Fal. Truly, mine host, I must turn away some of my followers.

Pist. Two yards, and more.
Fal. No quips now, Pistol:-indeed, I am in

Fal. I sit at ten pounds a-week.

Host. Thou'rt an emperor, Cæsar, Keisar, and Pheezar.37 I will entertain Bardolph; he shall draw, he shall tap: said I well, bully Hector? Fal. Do so, good mine host.

Host. I have spoke; let him follow. Let me see thee froth and lime: 38 I am at a word; follow. [Exit. | Fal. Bardolph, follow him. A tapster is a good trade: an old cloak makes a new jerkin; a withered serving-man a fresh tapster. Go; adieu. Bard. It is a life that I have desired: I will thrive.

Pist. Oh, base Gongarian wight!39 wilt thou the spigot wield ? [Exit BARDOLPH. Nym. He was gotten in drink: is not the humour conceited? His mind is not heroic, and there's the humour of it.

Fal. I am glad I am so acquit of this tinderbox: his thefts were too open; his filching was like an unskilful singer,—he kept not time.

Nym. The good humour is to steal at a minim's

rest.10

Pist. ""

Convey," ," the wise it call. "Steal!" foh! a fico for the phrase!

Fal. Well, sirs, I am almost out at heels.
Pist. Why, then, let kibes12 ensue.

Fal. There is no remedy; I must coney-catch; I must shift.

Pist. Young ravens must have food,

Fal. Which of you know Ford of this town? Pist. I ken the wight: he is of substance good. | Fal. My honest lads, I will tell you what I am about.

complimentary attributes. And though to "rook" meant to cheat, swindle, play the sharper; yet the Host apparently thinks that to call Falstaff a “rook" is no more offensive than if he were facetiously to style him 'rogue,'

37. Keisar and Pheezar. Keisar is the German word for Cæsar, or emperor; and Kings and Keisars' was a common phrase. "Pheezar" is a word jocosely made from 'pheeze,' to vex, worry, or harry; and invented by the Host to make a jingle with Cæsar and Keisar, as well as to indicate Falstaft's vexed state of mind.

38. Froth and lime, To make beer froth up in the tankard, and to make wine sparkle in the glass, by putting lime into it, were tapster accomplishments of which the Host requires a specimen from his newly engaged drawer.

39. Gongarian wight. Pistol's sounding substitution for Hungarian; which was a term of reproach, as the gypsies came from Hungary and Bohemia, and were synonymous with vagabonds. 'Wight" is an old word for a person,'' an individual.'

waste; I am about thrift. Briefly, I do mean to make love to Ford's wife: I spy entertainment in her; she discourses, she carves,43 she gives the leer of invitation: I can construe the action of her familiar style; and the hardest voice of her behaviour, to be Englished rightly, is, "I am Sir John Falstaff's."

Pist. He hath studied her well, and translated her well,-out of honesty into English.

Nym. The anchor is deep:" will that humour pass ?

Fal. Now, the report goes, she has all the rule of her husband's purse: -he hath a legion of angels." Pist. As many devils entertain; and "To her, boy," say I.

Nym. The humour rises; it is good: humour me the angels.

46

Fal. I have writ me here a letter to her: and here another to Page's wife, who even now gave me good eyes too, examined my parts with most judicious eyeliads; sometimes the beam of her view gilded my foot, sometimes my portly body. Pist. Then did the sun on dunghill shine. Nym. I thank thee for that humour.

Fal. Oh, her eye did seem to scorch me up like a burning-glass! Here's another letter to her: she bears the purse too; she is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty. I will be cheater" to them both, and they shall be exchequers to me; they shall be my East and West Indies, and I will trade to them both. Go bear thou this letter to Mistress Page; and thou this to Mistress Ford: we will thrive, lads, we will thrive.

Pist. Shall I Sir Pandarus of Troy become, And by my side wear steel? then, Lucifer take all!

41. Convey. To "convey," and "conveyance," were smooth terms for making away with. "Fico," Spanish; fig. 42. Kibes. [See Note 26, Act ii., "Tempest."]

