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Enter Mrs. Quickly, Simple, and John Rugby. Quic. What; John Rugby!-I pray thee, go 5 to the casement, and see if you can see my master, master Doctor Caius, coming: if he do, i'faith, and find any body in the house, here will be an old' abusing of God's patience, and the king' English.

Rug. I'll go watch.

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Cuius. You are John Rugby, and you are Jack Rugby: Come, take-a your rapier, and come after 10my heel to de court.

[Exit Rugby. Quic. Go; and we'll have a posset for't soon at night, in faith, at the latter end of a sea-coal fire '. An honest, willing, kind fellow, as ever servant shall come in house withal; and, I warrant you,[15] no tell-tale, nor no breed-bate : his worst fault is, that he is given to prayer; he is something peevish 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.

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

Quic. 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' Cain-colour'd beard.

Quic. A softly sprighted man, is he not?

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Sim. Ay, forsooth: but he is as tall a man of his 30| hands, as any is between this and his head; he hath fought with a warrener.

Quic. 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.

Quic. Well, heaven send Anne Page no worse fortune! Tell master parson Evans, I will do what I can for your master: Anne is a good girl, and I wish

Re-enter Rugby.

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40t

Rug. Out, alas! here comes my master. Quic. We shall all be shent': Run in here, good young man; go into this closet. [Shuts Simple in the closet.] He will not stay long.-What, John 45 Rugby! John, what John, I say!-Go, John, go enquire for my master; I doubt, he be not well, that he comes not home:-and down, down a-down-aR &c.

Enter Doctor Caius.

[Sings

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| I speak? a green-a box.

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Quic. Ay, forsooth, I'll fetch it you.

I am glad he went not in himself: if he had found the young man, he would have been horn-mad.

[Aside.

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Rug. "Tis ready, sir, here in the porch.

Caius. By my trot, I tarry too long:-Od's me! Qu'ay j'oublie? dere is some simples in my closet, dat I vill not for the varld I shall leave behind. Quic. Ah me! he'll find the young man there, and be mad.

Caius. O diable, diable! vat is in my closet?-Villaine, larron! Rugby, my rapier.

[Pulls Simple out of the closet Quic. Good master, be content. Caius. Verefore shall I be content-a? Quic. The young man is an honest man. Cuius. Vat shall de honest man do in my closet! dere is no honest man dat shall come in my closet, Quic. I beseech you be not so flegmatic; hear the truth of it. He came of errand to me from parson Hugh.

Caius. Vell.

Sim. Ay, forsooth, to desire her to—
Quic. Peace, I pray you.

Caius. Peace-a your tongue: Speak-a your tale. Sim. To desire this honest gentlewoman, your maid, to speak a good word to mistress Anne Page for my master in the way of marriage.

Quic. This is all, indeed-la; but I'll never put my finger in the fire, and need not.

Caius. Sir Hugh send-a you?-Rugby, baillez me some paper: Tarry you a little while.

Quic. 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 for 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.

Quic. Are you avis'd 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 not55 withstanding that,-- -I know Anne's mind,that's neither here nor there.

Caius. You j ck'nape; give-a dis letter to Sir Hugh; by gar, it is a shallenge: I vill cut his

'That is, when my master is in bed. 2 Bate is an obsolete word, signifying strife, contention. 3 Foolish. * Wee, in the northern dialect, signifies very little. tapestries and pictures of old, were represented with yellow beards.

6

› Cain and Judas, in the Probably an allusion to 7 That is,

the jockey measure, so many hands high, used by grooms when speaking of horses.
scolded. To deceive her master, she sings as if at her work.
Dities a case of surgeon's instruments.

Boitier, in French, sig

throat

throat in de park; and I vill teach a scurvy jack-
a-nape priest to meddle or inake:- -you may be
gone; it is not good you tarry here:-
-by gar, I
vill cut all his two stones; by gar, he shall not have
a stone to trow at his dog. [Exit Simple. 5
Quic. Alas, he speaks but for his friend.
Caius. It is no matter-a for dat:do you not
tell-a me dat I shall have Anne Page for myself?-
by gar, I vill kill de jack priest; and I have ap-
pointed mine host of de Jarterre to measure our 10
weapon;-by gar, I vill myself have Anne Page.
Quic. Sir, the maid loves you, and all shall be
well: we must give folks leave to prate: What,
the goujere1.

