18. for turning away, &c. The obvious meaning is, that the season being summer, Feste does not strongly object to losing his situation. It has, however, been ingeniously suggested that the jester is punning on 'turning away' and 'turning o' whey'. Yet another alternative is the summer will settle that', inasmuch as she will feel the want of him before it is over.

21. Maria's reply turns on the meaning of the word 'points' which was used for the laces with which the hose were fastened up. Cf. the pun in Henry IV., ii. 4. 238, "Their [sword] points being broken-Down fell their hose". Blackstone explains 'points' as an arrangement of 'hooks and eyes'; but other references-eg. silken point", 1 Henry IV., i. 53-certainly imply that they were laces.

21. That for 'so that'. Cf. i. I. 10, note.

22. gaskins, loose breeches; so called from 'Gascony'. Sometimes we find the form 'galligaskins'. Hence, another derivation, from garguesques=gregesques = Greek. See Glossary.

23. apt, 'to the point'.

24. The Clown, being fairly matched in the encounter of wits, reverts with success to a personality, implying that Maria is trying to catch Sir Toby for a husband-as she does at the end of the play.

27. you were best, 'it were best for you'. Cf. Julius Caesar, iii. 3. 13, "Ay, and truly, you were best ". Properly, the construction is impersonal, 'you' being dative. This being misunderstood, the erroneous personal construction 'I were best', in place of 'me were best', came into general use. Sh. Gr. 230, 352.

31. Quinapalus. The Clown is given to inventing high-sounding and learned names. Cf. ii. 3. 23. The learning of the day was apt to be accompanied by a pedantry which was somewhat fantastic, and this is the object of Feste's ridicule.

32. Enter Olivia. Olivia and the Duke have this in common, that they both find a genuine satisfaction in nursing their melancholy and making an extravagant parade of it; while neither of them is nearly as much wrapped up in it as both persuade themselves that they are. In fact, each is secretly rather tired of keeping up the play, and distinctly relieved when a plausible opportunity offers for dropping it. Olivia, in particular, is already obviously beginning to be in want of a new 'sensation' if she can get it without loss of dignity. Hence her readiness to be gracious to the fool, after a small show of formal indignation. Feste is alive to the situation, or his 'proof' (72-77) would be too audacious even for him.

35. The Clown saves himself from the punishment with which Maria had threatened him by making the attack himself. 36. dry, 'dull'. Cf. note on 3. 77. 37. dishonest, 'badly behaved', as for 'respectable', 'decently conducted'.

'honest' is used generally There is perhaps a refer

a

ence to improprieties of a more specific kind implied in Feste's prolonged absence without leave.

38. madonna, 'my lady'. Feste addresses Olivia by this title frequently, but it occurs nowhere else in Shakespeare.

41. botcher, 'patcher', 'cobbler'.

42. patched.

The jester's clothes were 'patched' or particoloured; therefore, if he did not amend himself, the botcher was still bound to 'patch' him.

44. This simple syllogism. A syllogism is a logical statement consisting of three propositions, of which, if the two first (the 'premisses') be true, the third must be so also. Feste has not stated his simple syllogism, but his argument is that he and Olivia are in the same case he is sin patched with repentance; she is virtue patched with transgression: both, therefore, are 'patches'--ergo, both are fools.

45, 46. At this stage Feste takes refuge in deliberate nonsense, a device to which he is always ready to turn when an apposite remark fails him. It has the advantage of setting the listener off in search of a subtle witticism; or, in the case of Sir Andrew, of making him sure that something vastly witty has been said because he cannot see where the point lies.

49. misprision, misapprehension. In the highest degree introduces a play upon the legal use of the term in 'misprision of treason' or 'of felony', i.e. knowledge of the crime coupled with concealment of it.

49, 50. cucullus, &c. It is not the cowl that makes the monk'. The clown airs his long words and scraps of Latin with unction. Here the interpretation is, 'it is not the suit of motley that makes the fool'.

66

54. dexteriously, doubtless an intentional mispronunciation. The form, however, actually occurs in Bacon's Advancement of Learning. 56. good my mouse. Cf. ii. 3. 191, note on dear my sweet ". mouse, an endearing term—the clown deliberately straining his privileges to the utmost so as to make it all the more difficult for Olivia to revert to her other complaint against him.

69. decays, 'causes to decay'. So in Sonnet lxv. 8"rocks impregnable are not so stout,

Nor gates of steel so strong but time decays".

76. barren, 'dull', as in i. 3. 84.

77. ordinary, i.e. one who has not attained the position of an 'allowed' or 'set kind of' fool.

81. crow, 'laugh aloud'. So Jaques in As You Like It, ii. 7. 30, "My lungs began to crow like chanticleer".

(M 38)

G

81. these set kind of fools. 'Kind of', 'sort of', followed by a plural, are often incorrectly treated as forming a plural noun, accompanied by a plural pronoun. So Lear, ii. 2. 107, "These kind of knaves I know". Sh. Gr. 212.

82. fools' zanies, the buffoons who attended performing fools or tumblers, like the clowns in a modern circus. Cf. Ben Jonson, Every Man Out of His Humour, iv. I—

"He's like the zany to a tumbler

That tries tricks after him, to make men laugh".

82. zany: for derivation see Glossary.

84. distempered, 'disordered'.

85. bird-bolts, short blunt arrows.

86. allowed, 'licensed'. See Glossary.

