Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (ebooks that read to you .TXT) 📕

what means this lady?
Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her!
She made good view of me; indeed, so much
That, methought, her eyes had lost her tongue,
For she did speak in starts distractedly.
She loves me, sure: the cunning of her passion
Invites me in this churlish messenger.
None of my lord's ring! why, he sent her none.
I am the man. If it be so, as 't is,
Poor lady, she were better love a dream.
Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness,
Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
How easy is it for the proper-false
In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!
Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we!
For such as we are made of, such we be.
How will this fadge? my master loves her dearly;
And I, poor monster, fond 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 my master's love;
As I am woman - now, alas the day! -
What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!
O time, thou must untangle this, not I;
It is too hard a knot for me to untie!
[Exit.]


SCENE III. OLIVIA'S house

[Enter SIR TOBY and SIR ANDREW.]

SIR TOBY.
Approach, Sir Andrew: not to be a-bed after midnight is to be up
betimes; 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 unfill'd can. 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 life
consist of the four elements?

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. Marian, I
say! a stoup of wine!

[Enter CLOWN.]

SIR ANDREW.
Here comes the fool, i' faith.

CLOWN.
How now, my hearts! did you never see the picture of 'We Three'?

SIR TOBY.
Welcome, ass. Now let's have a catch.

SIR ANDREW.
By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast. I had rather than
forty shillings I had such a leg, and so sweet a breath to sing,
as the fool has. In sooth, thou wast in very gracious fooling
last night, when thou spokest of Pigrogromitus, of the Vapians
passing the equinoctial of Queubus; 't was very good, i' faith. I
sent thee sixpence for thy leman; hadst it?

CLOWN.
I did impeticos thy gratillity; for Malvolio's nose is no
whipstock; my lady has a white hand, and the Myrmidons are no
bottle-ale houses.

SIR ANDREW.
Excellent! why, this is the best fooling, when all is done. Now,
a song.

SIR TOBY.
Come on; there is sixpence for you: let's have a song.

SIR ANDREW.
There's a testril of me too. If one knight give a -

CLOWN.
Would you have a love-song, or a song of good life?

SIR TOBY.
A love-song, a love-song.

SIR ANDREW.
Ay, ay; I care not for good life.

CLOWN.
[Sings.]
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know.

SIR ANDREW.
Excellent good, i' faith.

SIR TOBY.
Good, good.

CLOWN.
[Sings.]
What is love? 'T is not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What's to come is still unsure.
In delay there lies no plenty,
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth's a stuff will not endure.

SIR ANDREW.
A mellifluous voice, as I am true knight.

SIR TOBY.
A contagious breath.

SIR ANDREW.
Very sweet and contagious, i' faith.

SIR TOBY.
To hear by the nose, it is dulcet in contagion. But shall we make
the welkin dance indeed? shall we rouse the night-owl in a catch
that will draw three souls out of one weaver? shall we do that?

SIR ANDREW.
And you love me, let's do 't; I am dog at a catch.

CLOWN.
By'r lady, sir, and some dogs will catch well.

SIR ANDREW.
Most certain. Let our catch be, 'Thou knave.'

CLOWN.
'Hold thy peace, thou knave,' knight? I shall be constrain'd in
't to call thee knave, knight.

SIR ANDREW.
'Tis not the first time I have constrain'd one to call me knave.
Begin, fool: it begins, 'Hold thy peace.'

CLOWN.
I shall never begin, if I hold my peace.

SIR ANDREW.
Good, i' faith! Come, begin.
[Catch sung.]

[Enter MARIA.]

MARIA.
What a caterwauling do you keep here! If my lady have not call'd
up her steward Malvolio, and bid him turn you out of doors,
never trust me.

SIR TOBY.
My lady's a Cataian, we are politicians, Malvolio's a
Peg-a-Ramsey, and 'Three merry men be we.'
Am not I consanguineous? am I not of her blood? Tilly-vally;
lady! [Sings.] 'There dwelt a man in Babylon, lady, lady!'

CLOWN.
Beshrew me, the knight's in admirable fooling.

SIR ANDREW.
Ay, he does well enough if he be dispos'd, and so do I too; he
does it with a better grace, but I do it more natural.

SIR TOBY.
[Sings]
'O, the twelfth day of December,' -

MARIA.
For the love o' God, peace!

[Enter MALVOLIO.]

MALVOLIO.
My masters, are you mad? or what are you? Have you no wit,
manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of
night? Do ye make an alehouse of my lady's house, that ye squeak
out your coziers' catches without any mitigation or remorse of
voice? Is there no respect of place, persons, nor time, in you?

SIR TOBY.
We did keep time, sir, in our catches. Sneck up!

