_Ford._ 'Tis my fault, Master Page: I suffer for it.
_Evans._ You suffer for a pad conscience: your wife is 195
as honest a 'omans as I will desires among five thousand,
and five hundred too.
_Caius._ By gar, I see 'tis an honest woman.
_Ford._ Well, I promised you a dinner. --Come, come,
walk in the Park: I pray you, pardon me; I will hereafter 200
make known to you why I have done this. --Come, wife;
come, Mistress Page. --I pray you, pardon me; pray heartily
pardon me.
_Page._ Let's go in, gentlemen; but, trust me, we'll
mock him. I do invite you to-morrow morning to my 205
house to breakfast: after, we'll a-birding together; I have
a fine hawk for the bush. Shall it be so?
_Ford._ Any thing.
_Evans._ If there is one, I shall make two in the company. 210
_Caius._ If dere be one or two, I shall make-a the turd.
_Ford._ Pray you, go, Master Page.
_Evans._ I pray you now, remembrance to-morrow on
the lousy knave, mine host.
_Caius._ Dat is good; by gar, with all my heart! 215
_Evans._ A lousy knave, to have his gibes and his
mockeries! [_Exeunt._
NOTES: III, 3
SCENE III.] SCENE VII. Pope.
7, 8: Mrs Ford. _Marry ... Robert_] omitted in Q3.
20: _your_] _the_ Q3.
36: SCENE VIII. Pope. _thee_] Ff Q3 om. (Q1 Q2) Dyce.
38: _my_] om. Q3.
41: _Mistress_] _Master_ Q3.
49: _tire-valiant_] Ff Q3. _tire-vellet_ (Q1 Q2). _tire-vailant_
Warburton. _tire-velvet_ Heath conj. _tire-volant_ Becket conj.
_tire of Venetian admittance_] Ff Q3. _Venetian attire_ (Q1 Q2)
Pope. _tire of Venetian addition_ Hanmer.
52: _By the Lord, thou art a traitor_] (Q1 Q2) Singer. _Thou art a
tyrant_ Ff Q3. _Thou art a traitor_ Warburton. _By the Lord,
thou art a tyrant_ Collier.
53: _fixture_] F1 Q3. _fixure_ F2 F3 F4.
55, 56: _foe were not, Nature_] F2 F3 F4. _foe, were not Nature_
F1 Q3. _foe were not; Nature is_ Capell.
58: _persuade thee there's_] _persuade thee There's_ (Q1 Q2).
_persuade Thee. There's_ Ff Q3.
62: _simple_] F1 Q3 F2. _simpling_ F3 F4.
74: [Within] F2. Re-enter Robin. Capell.
75: _sweating_] F1 Q3. _swearing_ F2 F3 F4.
81: SCENE IX. Pope.
Re-enter...] Enter Mis. Page. F2.
96: _'Tis not so_] _Speak louder. 'Tis not so_ Theobald
(from Q1 Q2).
110: _and_] om. Q3.
119: [Coming forward] Enter F. Rowe. [Starting from his concealment.
Capell.
124: _I love thee_] Ff Q3. _I love thee and none but thee_
(Q1 Q2) Malone.
125: [Gets ... linen.] Rowe.
128: _John! Robert_] _John Rugby_ Q3.
[Exit Robin.] Malone.
132: SCENE X. Pope.
134: _How now!_] _How now? who goes here?_ Halliwell (from Q1 Q2).
_How now! what's here?_ S. Verges conj.
140: [Exeunt ... basket.] Rowe.
144: [Locking the door.] Capell.
144, 145: _So, now uncape_] om. Pope. _So, now uncouple_ Hanmer.
155: SCENE XI. Pope.
159: _who_] _what_ Grant White (Ritson conj.).
170: _foolish_] F2 F3 F4. _foolishion_ F1 Q3. _foolish eye on--carry
on_ Jackson conj.
174: _to-morrow, eight_] F1 Q3. _to-morrow by eight_ F2 F3 F4.
178: [Aside to Mrs Ford] Capell.
179: _You use..._] _I, I; peace;--You use..._ Theobald (from Q1 Q2).
180: _Ay, I_] _I, I_ F1 Q3 F2. _I, I, I_ F3 F4.
181: _you_] _me_ Capell conj.
188: _at the day of judgement_] F1 Q3. om. F2 F3 F4.