43. She carves. To "carve," in its usual sense of dividing and dispensing food at table, seems to have been an accomplishment of much significance in courtesy or gallantry, when a lady performed this act to a gentleman; but in a peculiar sense it formerly bore,—that of making a sign with the little finger to engage the favoured person's attention,-it denoted exactly the sort of gesture which might be supposed to accompany "the leer of invitation."

44. The anchor is deep. The "humour" of this is too profound for fathoming, as Nym himself seems to think.

45. Angels. Gold coin, bearing the impress of an "angel," in memory of Pope Gregory's punning compliment on Angli (English) and Angeli (Angels). The value of the piece was about ten shillings. 46. Eyeliads.

pitious looks.

47. Cheater.

French, willades; favouring glances, pro

A corruption of 'escheator;' whose office it was to inform the Exchequer of such escheats' (from the old French, escheoir, to fall due) as became forfeit to the Crown.

Nym. I will run no base humour: here, take the humour-letter: I will keep the 'haviour of reputation.

Fal. [To ROBIN] Hold, sirrah, bear you these letters tightly:48

Sail like my pinnace" to these golden shores.— [Exit ROBIN. Rogues, hence, avaunt! vanish like hailstones, go; Trudge, plod away o' the hoof; seek shelter, pack! Falstaff will learn the humour of this age, French thrift, you rogues; myself and skirted page. [Exit. Let vultures gripe thy paunch! for gourd and fullam holds,

Pist.

50

And high and low beguile the rich and poor: Tester I'll have in pouch when thou shalt lack, Base Phrygian Turk!

Nym. I have operations in my head, which be humours of revenge.

Pist. Wilt thou revenge?

Nym. By welkin 53 and her stars!

Pist. With wit, or steel?

Nym. With both the humours, I:

I will discuss the humour of this love to Page.
Pist. And I to Ford shall eke unfold

How Falstaff, varlet vile,

His dove will prove, his gold will hold,
And his soft couch defile.

Nym. My humour shall not cool: I will incense Page to deal with poison; I will possess him with yellowness, for the revolt of miens is dangerous: that is my true humour.

54

52. Tester. Verona."]

[See Note 12, Act. i. "Two Gentlemen of

53. Welkin. [See Note 11, Act i., "Tempest."] 54 Yellowness. Used for jealousy, because that passion excites the bile, and tinges the skin with a jaundiced hue.

55. The revolt of mien. "Mien" is spelt 'mine' in the Folio [See Note 29, Act ii., "Two Gentlemen of Verona"]; but the context here, "yellowness," makes "mien," that is, appearance, look, complexion of countenance, the probable word. Shakespeare elsewhere uses "revolt" in the sense of change;' therefore "revolt of mien" probably means that 'change of counte

Quick. Go; and we'll have a posset for't soon at night, in faith, at the latter end of a sea-coal fire. [Exit RUGBY.] An honest, willing, kind fellow, as ever servant shall come in house withal; and, I warrant you, no tell-tale nor no breedbate:s his worst fault is, that he is given to prayer; he is something peevish 58 that way: but nobody but has his fault; but let that pass.-Peter Simple you say your name is ?

Sim. Ay, for fault of a better.

Quick. And Master Slender's your master?
Sim. Ay, forsooth.

Quick. Does he not wear a great round beard, like a glover's paring-knife?

Sim. No, forsooth: he hath but a little wee face, with a little yellow beard-a cane-coloured beard. 59 Quick. A softly-sprighted man, is he not?

Sim. Ay, forsooth: but he is as tall a man of his hands as any is between this and his head; he hath fought with a warrener.

Quick. How say you ?-Oh, I should remember him: does he not hold up his head, as it were, and strut in his gait ?

Sim. Yes, indeed, does he.

58. Peevish. Silly, worryingly foolish and self-willed. 59 Cane-coloured beard. Although some editors state that Cain and Judas were represented with yellow, or rather red beards, and print 'Cain-coloured' here, while the Folio gives 'Caine-coloured;' yet we prefer to adopt the Quarto reading, "kane-coloured," or cane-coloured," as more in harmony with Slender's personality-flabby, washy, strawy-with nothing of the fiery Cain or Judas about him.

60. Tall. Sometimes used for athletic, able, bold; but Simple confounds this meaning of the word, and its more usual one, both together, in his anxiety to speak highly of his master's personal and courageous qualities.

