The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 3 of 9]Shakespeare, William
General
The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 3 of 9]
Shakespeare, William
English drama
_Clo._ 'What an if you do?' 105
_Sir To._ 'Shall I bid him go, and spare not?'
_Clo._ 'O no, no, no, no, you dare not.'
_Sir To._ Out o' tune, sir: ye lie. Art any more than a
steward? Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous,
there shall be no more cakes and ale? 110
_Clo._ Yes, by Saint Anne, and ginger shall be hot i'
the mouth too.
_Sir To._ Thou'rt i' the right. Go, sir, rub your chain
with crums. A stoup of wine, Maria!
_Mal._ Mistress Mary, if you prized my lady's favour at 115
any thing more than contempt, you would not give means
for this uncivil rule: she shall know of it, by this hand.
[_Exit._
_Mar._ Go shake your ears.
_Sir And._ 'Twere as good a deed as to drink when a
man's a-hungry, to challenge him the field, and then to 120
break promise with him and make a fool of him.
_Sir To._ Do't, knight: I'll write thee a challenge; or
I'll deliver thy indignation to him by word of mouth.
_Mar._ Sweet Sir Toby, be patient for to-night: since
the youth of the count's was to-day with my lady, she is 125
much out of quiet. For Monsieur Malvolio, let me alone
with him: if I do not gull him into a nayword, and make
him a common recreation, do not think I have wit enough
to lie straight in my bed: I know I can do it.
_Sir To._ Possess us, possess us; tell us something of 130
him.
_Mar._ Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind of puritan.
_Sir And._ O, if I thought that, I'ld beat him like a dog!
_Sir To._ What, for being a puritan? thy exquisite reason,
dear knight? 135
_Sir And._ I have no exquisite reason for't, but I have
reason good enough.
_Mar._ The devil a puritan that he is, or any thing constantly,
but a time-pleaser; an affectioned ass, that cons
state without book and utters it by great swarths: the best 140
persuaded of himself, so crammed, as he thinks, with excellencies,
that it is his grounds of faith that all that look on
him love him; and on that vice in him will my revenge
find notable cause to work.
_Sir To._ What wilt thou do? 145
_Mar._ I will drop in his way some obscure epistles of
love; wherein, by the colour of his beard, the shape of his
leg, the manner of his gait, the expressure of his eye, forehead,
and complexion, he shall find himself most feelingly
personated. I can write very like my lady your niece: on 150
a forgotten matter we can hardly make distinction of our
hands.
_Sir To._ Excellent! I smell a device.
_Sir And._ I have 't in my nose too.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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