The Stratford gallery; . ve a woman can bear meAnd that I owe Olivia. Vio. Ay, but I know— Duke. What dost thou know ? Vio. Too well what love women to men may owe:In faith, they are as true of heart as father had a daughter lovd a man—As it might bef perhaps, were I a woman,I should yourtordship. Duke. • And whats her history ? Vio. A blank, my lord : She never told her love ;But let concealment, like a worm i the bud,Feed on her damask cheek. She pind in thought;And, with a green and yellow melancholy,She sat, like Patience on a monument,Smiling at grief. Was not this love, indeed ?We
The Stratford gallery; . ve a woman can bear meAnd that I owe Olivia. Vio. Ay, but I know— Duke. What dost thou know ? Vio. Too well what love women to men may owe:In faith, they are as true of heart as father had a daughter lovd a man—As it might bef perhaps, were I a woman,I should yourtordship. Duke. • And whats her history ? Vio. A blank, my lord : She never told her love ;But let concealment, like a worm i the bud,Feed on her damask cheek. She pind in thought;And, with a green and yellow melancholy,She sat, like Patience on a monument,Smiling at grief. Was not this love, indeed ?We men may say more, swear more ; but, indeed,Our shows are more than will; for still we proveMuch in our vows, but little in our love. Duke. But died thy sister of her love, my boy ? Vio. I am all the daughters of my fathers house,And all the brothers too ;—and yet I know not.—Sir, shall I to this lady ? Duke. Ay! thats the theme. To her in haste ; give her this jewel; sayMy love can give no place, bide no OLIVIA. The prominent events in the history of the Countess Oliviahave already been noted in the chapter devoted to Viola. Cele-brated for beanty—the charm of which is doubtless enhancedby the quantity of dirty lands whereof she is mistress—ofa smooth, discreet, and stable bearing, swaying her house,commanding her followers, with the innate dignity of a lady ac-customed from birth to princely surroiuidings, she has neverthe-less all the legitimate caprices of an imperious belle. Olivia persistently rejects the violent suit of an accomplished,elegant nobleman—a parti exactly suited in every particular toher station in life—to bestow her coveted favors on the obscurelittle page of her princely lover; and the very condescension im-plied in this eccentricity acquits her love for Viola of the chargeof indelicacy. We regard her sudden fancy for the pretty boy asthe unchecked whim of the moment; to use her own words, itwas that time of moon with her to be so
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