87. nor no railing: the double negative is common in Shakespeare. Cf. ii. I. I, 66 nor will you not that I go with you?" and nor I am not sent to you by my lady", &c.

iv. I. 6, 66 89. leasing, lying'. Mercury was the patron of thieves, and consequently skill in lying (which Feste regards as a useful accomplishment) would be a natural gift for him to bestow. Warburton calls this a stupid blunder" of the printers, and wishes to read pleasing, which would have no connection with Mercury, and would be most uncomplimentary to Olivia, as implying that she was not already endowed with the power of pleasing.

91. a young gentleman much desires. relative is common.

This omission of the Cf. Merchant, i. 1..175, "I have a mind presages me such thrift". Other instances in this play occur at ii. 1. 21; 4. 110; &c.

98. speaks nothing but madman, i.e. in the character of madCf. Henry V., v. 2. 156, “I speak to thee plain soldier”.

man.

103. spoke: see i. 4. 20, note on 'spoke'.

10. for-here he comes-one: Ff. here he comes one. Former editors read here comes; but, whereas the printers might very easily have dropped the hyphens (which the Cambridge edd. inserted), they would not have been likely to insert he'. In emending the text, it is important to credit printers with probable, not improbable

errors.

105. pia mater, properly the membrane covering the brain, and so transferred to the brain itself.

106. What is he. Cf. i. 2. 35, note.

110. Sir Toby's speech is interrupted by the results of his potations, which he proceeds to attribute to pickle-herring. He has, in fact, passed the cheerful and reached the irritable stage of intoxi"Ay marry

cation.

124. crowner, 'coroner'. Cf. Hamlet, v. 1. 20, crowner's quest law". See Glossary.

is't:

me

129. yond, 'yonder'.

136. Has. For the omission of "he' cf. v. I. 192, "Has hurt

وو

137. a sheriff's post, the post fixed by the sheriff's door for proclamations and announcements.

142. of very ill manner. The grave Malvolio condescends to a solemn jest, out of consideration, no doubt, for his mistress's weak

ness.

146. a squash, 'an unripe peascod'. Cf. Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. I. 191—

"Bot. Your name, honest gentleman?

Peas. Peaseblossom.

Bot. I pray you, commend me to Mistress Squash, your mother, and to Master Peascod, your father."

147. in standing water, i.e. at the turn of the tide' when it is neither ebbing nor flowing. Cf. Tempest, ii. 1. 221—

"Seb.

Well, I am standing water.

Ant. I'll teach you how to flow.

Seb.

Hereditary sloth instructs me."

149. shrewishly, 'sharply'.

origin. See Glossary.

162. con, 'learn by heart'.

Do so; to ebb

'Shrewdly' is the same word in

Cf. Julius Caesar, iv. 3. 98— "all his faults observed,

Set in a notebook, learned and conn'd by rote".

163. comptible, 'sensitive', easy to call to account'; not as Warburton took it, 'ready to call to account', a remark which would be neither diplomatic nor in character.

166. modest, 'moderate', 'enough to satisfy me'.

170. my profound heart. My heart' or 'my hearts' (as in ii. 3. 15, q.v.) is a common form of affectionate or general address, but is somewhat familiar for even so audacious a young gentleman as Viola.

173. usurp = 'counterfeit '. 131

So Taming of the Shrew, Ind. 1.

"I know the boy will well usurp the grace,
Voice, gait, and action of a gentlewoman".

176. from my commission, 'outside' it. Cf. Julius Caesar,

i. 1. 74

176. I will on. For omission of verb of motion, cf. Julius Caesar, i. 1. 69, "This way will I".

183, 184. If you be not mad, &c. Commentators, not seeing the distinction between 'not mad' and 'having reason', have proposed if you be mad, to make an antithesis. But the point is 'to stay is mere madness, but if you are bent on giving reasons be brief'. 185. that time of moon. Lunatics were supposed to be at their worst at full moon. Olivia means that she is not so very mad her

self.

185. skipping, 'flighty', 'silly'. Cf. Henry IV., iii. 2. 60, "the skipping king".

188. swabber, scrubber', one employed in swabbing or cleaning the decks on board ship.

188. to hull, to lie without hoisting sail.

189. your giant, your big guardian', Maria being evidently a small person. Sir Toby calls her 'The youngest wren of nine'. Perhaps an additional point would be given from the fact that it was at one time fashionable for ladies to have dwarfs in attendance. 190. Tell me your mind, &c. Usually given to Viola, but this seems to lack point. Perhaps something is omitted. reading here adopted is Warburton's.

The

Viola would imply by this that she is not there to speak her own mind, but to deliver a message. 193. courtesy, 'when it demands so much ceremony'.

194. 'It concerns your ear alone'.

195. taxation of homage, 'claim for homage'.

200. my entertainment, my reception'.

203. divinity: Olivia goes on playing on Viola's phrase and treats her 'divinity' as a theological discourse.

217. draw the curtain. Cf. 3. 135, note, sub fin.

218. Such a one I was this present: the reading is hardly satisfactory. Hunter explains, such a one I was a few minutes ago'. Singer conjectures as this presents: which is plausible, since 'as' might have been dropped, coming immediately after 'was'. The change from 'present' to 'presents' is, however, superfluous. In any case, the sense seems to be 'you can see now what I looked like when Orsino saw me'.

220. ingrain, i.e. a 'fast' colour which will not wash out; a colour used in the manufacture, not laid on afterwards.

221. Viola is quite above that supposed weakness of her sex by which they are held incapable of perceiving a rival's beauty. Her praise is obviously perfectly sincere and unpremeditated.

221. blent, 'blended'. Formed on the analogy of bent', 'spent', &c. 'Blent' and 'blended' exist side by side, just as do

bent' and 'bended'.

223. the cruell'st she. For 'she' used as a substantive= woman, cf. As You Like It, iii. 2. 10, "The fair, the chaste, the unexpressive she".