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And nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you sing,
Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring:
The expressure that it bears, green let it be,
More fertile-fresh than all the field to see,
And Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense, write,
In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and white;
Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,
Buckled below fair knighthood's bending knee;
Fairies use flowers for their charactery1.
Away; disperse: But, till 'tis one o'clock,
Our dance of custom, round about the oak
Of Herne the hunter, let us not forget. [order set:
Eva. Pray you, lock hand in hand; yourselves in
And twenty glow-worms shall our lanthorns be,
To guide our measure round about the tree.
But, stay; I smell a man of middle earth.

Fal. Heavens defend me from that Welch fairy!
lest he transform me to a piece of cheese! [birth.
Era. Vile worm, thou wast o'erlook'd even in thy
Quic. With trial-fire touch me his finger end:
If he be chaste, the flame will back descend,
And turn him to no pain; but if he start,
It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.

Eva. A trial, come.

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Become the forest better than the town? Ford. Now, sir, who's a cuckold now? Master Brook, Falstaff's a knave, a cuckoldly knave: here are his horns, master Brook: And, master Brook, he hath enjoy'd nothing of Ford's but his buckbasket, his cudgel, and twenty pounds of money; which must be paid to master Brook; his horses are arrested for it, master Brook.

Mrs. Ford. Sir John, we have had ill luck; we 10 could never meet. I will never take you for my love again, but I will always count you my deer. Fal. I do begin to perceive that I am made an

ass.

Ford. Ay, and an ox too; both the proofs are 15 extant.

Fal. And these are not fairies? I was three or four times in the thought they were not fairies: and yet the guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprize of my powers, drove the grossness of the 20 foppery into a receiv'd belief, in despight of the teeth of all rhime and reason, that they were fairies. See now, how wit may be made a Jack-alent, when 'tis upon ill employment!

Eva. Sir John Falstaff, serve Got, and leave

[They burn him with their tapers, and pinch him. 25 your desires, and fairies will not pinse you.

Come, will this wood take fire?

Fal. Oh, oh, oh!

Quic. Corrupt, corrupt, and tainted in desire!

About him, fairies; sing a scornful rhime:

And, as you trip, still pinch him to your time. Eva. It is right; indeed, he is full of leacheries

and iniquity.

The SONG.

Fie on sinful phantasy!

Fie on lust and luxury!

Lust is but a bloody fire*,

Kindled with unchaste desire,

Fed in heart; whose flames aspire,

As thoughts do blow them, higher and higher.
Pinch him, fairies, mutually:
Pinch him for his villainy;

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Ford. Well said, fairy Hugh.

Eva. And leave your jealousies also, I pray you. Ford. I will never mistrust my wife again, till thou art able to woo her in good English. Fal. Have I lay'd my brain in the sun, and dried it, that it wants matter to prevent so gross o'erreaching as this? Am I ridden with a Welch goat too? shall I have a coxcomb or frize"? 'tis time I were choak'd with a piece of toasted cheese.

Era. Seese is not good to give putter; your pelly is all putter.

Ful. Seese and putter! have I liv'd to stand in the taunt of one that makes fritters of English this is enough to be the decay of lust and late40 walking, through the realm.

Pinch him, and burn him, and turn him about,
'Till candles, and star-light, and moonshine be out.
[During this song, they pinch him. Doctor Caius
comes one way, and steals away a fairyin green; 45
Slender another way, and he takes away a fairy
in white; and Fenton comes, and steals away
Mrs. Anne Page. Anoise of hunting is made
within. All the fairies run away. Falstaff pulls
off his buck's head, and rises.]

Enter Page, Ford, &c. They lay hold on him.
Page. Nay, do not fly: I think, we have watch'd

you now;

Will none but Herne the hunter serve your turn? Mrs. Page. I pray you come; hold up the jest no higher:

Now, good sir John, how like you Windsor wives? See you these, husband? do not these fair yoaks,

1 Or the matter with which they make letters.

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55

Mrs. Page. Why sir John, do you think, though we would have thrust virtue out of our hearts by the head and shoulders, and have given ourselves without scruple to hell, that ever the devil could have made you our delight?

Ford. What a hodge-pudding? a bag of flax? Mrs. Page. A puff'd man?

Page. Old, cold, wither'd, and of intolerable entrails?

Ford. And one that is as slanderous as Satan? Page. And as poor as Job?

Ford. And as wicked as his wife?

Eva. And given to fornications, and to taverns, and sacks, and wines, and metheglins, and to drinkings, and swearings, and starings, pribbles and prabbles?

Fal. Well, I am your theme; you have the start of me; I am dejected; I am not able to an

2 Spirits being supposed to inhabit the ætherial

regions, and fairies to dwell under ground, men therefore are in a middle station. ? Luxury here' signifies incontinence. That is, the fire in the blood. A Jack o' Lent was a puppet thrown' That is, a fool's cap made out of Welch cloth.

at in Lent, like Shrove-tide cocks.

swer

swer the Welch flannel'; ignorance itself is al plummet o'er me: use me as you will.