61. Shent. Used here in its blended senses of rated soundly, scolded thoroughly, and ruined, undone.

Enter DOCTOR CAIUS. Caius. Vat is you sing? I do not like dese toys. Pray you, go and vetch me in my closet un boitier verd—a box, a green-a box: do intend vat 1 speak? a green-a box.

Quick. Ay, forsooth; I'll fetch it you.—[Aside] I am glad he went not in himself: if he had found the young man, he would have been horn-mad.

Caius. Fe, fe, fe, fe! ma foi, il fait fort chaud. Je m'en vais à la cour,—la grande affaire. Quick. Is it this, sir?

Caius. Oui; mette le au mon pocket; dépêche, quickly.-Vere is dat knave Rugby?

Quick. What! John Rugby! John!

Rug.

62

Re-enter RUGBY.

Here, sir.

Caius. You are John Rugby, and you are Jack Rugby. Come, take-a your rapier, and come after my heel to de court.

Rug. 'Tis ready, sir, here in the porch. Caius. By my trot, I tarry too long.-Od's me! Qu'ai-je oublié? dere is some simples in my closet,

dat I vill not for de varld I shall leave behind.

Quick. [Aside] Ah, me! he'll find the young man there, and be mad!

Caius. O diable, diable! vat is in my closet? Villainy! larron! [Pulling SIMPLE out.]-Rugby, my rapier!

Quick. Good master, be content.

62. Jack Rugby. Caius varies John Rugby's name thus, by way of calling him a knave or rogue; "Jack" being frequently used as a term of contempt and opprobrium.

63. Phlegmatic. We presume this to be Quickly's blunder for 'choleric;' as it would be too much to suppose her so erudite as to intend saying 'phlegmonous,' which means 'inflammatory.'

64 Baillez. French; hand over, deliver up, give. In Molière's 'Comtesse d'Escarbagnas,' when the countess offers Jeannot some money and he refuses it, Criquet says, 'Oh, take

maid, to speak a good word to Mistress Anne Page for my master in the way of marriage.

Quick. This is all, indeed, la; but I'll ne'er put my finger in the fire, and need not. Caius. Sir Hugh send-a you?-Rugby, baillez" me some paper.—Tarry you a little-a while.

65

[Writes.

Quick. I am glad he is so quiet: if he had been thoroughly moved, you should have heard him so loud and so melancholy. But notwithstanding, man, I'll do your master what good I can: and the very yea and the no is, the French doctor, my master, I may call him my master, look you, for I keep his house; and I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour, dress meat and drink, make the beds, and do all myself,

Sim. 'Tis a great charge to come under one body's hand.

Quick. Are you avised o' that? you shall find it a great charge: and to be up early and down late; but notwithstanding,-to tell you in your ear; I would have no words of it,-my master himself is in love with Mistress Anne Page: but notwithstanding that, I know Anne's mind; that's neither here nor there.

Caius. You jack'nape,-give-a dis letter to Sir Hugh; by gar, it is a shallenge: I vill cut his troat in de park; and I vill teach a scurvy jack-a-nape priest to meddle or make:-you may be gone; it is not good you tarry here. [Exit SIMPLE.

Quick. Alas! he speaks but for his friend. Caius. It is no matter-a for dat:-do not you tell-a me dat I shall have Anne Page for myself? By gar, I vill kill de Jack priest; and I have appointed mine host of de Jarretiere to measure our weapon. By gar, I vill myself have Anne Page.

Quick. Sir, the maid loves you, and all shall be well. We must give folks leave to prate.

Caius. Rugby, come to de court vit me.-By gar, if I have not Anne Page, I shall turn your head out of my door.-Follow my heels, Rugby.

[Exeunt CAIUS and RUGBY. Quick. You shall have An fool's-head of your own. No, I know Anne's mind for that: never a woman in Windsor knows more of Anne's mind than I do; nor can do more than I do with her, I thank heaven.

Fent. [within] Who's within there? ho!

it; if you won't have it, you may hand it over to me' (vous me le baillerez).

65. Melancholy. Inasmuch as Mistress Quickly uses the word "allicholly" when she means 'melancholy,' so now, she uses this word intending it to express something else. Probably having heard of melancholy madness, she confuses it with "mad," by which she means enraged, infuriated; as where she says, "He'll find the young man there, and be mad.” 66. Avised. French, avisé.

