relling, 'tis 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.

Sir To. With drinking healths to my niece: I'll drink to her as long as there is a passage in my throat and drink in Illyria: he's a coward and a coistrel9 that will not drink to my niece till his brains turn o' the toe like a parish-top.1o What, wench! Castiliano volto,11 for here comes Sir An

drew Agueface.

Enter Sir ANDREW AGUECHEEK.

Sir And. Sir Toby Belch; how now, Sir Toby Belch!

Sir To. Sweet Sir Andrew!

Sir And. Bless you, fair shrew.

Mar. And you too, sir.

Sir To. Accost, Sir Andrew, accost.12

Sir And. What's that?

Sir To. My niece's chambermaid.

Sir And. Good Mistress Accost, I desire better acquaint

ance.

Mar. My name is Mary, sir.

Sir And. Good Mistress Mary Accost,—

8 Substractors is another Tobyism for detractors.

9 Holinshed classes coistrels among the unwarlike followers of an army.

It was thus used as a term of contempt.

10 A large top was formerly kept in each village for the peasantry to amuse themselves with in frosty weather. He sleeps like a town-top," is an

old proverb.

11 Meaning, "Put on a Castilian face"; that is, grave, solemn looks. 12 Sir Toby speaks more learnedly than intelligibly here, using accost in its original sense. The word is from the French accoster, to come side by side, or to approach. Accost is seldom used thus, which accounts for Sir Andrew's mistake.

Sir To. You mistake, knight: accost is front her, board her, woo her, assail her.

Sir And. By my troth, I would not undertake her in this company. Is that the meaning of accost?

Mar. Fare you well, gentlemen.

Sir To. An thou let her part so,13 Sir Andrew, would thou mightst never draw sword again.

Sir And. An you part so, mistress, I would I might never draw sword again. Fair lady, do you think you have fools

in hand?

Mar. Sir, I have not you by the hand.

Sir And. Marry, but you shall have; and here's my hand. Mar. Now, sir, thought is free: I pray you, bring your hand to the buttery-bar, and let it drink.14

Sir And. Wherefore, sweet-heart? what's your metaphor?

Mar. It's dry, sir.

Sir And. Why, I think so: I am not such an ass but I can keep my hand dry. But what's your jest?

Mar. A dry jest, sir.

Sir And. Are you full of them?

Mar. Ay, sir, I have them at my fingers' ends: marry, now I let go your hand, I am barren.

[Exit. Sir To. O knight, thou lack'st a cup of canary: when did I see thee so put down?

Sir And. Never in your life, I think; unless you saw canary put me down. Methinks sometimes I have no more

13 Part for depart. A frequent usage. See vol. i., page 106, note II. 14 The buttery was formerly a place for all sorts of gastric refreshments, and a dry hand was considered a symptom of debility.-The relevancy of 'thought is free" may be not very apparent. Perhaps the following from Lyly's Euphues, 1581, will illustrate it: "None, quoth she, can judge of wit but they that have it. Why, then, quoth he, dost thou think me a fool? Thought is free, my lord, quoth she."

wit than a Christian or an ordinary man has: but I am a great eater of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit.15

Sir To. No question.

Sir And. An I thought that, I'd forswear it. I'll ride home to-morrow, Sir Toby.

Sir To. Pourquoi, my dear knight?

Sir And. What is pourquoi? do or not do? I would I had bestowed that time in the tongues that I have in fencing, dancing, and bear-baiting: O, had I but followed the Arts!

Sir To. Then hadst thou had an excellent head of hair.16
Sir And. Why, would that have mended my hair?
Sir To. Past question; for thou see'st it will not curl by

nature.

Sir And. But it becomes me well enough, does't not?

Sir To. Excellent; it hangs like flax on a distaff; and I hope to see a housewife take thee between her legs and spin it off.

Sir And. Faith, I'll home to-morrow, Sir Toby: your niece will not be seen; or, if she be, it's four to one she'll none of me: the Count 17 himself here hard by wooes her.

Sir To. She'll none o' the Count: she'll not match above

15 So in The Haven of Health, 1584: "Galen affirmeth that biefe maketh grosse bloude and engendreth melancholie, especially if it is much eaten, and if such as doe eat it be of a melancholy complexion."

