Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

good student: but to be said, an honest man, and a good housekeeper, goes as fairly, as to say, a careful man, and a great scholar.2 The competitors enter.3

Enter Sir TOBY BELCH and MARIA.

Sir To. Jove bless thee, master parson.

Clo. Bonos dies, sir Toby: for as the old hermit of Prague, that never saw pen and ink, very wittily said to a niece of king Gorboduc, That, that is, is:5 so I, being master parson, am master parson: For what is that, but that; and is, but is?

Sir To. To him, sir Topas.

Clo. What, hoa, I say,-Peace in this prison!

Sir To. The knave counterfeits well; a good knave. Mal. [in an inner chamber.] Who calls there?

Clo. Sir Topas, the curate, who comes to visit Malvolio the lunatic.

Mal. Sir Topas, sir Topas, good sir Topas, go to my lady.

Clo. Out, hyperbolical fiend! how vexest thou this man? talkest thou nothing but of ladies?

Sir To. Well said, master parson.

Mal. Sir Topas, never was man thus wronged: good sir Topas, do not think I am mad; they have laid me here in hideous darkness.

2 as to say, a careful man, and a great scholar.] This refers to what went before: I am not fat enough to become the function well, nor lean enough to be thought a good student: it is plain then Shakspeare wrote:-as to say a graceful man, i. e. comely. To this the Oxford editor says, rectè. Warburton.

A careful man, I believe, means a man who has such a regard for his character, as to intitle him to ordination. Steevens.

M. Mason.

3 The competitors enter.] That is, the confederates or associates. The word competitor is used in the same sense in Richard III, and in the Two Gentlemen of Verona. 4- the old hermit of Prague,] This refers to a real personage. Steevens.

5 very wittily said-That, that is, is:] This is a very humorous banter of the rules established in the schools, that all reasonings are ex præcognitis et præconcessis, which lay the foundation of every science in these maxims, whatsoever is, is; and it is impossible for the same thing to be and not to be; with much trifling of the like kind. Warburton.

[blocks in formation]

Clo. Fy, thou dishonest Sathan! I call thee by the most modest terms; for I am one of those gentle ones, that will use the devil himself with courtesy: Say'st thou, that house is dark?

Mal. As hell, sir Topas.

Clo. Why, it hath bay-windows7 transparent as barricadoes, and the clear stones towards the south-north are as lustrous as ebony; and yet complainest thou of obstruction?

Mal. I am not mad, sir Topas; I say to you, this house is dark.

Clo. Madman, thou errest: I say, there is no darkness, but ignorance; in which thou art more puzzled, than the Egyptians in their fog.

Mal. I say, this house is as dark as ignorance, though ignorance were as dark as hell; and I say, there was

6 that house-] That mansion, in which you are now confined. The Clown gives this pompous appellation to the small room in which Malvolio, we may suppose, was confined, to exasperate him: The word it in the Clown's next speech plainly means Malvolio's chamber, and confirms this interpretation. Malone.

it hath bay-windows-] A bay-window is the same as a bow-window; a window in a recess, or bay. See A. Wood's Life, published by T. Hearne, 1730, p. 548 and 553. The following instances may likewise support the supposition : Cynthia's Revels, by Ben Jonson, 1600:

་་

retired myself into a bay-window," &c. Again, in Stowe's Chronicle of King Henry IV :

"As Tho. Montague rested him at a bay-window, a gun was levell'd," &c.

Again, in Middleton's Women beware Women:

"Tis a sweet recreation for a gentlewoman
"To stand in a bay-window, and see gallants."

Chaucer, in The Assemblie of Ladies, mentions bay-windows. Again, in King Henry the Sixth's Directions for building the Hall at King's College, Cambridge: :-" on every side thereof a baiewindow." Steevens.

See Minsheu's Drcr. in v: "A bay-window,--because it is builded in manner of a baie or rode for shippes, that is, round. ··L. Cavæ fenestræ. ̈ G. Une fenestre sert anthors de la maison.” Malone.

8

the clear stones-] The old copy has-stores. The emendation was made by the editor of the second folio.

Malone.

And yet, says Mr. Malone, the second folio is not worth three shillings. Steevens.

never man thus abused: I am no more mad than you are; make the trial of it in any constant question." Clo. What is the opinion of Pythagoras, concerning wild-fowl?

Mal. That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird.

Clo. What thinkest thou of his opinion?

Mal. I think nobly of the soul, and no way approve his opinion.

Clo. Fare thee well: Remain thou still in darkness: thou shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras, ere I will allow of thy wits; and fear to kill a woodcock,1 lest thou dispossess the soul of thy grandam. Fare thee well.

Mal. Sir Topas, sir Topas,

Sir To. My most exquisite sir Topas!

Clo. Nay, I am for all waters.2

9 constant question.] A settled, a determinate, a regular question. Johnson.

Rather, in any regular conversation, for so generally Shak. speare uses the word question. Malone.

