DRAMATIS PERSONE

ORSINO, Duke of Illyria.

SEBASTIAN, brother to Viola.

ANTONIO, a sea captain, friend to Sebastian.

A Sea Captain, friend to Viola.

VALENTINE,

CURIO,

gentlemen attending on the Duke.

Lords, Priests, Sailors, Officers, Musicians, and other

Attendants.

SCENE-A city in Illyria, and the sea-coast near it.

TWELFTH NIGHT;

OR,

WHAT YOU WILL

ACT I.

SCENE I. An apartment in the DUKE's palace.

Enter DUKE, CURIO, and other Lords; Musicians

attending.

Duke. If music be the food of love, play on;
•ver induiginst
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall;

O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.

O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou!
That, notwithstanding thy capacity

Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,

Of what validity and pitch soe'er,

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But falls into abatement and low price,

Even in a minute! so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.

Cur. Duke.

Will you go hunt, my lord?

Cur. The hart.

What, Curio?

Duke. Why, so I do, the noblest that I have.

O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
Methought she purged the air of pestilence!
That instant was I turn'd into a hart;

And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,
E'er since pursue me.

Enter VALENTINE.

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How now! what news from her?

Val. So please my lord, I might not be admitted; But from her handmaid do return this answer

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The element itself, till seven years' heat,

Shall not behold her face at ample view;

But, like a cloistress, she will veiled walk

And water once a day her chamber round
With eye-offending brine; all this to season

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A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh And lasting in her sad remembrance.

Duke. O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame

To pay this debt of love but to a brother,
How will she love when the rich golden shaft
Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else
That live in her; when liver, brain, and heart,

These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and fill'd

Her sweet perfections with one self king!
Away before me to sweet beds of flowers!
Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.

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[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The sea-coast.

Enter VIOLA, a Captain, and Sailors.

Vio. What country, friends, is this?
Cap. This is Illyria, lady.

Vio. And what should I do in Illyria?

My brother he is in Elysium.

Perchance he is not drown'd: what think you,

sailors?

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Cap. It is perchance that you yourself were

saved.

Vio. O my poor brother! and so perchance may

he be.

Cap. True, madam: and, to comfort you with chance,

Assure yourself, after our ship did split,

When you and those poor number saved with you 10
Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother,
Most provident in peril, bind himself,

Courage and hope both teaching him the practice,
To a strong mast that lived upon the sea;
Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back,
I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves
So long as I could see.

Vio. For saying so, there's gold:

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Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,
Whereto thy speech serves for authority,

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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.

Vio. Who governs here?

Cap. A noble Duke, in nature as in name.

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Vio. Orsino! I have heard my father name him : He was a bachelor then.

Cap. And so is now, or was so very late; For but a month ago I went from hence,

And then 'twas fresh in murmur

-as, you know,

What great ones do the less will prattle of
That he did seek the love of fair Olivia.

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Cap. A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count That died some twelvemonth since; then leaving her In the protection of his son, her brother, Who shortly also died: for whose dear love, They say, she hath abjured the company And sight of men.

Vio.

O that I served that lady,

And might not be delivered to the world,
Till I had made mine own occasion mellow,
What my estate is!

Cap.

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That were hard to compass;

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Because she will admit no kind of suit,
No, not the Duke's.