16 Sir Toby is quibbling between tongues and tongs, the latter meaning, of course, the well-known instrument for curling the hair. The two words

were often written, and probably sounded, alike, or nearly so. So in the introduction to The Faerie Queene: "O, helpe thou my weake wit, and sharpen my dull tong." Here the word rhymes with long and wrong. For this explanation, which is not more ingenious than apt and just, I am indebted to a private letter from Mr. Joseph Crosby.

17 The titles Duke and Count are used indifferently of Orsino. The reason of this, if there be any, is not apparent. The Poet of course understood the difference between a duke and a count, well enough. White suggests that in a revisal of the play he may have concluded to change the title, and then, for some cause, left the change incomplete.

her degree, neither in estate, years, nor wit; I have heard her swear't. Tut, there's life in't,18 man.

Sir And. I'll stay a month longer. I am a fellow o' the strangest mind i' the world; I delight in masques and revels sometimes altogether.

Sir To. Art thou good at these kickshawses,19 knight?

Sir And. As any man in Illyria, whatsoever he be, under the degree of my betters; and yet I will not compare with a nobleman.

Sir To. What is thy excellence in a galliard, knight?
Sir And. Faith, I can cut a caper.

Sir To. And I can cut the mutton to't.20

Sir And. And I think I have the back-trick simply as strong as any man in Illyria.

Sir To. Wherefore are these things hid? wherefore have these gifts a curtain before 'em? are they like to take dust, like Mistress Mall's picture?21 why dost thou not go to church in a galliard, and come home in a coranto?22 My very walk should be a jig; I would not so much as make water but in

18 Equivalent to "there is hope in it." It was a phrase of the time. 19 A Tobyism, probably, for kickshaws, an old word for trifles or knickknacks; said to be a corruption of the French quelque chose.

20 A double pun is probably intended here; the meaning being, "If you can do the man's part in a galliard, I can do the woman's." Mutton was sometimes used as a slang term for a woman.

21 Mistress Mall was a very celebrated character of the Poet's time, who played many parts (not on the stage) in male attire. Her real name was Mary Frith, though commonly known as Moll Cutpurse. In 1610 a book was entered at the Stationers, called The Madde Prankes of Merry Moll of the Bankside, with her Walks in Man's Apparel, and to what purpose, by John Day. Middleton and Dekker wrote a comedy entitled The Roaring Girl, of which she was the heroine. Portraits were commonly curtained to keep off the dust.

22 Galliard and coranto are names of dances: the galliard, a lively, stirring dance, from a Spanish word signifying cheerful, gay; the coranto, a quick dance for two persons, described as " traversing and running, as our country dance, but having twice as much in a strain."

a sink-a-pace.23 What dost thou mean? is it a world to hide virtues in? I did think, by the excellent constitution of thy leg, it was form'd under the star of a galliard.

Sir And. Ay, 'tis strong, and it does indifferent well in a flame-colour'd stock.24 Shall we set about some revels?

Sir To. What shall we do else? were we not born under Taurus?

Sir And. Taurus! that's sides and heart.

Sir To. No, sir; it is legs and thighs.25 Let me see thee caper. [Sir AND. dances.] Ha! higher: ha, ha! excellent! [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-An Apartment in the DUKE's Palace.

Enter VALENTINE, and VIOLA in Man's attire.

Val. If the Duke continue these favours towards you, Cesario, you are like to be much advanced: he hath known you but three days, and already you are no stranger.

Vio. You either fear his humour or my negligence, that you call in question the continuance of his love is he inconstant, sir, in his favours?

Val. No, believe me.

Vio. I thank you. Here comes the Count.

Enter the DUKE, CURIO, and Attendants.

Duke. Who saw Cesario, ho?

23 Sink-a-pace was a popular corruption of cinque-pace; a dance, the steps of which were regulated by the number five. See vol. iv., page 173, note 6.

24 "A flame-colour'd stock" is a pretty emphatic sort of stocking.—“ Indifferent well" is tolerably well. A frequent usage.

25 Alluding to the medical astrology of the almanacs. Both the knights are wrong; the zodiacal sign Taurus having reference to the neck and throat. The point seems to be that Sir Toby is poking fun at Sir Andrew's conceit of agility: "I can cut a caper."