F mufick be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that furfeiting
The appetite may ficken, and fo die.
That strain again, it had a dying fall:

O, it came o'er my ear, like the fweet fouth
That breathes upon a bank of violets,

Stealing, and giving odour. Hush! no more;
'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 sea, nought enters there
Of what validity and pitch foe'er,

But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute; fo full of fhapes is fancy,

Nnn 2

That

a found.

That it alone is high fantastical.

Cur. Will you go hunt, my lord?

Duke. What, Curio?

Cur. The hart.

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

And my defires, like

E'er fince pursue me.

fell and cruel hounds,

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 it self, 'till seven years hence,
Shall not behold her face at ample view;
But like a cloystress she will veiled walk,
And water once a day her chambers round
With eye-offending brine: all this to season
A brother's dead love, which fhe would keep fresh
And lasting in her fad remembrance still.

Duke. O fhe 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 fhaft
Hath kill'd the flock of all affections elfe
That live in her? when liver, brain, and heart,
These fov'raign thrones, are all fupply'd, and fill'd,
Her sweet perfections, with one self-same King!
Away before me to fweet beds of flowers,

Love-thoughts lye rich, when canopy'd with bowers. [Exeunt.

SCENE

Vio.

SCENE II.

The STREET.

Enter Viola, a Captain and Sailors.

WHAT

HAT country, friends, is this?
Cap. Illyria, lady.

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

Perchance he is not drown'd; what think you, failors?
Cap. It is perchance that you your self were fav'd.
Vio. O my poor brother! so perchance may he be.
Cap. True, madam: and to comfort you with chance,
Affure your felf, after our fhip did split,

When you, and that 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 mast that liv'd upon the sea;
Where like Arion on the dolphin's back,

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

Vio. There's gold for faying fo.

Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,
Whereto thy speech 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.

Vio. Who governs here?

Cap. A noble Duke in nature as in name.
Vio. What is his name?

·Cap. Orfino.

Vio.

Vio. Orfino! I have heard my father name him
He was a batchelor then.

Cap. And fo is now, or was fo 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 lefs will prattle of)
That he did feek the love of fair Olivia.

Vio. What's fhe?

Cap. A virtuous maid, the daughter of a Count,
That dy'd fome twelve months fince, then leaving her
In the protection of his fon, her brother,
Who fhortly alfo dy'd; for whofe dear love,

They fay, fhe hath abjur'd the fight

And company of men.

Vio. O that I ferv'd that lady,

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

Cap. That were hard to compass,

Because she will admit no kind of fuit,

No, not the Duke's.

Vio. There is a fair behaviour in thee, captain;
And tho' that nature with a beauteous wall
Doth oft close in pollution; yet of thee,
I will believe, thou haft a mind that fuits
With this thy fair and outward character.
I pr'ythee, and I'll pay thee bounteously,
Conceal me what I am, and be my aid
For fuch disguise as haply fhall become
The form of my intent. I'll ferve this Duke,
Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him,
It may be worth thy pains; for I can fing,
And speak to him in many forts of musick,

That

That will allow me very worth his service.
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:
When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not fee.
Vio. I thank thee; lead me on.

SCENE III.

Olivia's House.

Enter Sir Toby, and Maria.

[Exeunt.

Sir To. Weath of her brother thus? I am fure care's an

HAT a plague means my neice to take the

enemy to life.

Mar. By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier anights; your neice, my lady, takes great exceptions to your ill hours. Sir To. Why let her except, before excepted.

Mar. Ay, but you must confine your felf within the modest limits of order.

Sir To. Confine? I'll confine my felf no finer than I am; these clothes are good enough to drink in, and fo be these boots too; if 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 in Illyria.

Mar. What's that to th' 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.