Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 3

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Twelfth Night: Act 2, Scene 3

	Enter SIR TOBY BELCH and SIR ANDREW

	SIR TOBY BELCH
2.3.1	Approach, Sir Andrew: not to be abed after
	midnight is to be up betimes; and "diluculo	betimes in good time
	surgere," thou know'st—	diluculo surgere (The first two words of a Latin
		maxim which says, "to get up at dawn is very
	SIR ANDREW	healthful."
	Nay, by my troth, I know not; but	by my troth on my word
2.3.5	I know, to be up late is to be up late.

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	A false conclusion: I hate it as an unfilled can.	can tankard
	To be up after midnight and to go to bed then,
	is early: so that to go to bed after midnight is to
	go to bed betimes. Does not our life consist of
2.3.10	the four elements?	the four elements earth, water, air, and fire, the
		elements out of which everything is made >>>
	SIR ANDREW
	Faith, so they say; but I think it rather consists
	of eating and drinking.

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	Thou'rt a scholar; let us therefore eat and drink.	Thou'rt a scholar i.e., You're so smart!
	Marian, I say! a stoup of wine!	stoup large drinking cup

	Enter Clown

	SIR ANDREW
2.3.15	Here comes the fool, i' faith.

	Clown
	How now, my hearts! did you never see
	the picture of "we three"?	the picture of "we three" a picture of two fools
		or two asses (It's "we three" because the viewer
	SIR TOBY BELCH	is the third. The Clown is saying they're fools, too.)
	Welcome, ass. Now let's have a catch.	catch round (a song which two or more singers
		enter at different times, singing the same lyrics)
	SIR ANDREW
	By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast. I	breast breath, singing ability
2.3.20	had rather than forty shillings I had such a leg,	such a leg (Perhaps the Clown is showing his leg in
	and so sweet a breath to sing, as the fool has. In	an elaborate bow.)
	sooth, thou wast in very gracious fooling last night,	gracious delightful, inspired
	when thou spokest of Pigrogromitus, of the Vapians	Pigrogromitus . . . Queubus (The Clown was
	passing the equinoctial of Queubus: 'twas very good,	talking some nonsense that sounded astrological.)
2.3.25	i' faith. I sent thee sixpence for thy leman: hadst it?	equinoctial equator of the heavens
		leman sweetheart
	Clown
	I did impeticos thy gratillity; for Malvolio's nose	impeticos pocket up? \| gartillity little gratuity?
	is no whipstock: my lady has a white hand, and	whipstock whip handle
	the Myrmidons are no bottle-ale houses.	Myrmidons Achilles' troop
		bottle-ale houses low-class taverns, which sell
	SIR ANDREW	bottled, rather than draft, ale >>>
	Excellent! why, this is the best fooling, when all
2.3.30	is done. Now, a song.

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	Come on; there is sixpence for you: let's have
	a song.

	SIR ANDREW
	There's a testril of me too: if one knight	testril (A "tester" is a coin worth sixpence;
	give a—	Sir Andrew imitates the Clown's invention of
		"gratillity" by changing "tester" into "testril.")
	Clown
2.3.35	Would you have a love-song, or a song of
	good life?	good life virtuous living

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	A love-song, a love-song.

	SIR ANDREW
	Ay, ay. I care not for good life.

	Clown [Sings]
	O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
2.3.40	O, stay and hear; your true love's coming,
	That can sing both high and low:
	Trip no further, pretty sweeting;	Trip run lightly \| sweeting sweet one
	Journeys end in lovers meeting,	in lovers meeting when lovers meet
	Every wise man's son doth know.

	SIR ANDREW
2.3.45	Excellent good, i' faith.

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	Good, good.

	Clown [Sings]
	What is love? 'tis not hereafter;
	Present mirth hath present laughter;
	What's to come is still unsure:	still always
2.3.50	In delay there lies no plenty;
	Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty,	sweet and twenty sweet and twenty times
	Youth's a stuff will not endure.	more sweet

	SIR ANDREW
	A mellifluous voice, as I am true knight.