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

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Fent. Yes, marry, have I; what of that?

Quic. Well, thereby hangs a tale:-good faith, is such another Nan;- -but I detest, an honest maid as ever broke bread:-We had an hour's talk of that wart; I shall never laugh but in that 15 maid's company!- -But indeed she is given too much to allicholly and musing: But for you|Well

Quic. You shall have An fool's-head of your own. No, I know Anne's mind for that: never a woman 20 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? Quic. Who's there, I trow? come near the 25 house, I pray you.

Enter Mr. Fenton.

Fent. How now, good woman; how dost thou? Quic. The better that it pleases your good worship to ask.

Fent. Whatnews? how does pretty mistress Anne?!

go to.

Fent. Well, Ishall see her to-day: Hold, there's money for thee; let me have thy voice in my behalf: if thou seest her before me, commend

me

Quic. Will I ay, faith, that we will: and I will tell your worship more of the wart, the next time we have confidence; and of other wooers.

Fent. Well, farewell; I am in great haste now.

[Exit.

Quic. Farewell to your worship.—Truly, an honest gentleman; but Anne loves him not; I know Anne's mind as well as another does: Out 30 upon't! what have I forgot?

[Exit.

SCENE I.

Before Page's house.

ACT II.

Enter Mistress Page with a letter. Mistress Page. WHAT, have I'scap'd loveletters in the holy-day-time of my beauty, and am I now a subject for them? Let me see:

What a Herod of Jewry is this?- -O wicked, 40 wicked world!-one that is well nigh worn to pieces with age, to shew himself a young gallant! What an unweigh'd behaviour has this Flemish drunkard pick'd (with the devil's name) out of my conversation, that he dares in this manner assay 45 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 reveng'd on him? for reveng'd I will be, as sure as his guts are made of puddings.

Ask me no reason why I love you; for though love use reason for his precision, 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 50 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,

Thine own true knight,
By day or night',

Or any kind of light,

With all his might,

For thee to fight,

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That is, morbus Gallicus. 2 The meaning is, though love permit reason to tell what is fit to be done, he seldom follows its advice.-By precision, is meant one who pretends to a more than ordinary degree of virtue and sanctity.

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Mrs. Page. What's the matter, woman? Mrs. Ford. Owoman, 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'.

a fine baited delay, till he hath pawn'd his horses to mine host of the Garter.

Mrs. Ford. Nay, I will consent to act any villainy against him that may not sully the chariness of our 5 honesty. Oh, that iny husband saw this letter! it would give eternal food to his jealousy.

Mrs. Page. Why, look, where he comes; and my good man too: he's as tar from jealousy, as I am from giving him cause; and that, I hope, is an un

10measurable distance.

Mrs. Ford. You are the happier woman.
Mrs. Page. Let's consult together against this
greasy knight: Come hither.
[They retire.
Enter Ford with Pistol, Page with Nym.
Ford. Well, I hope it be not so.
Pist. Hope is a "curtail-dog in some affairs:
Sir John affects thy wine.

Ford. Why, sir, my wife is not young. [poor,
Pist. He wooes both high and low, both rich and
Both young and old, one with another, Ford!
He loves thy gally-mawtry'; Ford, perpend.
Ford. Love my wife?

Pist. With liver burning hot: Prevent, or go thou,
LikeSir. Acta on he, with Ringwood at thy heels:-

Ford. What name, sir?

Pist. The horn, I say: Farewell.

Mrs. Ford. We burn day-light-here, read, read;-perceive how I might be knighted.-I shall 15 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; prais'd women's modesty; and gave such orderly and well-behav'd reproof to all uncomeliness, that I would have sworn his disposi-20 tion 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 tuns of oil in his belly, ashore 250, odious is the name! at Windsor How shall I be revenged on him? I think, the best way were to entertain him with hope, till the wicked fire of lust have melted him in his own grease.---Did you ever hear the like? Mrs. Page. Letter for letter; but that the name 30 of Page and Ford differs!-To thy great comfort in this mystery of ill opinions, here's the twin-brother 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 35 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, when he would put us two. I had rather be a giantess, and lie under mount Pelion. Well, I will find you 40 twenty lascivious turtles, ere one chaste man.

