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dition of souls. [Aside.] Marry, I'll ride your
horse as well as I ride you.

Re-enter FABIAN and VIOLA,

[To Fabian.] I have his horse to take up the quarrel. 305 I have persuaded him the youth's a devil.

Fab. He is as horribly conceited of him; and pants and looks pale, as if a bear were at his heels. Sir To. [To Viola.] There's no remedy, sir: he will fight with you for's oath sake. Marry, he hath 310 better bethought him of his quarrel, and he finds that now scarce to be worth talking of: therefore draw for the supportance of his vow: he protests he will not hurt you.

Vio. [Aside.] Pray God defend me!

A little thing 315

would make me tell them how much I lack of a

man.

Fab. Give ground, if you see him furious.

Sir To. Come, Sir Andrew, there's no remedy: the

gentleman will, for his honour's sake, have one 320
bout with you; he cannot by the duello avoid it:
but he has promised me, as he is a gentleman and
a soldier, he will not hurt you. Come on; to't.

305. take up] F, make up Anon. ap. Camb. Rowe, Pope, Hanmer. 310. oath sake] F, Dyce; hath] F, had Theobald and others. Capell conj.

303, 304. I'll . . . you] I'll keep your horse at the same time that I make a fool of you.

305. take up] patch up, make up; cf. "I knew when seven justices could not take up a quarrel," As You Like It, v. iv. 103. 307. He him] O yes, Sir Andrew is just as much afraid of the youth. For "conceited" (form a conception) cf. J. C. 1. iii. 162, "Him and his worth and our great need of him, You have right well conceited."

311, 312. better bethought... talking of "he has reconsidered the circumstances wherein he thought himself aggrieved, and now finds that they are not worth talking about." 'Quarrel,"

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307. as horribly] F; horribly oath's sake Capell, etc., oath-sake 312. scarce to be] F, to be scarce

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Sir And. Pray God, he keep his oath!
Vio. I do assure you, 'tis against my will.

[Draws. [Draws. 325

Ant. Put up your sword.

If this young gentleman

Enter ANTONIO.

[Drawing.

Have done offence, I take the fault on me: If you offend him, I for him defy you. Sir To. You, sir! why, what are you? Ant. One, sir, that for his love dares yet do more Than you have heard him brag to you he will. Sir To. Nay, if you be an undertaker, I am for you.

330

[Draws.

Fab. O good Sir Toby, hold! here come the officers. Sir To. I'll be with you anon.

Vio. Pray, sir, put your sword up, if you please. Sir And. Marry, will I, sir: and, for that I promised you, I'll be as good as my word. He will bear you easily, and reins well.

Enter Two Officers.

First Off. This is the man; do thy office.
Second Off. Antonio, I arrest thee at the suit

Ant.

Of Count Orsino.

335

340

You do mistake me, sir.

First Off. No, sir, no jot: I know your favour well,

341. Count] F, Duke Rowe.

325. I do, etc.] "That the humours of the duelling scene will ever be brought back within the text of Shakespeare, and the limits of becoming mirth, is more than we can hope. Managers can hardly be expected to sacrifice a piece of farce, which always makes the audience very merry, though Shakespeare has evidently taken pains to preserve Viola from the ridiculous attitude in which it places her, and she can never be seen as she was meant to be until it is reformed.... Indeed, from the beginning to the end of the adventure she neither does nor says anything (her complexion and the beating of her heart excepted) that would have misbecome a well-behaved, peaceful young gentleman, who disliked to be drawn by a

bully into a brawl. She acts throughout with discretion, intelligence, and a collected judgement," Spedding.

332. an undertaker] Three meanings appear to be enclosed in this word(1) one who takes up the business (especially the quarrel) of another; (2) the " undertakers" (contractors for the king) who were obnoxious to the Parliament of 1614; (3) one who undertakes to kill, as in Othello, IV. i. 224, "Let me be his undertaker"; this is akin to (1). But whatever its connotations, the most obvious meaning of the word is "meddler."