211: Theobald inserts (from Q1 Q2) Evans. _In your teeth:
for shame!_
SCENE IV. _A room in PAGE'S house._
_Enter FENTON and ANNE PAGE._
_Fent._ I see I cannot get thy father's love;
Therefore no more turn me to him, sweet Nan.
_Anne._ Alas, how then?
_Fent._ Why, thou must be thyself.
He doth object I am too great of birth;
And that, my state being gall'd with my expense, 5
I seek to heal it only by his wealth:
Besides these, other bars he lays before me,--
My riots past, my wild societies;
And tells me 'tis a thing impossible
I should love thee but as a property. 10
_Anne._ May be he tells you true.
_Fent._ No, heaven so speed me in my time to come!
Albeit I will confess thy father's wealth
Was the first motive that I woo'd thee, Anne:
Yet, wooing thee, I found thee of more value 15
Than stamps in gold or sums in sealed bags;
And 'tis the very riches of thyself
That now I aim at.
_Anne._ Gentle Master Fenton,
Yet seek my father's love; still seek it, sir:
If opportunity and humblest suit 20
Cannot attain it, why, then,--hark you hither!
[_They converse apart._
_Enter SHALLOW, SLENDER, and MISTRESS QUICKLY._
_Shal._ Break their talk, Mistress Quickly: my kinsman
shall speak for himself.
_Sle._ I'll make a shaft or a bolt on't: 'slid, 'tis but
venturing. 25
_Shal._ Be not dismayed.
_Slen._ No, she shall not dismay me: I care not for
that, but that I am afeard.
_Quick._ Hark ye; Master Slender would speak a word
with you. 30
_Anne._ I come to him. [_Aside_] This is my father's choice.
O, what a world of vile ill-favour'd faults
Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a-year!
_Quick._ And how does good Master Fenton? Pray you,
a word with you. 35
_Shal._ She's coming; to her, coz. O boy, thou hadst
a father!
_Slen._ I had a father, Mistress Anne;--my uncle can
tell you good jests of him. Pray you, uncle, tell Mistress
Anne the jest, how my father stole two geese out of a pen, 40
good uncle.
_Shal._ Mistress Anne, my cousin loves you.
_Slen._ Ay, that I do; as well as I love any woman in
Gloucestershire.
_Shal._ He will maintain you like a gentlewoman. 45
_Slen._ Ay, that I will, come cut and long-tail, under
the degree of a squire.
_Shal._ He will make you a hundred and fifty pounds
jointure.
_Anne._ Good Master Shallow, let him woo for himself. 50
_Shal._ Marry, I thank you for it; I thank you for that
good comfort. She calls you, coz: I'll leave you.
_Anne._ Now, Master Slender,--
_Slen._ Now, good Mistress Anne,--
_Anne._ What is your will? 55
_Slen._ My will! od's heartlings, that's a pretty jest indeed!
I ne'er made my will yet, I thank heaven; I am not
such a sickly creature, I give heaven praise.
_Anne._ I mean, Master Slender, what would you with
me? 60
_Slen._ Truly, for mine own part, I would little or nothing
with you. Your father and my uncle hath made motions:
if it be my luck, so; if not, happy man be his dole! They
can tell you how things go better than I can: you may
ask your father; here he comes. 65
_Enter PAGE and MISTRESS PAGE._
_Page._ Now, Master Slender: love him, daughter Anne.--
Why, how now! what does Master Fenton here?
You wrong me, sir, thus still to haunt my house:
I told you, sir, my daughter is disposed of.
_Fent._ Nay, Master Page, be not impatient. 70
_Mrs Page._ Good Master Fenton, come not to my child.
_Page._ She is no match for you.
_Fent._ Sir, will you hear me?
_Page._ No, good Master Fenton.
Come, Master Shallow; come, son Slender, in.
Knowing my mind, you wrong me, Master Fenton. 75
[_Exeunt Page, Shal., and Slen._
_Quick._ Speak to Mistress Page.
_Fent._ Good Mistress Page, for that I love your daughter
In such a righteous fashion as I do,
Perforce, against all checks, rebukes and manners,
I must advance the colours of my love, 80
And not retire: let me have your good will.
_Anne._ Good mother, do not marry me to yond fool.
_Mrs Page._ I mean it not; I seek you a better husband.
_Quick._ That's my master, master doctor.
