Page 628 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck and gull [335]
That e’er invention play’d on? Tell me, why?

OLIVIA
Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though I confess much like the character:

But, out of question, ’tis Maria’s hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was she [340]
First told me thou wast mad; then cam’st in smiling,

And in such forms which here were presuppos’d
Upon thee in the letter. Prithee, be content;
This practice hath most shrewdly pass’d upon thee.
But when we know the grounds and authors of it, [345]
Thou shalt be both plaintiff and the judge

Of thine own cause.

FABIAN
Good madam, her me speak,
And let no quarrel, nor no brawl to come,
Taint the condition of this present hour,

Which I have wonder’d at. In hope it shall not, [350]
Most freely I confess, myself and Toby
Set this device against Malvolio here,
Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts

We had conceiv’d against him. Maria writ
The letter, at Sir Toby’s great importance, [355]
In recompense whereof he hath married her.
How with a sportful malice it was follow’d

May rather pluck on laughter than revenge,
If that the injuries be justly weigh’d
That have on both sides pass’d. [360]

OLIVIA
Alas, poor fool, how have they baffled thee!

CLOWN
Why, ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have