338. reins well] answers to the rein. Cf. Euphues, "Youth never reineth well. . ."

342. favour] Cf. 11. iv. 24, note.

Though now you have no sea-cap on your head.
Take him away: he knows I know him well.

Ant. I must obey. [To Viola.] This comes with seeking

you;

But there's no remedy: I shall answer it.
What will you do, now my necessity
Makes me to ask you for my purse?

me

Much more for what I cannot do for you,

345

It grieves

Than what befalls myself. You stand amaz'd;
But be of comfort.

350

Second Off. Come, sir, away.

Ant. I must entreat of you some of that money.
Vio. What money, sir?

For the fair kindness you have show'd me here,
And part, being prompted by your present trouble,
Out of my lean and low ability

355

Ant.

Vio.

I'll lend you something: my having is not much:
I'll make division of my present with you.
Hold, there is half my coffer.

Will you deny me now?

361

Is 't possible that my deserts to you
Can lack persuasion? Do not tempt my misery,
Lest that it make me so unsound a man
As to upbraid you with those kindnesses
That I have done for you.

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Nor know I you by voice or any feature.

360. there is] Hanmer and others, there's F.

343. sea-cap] "The 'sea-cap' of the Shakespearian era seems to have been generally composed of fur, as appears from Ammon's curious book, De omnibus Illiberalibus sive Mechanicis Artibus, 1574," Fairholt, quoted by Halliwell.

345. with seeking] See Abbott, § 193.

346. answer] See III. iii. 28, note. 350. amaz'd] often in stronger sense. Cf. v. 266.

356. part] partly, as in Othello, v.

ii. 296, "This wretch hath part confess'd his villany."

358. having] property; as often in Shakespeare.

359. my present] sc. money; the money I have with me.

360. Hold] Possibly an interjectional line.

360. coffer] i.e. purse; and again, i.e. ready-money. The only instance of this use of the word in Shakespeare.

363. Lest that] See I. ii. 47, note. 363. unsound] The only instance of this epithet in Shakespeare.

I hate ingratitude more in a man
Than lying vainness, babbling drunkenness,
Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
Inhabits our frail blood.

Ant.
Second Off. Come, sir: I pray you, go.

Ant. Let me speak a little.

O heavens themselves! 370

This youth that you see here

I snatch'd one half out of the jaws of death,

Reliev'd him with such sanctity of love,

And to his image, which methought did promise 375
Most venerable worth, did I devotion.

The time goes by: away!

First Off. What's that to us?
Ant. But, O! how vile an idol proves this god.
Thou hast, Sebastian, done good feature shame.
In nature there's no blemish but the mind;

380

368. lying vainness, babbling drunkenness] some edd. ; lying, vainnesse, babling drunkennesse F, Ff, and some edd. ; lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness Steevens and others. 371. pray you, go] pray you go F, pray you Lloyd ap. Camb. 372, 373.] For Hanmer's arrangement, see notes. speak] F, but speak Hanmer.

372.

375. his] F, this some edd. 378. vile] vilde F.

368. lying etc.] The line reminds us of the "ling, heath, broom (or brown) furze" of The Tempest (1. i. 68, 69), where the words may be taken in pairs or separately. The F punctuation may perhaps be trusted, which places a comma after "lying," but not after babbling"; and it is important to notice that if" babbling" is a noun in this instance, it is nowhere else so used in Shakespeare. Of course mere enumeration, apart from climax, adds force; but we have really little to choose, unless we note that the cæsura in the next line is moved on to the third foot, as though it had strongly fallen after the second foot in the line preceding, i.e. after the first pair of vices mentioned.

368. vainness] Probably in the sense of "boasting"-"boasting of what is false."

372. Let... here] K. Elze would begin the speech, "Tarry a little, And let me speak. This youth, etc." The metre is thus restored. Hanmer arranges thus:

"Let me but speak Why, this youth that

A little. you see here."