4

Mrs. Ford. Why, this is the very same; the very hand, the very words: What doth he think of us?

Mrs. Page. Nay, I know not: It makes me almost ready to wrangle with mine own honesty. I'll 45 entertain myself like one that I am not acquainted withal; for, sure, unless he knew some strain in me, that I know not myself, he would never have boarded me in this fury.

Mrs. Ford. Boarding, call you it? I'll be sure to 50 keep him above deck.

Mrs. Page. So will I; if he come under my hatches, I'll never to sea again. Let's be reveng'd on him: let's appoint him a meeting; give him a show of comfort in his suit; and lead him on with 55

2

Take heed; have open eye; for thieves do foot by night:

Take heed, ere summer comes, or cuckoo-birds do sing.

Away, sir corporal Nym.

Believe it, Page; he speaks sense. [Exit Pistol.
Ford. I will be patient; I will find out this.

Nym. [Speaking to Page.] And this is true; I like
not the humour of lying. He hath wrong'd me in
some humours: I should have borne the humour'd
letter to her; but I have a sword, and it shall bite
upon my necessity. He loves your wife; there's
the short and the long. My name is corporal Nym,
I speak, and I avouch. 'Tis true;—my nanie is
Nym, and Falstaff loves your wife.-Adieu! I love
not the humour of bread and cheese; and there'sthe
humour of it. Adieu.
[Exit Nym.

Page. The humour of it, quoth a'! here's a fellow frights humour out of its wits.

Ford. I will seek out Falstaff.

Page. I never heard such a drawling, affecting

rogue.

Ford. If I do find it, well.

Page. I will not believe such a Cataian, though the priest o'the town commended him for a true

man.

Ford. 'Twas a good sensible fellow: Well.
Page. How now, Meg?

2

To hack, is an expression used in another scene of this play, to signify to do mischief. The sense of this passage may therefore be, These knights are a riotous, dissolute sort of people, and on that account thou shouldst not wish to be of the number. That is, we have more proof than we want. * A popular ballad of those times. * Press is used here ambiguously, for a press to print, and a press to squeeze. "That is, the caution which ought to attend on it. Persons not qualified to keep a greyhound cut off his tail, and then he is termed a lurcher; yet seldom lets his game escape. S.A, A medley. By a Cutaian, some kind of sharper was probably meant.

Mrs.

Mrs. Page. Whither go you, George?-Hark you. Mrs. Ford. How now, sweet Frank? why art thou melancholy?

Ford. I melancholy! I am not melancholy.Get you home, go.

Mrs. Ford. Faith, thou hast some crotchets in thy head now.— -Will you go, mistress Page?

Mrs. Page. Have with you.-You'll come to
dinner, George?-Look, who comes yonder: she
shall be our messenger to this paltry knight.
[Aside to Mrs. Ford.

Enter Mrs. Quickly.
Mrs. Ford. Trust me, I thought on her: she'll fit it.
Mrs. Page. You are come to see my daughter
Anne?

Quic. Ay, forsooth: And, I pray, how does good mistress Anne?

Mrs. Page. Go in with us, and see; we have an hour's talk with you.

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Host. What say'st thou, bully-rook?

[They go a little aside. Shal. [To Puge.] Will you go with us to behold it? My merry host hath had the measuring of their weapons; and, I think, he hath appointed them 10 contrary places: for, believe me, I hear the parson is no jester. Hark, I will tell you what our sport shall be.

15

[Ex. Mrs. Page, Mrs. Ford, and Mrs. Quickly. 20 Page. How now, master Ford?

Ford. You heard what this knave told me; did you not?

Page. Yes; and you heard what the other told me? Ford. Do you think there is truth in them? Page. Hang'em slaves! I do not think the knight would offer it: but these, that accuse him in his intent towards our wives, are a yoke of his discarded| men; very rogues', now they be out of service. Ford. Were they his men? Page. Marry, were they.

Ford. I like it never the better for that.-Does he lie at the Garter?

Page. Ay, marry, does he. If he should intend his voyage towards my wife, I would turn her Loose to him; and what he gets more of her than sharp words, let it lie on my head.