_Anne._ Alas, I had rather be set quick i' the earth, 85
And bowl'd to death with turnips!
_Mrs Page._ Come, trouble not yourself. Good Master Fenton,
I will not be your friend nor enemy:
My daughter will I question how she loves you,
And as I find her, so am I affected. 90
Till then farewell, sir: she must needs go in;
Her father will be angry.
_Fent._ Farewell, gentle mistress: farewell, Nan.
[_Exeunt Mrs Page and Anne._
_Quick._ This is my doing now: 'Nay,' said I, 'will you
cast away your child on a fool, and a physician? Look on 95
Master Fenton:' this is my doing.
_Fent._ I thank thee; and I pray thee, once to-night
Give my sweet Nan this ring: there's for thy pains.
_Quick._ Now heaven send thee good fortune! [_Exit
Fenton._] A kind heart he hath: a woman would run 100
through fire and water for such a kind heart. But yet
I would my master had Mistress Anne; or I would
Master Slender had her; or, in sooth, I would Master
Fenton had her: I will do what I can for them all three;
for so I have promised, and I'll be as good as my word; 105
but speciously for Master Fenton. Well, I must of another
errand to Sir John Falstaff from my two mistresses: what
a beast am I to slack it! [_Exit._
NOTES: III, 4
SCENE IV.] SCENE XII. Pope.
7: _Besides these, other_] Ff Q3. _Besides, these other_
S. Walker conj.
12: _my_] _the_ Capell (altered to _my_ in his own hand).
20: _opportunity_] _importunity_ Hanmer.
22: SCENE XIII. Pope.
28: _but that_] F1 Q3 F2. _but_ F3 F4.
40: _pen_] _henloft_ (Q1 Q2) Halliwell.
62: _my_] om. Q3.
_hath_] _have_ F4.
65: _ask_] om. Q3.
66: SCENE XIV. Pope.
67: _Fenton_] _Fenter_ F1.
75: _mind_] _wind_ F2.
80: _of_] _or_ Q3.
85, 86: Anne. _Alas_, ... _turnips!_] Anne. _Alas, ... earth._
Quick. _And ... turnips_ Warburton.
92: _angry_] _angry else_ S. Verges conj.
93: _gentle_] _my gentle_ Capell.
95: _and_] _or_ Hanmer.
SCENE V. _A room in the Garter Inn._
_Enter FALSTAFF and BARDOLPH._
_Fal._ Bardolph, I say,--
_Bard._ Here, sir.
_Fal._ Go fetch me a quart of sack; put a toast in't. [_Exit
Bard._] Have I lived to be carried in a basket, like a barrow
of butcher's offal, and to be thrown in the Thames? Well, 5
if I be served such another trick, I'll have my brains ta'en
out, and buttered, and give them to a dog for a new-year's
gift. The rogues slighted me into the river with as little
remorse as they would have drowned a blind bitch's puppies,
fifteen i' the litter: and you may know by my size 10
that I have a kind of alacrity in sinking; if the bottom
were as deep as hell, I should down. I had been drowned,
but that the shore was shelvy and shallow,--a death that
I abhor; for the water swells a man; and what a thing
should I have been when I had been swelled! I should 15
have been a mountain of mummy.
_Re-enter BARDOLPH with sack._
_Bard._ Here's Mistress Quickly, sir, to speak with you.
_Fal._ Come, let me pour in some sack to the Thames
water; for my belly's as cold as if I had swallowed snow-balls
for pills to cool the reins. Call her in. 20
_Bard._ Come in, woman!
_Enter MISTRESS QUICKLY._
_Quick._ By your leave; I cry you mercy: give your
worship good morrow.
_Fal._ Take away these chalices. Go brew me a pottle
of sack finely. 25
_Bard._ With eggs, sir?
_Fal._ Simple of itself; I'll no pullet-sperm in my brewage.
[_Exit Bardolph._] How now!
_Quick._ Marry, sir, I come to your worship from Mistress
Ford. 30
_Fal._ Mistress Ford! I have had ford enough; I was
thrown into the ford; I have my belly full of ford.
_Quick._ Alas the day! good heart, that was not her
fault: she does so take on with her men; they mistook
their erection. 35
_Fal._ So did I mine, to build upon a foolish woman's
promise.
