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Without the show of both; wherein fat Falstaff

Hath a great scene: the image of the jest

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[Showing the letter.
I'll show you here at large. Hark, good mine hoft:
To-night at Herne's oak, juft 'twixt twelve and one,
Muft my fweet Nan prefent the fairy queen;
The purpose why, is here; in which disguise,
While other jefts are fomething rank on foot,"
Her father hath commanded her to flip
Away with Slender, and with him at Eton
Immediately to marry: fhe hath consented :
Now, fir,

Her mother, even strong against that match,
And firm for Doctor Caius, hath appointed
That he fhall likewife fhuffle her away,
While other fports are talking of their minds,
And at the deanery, where a priest attends,
Straight marry her to this her mother's plot
She, feemingly obedient, likewise hath

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Made promise to the doctor -Now, thus it refts:
Her father means the fhall be all in white;

And in that habit, when Slender fees his time

To take her by the hand, and bid her

go,

She fhall go with him :-her mother hath intended,
The better to denote her to the doctor,

(For they must all be mask'd. and vizarded,)

5 Image is reprefentation. STEEVENS.

That

Thefe words allude to a cuftom ftill in ufe, of hanging out painted reprefentations of fhows. HENLEY.

6

is bere ;] i. e in the letter. STEEVENS.

7 i. e. while they are hotly pursuing other merriment of their own. STEEVENS.

8 Thus the old copies. The modern editors read-ever, but perhaps without neceffity. Even strong, is as ftrong, with a fimilar degree of ftrength. So, in Hamlet, — even christian" is fellow christian. STEEVENS

9 In the Mfs. of our author's age n and u were formed fo very much alike, that they are scarcely diftinguishable. Hence it was, that in the old copies of thefe plays one of these letters is frequently put for the other. From the caufe affigned, or from an accidental inverfion of the letter # at the prefs, the first folio in the prefent inftance reads-deuote, u being conftantly employed in that copy instead of v. The fame mistake has happened in feveral other places, MALONE.

2

That, quaint in green, fhe fhall be loose enrob'd,
With ribbands pendant, flaring 'bout her head;
And when the doctor fpies his vantage ripe,
To pinch her by the hand, and, on that token,
The maid hath given confent to go with him.

Hoft. Which means the to deceive? father or mother?
Fent. Both, my good hoft, to go along with me:
And here it refts,-that you'll procure the vicar
To stay for me at church, 'twixt twelve and one,
And, in the lawful name of marrying,

To give our hearts united ceremony.

Haft. Well, hufband your device; I'll to the vicar: Bring you the maid, you shall not lack a priest.

Fent. So fhall I evermore be bound to thee; Befides, I'll make a prefent recompence.

[Exeunt

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Enter FALSTAFF and Mrs. QUICKLY.

Fal. Pr'ythee, no more prattling-go. I'll hold : 3 This is the third time; I hope, good luck lies in odd numbers. Away, go; they fay, there is divinity in odd numbers,+ either in nativity, chance, or death.-Away.

Quick. I'll provide you a chain; and I'll do what I can to get you a pair of horns.

Fal. Away, I fay; time wears: hold up your head, and mince.s [Exit Mrs. QUICKLY.

2

may mean fantastically dreft in green. Quaintnefs, however, was anciently used to fignify gracefulness. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A&t III. fc. i. quaintly is used for ingeniously. STEEVENS.

In Daniel's Sonnets, 1594, it is used for fantaftick. MALONE.

3 I fuppofe he means-I'll keep the appointment. STEEVENS. 4 Alluding to the Roman adage

- numero deus impare gaudet. Virgil, Ecl. viii. STEEVENS. 5 To mince is to walk with affected delicacy. STEEVENS,

Enter

Enter FORD.

How now, mafter Brook? Mafter Brook, the matter will be known to-night, or never. Be you in the Park about mid

night, at Herne's oak, and you fhall fee wonders.

Ford. Went you not to her yesterday, fir, as you told me you had appointed?

Fal. I went to her, master Brook, as you fee, like a poor old man but I came from her, mafter Brook, like a poor old woman. That fame knave, Ford her husband, hath the finest mad devil of jealoufy in him, mafter Brook, that ever govern'd frenzy. I will tell you. He beat me grievously, in the fhape of a woman; for in the fhape of man, master Brook, I fear not Goliath with a weaver's beam; because I know alfo, life is a fhuttle. I am in hafte; go along with me; I'll tell you all, master Brook. Since I plucked geefe," played truant, and whipped top, I knew not what it was to be beaten, till lately. Follow me: I'll tell you ftrange things of this knave Ford; on whom to-night I will be revenged, and I will deliver his wife into your hand;-Follow: Strange things in hand, master Brook!" follow.