Ford. Marry, sir, we'll bring you to Windsor, to one master Brook, that you cozened of money, to whom you should have been a pandar: over 5 and above that you have suffer'd, I think, torepay that money will be a biting affliction. [amends:

Mrs. Ford. Nay, husband, let that go to make Forgive that sum, and so we'll all be friends.

Ford. Well, here's my hand; all's forgiven at last. 10 Page. Yet be cheerful, knight: thou shalt eat a posset to-night at my house; where I will desire thee to laugh at my wife, that now laughs at thee: Tell her, master Slender hath married her daughter.

Mrs. Page. Doctors doubt that; if Anne Page be my daughter, she is, by this, doctor Caius' wife.

Enter Slender.

[Aside.

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20

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Slen. I came yonder at Eaton to marry mistress Anne Page, and she's a great lubberly boy: If it had not been i' the church, I would have swing'd him, or he should have swing'd me. If I did not 30 think it had been Anne Page, would I might never stir, and 'tis a post-master's boy.

Page. Upon my life then you took the wrong. Slen. What need you tell me that? I think so, when I took a boy for a girl: If I had been mar-35 ried to him, for all he was in woman's apparel, I would not have had him.

Page. Why, this is your own folly: Did not I tell you, how you should know my daughter by her garments?

Slen. I went to her in white, and cry'd mum, and she cry'd budget, as Anne and I had appointed; and yet it was not Anne, but a post-master's boy.

Era. Jeshu! Master Slender, cannot you see but marry poys?

Page. O, Iam vex'd at heart: What shall I do? Mrs. Page. Good George, be not angry; I knew of your purpose; turn'd my daughter into green; and, indeed, she is now with the doctor at the deanery, and there married.

Enter Caius.

Caius. Vere is mistress Page? By gar I am co-l

40

zen'd; I ha' married un garcon, a boy; un paisan, by gar, a boy; it is not Anne Page: by gar, I am cozen'd.

Mrs. Page. Why, did you not take her in green?

Caius. Ay, be gar, and 'tis a boy: be gar, I'll raise all Windsor. [Exit Caius. Ford. This is strange: Who hath got the right Anne?

Page. My heart misgives me-Here comes master Fenton.

Enter Fenton and Anne Page. How now, master Fenton?

Anne. Pardon, good father! good my mother, pardon!

Page. Now, mistress, how chance you went not with master Slender?

Mrs. Page. Why went you not with master doctor, maid?

Fent. You do amaze her: Hear the truth of it. You would have married her most shamefully, Where there was no proportion held in love. The truth is, She and I, long since contracted, Are now so sure, that nothing can dissolve us. The offence is holy, that she hath committed: And this deceit loses the name of craft, Of disobedience, or unduteous title: Since therein she doth evitate and shun A thousand irreligious cursed hours, Which forced marriage would have brought upon Ford. Stand not amaz'd: here is no remedy:In love, the heavens themselves do guide the state; Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate.

[her.

Fal. I am glad, though you have ta'en a special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanc'd. Page. Well, what remedy? Fenton, heaven give thee joy!

What cannot be eschew'd, must be embrac’d.
Eva. I will dance and eat plums at your wedding.
Fal. When night-dogs run, all sorts of deer are
chac’d.

Mrs. Page. Well, I will muse no further:-Master
Fenton,

Heaven give you many, many merry days!-
45 Good husband, let us every one go home,
And laugh this sport o'er by a country fire;
Sir John and all.

Ford. Let it be so:- -Sir John, To master Brook you yet shall hold your word; 50 For he, to-night, shall lye with mistress Ford. [Exeunt omnes.

1 Flannel was originally the manufacture of Wales.

2 On the meaning of this difficult passage

commentators are greatly divided. Dr. Farmer's conjecture, that we should read, "Ignorance itself

is a planet o er me," appears to be the most intelligible.

MEASURE

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Duke.

SCENE I.

The Duke's Palace.

A C T I.

Enter Duke, Escalus, and Lords.
ESCALUS,
Escal. My lord.

But that your sufficiency, as your worth is able,
25 And let them work. The nature of our people,
Our city's institutions, and the terms
For common justice, you are as pregnant' in,
As art and practice hath enrich'd any
That we remember: There is our commission,
From which we would not have you warp.-Call
I say, bid come before us Angelo.— [hither,
What figure of us think you he will bear?
For you must know, we have with special soul'
Elected him our absence to supply;

Duke. Of government the properties to unfold, 30 Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse; Since I am put to know', that your own science Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice

My strength can give you: Then no more remains,

The story of this play is taken from the Promos and Cassandra of George Whetstone, published in 1578, and which was probably originally borrowed from Cinthio's Novels. Meaning, I am obliged to acknowledge. 4 Limits. • This passage has much exercised the sagacity of different editors. Theobald is of opinion, that either from the impertinence of the actors, or the negligence of the copyists, it has come mutilated to us by a line being accidentally left out, and proposes to read thus:

-Then no more remains,

But that to your sufficiency you add
Due diligency as your worth is able,
And let them work.