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30

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Ford. I do not misdoubt my wife; but I would be loth to turn them together: A man may be too confident: I would have nothing lie on my head: 40 I cannot be thus satisfied.

Page. Look, where my ranting host of the Garter comes: there is either liquor in his pate, or money in his purse, when he looks so merrily.How now, mine host?

Enter Host and Shallow.

Host. How now, bully-rook? thou'rt a gentleman: cavalero-justice, I say.

45

Shal. I follow, mine host, I follow. Good even, and twenty, good master Page! Master 50 Page, will you go with us? we have sport in hand.

Host. Hast thou no suit against my knight, my guest-cavalier?

Ford. None, I protest: but I'll give you a pottle of burnt sack to give me recourse to him, and tell him, my name is Brook, only for a jest.

Host. My hand, bully: thou shalt have egress and regress; said I well? and thy naine shall be Brook: It is a merry knight.Will you go anTheirs??

Shal. Have with you, mine host.

Page. I have heard, the Frenchman hath good skill in his rapier.

Shal. Tut, sir, I could have told you more: In these times you stand on distance, your passes, stoccados, and I know not what: 'tis the heart, master Page; 'tis here, 'tis here. I have seen the time, with my long sword, I would have made you four tall feilows skip like rats.

Host. Here, boys, here, here! shall we wag? Page. Have with you:-I had rather hear them scold than fight. [Exeunt Host, Shallow and Page. Ford. Though Page be a secure fool, and stand so firmly on his wife's frailty, yet I cannot put off my opinion so easily: She was in his company at Page's house; and, what they made there, I know not. Well, I will look further into 't: and I have a disguise to sound Falstaff: If I find her honest, I lose not my labour; if she be otherwise, 'tis labour well bestow'd. [Exit.

I

SCENE II.

The Garter inn.

Enter Falstaff and Pistol.

Fal. I will not lend thee a penny.

Pist. Why, then the world's mine oyster, which with sword will open. I will retort the sum in equipage".

Fal. Not a penny. I have been content, sir, you should lay my countenance to pawn: I have grated upon my good friends for three reprieves for Host. Tell him, cavalero-justice; tell him, bully- you and your coach-fellow, Nym; or else you had rook! look'd through the grate, like a geminy of baboons. Shal. Sir, there is a fray to be fought between 551 am damn'd in hell, for swearing to gentlemen,

That is, cheats. 2 This passage is evidently obscure. Mr. Steevens proposes to read, Will you go on, hearts in confirmation of which conjecture, he observes, that the Host calls Dr. Caius Heart of Elder; and adds, in a subsequent scene of this play, Farewell, my hearts. 3 Before the introduction of rapiers, the swords in use were of an enormous length. Shallow here censures the innovation of lighter weapons. 4 To stand on any thing, signifies to insist on it. To Ford, who is jealous, all chastity in women appears as frailty. Dr. Gray supposes Shakspeare to allude to an old proverb, "The mayor of Northampton opens oysters with his dagger:" that is, to keep them at a sufficient distance from his nose, that town being fourscore miles from the sea. 'Dr. Warburton conjectures the meaning of this to be, I will pay you again in stolen goods; and his opinion is confirmed by that of Mr. Farmer.

my

my friends, you were good soldiers, and' tall fellows: and when mistress Bridget lost the handle of her fan, I took't upon mine honour, thou hadst it not.

Pist. Didst thou not share? hadst thou not fif- 5

teenpence?

Fal. Reason, you rogue, reason: Think'st thou, I'll endanger my sou g at s? At a word, hang no more about me, I am no gibbet for you:-go.A short knife and a tho g,-to your manor of Pickt-hatch, go.-You'll not bear a letter for me, you rogue!-you stand upon your honour!Why, thou unconfinable baseness, it is as much as I can do, to keep the terms of my honour precise. I, I, I myself sometimes leaving the fear of hea-15 ven on the left hand, and hiding mine honour in my necessity, am fain to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch; and yet you, rogue, will ensconce your rags, your cat-a-mountain looks, your red-lattice' phrases, and your bold-beating oaths, under the 20 shelter of your honour! You will not do it, you? Pist. I'd relent: what would'st thou more of man?

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Enter Robin.