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[Exeunt.

Page. Come, come; we'll couch i' the caftle-ditch, till we fee the light of our fairies. Remember, fon Slender, my daughter.

Slen. Ay, forfooth; I have spoke with her, and we have a nay-word, how to know one another. I come to her in white, and cry, mum; fhe cries, budget; 9 and by that we know one another.

Shal.

6 An allufion to Job, vii. 6. "My days are fwifter than a weaver's fhuttle," &c. STEEVENS.

7 To ftrip a living goose of his feathers, was formerly an act of puerile barbarity. STEEVENS.

& i, e. a watch-word. Mrs. Quickly has already used it in this fenfe. STEEVENS. Thefe words appear to have been in common use before the time of Our author. REED.

Shal. That's good too: But what needs either your mum, or her budget? the white will decipher her well enough. It hath ftruck ten o'clock.

Page. The night is dark; light and fpirits will become it well. Heaven profper our fport! No man means evil but the devil, and we shall know him by his horns. Let's away; follow me. [Exeunte

SCENE III.

The Street in Windfor.

Enter Mrs. PAGE, Mrs. FORD, and Dr. CAIUS.

Mrs. Page. Mafter doctor, my daughter is in green: when you fee your time, take her by the hand, away with her to the deanery, and despatch it quickly: Go before into the park; we two must go together.

Caius. I know vat I have to do: Adieu.

Mrs. Page. Fare you well, fir. [Exit CAIUS.] My hufband will not rejoice fo much at the abuse of Falstaff, as he will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter: but 'tis no matter; better a little chiding, than a great deal of heartbreak.

Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now, and her troop of fairies? and the Welch devil, Hugh?

Mrs. Page. They are all couched in a pit hard by Herne's

man."

oak,

2 This is a double blunder; for fome, of whom this was fpoke, were women. We fhould read then, No ONE means. WARBURTON. There is no blunder. In the ancient interludes and moralities, the beings of fupreme power, excellence, or depravity, are occafionally styled men. So, in Much ado about Nothing, Dogberry fays: "God's a good Again, in Jeronimo, or The First Part of the Spanish Tragedy; 1605: "You're the last man I thought on, fave the devil." STEEVENS. 3 The former impreffions read-the Welch devil Herne? But Falstaff was to reprefent Herne, and he was no Weichman. Where was the attention or fagacity of our editors, not to obferve that Mrs. Ford is enquir ing for [Sir Hugh] Evans by the name of the Welch devil? Dr. Thirlby likewife difcover'd the blunder of this paffage. THEOBALD.

I fuppofe only the letter H. was fet down in the MS. and therefore, inftead of Hugh (which feems to be the true reading,) the editors fubftituted Herne. STEEVENS.

So, afterwards; "Well faid, fairy Hugh." MALONE.

oak,4 with obfcured lights; which, at the very inftant of Fal ftaff's and our meeting, they will at once difplay to the night.

Mrs. Ford. That cannot choose but amaze him.

Mrs. Page. If he be not amazed, he will be mock'd; if he be amazed, he will every way be mock'd.

Mrs. Ford. We'll betray him finely.

Mrs. Page. Againft fuch lewdfters, and their lechery, Thofe that betray them do no treachery.

Mrs. Ford. The hour draws on; To the oak, to the oak!

SCENE IV.

Windfor Park.

Enter Sir HUGH EVANS, and Fairies,

[Exeunt.

Eva. Trib, trib, fairies; come; and remember your parts : be pold, I pray you; follow me into the pit; and when I give the watch-'ords, do as I pid you; Come, come; trib, trib. [Exeunt.

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Another part of the Park.

Enter FALSTAFF disguised, with a buck's head on.

Fal. The Wind for bell hath ftruck twelve: the minute draws on: Now, the hot-blooded gods affift me Remember, Jove, thou waft a bull for thy Europa; love set on thy horns. O powerful love! that, in fome refpects, makes a beast a man; in fome other, a man a beast.-You were also, Jupiter, a fwan, for the love of Leda;-O, omnipotent love! how near the god drew to the complexion of a goofe?-A fault done firft in the form of a beaft ;-O Jove, a beaftly fault! and then another fault in the semblance of a fowl; think on't, Jove; a foul fault.-When gods have hot backs, what fhall poor men do? For me, I am here a Windsor stag; and the fatteft, I think, i' the foreft: Send me a cool ruttime,

4 An oak, which may be that alluded to by Shakspeare, is ftill ftanding clofe to a pit in Windfor foreft. It is yet fhown as the oak of Herne. STELVENS

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