PERSONS REPRESENTED.

ORSINO, duke of ILLYRIA.

SEBASTIAN, a young gentleman, brother to VIOLA.

ANTONIO, a sea captain, friend to SEBASTIAN.

A sea captain, friend to VIOLA.

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, Lords; Musicians attending.

Duke.

Ir musick be the food of love, play on;
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 south,
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 validity1 and pitch soever,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute ! so full of shapes is fancy,
That it alone is high-fantastical.2

Cur. Will you go hunt, my lord?

Duke.

Cur.

What, Curio?

The hart.

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

O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,

Methought, she purg'd 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. - How now? what news from

her?

Enter VALENTINE.

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

The element itself, till seven years heat3,
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
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.

[Exeunt.

Heat for heated.

The element itself, till seven years heat,] The air, till it shall have been warmed by seven revolutions of the sun, shall not, &c.

4 (Her sweet perfections,)] Liver, brain, and heart, are admitted in poetry as the residence of passions, judgement, and sentiments. These are what Shakspeare calls, her sweet, perfections, though he has not very clearly expressed what he might design to have said. STEEVENS.

SCENE II.

The Sea-coast.

Enter VIOLA, Captain, and Sailors.

Vio. What country, friends, is this?
Cap.

+ 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?

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 that poor number saved with you,
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:

Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,

Whereto thy speech serves 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.

Vio. Who governs here?

Cap.

Orsino.

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.

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 abjur'd 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.

That were hard to compass;

Because she will admit no kind of suit,

No, not the duke's.

Vio. 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 such disguise as, haply, shall 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 sing,
And speak to him in many sorts of musick,
That will allow mes very worth his service.

That will allow me-] To allow is to approve.