And made the most notorious geck, and gull,
That e'er invention plaid on? tell me, why?

Oli. Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though, I confefs, 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 waft mad; then cam'ft thou smiling,
And in fuch forms which here were prefuppos'd *
Upon thee in the letter: pr'ythee, be content;
This practice hath moft fhrewdly pafs'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 caufe.

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 wond'red at. In hope it shall not,
Moft freely I confefs, myself and Sir Toby
Set this device against Malvolio here,
Upon fome stubborn and uncourteous parts
We had conceiv'd against him. Maria writ
The letter, at Sir Toby's great importance;
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 fides pafs'd.

Oli. Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled thee! Clo. Why, fome are born great, fome atchieve greatnefs, and fome have greatness thrust 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 fuch a barren rafcal? an you fmile not, he's gagg'd: and thus the whirlgigg of time brings in his revenges.

Mal. I'll be revenge'd on the whole pack of you.
[Exit.

Oli. He hath been most notoriously abus'd.
Duke. Purfue him, and intreat him to a peace:

He hath not told us of the captain yet;

* Presuppos'd for impofed.

When

When that is known, and golden time convents,
A folemn combination fhall be made

Of our dear fouls. Mean time, fweet fifter,
We will not part from hence.-Cefario, come;
(For fo you fhall be while you are a man);
But when in other habits you are seen,
Orfino's mistress, and his fancy's queen.

Clown fings.

*When that I was 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 eftate,
With hey, bo, &c.

[Exeunt.

'Gainft knaves and thieves men shut their gates

For the rain, &c.

But when I came, alas! to wive,

With hey, ho, &c.

By fwaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain, &c.

But When I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, &c.

With tofs-pots ftill had drunken heads,
For the rain, &c.

A great while ago the world begun,

With hey, ho, &c.

But that's all one, our play is done;

And we'll strive to please you every day. [Exit.

* This poor

Stuff

appears to be the player's not Shakespear's.

The

Enter the Duke of Ephefus, Ægeon, Jailor, and other Attendants.

Egeon.

ROCEED, Salinus, to procure my fall,
And by the doom of death end woes

PR

and all.

Duke. Merchant of Syracufe, plead no more; I am not partial to infringe our laws: The enmity, and difcord, which of late Sprung from the ranc'rous outrage of your Duke, To merchants, our well dealing countrymen, (Who, wanting gilders to redeem their lives, Have feal'd his rigorous ftatutes with their bloods), Excludes all pity from our threat'ning looks. For, fince the mortal and inteftine jars

* The plot taken from the Minæchmi of Plautus. VOL. III. U

"Twixt

"Twixt thy feditious countrymen and us,
It hath in folemn fynods been decreed,
Both by the Syracufans and ourselves,
T'admit no traffic to our adverfe towns;
Nay, more, if any born at Ephefus
Be feen at Syracufan marts and fairs;
Again, if any Syracufan born

Come to the bay of Ephefus, he dies:
His goods confifcate to the Duke's difpofe,
Unless a thoufand marks be levied
To quit the penalty, and ransom him.
Thy fubftance, valu'd at the highest rate,
Cannot amount unto a hundred marks;
Therefore, by law thou art condemn'd to die.
Egeon. Yet this my comfort, when your words are
done,

My woes end likewife with the evening-fun.

Duke. Well, Syracufan, say, in brief, the cause, Why thou departed'ft from thy native home; And for what caufe thou cam'ft to Ephefus.

Egeon. A heavier task could not have been impos'd, Than I to fpeak my grief unfpeakable:

Yet that the world may witnefs, that my end
Was wrought by nature *, not by vile offence,
I'll utter what my forrow gives me leave.
-In Syracufa was I born, and wed

Unto a woman, happy but for me;

And by me too, had not our hap been bad:
With her I liv'd in joy; our wealth increas'd,
By profperous voyages I often made
To Epidamnum; till my factor's death,
And the great care of goods at random left,
Drew me from kind embracements of my fspouse;
From whom my abfence was not fix months old,
Before herself (almost at fainting under
The pleafing punishment that women bear)
Had made provifion for her following me,
And foon, and fafe, arrived where I was,
There fhe had not been long, but fhe became
A joyful mother of two goodly fons ;

And, which was ftrange, the one fo like the other,

i. c. by a natural event, by the courfe of providence.

As

As could not be diftinguifh'd but by names.
That very hour, and in the self-fame inn,
A poor mean woman was delivered

Of fuch a burthen, male twins both alike:
Thofe (for the parents were exceeding poor)
I bought, and brought up to attend my fons.
My wife, not meanly proud of two fuch boys,
Made daily motion for our home-return:
Unwilling, I agreed; alas, too foon!
We came aboard.

A league from Epidamnum had we fail'd,
Before the always wind-obeying deep
Gave any tragic inftance of our harm;
But longer did we not retain much hope:
For what obfcured light the heav'ns did,grant,
Did but convey unto our fearful minds

A doubtful warrant of immediate death;
Which tho' myfelf would gladly have embrace'd,
Yet the inceffant weeping of my wife,

;

(Weeping before, for what the faw muft come)
And piteous plainings of the pretty babes,
That mourn'd for fathion, ignorant what to fear,
Force'd me to feek delays for them and me.
And this it was; (for other means were none).
The failors fought for fafety by our boat,
And left the fhip, then finking-ripe, to us;
My wife, more careful for the elder born,
Had faften'd him unto a small spare maft,
Such as feafaring men provide for storms
To him one of the other twins was bound,
Whilft I had been like heedful of the other.
The children thus difpos'd, my wife and I,
Fixing our eyes on whom our care was fix'd,
Faften'd ourselves at either end the maft;
And floating ftraight, obedient to the stream,
Were carry'd towards Corinth, as we thought.
At length the fun, gazing upon the earth,
Difpers'd thofe vapours that offended us;
And, by the benefit of his wifh'd light,
The feas wax'd calm; and we discover'd
Two fhips from far making amain to us,
Of Corinth that, of Epidarus this;