MALVOLIO.
Sir Toby, I must be round with you. My lady bade me tell you
that, though she harbours you as her kins-man, she's nothing
allied to your disorders. If you can separate yourself and your
misdemeanours, you are welcome to the house; if not, and it would
please you to take leave of her, she is very willing to bid you
farewell.

SIR TOBY.
'Farewell, dear heart, since I must needs be gone.'

MARIA.
Nay, good Sir Toby.

CLOWN.
'His eyes do show his days are almost done.'

MALVOLIO.
Is 't even so?

SIR TOBY.
'But I will never die.'

CLOWN.
Sir Toby, there you lie.

MALVOLIO.
This is much credit to you.

SIR TOBY.
'Shall I bid him go?'

CLOWN.
'What and if you do?'

SIR TOBY.
'Shall I bid him go, and spare not?'

CLOWN.
'O, no, no, no, no, you dare not.'

SIR TOBY.
Out o' tune, sir? ye lie. Art any more than a steward? Dost thou
think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes
and ale?

CLOWN.
Yes, by Saint Anne, and ginger shall be hot i' th' mouth too.

SIR TOBY.
Th 'rt i' th' right. Go, sir, rub your chain with crumbs. A
stoup of wine, Maria!

MALVOLIO.
Mistress Mary, if you priz'd my lady's favour at any thing more
than contempt, you would not give means for this uncivil rule.
She shall know of it, by this hand.
[Exit.]

MARIA.
Go shake your ears.

SIR ANDREW.
'T were as good a deed as to drink when a man's a-hungry, to
challenge him the field, and then to break promise with him and
make a fool of him.

SIR TOBY.
Do't, knight: I'll write thee a challenge; or I'll deliver thy
indignation to him by word of mouth.

MARIA.
Sweet Sir Toby, be patient for to-night; since the youth of the
count's was to-day with my lady, she is much out of quiet. For
Monsieur Malvolio, let me alone with him; if I do not gull him
into a nayword, and make him a common recreation, do not think I
have wit enough to lie straight in my bed: I know I can do it.

SIR TOBY.
Possess us, possess us; tell us something of him.

MARIA.
Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind of puritan.

SIR ANDREW.
O, if I thought that, I'd beat him like a dog!

SIR TOBY.
What, for being a puritan? thy exquisite reason, dear knight?

SIR ANDREW.
I have no exquisite reason for 't, but I have reason good enough.

MARIA.
The devil a puritan that he is, or any thing constantly, but a
time-pleaser; an affection'd ass, that cons state without book,
and utters it by great swarths; the best persuaded of himself, so
cramm'd, as he thinks, with excellencies, that it is his grounds
of faith that all that look on him love him; and on that vice in
him will my revenge find notable cause to work.

SIR TOBY.
What wilt thou do?

MARIA.
I will drop in his way some obscure epistles of love; wherein, by
the colour of his beard, the shape of his leg, the manner of his
gait, the expressure of his eye, forehead, and
complexion, he shall find himself most feelingly personated. I
can write very like my lady, your niece; on a forgotten matter we
can hardly make distinction of our hands.

SIR TOBY.
Excellent! I smell a device.

SIR ANDREW.
I have 't in my nose too.

SIR TOBY.
He shall think, by the letters that thou wilt drop, that they
come from my niece, and that she's in love with him.

MARIA.
My purpose is, indeed, a horse of that colour.

SIR ANDREW.
And your horse now would make him an ass.

MARIA.
Ass, I doubt not.

SIR ANDREW.
O, 't will be admirable!

MARIA.
Sport royal, I warrant you; I know my physic will work with him.
I will plant you two, and let the fool make a third, where he
shall find the letter; observe his construction of it. For
this night, to bed, and dream on the event. Farewell.
[Exit.]

SIR TOBY.
Good night, Penthesilea.

SIR ANDREW.
Before me, she's a good wench.

SIR TOBY.
She's a beagle, true-bred, and one that adores me. What o' that?

SIR ANDREW.
I was ador'd once too.

SIR TOBY.
Let's to bed, knight. Thou hadst need send for more money.

SIR ANDREW.
If I cannot recover your niece, I am a foul way out.

SIR TOBY.
Send for money, knight; if thou hast her not i' th' end, call me
cut.

SIR ANDREW.
If I do not, never trust me; take it how you will.

SIR TOBY.
Come, come, I'll go burn some sack; 't is too late to go to bed
now. Come, knight; come, knight.

[Exeunt.]


SCENE IV.

The DUKE'S palace

[Enter DUKE, VIOLA, CURIO, and others.]

DUKE.
Give me some music. Now, good morrow, friends.
Now, good Cesario, but that piece of song,
That old and antique song we heard last night;
Methought it did relieve my passion much,
More than light airs and recollected terms