1 to kill a woodcock,] The Clown mentions a woodcock particularly, because that bird was supposed to have very little brains, and therefore was a proper ancestor for a man out of his wits. Malone.

2 Nay, I am for all waters.] A phrase taken from the actor's ability of making the audience cry either with mirth or grief. Warburton.

I rather think this expression borrowed from sportsmen, and relating to the qualifications of a complete spaniel. Johnson. A cloak for all kinds of knavery; taken from the Italian proverb, Tu hai mantillo da ogni acqua. Smith.

Nay, I am for all waters.] I can turn my hand to any thing; I can assume any character I please; like a fish, I can swim equally well in all waters. Montaigne, speaking of Aristotle, says, that "he hath an oar in every water, and meddleth with all things." Florio's translation, 1603. In Florio's Second Fruites, 1591, I find an expression more nearly resembling that of the text: "I am a knight for all saddles." The equivoque suggested in the following note may, however, have been also in our author's thoughts. Malone.

The word water, as used by jewellers, denotes the colour and the lustre of diamonds, and from thence is applied, though with less propriety, to the colour and hue of other precious stones. I think that Shakspeare, in this place, alludes to this sense of

Mar. Thou might'st have done this without thy beard, and gown; he sees thee not.

Sir To. To him in thine own voice, and bring me word how thou findest him: I would, we were well rid of this knavery. If he may be conveniently delivered, I would he were; for I am now so far in offence with my niece, that I cannot pursue with any safety this sport to the upshot. Come by and by to my chamber. [Exeunt Sir To. and MAR.

Clo. Hey Robin, jolly Robin,3

Tell me how thy lady does.

[Singing.

the word water, not to those adopted either by Johnson or Warburton. The Clown is complimented by Sir Toby, for personating Sir Topas so exquisitely; to which he replies, that he can put on all colours, alluding to the word Topaz, which is the name of a jewel, and was also that of the Curate. M. Mason.

Mr. Henley has adopted the same idea; and adds, that "the Clown in his reply plays upon the name of Topas, and intimates that he could sustain as well the character of any other person, let him be called by what gem he might." Steevens.

3 Hey Robin, jolly Robin,] This song should certainly begin: "Hey, jolly Robin, tell to me

"How does thy lady do?—

"My lady is unkind, perdy.

"Alas, why is she so?" Farmer.

This ingenious emendation is now superseded by the proper readings of the old song itself, which is now printed from what appears the most ancient of Dr. Harrington's poetical MSS.The first stanza appears to be defective, and it should seem that a line is wanting, unless the four first words were lengthened in the tune. Percy.

The song, thus published, runs as follows:

"A Robyn,

"Jolly Robyn,

"Tell me how thy leman doeth,

"And thou shalt knowe of myn.

My lady is unkynde perde."

"Alack! why is so?

"She loveth an other better than me;

"And yet she will say no." &c. &c.

See Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, fourth edit. Vol. I, p. 194.

I hope to be excused if I add, that I do not immediately perceive how the copy of a song so metrically imperfect as the foregoing, can be permitted to extinguish the emendation proposed by Dr. Farmer. Steevens.

This song seems to be alluded to in the following passage of The Merchandises of Popish Priests, 4to. 1629, sign. F 2:

[blocks in formation]

Clo. She loves another-Who calls, ha?

Mal. Good fool, as ever thou wilt deserve well at my hand, help me to a candle, and pen, ink, and paper; as I am a gentleman, I will live to be thankful to thee for 't.

Clo. Master Malvolio!

Mal. Ay, good fool.

Clo. Alas, sir, how fell you besides your five wits?4 Mal. Fool, there was never man so notoriously abused: I am as well in my wits, fool, as thou art.

Clo. But as well? then you are mad, indeed, if you be no better in your wits than a fool.

Mal. They have here propertied me;5 keep me in darkness, send ministers to me, asses, and do all they can to face me out of my wits.

Clo. Advise you what you say; the minister is here.-Malvolio, Malvolio, thy wits the heavens restore! endeavour thyself to sleep, and leave thy vain bibble babble.

Mal. Sir Topas,

"There is no one so lively and jolly as St. Mathurine. I can best describe you this arch singer, by such common phrase as we use of him whom we see very lively and pleasantly disposed, we say this, His head is full of jolly Robbins." Reed.

4

your five wits?] Thus the five senses were anciently called. So, in King Lear, Edgar says:

"Bless thy five wits! Tom's a cold."

Again, in the old Morality of Every Man: "And remember, beaute, fyve wittes, strength, and dyscrecyon." Steevens.

The wits, Dr. Johnson some where observes, were reckoned five, in analogy to the five senses. From Stephen Hawes's poem called Graunde Amoure, ch. xxiv, edit. 1554, it appears that the five wits were-" common wit, imagination, fantasy, estimation, and memory." Wit in our author's time was the general term for the intellectual power. Malone.

5

-propertied me;] They have taken possession of me, as of a man unable to look to himself. Johnson.

« VorigeDoorgaan »