4

Fal. Well: mistress Ford;-what of her? Quic. Why, sir, she's a good creature. Lord, lord! your worship's a wanton: Well, heaven forgive you, and all of us, I pray!

Ful. Mistress Ford; come, mistress Ford,

Quic. Marry, this is the short and the long of it; you have brought her into such a canaries, as 'tis wonderful. The best courtier of them all, when the court lay at Windsor, could never have brought 10 her to such a canary. Yet there has been knights, and lords, and gentlemen, with their coaches; [ warrant you, coach after coach, letter after letter, gift after gift; smelling so sweety, (all musk) and so rusling, I warrant you, in silk and gold; and in such alligant terms; and in such wine and sugar of the best, and the fairest, that would have won any woman's heart; and, I warrant you, they could never get an eye-wink of her. I had myself twenty angels given me this morning: but I defy all angels, (in any such sort as they say) but in the way of honesty:-and, I warrant you, they could never get her so much as sip on a cup with the proudest of them all: and yet there has been earls, nay, which is more, pensioners'; but, I warrant

Rob. Sir, here's a woman would speak with you. 25 you, all is one with her.
Fal. Let her approach.

Enter Mrs. Quickly.

Quic. Give your worship good-morrow.
Ful. Good-morrow, good wife.

Quic. Not so, an't please your worship.

Ful. Good maid, then.

Quic. I'll be sworn; as my mother was, the first hour I was born.

Fal. I do believe the swearer: What with me?
Quic. Shall I vouchsafe your worship a word or

two?

Fal. Two thousand, fair woman; and I' youchsafe thee the hearing.

Fal. But what says she to me? be brief, my good she Mercury.

Quic. Marry, she hath received your letter; for the which she thanks you a thousand times: and 30 she gives you to notify, that her husband will be absence from his house between ten and eleven. Fal. Ten and eleven.

Quic. Ay, forsooth; and then you may come and see the picture, she says, that you wot of; 35-master Ford, her husband, will be from home. Alas! the sweet woman leads an ill life with him; he's a very jealousy man; she leads a very frampold life with him, good heart.

Quic. There is one mistress Ford, sir;—I pray, come a little nearer this ways:-I myself dwell 40 with master doctor Caius.

Ful. Well, on: Mistress Ford, you say, Quic. Your worship says very true: I pray your worship, come a little nearer this

ways.

Fal. I warrant thee, nobody hears;—mine own 45 people, mine own people.

Quic. Are they so? Heaven bless them, and make them his servants!

Fal. Ten and eleven: Woman, commend me' to her; I will not fail her.

Quic. Why, you say well: But I have another messenger to your worship: Mistress Page has her hearty commendations to you too;-and let me tell you in your ear; she's as fartuous a civil modest wife, and one (I tell you) that will not miss you morning nor evening prayer, as any is in Windsor, whoe'er be the other: and she bade me tell your Iworship, that her husband is seldom from home;

A tall fellow, in the time of our author, meant, a stout, bold, or courageous person. 2 Fans, in Shakspeare's time, were more costly than they are at present, as well as of a different construction, They consisted of ostrich feathers, (or others of equal length and flexibility) which were stuck into handles. The richer sort of these were composed of gold, silver, or ivory of curious workmanship, The sum of forty pounds was sometimes given for a fan in the time of queen Elizabeth. 3 A noted place for thieves and pickpockets. Ficki-hach probably is derived from the pickes placed upon the hatches of the doors of the bawdy-houses of those times; a precaution which perhaps the unseasonable and obstreperous irruptions of the gallants of that age might render necessary. A sconce is a petty fortification: to ensconce, there ore, is to protect as with a fort. 5 Your ale-house conversation. Red lattice at the doors and windows, were formerly the external insignia of an ale-house. Hence the present chequers; and it is very remarkable, that shops, with the sign of the chequers, were common among the Romans. "This is the name of a brisk light dance, and not therefore improperly used in vulgar language for any hurry or perturbation: perhaps, however, it is not improbable, that canaries is only a mistake of Mrs. Quickly's for quandaries. A pensioner, in those times, meant a gentleman always attendant upon the person of the prince. Ray says, that

To wot is to know.

frampald, or frampard, signities fretjul, peevish, cross, froward,

9

but

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