should have special care of him, though immediately following the expression of her opinion that he is mad, has so little the effect of opening his eyes, dimmed with the scales of egotism, that he draws from the half contemptuous expression a perverse and flattering meaning. “Let this fellow be looked to ; fellow ! not Malvolio, nor after my degree, but fellow ! nothing that can be, can come
between me and the full prospect of my hopes.” Not even the direct accusations of the conspirators that he is mad, can excite a suspicion of the foolery of which he is both the agent and the butt. They are idle shallow things, not of his element; they will know more shortly, and have reason to behave more respectfully. This bantering scene is pregnant with comicality, and with reference to the old
fashioned ideas of madness and disease. While Sir Toby and Maria wickedly refer the cause of the supposed insanity to demoniacal possession, Fabian hits the more sensible expla– nation afforded by humoral pathology. “Fab. Here he is, here he is :—How is't with you, sir? how ist with you, man 7
Mal. Go off; I discard you ; let me enjoy my private ; Lo, how hollow the fiend speaks within him I did
off. goMar.
not I tell you ?—Sir Toby, my lady prays you to have a care of him.
Mal. Ah, ah
does she so :
Sir To. Go to, go to ; peace, peace, we must deal gently with him ; let me alone.
How do you, Malvolio 7 how is't
with you? What, man defy the devil: consider, he's an enemy to mankind. Mal Do you know what you say ? Mar. La you, an you speak ill of the devil, how he takes it at heart | Pray God, he be not bewitched : Fab. Carry his water to the wise woman. Mar. Marry, and it shall be done to-morrow morning, if I live My would not lose him for more than I'll say. Fab. No way but gentleness; gently, gently; the fiend is
i.
rough, and will not be roughly used.
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