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	A contagious breath.	contagious breath catchy song; also stinking
		breath
	SIR ANDREW
2.3.55	Very sweet and contagious, i' faith.

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	To hear by the nose, it is dulcet in contagion.	To . . . contagion i.e., If the song could be heard
	But shall we make the welkin dance indeed? shall	via the nose, it would be sweetly stinking.
	we rouse the night-owl in a catch that will draw	welkin heavens
	three souls out of one weaver? shall we do that?	draw three souls out of one weaver >>>

	SIR ANDREW
2.3.60	An you love me, let's do't: I am dog at	An If \| dog at very good at
	a catch.

	Clown
	By'r lady, sir, and some dogs will catch well.	By'r lady By Our Lady, i.e., well said, you're
		so right, etc. \| some dogs will catch well >>>
	SIR ANDREW
	Most certain. Let our catch be, "Thou
	knave."	knave rascal, upstart, cheat,

	Clown
2.3.65	"Hold thy peace, thou knave," knight? I shall	Hold thy peace Be quiet, Shut up (Besides "Hold
	be constrained in't to call thee knave, knight.	thy peace, thou knave," the only other words of
		the catch are, "and I prithee hold thy peace.")
	SIR ANDREW
	'Tis not the first time I have constrained one to	'Tis . . . knave (Sir Andrew means he has challenged
	call me knave. Begin, fool: it begins "Hold thy	men to duels by daring them to call him a knave,
	peace."	but what it sounds like is that he has done such
		stupid things that people have had to call
	Clown	him "knave.")
2.3.70	I shall never begin if I hold my peace.

	SIR ANDREW
	Good, i' faith. Come, begin.

	Catch sung	*Catch sung* (Here we hear two drunks and a fool sing
		a round in which each one tells the next one that he
	Enter MARIA	is a knave and should shut up.)

	MARIA
	What a caterwauling do you keep here! If my lady	keep keep up (Like "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on
	have not called up her steward Malvolio and bid	the wall," "Thou knave" can go on and on and on.)
	him turn you out of doors, never trust me.

	SIR TOBY BELCH
2.3.75	My lady's a Cataian, we are politicians,
	Malvolio's a Peg-a-Ramsey, and [sings] "Three merry	Cataian . . . politicians . . . Peg-a-Ramsey >>>
	men be we." Am not I consanguineous? am I not	"Three merry men be we." (A fragment of an old
	of her blood? Tillyvally! Lady! [Sings]	song.) \| Tillyvally nonsense, fiddle-faddle
	"There dwelt a man in Babylon, lady, lady!"	"There dwelt a man in Babylon, lady, lady!"
		(Another fragment from another old song.)
	Clown
2.3.80	Beshrew me, the knight's in admirable fooling.	Beshrew me (A mild oath, like "Dang me.")

	SIR ANDREW
	Ay, he does well enough if he be disposed,	be disposed is in the mood
	and so do I too. He does it with a better grace,
	but I do it more natural.	natural naturally (But a "natural" is an idiot,
		so Sir Andrew has once again made fun of himself,
	SIR TOBY BELCH [Sings]	without realizing it.)
	"O, the twelfth day of December"—	"O, the twelfth day of December" (Still another
		fragment from an old song.)
	MARIA
2.3.85	For the love o' God, peace!	peace! quiet!

	Enter MALVOLIO

	MALVOLIO
	My masters, are you mad? or what are you? Have
	ye no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like	honesty decency
	tinkers at this time of night? Do ye make an	tinkers (Tinkers were reputed to be foul-mouthed
	alehouse of my lady's house, that ye squeak out your	drunkards.)
2.3.90	coziers' catches without any mitigation or remorse	coziers' cobblers'
	of voice? Is there no respect of place, persons, nor	mitigation or remorse lowering (of your voice)
	time in you?	out of regard for others

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	We did keep time, sir, in our catches.
	Sneck up!	Sneck up! Go hang!