Advised, in the sense of aware, conscious.

SCENE I.-Before PAGE's house. Enter MISTRESS PAGE, with a letter. Mrs. Page. What! have I 'scaped love-letters in the holiday time of my beauty, and am I now a subject for them? Let me see. [Reads.

"Ask me no reason why I love you; for though Love use Reason for his precisian, he admits him not for his counsellor. You are not young, no more am I; go to, then, there's sympathy: you are merry, so am I; ha, ha! then there's more sympathy: you love sack, and so do I; would you desire better sympathy? Let it suffice thee, Mistress Page,—at the least, if the love of a soldier can suffice,-that I love thee. I will not say, pity me, 'tis not a soldier-like phrase: but I say, love me. By me,

What a Herod of Jewry is this!-Oh, wicked, wicked world!-one that is well nigh worn to pieces with age, to show himself a young gallant! What an unweighed behaviour hath this Flemish drunkard picked out of my conversation, that he dares in this manner assay me? Why, he hath not been thrice in my company!-What should I say to him?—I was then frugal of my mirth: Heaven forgive me!-Why, I'll exhibit a bill in the parliament for the putting down of men. How shall I be revenged on him? for revenged I will be.

Enter MISTRESS FORD.

Mrs. Ford. Mistress Page! trust me, I was going to your house.

Mrs. Page. And, trust me, I was coming to you. You look very ill.

Mrs. Ford. Nay, I'll ne'er believe that; I have to show to the contrary.

Mrs. Page. Faith, but you do, in my mind.
Mrs. Ford. Well, I do, then; yet I say, I could

show you to the contrary. Oh, Mistress Page, give me some counsel!

Mrs. Page. What's the matter, woman? Mrs. Ford. Oh, woman, if it were not for one trifling respect, I could come to such honour! Mrs. Page. Hang the trifle, woman! take the honour. What is it ?-dispense with trifles;-what is it ?

Mrs. Ford. If I would but go to hell for an eternal moment or so, I could be knighted.

Mrs. Page. What? thou liest!-Sir Alice Ford! These knights will hack; and so, thou shouldst not alter the article of thy gentry.

Mrs. Ford. We burn daylight: here, read, read; perceive how I might be knighted.-I shall think the worse of fat men, as long as I have an eye to make difference of men's liking: and yet he would not swear; praised women's modesty; and gave such orderly and well-behaved reproof to all uncomeliness, that I would have sworn his disposition would have gone to the truth of his words; but they do no more adhere and keep place' together, than the Hundredth Psalm to the tune of "Green sleeves." What tempest, I trow, threw this whale, with so many tons of oil in his carcase, ashore at Windsor? How shall I be revenged on him? I think, the best way were to entertain him with hope, till his wicked fire have melted him in his own grease.-Did you ever hear the like?

Mrs. Page. Letter for letter, but that the name of Page and Ford differs!-To thy great comfort in this mystery of ill opinions, here's the twinbrother of thy letter: but let thine inherit first; for, I protest, mine never shall. I warrant he hath a thousand of these letters, writ with blank space for different names,—sure, more,-and these are of the second edition. He will print them, out of doubt; for he cares not what he puts into the press. Mrs. Ford. Why, this is the very same; the

2. Flemish drunkard. The proneness of the Flemings to the vice of drunkenness was notorious.

3. Putting down. A technicality of municipal law; to repress, to subdue.

4 Hack. The term used for degrading from knighthood by chopping off the spurs; therefore the meaning of the passage seems to be, 'You, a woman, pretend to be knighted! Your companion knights would hack you from among them; and thus you would not improve your degree of rank.'

5. We burn daylight. Meaning, we waste time by chatter

day.

6. Liking. Sometimes used for physical condition, personal plight. In "1 Henry IV.," Falstaff says, "While I am in some liking;" meaning, While I am in tolerably good case, or condition.'

7. Keep place. Shakespeare twice uses this (here and in "Troilus and Cressida," iii. 3), where now 'keep pace' would be probably used; meaning in the present passage, coincide, harmonise, agree; and in the other, co-exist, subsist in equal rate or degree.

8. "Green sleeves." The name of a popular song, very free in character.