The environment, then, of the play is this: a house of mourning against which all its inmates are in rebellion with the exception of the Countess and Malvolio; the latter, who is a time-server, seizing his opportunity to ingratiate himself with his mistress by his pious and correct behaviour and the sternness with which he suppresses mirth within the house. All this information Shakespeare gives us in the text of the play, and yet how does the actor avail himself of this knowledge? Malvolio, the Countess's head flunkey, so to speak, appears not in the costume of a servant, but as if he were the best dressed person in the house. Had he been a peer of the realm and the Lord High Treasurer, his apparel, with one exception, could not have been more correct. Like Prince Hamlet, he is in black velvet, doublet, and trunks, and wears a magnificent black velvet gown reaching to his ankles, a gold chain and a gold order! Incongruous and impossible as this costume is for the character who has to wear it, an element of burlesque is added to it by the conical hat, a yard high, which never could have rested on any human head outside of a Drury Lane pantomime! Of course, when this initial error is made in the costume of the character impersonated by the leading actor, it is not surprising to find other mistakes made in regard to the costumes of those who appear on the scene. Sir Toby is not in black, nor does he wear his order of knighthood, but appears in a leather jerkin and stuffed breeches, as if he were an innkeeper! Not only is Maria not in black, but she is not even attired as one who is by birth a lady, attending on the Countess, since she wears the dress of a kitchen-maid; nor yet is Fabian in black; while the Countess herself appears in a yellow dress, that being a colour Maria tells us "she abhors," and without a veil, her face beaming with smiles, as if she were the happiest creature in the comedy! What would any modern author say if such liberties were taken with his play? But equally unintelligent is the reading of the text. For Malvolio to say that when he is Olivia's husband he will ask for his kinsman "Toby," is to miss the humour of the situation. It is the pleasure of being able to call Sir Toby a "kinsman" that is flattering to Malvolio's vanity; while in the same scene the one word in Olivia's letter (of Maria's composition) which is captivating and convincing to Malvolio's credulity is unnoticed by the actor. Malvolio's doubts as to whom the letter is written are entirely set at rest when he comes to the words, "let me see thee a _steward_ still." From the moment he gets sight of the word "steward," everything becomes as clear as daylight to him, so that when he appears in his velvet suit before Olivia, and cross-gartered--which does not mean the cross-gartering of the brigand in Italian Opera, as the impersonator imagines--his assurance carries everything before him, and makes him turn every remark of the Countess to