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Every why hath a wherefore.

      — The Comedy of Errors, Act II Scene 2

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1

Twelfth Night
[I, 1]

Orsino

2

If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe'er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.

2

Twelfth Night
[I, 1]

Orsino

20

Why, so I do, the noblest that I have:
O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
Methought she purged the air of pestilence!
That instant was I turn'd into a hart;
And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,
E'er since pursue me.
[Enter VALENTINE]
How now! what news from her?

3

Twelfth Night
[I, 1]

Orsino

37

O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame
To pay this debt of love but to a brother,
How will she love, when the rich golden shaft
Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else
That live in her; when liver, brain and heart,
These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and fill'd
Her sweet perfections with one self king!
Away before me to sweet beds of flowers:
Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.

4

Twelfth Night
[I, 2]

Viola

65

For saying so, there's gold:
Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,
Whereto thy speech serves for authority,
The like of him. Know'st thou this country?

5

Twelfth Night
[I, 2]

Captain

77

And so is now, or was so very late;
For but a month ago I went from hence,
And then 'twas fresh in murmur,—as, you know,
What great ones do the less will prattle of,—
That he did seek the love of fair Olivia.

6

Twelfth Night
[I, 2]

Captain

83

A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count
That died some twelvemonth since, then leaving her
In the protection of his son, her brother,
Who shortly also died: for whose dear love,
They say, she hath abjured the company
And sight of men.

7

Twelfth Night
[I, 2]

Captain

93

That were hard to compass;
Because she will admit no kind of suit,
No, not the duke's.

8

Twelfth Night
[I, 2]

Viola

96

There is a fair behavior in thee, captain;
And though that nature with a beauteous wall
Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee
I will believe thou hast a mind that suits
With this thy fair and outward character.
I prithee, and I'll pay thee bounteously,
Conceal me what I am, and be my aid
For such disguise as haply shall become
The form of my intent. I'll serve this duke:
Thou shall present me as an eunuch to him:
It may be worth thy pains; for I can sing
And speak to him in many sorts of music
That will allow me very worth his service.
What else may hap to time I will commit;
Only shape thou thy silence to my wit.

9

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Sir Toby Belch

116

What a plague means my niece, to take the death of
her brother thus? I am sure care's an enemy to life.

10

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Maria

122

Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modest
limits of order.

11

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Maria

128

That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard
my lady talk of it yesterday; and of a foolish
knight that you brought in one night here to be her wooer.

12

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Sir Toby Belch

138

Fie, that you'll say so! he plays o' the
viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four languages
word for word without book, and hath all the good
gifts of nature.

13

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Maria

142

He hath indeed, almost natural: for besides that
he's a fool, he's a great quarreller: and but that
he hath the gift of a coward to allay the gust he
hath in quarrelling, 'tis thought among the prudent
he would quickly have the gift of a grave.

14

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Sir Toby Belch

147

By this hand, they are scoundrels and subtractors
that say so of him. Who are they?

15

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Sir Andrew Aguecheek

169

By my troth, I would not undertake her in this
company. Is that the meaning of 'accost'?

16

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Sir Andrew Aguecheek

186

Are you full of them?

17

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Sir Toby Belch

190

O knight thou lackest a cup of canary: when did I
see thee so put down?

18

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Sir Andrew Aguecheek

192

Never in your life, I think; unless you see canary
put me down. Methinks sometimes I have no more wit
than a Christian or an ordinary man has: but I am a
great eater of beef and I believe that does harm to my wit.

19

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Sir Toby Belch

204

Then hadst thou had an excellent head of hair.

20

Twelfth Night
[I, 3]

Sir Andrew Aguecheek

211

Faith, I'll home to-morrow, Sir Toby: your niece
will not be seen; or if she be, it's four to one
she'll none of me: the count himself here hard by woos her.

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