_Quick._ Well, she laments, sir, for it, that it would yearn
your heart to see it. Her husband goes this morning
a-birding; she desires you once more to come to her 40
between eight and nine: I must carry her word quickly:
she'll make you amends, I warrant you.
_Fal._ Well, I will visit her: tell her so; and bid her
think what a man is: let her consider his frailty, and then
judge of my merit. 45
_Quick._ I will tell her.
_Fal._ Do so. Between nine and ten, sayest thou?
_Quick._ Eight and nine, sir.
_Fal._ Well, be gone: I will not miss her.
_Quick._ Peace be with you, sir. [_Exit._ 50
_Fal._ I marvel I hear not of Master Brook; he sent me
word to stay within: I like his money well. --O, here he
comes.
_Enter FORD._
_Ford._ Bless you, sir!
_Fal._ Now, Master Brook,--you come to know what 55
hath passed between me and Ford's wife?
_Ford._ That, indeed, Sir John, is my business.
_Fal._ Master Brook, I will not lie to you: I was at her
house the hour she appointed me.
_Ford._ And sped you, sir? 60
_Fal._ Very ill-favouredly, Master Brook.
_Ford._ How so, sir? Did she change her determination?
_Fal._ No, Master Brook; but the peaking Cornuto her
husband, Master Brook, dwelling in a continual 'larum of
jealousy, comes me in the instant of our encounter, after 65
we had embraced, kissed, protested, and, as it were, spoke
the prologue of our comedy; and at his heels a rabble of
his companions, thither provoked and instigated by his
distemper, and, forsooth, to search his house for his wife's
love. 70
_Ford._ What, while you were there?
_Fal._ While I was there.
_Ford._ And did he search for you, and could not find
you?
_Fal._ You shall hear. As good luck would have it, 75
comes in one Mistress Page; gives intelligence of Ford's
approach; and, in her invention and Ford's wife's distraction,
they conveyed me into a buck-basket.
_Ford._ A buck-basket!
_Fal._ By the Lord, a buck-basket!--rammed me in with 80
foul shirts and smocks, socks, foul stockings, greasy napkins;
that, Master Brook, there was the rankest compound
of villanous smell that ever offended nostril.
_Ford._ And how long lay you there?
_Fal._ Nay, you shall hear, Master Brook, what I have 85
suffered to bring this woman to evil for your good. Being
thus crammed in the basket, a couple of Ford's knaves, his
hinds, were called forth by their mistress to carry me in the
name of foul clothes to Datchet-lane: they took me on their
shoulders; met the jealous knave their master in the door, 90
who asked them once or twice what they had in their
basket: I quaked for fear, lest the lunatic knave would
have searched it; but fate, ordaining he should be a cuckold,
held his hand. Well: on went he for a search, and
away went I for foul clothes. But mark the sequel, Master 95
Brook: I suffered the pangs of three several deaths; first,
an intolerable fright, to be detected with a jealous rotten
bell-wether; next, to be compassed, like a good bilbo, in
the circumference of a peck, hilt to point, heel to head;
and then, to be stopped in, like a strong distillation, with 100
stinking clothes that fretted in their own grease: think of
that,--a man of my kidney,--think of that,--that am as
subject to heat as butter; a man of continual dissolution
and thaw: it was a miracle to scape suffocation. And in
the height of this bath, when I was more than half stewed 105
in grease, like a Dutch dish, to be thrown into the Thames,
and cooled, glowing hot, in that surge, like a horse-shoe;
think of that,--hissing hot,--think of that, Master Brook.
_Ford._ In good sadness, sir, I am sorry that for my sake
you have suffered all this. My suit, then, is desperate; 110
you'll undertake her no more?
_Fal._ Master Brook, I will be thrown into Etna, as I
have been into Thames, ere I will leave her thus. Her
husband is this morning gone a-birding: I have received
from her another embassy of meeting; 'twixt eight and 115
nine is the hour, Master Brook.
_Ford._ 'Tis past eight already, sir.
_Fal._ Is it? I will then address me to my appointment.
Come to me at your convenient leisure, and you
shall know how I speed; and the conclusion shall be 120
crowned with your enjoying her. Adieu. You shall have
her, Master Brook; Master Brook, you shall cuckold Ford.
