Malvolio following8 note.
Mal.
Were not you even now with the countess
Olivia?
Vio.
Even now, sir: on a moderate pace I have
since arrived but hither.
Mal.
She returns this ring to you, sir: you might
have saved me my pains, to have taken it away yourself.
She adds, moreover, that you should put your
lord into a desperate assurance she will none of him.
And one thing more; that you be never so hardy to
-- 351 --
come again in his affairs, unless it be to report your
lord's taking of this: receive it so9 note.
Vio.
She took the ring of me! 11Q0449—I'll none of it.
Mal.
Come, sir; you peevishly threw it to her, and
her will is, it should be so returned: if it be worth
stooping for, there it lies in your eye; if not, be it his
that finds it.
[Exit.
Vio.
I left no ring with her: what means this lady?
Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her!
She made good view of me; indeed, so much,
That, methought9 note, her eyes had lost her tongue,
For she did speak in starts distractedly.
She loves me, sure: the cunning of her passion
Invites me in this churlish messenger.
None of my lord's ring? why, he sent her none.
I am the man:—if it be so, as 'tis,
Poor lady, she were better love a dream.
Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness,
Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
How easy is it, for the proper false
In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!
Alas! our frailty is the cause, not we,
For such as we are made, if such we be1 note
.
-- 352 --
How will this fadge2 note? My master loves her dearly;
And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.
What will become of this? As I am man,
My state is desperate for my master's love;
As I am woman, now alas the day!
What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe.
O time! thou must untangle this, not I;
It is too hard a knot for me t' untie.
[Exit.
J. Payne Collier [1842–1844], The works of William Shakespeare. The text formed from an entirely new collation of the old editions: with the various readings, notes, a life of the poet, and a history of the Early English stage. By J. Payne Collier, Esq. F.S.A. In eight volumes (Whittaker & Co. [etc.], London) [word count] [S10101].