	MALVOLIO
2.3.95	Sir Toby, I must be round with you. My lady bade	round blunt, up-front \| bade ordered
	me tell you, that, though she harbours you as her	harbours you gives you a place to stay
	kinsman, she's nothing allied to your disorders. If	nothing allied to no kin to
	you can separate yourself and your misdemeanors,
	you are welcome to the house; if not, an it would	an if
2.3.100	please you to take leave of her, she is very willing
	to bid you farewell.

	SIR TOBY BELCH [Sings]
	"Farewell, dear heart, since I must needs be gone."	"Farewell . . . " (This and the following sung lines
		are from a sentimental ballad, Corydon's Farewell
	MARIA	to Phillis.)
	Nay, good Sir Toby.

	Clown [Sings.]
	"His eyes do show his days are almost done."

	MALVOLIO
2.3.105	Is't even so?

	SIR TOBY BELCH [Sings.]
	"But I will never die."

	Clown
	Sir Toby, there you lie.

	MALVOLIO
	This is much credit to you.	credit honor (Malvolio is being heavily ironic.)

	SIR TOBY BELCH [Sings.]
	"Shall I bid him go?"

	Clown [Sings.]
2.3.110	"What an if you do?"	an if if

	SIR TOBY BELCH [Sings.]
	"Shall I bid him go, and spare not?"

	Clown [Sings.]
	"O no, no, no, no, you dare not."

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	[To Clown.] Out o' tune, sir! ye lie.	ye lie you're lying (because I certainly do dare
	[To Malvolio.] Art any more than a steward?	to tell Malvolio where to go)
2.3.115	Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous
	there shall be no more cakes and ale?	cakes and ale i.e., party food and drink

	Clown
	Yes, by Saint Anne, and ginger shall be	Saint Anne mother of the the Virgin (Puritans
	hot i' the mouth too.	objected to her cult.) \| ginger (Commonly used
		to spice ale.)
	SIR TOBY BELCH
	Thou'rt i' the right. Go, sir, rub your chain	rub (to polish it) \| chain i.e., the decorative chain
2.3.120	with crumbs. A stoup of wine, Maria!	that Malvolio wears as a badge of his office as
		steward to Olivia.
	MALVOLIO
	Mistress Mary, if you prized my lady's favour
	at any thing more than contempt, you would not
	give means for this uncivil rule. She shall know	give means for this uncivil rule i.e., provide the
	of it, by this hand.	wine that lubricates this rowdy behavior (Sir Toby
		has just called for wine, and Malvolio is outraged
	Exit MALVOLIO	that she is serving it.)

	MARIA
2.3.125	Go shake your ears.	Go shake your ears (Since they are long ass's ears.)

	SIR ANDREW
	'Twere as good a deed as to drink when a man's
	a-hungry, to challenge him the field, and then to	to challenge him the field to challenge him to a duel
	break promise with him and make a fool of him.	break promise with him i.e., not show up at the duel

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	Do't, knight: I'll write thee a challenge: or I'll
2.3.130	deliver thy indignation to him by word of mouth.

	MARIA
	Sweet Sir Toby, be patient for tonight: since the
	youth of the Count's was today with thy lady, she
	is much out of quiet. For Monsieur Malvolio, let	much out of quiet upset, distracted
	me alone with him: if I do not gull him into a	let me alone with him leave him to me \| gull trick
2.3.135	ayword, and make him a common recreation, do	ayword byword (for an ass)
	not think I have wit enough to lie straight in my	common recreation general laughingstock
	bed. I know I can do it.

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	Possess us, possess us; tell us something	Possess us Inform us, tell us your plan
	of him.

	MARIA
2.3.140	Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind of puritan.	puritan puritan; also of the Puritan party in
		the Anglican church.
	SIR ANDREW
	O, if I thought that I'ld beat him like a	(Maybe Sir Andrew has a prejudice against the
	dog!	religious Puritans, but he's probably just shooting
		his mouth off.)
	SIR TOBY BELCH
	What, for being a puritan? thy exquisite reason,	exquisite amusingly clever
	dear knight?

