.

Your master quits you [To VIOLA]; and, for your service done him,

So much against the mettle 17 of your sex,
So far beneath your soft and tender breeding,
And since you call'd me master for so long,
Here is my hand; you shall from this time be
Your master's mistress.

Oli.

A sister?—you are she.

Re-enter FABIAN, with MALVOLIO.

Duke. Is this the madman ?

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

say 'tis not your seal, nor your invention :

You can say none of this: Well, grant it then,
And tell me, in the modesty of honour,

Why you have given me such clear lights of favour;
Bade me come smiling, and cross-garter'd to you,
To put on yellow stockings, and to frown
Upon Sir 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, visited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck 18,
18 and gull,

17 Mettle,
e. frame and constitution.
18 Geck, i. e. fool. A. S. geac.

That e'er invention played on? tell me why.
Oli. Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though, I confess, much like the character:
But, out of question, 'tis Maria's hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was she

First told me thou wast mad: then cam'st 19 in smiling, And in such forms which here were presuppos'd

Upon thee in the letter.

Pr'ythee, be content:

This practice 20 hath most shrewdly pass'd 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 speak;
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 shall not,
Most freely I confess, 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 Sir Toby's great importance21;
In recompense 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 sides past.

Oli. Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled 22 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

19 Thou is here understood: "then cam'st thou in smiling." 20 Practice is a deceit, an insidious stratagem. So in the Induction to the Taming of the Shrew::

"Sirs, I will practise on this drunken man.'

21 Importance, i. e. importunity.

22 Baffled is cheated. See Note on the first Scene of K. Rich. II.

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.

Mal. I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you.

[Exit.

Oli. He hath been most notoriously abus'd.
Duke. Pursue him, and entreat him to a peace :-
He hath not told us of the captain yet;
When that is known, and golden time convents 23,
A solemn combination shall be made

Of our dear souls.-Mean time, sweet sister,
We will not part from hence.-Cesario, come,
For so you shall be, while you are a man;
But, when in other habits you are seen,
Orsino's mistress, and his fancy's queen.

SONG.

Clo. When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

A foolish thing was but a toy,

For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's estate,

[Exeunt.

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knaves and thieves 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,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my bed,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
With toss-pots still had drunken head,
For the rain it raineth every day.

23 Time convents, i. e. shall serve, agree, be convenient.

GG

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.

END OF VOL. III.

[Exit.

CHISWICK PRESS :-C. WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT,

CHANCERY LANE.