Sir Tho. Hanmer endeavours to supyly the deficiency as follows:

Then no more remains,

But that to your sufficiency you join

A will to serve us, as your worth is able.

Dr. Warburton is for reading, instead of But that, Put to your sufficiency, which he says here means authority, and then the sense will be as follows: Put your skill in governing (says the duke) to the power which I give you to exercise it, and let them work together. Dr. Johnson, however, approves neither of Theobald's conjecture, nor of Warburton's amendment. That is, ready, or knowing in.

That is, of special favour or affection,

Lent

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There is a kind of character in thy life,
That, to the observer, doth thy history
Fully unfold: Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own so proper 1, as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtues, them on thee.
Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do;
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
Did not go forth with us, 'twere all alike
As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd,
But to fine issues: nor nature never 3 lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,

3

Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech
To one that can my part in him advertise":
Hold therefore Angelo':

In our remove, be thou at full ourself:

Though it do well, I do no not relish well
Their loud applause, and Ave's vehement;
Nor do I think the man of safe discretion,
That does affect it. Once more, fare you well.
5 Ang. The heavens give safety to your purposes!
Escal. Leadforth,and bring you back in happiness!
Duke. I thank you: Fare you well. [Exit.
Escal. I shall desire you, sir, to give me leave
To have free speech with you; and it concerns me

10 To look into the bottom of my place:

A power I have; but of what strength and nature
I am not yet instructed.

[ther,

Ang. "Ïis so with me:-Let us withdraw togeAnd we may soon our satisfaction have 15 Touching that point.

20

Escal. I'll wait upon your honour. [Exeunt.
SCENE II.

The Street.

Enter Lucio and two Gentlemen. Lucio. If the duke, with the other dukes, come not to composition with the king of Hungary, why, then all the dukes fall upon the king.

1 Gent. Heaven grant us its peace, but not the 25 king of Hungary's!

Mortality and mercy in Vienna

30

Live in thy tongue and heart: Old Escalus,

Though first in question, is thy secondary.

Take thy commission.

Ang. Now, good my lord,

2 Gent. Amen.

Lucio. Thou conclud'st like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the ten commandments, but scrap'd one out of the table. 2 Gent. Thou shalt not steal?

Lucio. Ay, that he raz❜d.

1 Gent. Why, 'twas a commandment to com mand the captain and all the rest from their functions; they put forth to steal: There's not a sol

Let there be some more test made of my metal, 35 dier of us all, that, in the thanksgiving before meat,

Before so noble and so great a figure

Be stamp'd upon it.

Duke. No more evasion:

We have with a leaven'd' and prepared choice
Proceeded to you; therefore take your honours. 40
Our haste from hence is of so quick condition,
That it prefers itself, and leaves unquestion'd
Matters of needful value. We shall write to you,
As time and our concernings shall importune,
How it goes with us; and do look to know
What doth befall you here. So, fare you well:
To the hopeful execution do I leave you
Of your commissions.

Ang. Yet, give leave, my lord,
That we may bring you something on the way.
Duke. My haste may not admit it;

8

Nor need you, on mine honour, have to do
With any scruple: your scope is as mine own;
So to inforce, or qualify the laws,

doth relish the petition well that prays for peace.
2 Gent. I never heard any soldier dislike it.
Lucio. I believe thee; for, I think, thou never
wast where grace was said.

2 Gent. No? a dozen times at least.
1 Gent. What? in metre??

Lucio. In any proportion 10, or in any language.
1 Gent. I think, or in any religion.

Lucio. Ay! why not? Grace is grace, despight 45 of all controversy: As for example; Thou thyself art a wicked villain, despight of all grace.

1 Gent. Well, there went but a pair of shears between us".

Lucio. I grant; as there may between the lists 50 and the velvet: Thou art the list.

As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand; 55
I'll privily away: I love the people,
But do not like to stage me to their eyes:

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That is, are not so much thy own property. Two negatives not used to make an affirmative, are common in Shakspeare's plays. * That is, one that can inform himself of that which otherwise it would be my part to tell him. "That is, continue to be Angelo. That is, first appointed. 'A leavened choice means a choice not hasty, but considerate. • That is, Your fullness of power. 'There are metrical graces in the Primers, which probably were used in Shakspeare's time. 10 That is, in any form. Meaning, we are both of the same piece.

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