Lords, Priests, Sailors, Officers, Musicians, and other Attendants. SCENE, a City in Illyria; and the Sea-coast near it. An Apartment in the DUKE's Palace. Enter DUKE, CURIO, Lords; Musicians attending. Duke. If music 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, Stealing, and giving odour. - Enough! no more: O, spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou, But falls into abatement and low price, Cur. Will you go hunt, my lord? Duke. Cur. What, Curio? The hart. Duke. Why, so I do, the noblest that I have. 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, Duke. O she that hath a heart of that fine frame, 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, [Exeunt. SCENE II. The Sea-coast. Enter VIOLA, Captain, and Sailors. Vio. What country, friends, is this? Cap. Vio. And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium. This is Illyria, lady. Perchance, he is not drown'd: - what think you, sailors? Cap. It is perchance that you yourself were sav'd. Vio. O, my poor brother! and so, perchance, may he be. Assure yourself, after our ship did split, When you, and those poor number saved with you, Most provident in peril, bind himself (Courage and hope both teaching him the practice) Vio. For saying so there's gold. 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. As in name. Vio. Cap. A noble duke, in nature What is his name? 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 't was fresh in murmur, (as, you know, What great ones do the less will prattle of) Vio. What's she? Cap. A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count And sight of men. Vio. O! that I serv'd that lady, And might not be delivered to the world, 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, I will believe, thou hast a mind that suits Cap. Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be: [Exeunt. SCENE III. A Room in OLIVIA'S House. Enter Sir TOBY BELCH, and MARIA. Sir To. What a plague means my niece, to take the death of her brother thus? I am sure care 's an enemy to life. Mar. By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier o' nights: your cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions to your ill hours. Sir To. Why, let her except before excepted. Mar. Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modest limits of order. Sir To. Confine? I'll confine myself no finer than I am. These clothes are good enough to drink in, and so be these boots too: an they be not, let them hang themselves in their own straps. 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 To. Who? Sir Andrew Ague-cheek? Mar. Ay, he. Sir To. He's as tall a man as any 's in Illyria. Mar. What's that to the purpose? Sir To. 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 To. Fie, that you'll say so! he plays o' the viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four languages word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of nature. Mar. He hath, indeed, almost natural; for, besides that he's a fool, he's a great quarreller; and, but that he hath the gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quarrelling, 't is thought among the prudent he would quickly have the gift of a grave. Sir To. By this hand, they are scoundrels, and substractors that say so of him. Who are they? Mar. They that add, moreover, he's drunk nightly in your company. |