374. Reliev'd him. . . love] The word "such" in this line suggests that a line following has dropped out; yet the passage, "And to his image... devotion" (lines 375, 376) follows, after Shakespeare's manner, as a natural amplification of the line preceding it. Others would read "much"; but Wright prefers to find a parallel use of "such" in Cymbeline, V. v. 43, "Your daughter, whom she bore in hand to love With such integrity, she did confess Was as a scorpion in her sight."

374. sanctity] The word used by Sir Toby, III. iv. 89.

376. venerable] worthy of veneration without the modern notion of age; but the suffix has not quite the modern force; it is more gerundial-that which is to be venerated. Cf. "But, howsoever, strange and admirable” (Midsummer-Night's Dream, v. 27). See note on I. v. 281.

379. feature] like "complexion" has often a wider meaning in Shakespeare; the whole external appearance, not merely one aspect of the face.

380, 381, 382.] Cf. Viola's words to the Captain in 1. ii. 46-50, "There is character."

...

None can be call'd deform'd but the unkind:

Virtue is beauty, but the beauteous evil

Are empty trunks o'erflourish'd by the devil.

First Off. The man grows mad: away with him! Come, come, sir.

Ant. Lead me on. [Exeunt Officers with Antonio. 385 Vio. Methinks his words do from such passion fly,

That he believes himself; so do not I.

Prove true, imagination, O! prove true,

That I, dear brother, be now ta'en for you.

Sir To. Come hither, knight; come hither, Fabian: 390 we 'll whisper o'er a couplet or two of most sage

saws.

Vio. He nam'd Sebastian: I my brother know
Yet living in my glass; even such and so
In favour was my brother; and he went
Still in this fashion, colour, ornament,
For him I imitate. O! if it prove

382. beauteous evil] F, beauteous-evil Malone, etc. the Hanmer. 397. O!] Oh F, So some edd.

381. unkind] From first to last Shakespeare plays on this word to the top of his bent (see my note in The Tempest, v. i. 23); and here he uses it in the two senses of (1) unnatural, (2) hard-hearted. For the former, cf. King Lear, III. iv. 73, "Nothing could have subdued nature To such a lowness but his unkind daughters." For the thought, cf. Bacon, Essay, "Of Beauty,' ," "Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set."

382. beauteous evil] Cf. "properfalse," 11. ii. 30; those who are fair in body, foul in mind.

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383. empty o'erflourish'd] Trunks or chests covered with richly ornamented carvings; these in Shakespeare's time were important articles of furniture. For "o'erflourish'd," cf. Cotgrave, "Fringoteries: Frets, wriggled flourishings in carving.' Craig compares Sonnet, Ix., e.g. "the flourish set on youth." Tennyson (The Golden Year) may have mistaken the meaning of this word when he wrote, "Like an oaken stock in winter woods O'erflourish'd with the hoary clematis."

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395

384. The] F, Surely

386. do fly spring from such genuine feeling. Cf. The Tempest, 1. ii. 99-103.

387. so do not П] (1) believe what he says; (2) believe myself when I dare hope, from this, that my brother is alive-when I thus "imagine" (line 388).

391, 392. a couplet... saws] referring ironically to Antonio's moralising in 378383. (Perhaps only in sense of couple.)

392. saws] maxims; often expressed in rhyming couplets. Cf. "wise saws" in As You Like It, II. vii. 156. It may be just worthy of remark that the words "sage" and " saws" have the same philological history.

394. Yet living in my glass] Probably a double entendre, as usual-(1) whenever I look in my mirror, (2) mirror'd to the life in my own person; this "glass" figure, which prominently in Euphues, is a favourite with Shakespeare; cf. Hamlet, III. i. 161, "the glass of fashion."

Occurs

395. favour] See 11. iv. 24, 26 (note), and III. iv. 342.

397. prove] Abbott, § 64. See 1. 388.

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