	SIR ANDREW
2.3.145	I have no exquisite reason for't, but I have reason
	good enough.

	MARIA
	The dev'l a puritan that he is, or any thing constantly,	The dev'l a puritan that he is i.e., Like hell he's a
	but a time-pleaser; an affectioned ass, that cons	puritan \| time-pleaser suck-up \| affectioned affected
	state without book and utters it by great swarths; the	cons state without book memorizes the sayings of
2.3.150	best persuaded of himself, so crammed, as he thinks,	great men \| utters it by great swarths spews it out in
	with excellencies, that it is his grounds of faith	huge chunks \| the best persuaded of himself having
	that all that look on him love him; and on that vice in	such a high opinion of himself
	him will my revenge find notable cause to work.	grounds of faith fundamental belief

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	What wilt thou do?

	MARIA
2.3.155	I will drop in his way some obscure epistles of
	love; wherein, by the colour of his beard, the shape	obscure epistles of love ambiguously worded
	of his leg, the manner of his gait, the expressure	love-letters \| expressure expression
	of his eye, forehead, and complexion, he shall find	complexion general appearance
	himself most feelingly personated. I can write very	most feelingly personated exactly represented
2.3.160	like my lady your niece: on a forgotten matter we	a forgotten matter i.e., anything written so long
	can hardly make distinction of our hands.	ago that they can't remember who wrote it
		our hands our handwriting
	SIR TOBY BELCH
	Excellent! I smell a device.	device trick, plot

	SIR ANDREW
	I have't in my nose too.

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	He shall think, by the letters that thou wilt drop,
2.3.165	that they come from my niece, and that she's in
	love with him.

	MARIA
	My purpose is, indeed, a horse of that colour.

	SIR ANDREW
	And your horse now would make him an
	ass.

	MARIA
2.3.170	Ass, I doubt not.	Ass . . . not. i.e., both of: "An ass Malvolio will be,
		I am certain," and "Ass (Sir Andrew), I am certain."
	SIR ANDREW
	O, 'twill be admirable!

	MARIA
	Sport royal, I warrant you: I know my physic will	physic medicine, especially the kind that causes
	work with him. I will plant you two, and let the	vomiting, etc. \| let the fool make a third (Apparently
	fool make a third, where he shall find the letter:	the Clown left some time ago. Also, it turns out that
2.3.175	observe his construction of it. For this night, to	Fabian, not the Clown, joins Toby and Andrew in
	bed, and dream on the event. Farewell.	observing Malvolio.) \| construction interpretation
		event the outcome (of the trick to be played on
	Exit MARIA	Malvolio)

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	Good night, Penthesilea.	Penthesilea Queen of the Amazons (Sir Toby is
		making an affectionate joke. Penthesila was large
	SIR ANDREW	and fierce; Maria is small, but just as fierce.)
	Before me, she's a good wench.	Before me i.e., on my soul

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	She's a beagle, true-bred, and one that adores me.	a beagle, true-bred i.e., a good companion and
2.3.180	What o' that?	hunter, just like a purebred beagle
		What o' that? (Sir Toby seems puzzled by Maria's
	SIR ANDREW	affection for him.)
	I was adored once too.	I was adored once too. (Poor Sir Andrew!)

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	Let's to bed, knight. Thou hadst need send for
	more money.

	SIR ANDREW
	If I cannot recover your niece, I am a foul	recover win \| a foul way out stuck in the mud and
2.3.185	way out.	off course (Sir Andrew needs Olivia's money.)

	SIR TOBY BELCH
	Send for money, knight; if thou hast her not i'
	the end, call me cut.	cut (A term of abuse, perhaps derived from the use
		of "cut" to refer to a poor quality horse, one that
	SIR ANDREW	has had its tail docked or been gelded.)
	If I do not, never trust me, take it how
	you will.

	SIR TOBY BELCH
2.3.190	Come, come, I'll go burn some sack; 'tis too	burn warm up \| sack a Spanish wine
	late to go to bed now: come, knight, come,
2.3.192	knight.

	Exeunt

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