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TWELFTH-NIGHT, or, WHAT YOU WILL.

'ACT I.

SCENEI. A Room in the Duke's Palace.
Enter Duke, CURIO, and Others;
Musick attending.

Duk. If musick be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it; that, furfeiting,

The appetite may ficken, and fo dye.
That ftrain again; it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet fouth,
That breaths upon a bank of violets,

Stealing, and giving odour. - Enough; no more;
[Musick ceafes.

'Tis not fo fweet now, as it was before.

O fpirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou;
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the fea, nought enters there,

Of what validity and pitch foever,

But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute! fo full of fhapes is fancy,
That it alone is high fantastical.

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CUR. Will you go hunt, my lord?

Duk. What, Curio?

CUR. The hart.

Duk. Why, fo I do, the noblest that I have :
O, when mine eyes did fee Olivia first,
(Methought, fhe purg'd the air of peftilence)
That inftant was I turn'd into a hart;

And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,
E'er fince purfue me.. How now? what news from her?

Enter VALENTINE.

VAL. So please my lord, I might not be admitted, But from her hand-maid do return this answer: The element itself, 'till feven years hence, Shall not behold her face at ample view; But, like a cloistress, fhe will veiled walk, And water once a day her chamber's round With eye-offending brine: all this, to feason A brother's dead love, which fhe would keep fresh, And lasting, in her fad remembrance.

Duk. O, fhe, that hath a heart of that fine frame,

Το pay this debt of love but to a brother,
How will the love, when the rich golden fhaft

Hath kill'd the flock of all affections elfe

That live in her! when liver, brain, and heart,
These fovereign thrones, are all fupply'd, and fill'd,
(Her fweet perfection) with one felf-fame king!-
Away before me to fweet beds of flowers;
Love-thoughts lye rich, when canopy'd with bowers.

SCENE II. The Sea-coaft.

Enter VIOLA, Captain, and Sailors.

V10. What country, friends, is this?

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Cap. This is Illyria, lady.

Vio. And what fhould I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elyzium.

Perchance, he is not drown'd:_What think you, failors?
Cap. It is perchance, that you yourself were fav'd. [be.
Vio. O my poor brother!and fo, perchance, may he
Cap. True, madam : and, to comfort you with chance,
Affure yourself, after our fhip did fplit,

When you, and this poor number fav'd with you,
Hung on our driving boat, I faw your brother,
Most provident in peril, bind himself

(Courage and hope both teaching him the practice)
To a strong maft, that liv'd upon the fea;
Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back,

I faw him hold acquaintance with the waves,
So long as I could fee.

V10. For faying fo, there's

gold:

Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,

Whereto thy fpeech ferves for authority,

The like of him. Know'st thou this country?
Cap. Ay, madam, well; for I was bred and born
Not three hours travel from this very place.

V10. Who governs here?

Cap. A noble duke in nature,

As in his name.

V10. What is his name?

Cap. Orfino.

Vio. Orfine! I have heard

my

father name him:

very

late:

He was a batchelor then.

Cap. And fo is now, or was fo

For but a month ago I went from hence;

And then 'twas fresh in murmur, (as, you know,

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What great ones do, the lefs will prattle of)
That he did feek the love of fair Olivia.

V10. What's the ?

Cap. A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count That dy'd fome twelve-month fince; then leaving her In the protection of his fon, her brother,

Who fhortly alfo dy'd : for whose dear love,

They fay, the hath abjur'd the company,

And fight, of men.

V10. o, that I fserv'd that lady;

And might not be deliver'd to the world,
Till I had made mine own occasion mellow,
What my eftate is!

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Cap. That were hard to compafs;

Because fhe will admit no kind of fuit,

No, not the duke's.

V10. There is a fair behaviour in thee, captain,
And, though that nature with a beauteous wall
Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee

I will believe, thou hast a mind that suits
With this thy fair and outward character.
I pray thee, and I'll pay thee bounteously,
Conceal me what I am; and be my aid
For fuch difguise as, haply, fhall become
The form of my intent: I'll serve this duke,
Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him,
It may be worth thy pains; for I can fing,
And fpeak to him in many forts of musick,
That will allow me very worth his fervice.
What else may hap, to time I will commit;
Only shape thou thy filence to my wit.

Cap. Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be:

8 fight | And company

When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not fee!
VIO. I thank thee: Lead me on.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. A Room in Olivia's House.

Enter Sir TOBY, and MARIA.

Sir T. What a plague means my niece, to take the death of her brother thus? I am fure, care's an enemy to life.

MAR. By my troth, fir Toby, you must come in earlier o'nights; your cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions ill hours.

to your

Sir T. Why, let her except, before excepted.

MAR. Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modeft limits of order.

Sir T. Confine? I'll confine myself no finer than I am: these cloaths are good enough to drink in, and fo be these boots too; an they be not, let them hang themselves in their own ftraps.

MAR. That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard my lady talk of it yesterday; and of a foolish knight, that you brought in one night here, to be her

wooer.

Sir T. Who? fir Andrew Ague-cheek?

MAR. Ay, he.

Sir T. He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria.
MAR. What's that to the purpose ?

Sir T. Why, he has three thousand ducats a year. MAR. Ay, but he'll have but a year in all these ducats; he's a very fool, and a prodigal.

Sir T. Fie, that you'll fay fo! he plays o'the violde-gambo, and fpeaks three or four languages word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts

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