[_Exit._
_Ford._ Hum! ha! is this a vision? is this a dream? do
I sleep? Master Ford, awake! awake, Master Ford! there's
a hole made in your best coat, Master Ford. This 'tis to 125
be married! this 'tis to have linen and buck-baskets!
Well, I will proclaim myself what I am: I will now take
the lecher; he is at my house; he cannot 'scape me; 'tis
impossible he should; he cannot creep into a halfpenny
purse, nor into a pepper-box: but, lest the devil that guides 130
him should aid him, I will search impossible places.
Though what I am I cannot avoid, yet to be what I would
not shall not make me tame: if I have horns to make
one mad, let the proverb go with me,--I'll be horn-mad.
[_Exit._
NOTES: III, 5
SCENE V.] SCENE XV. Pope.
5: _in_] _into_ Rowe.
9: _blind bitch's_] _bitch's blind_ Hanmer.
16: _mummy_] _mummy. Now, is the sack brewed?_ Theobald
(from Q1 Q2).
22: SCENE XVI. Pope.
24: _pottle_] _posset_ R. G. White.
60: _sped you_] _you sped_ Rowe.
62: _How so, sir_] F1 Q3 F2. _How Sir_ F3 F4.
65: _me_] om. F4.
77: _in_] by (Q1 Q2) Theobald.
_distraction_] _direction_ Hanmer.
80: _By the Lord_] (Q1 Q2) Malone. _yes_ F1 Q3. _yea_ F2 F3 F4.
83: _smell_] _smells_ Hanmer.
96: _several_] _egregious_ (Q1 Q2) Pope.
106: _in_] _is_ F2.
107: _surge_] _forge_ Capell conj.
110: _have suffered_] _suffered_ F4.
130: _nor_] _not_ Q3.
134: _one_] _me_ Dyce.
[Exit.] Rowe. [Exeunt. Ff Q3.
ACT IV.
SCENE I. _A street._
_Enter MISTRESS PAGE, MISTRESS QUICKLY, and WILLIAM._
_Mrs Page._ Is he at Master Ford's already, think'st
thou?
_Quick._ Sure he is by this, or will be presently: but,
truly, he is very courageous mad about his throwing into
the water. Mistress Ford desires you to come suddenly. 5
_Mrs Page._ I'll be with her by and by; I'll but bring
my young man here to school. Look, where his master
comes; 'tis a playing-day, I see.
_Enter SIR HUGH EVANS._
How now, Sir Hugh! no school to-day?
_Evans._ No; Master Slender is let the boys leave to 10
play.
_Quick._ Blessing of his heart!
_Mrs Page._ Sir Hugh, my husband says my son profits
nothing in the world at his book. I pray you, ask him
some questions in his accidence. 15
_Evans._ Come hither, William; hold up your head; come.
_Mrs Page._ Come on, sirrah; hold up your head; answer
your master, be not afraid.
_Evans._ William, how many numbers is in nouns?
_Will._ Two. 20
_Quick._ Truly, I thought there had been one number
more, because they say, 'Od's nouns.'
_Evans._ Peace your tattlings! What is 'fair,' William?
_Will._ Pulcher.
_Quick._ Polecats! there are fairer things than polecats, 25
sure.
_Evans._ You are a very simplicity 'oman: I pray you,
peace. --What is 'lapis,' William?
_Will._ A stone.
_Evans._ And what is 'a stone,' William? 30
_Will._ A pebble.
_Evans._ No, it is 'lapis:' I pray you, remember in your
prain.
_Will._ Lapis.
_Evans._ That is a good William. What is he, William, 35
that does lend articles?
_Will._ Articles are borrowed of the pronoun, and be
thus declined, Singulariter, nominativo, hic, hæc, hoc.
_Evans._ Nominativo, hig, hag, hog; pray you, mark:
genitivo, hujus. Well, what is your accusative case? 40
_Will._ Accusativo, hinc.
_Evans._ I pray you, have your remembrance, child;
accusativo, hung, hang, hog.
_Quick._ 'Hang-hog' is Latin for bacon, I warrant you.
_Evans._ Leave your prabbles, 'oman. --What is the focative 45
case, William?
_Will._ O,--vocativo, O.
_Evans._ Remember, William; focative is caret.
_Quick._ And that's a good root.
_Evans._ 'Oman, forbear. 50
_Mrs Page._ Peace!
_Evans._ What is your genitive case plural, William?
_Will._ Genitive case!
_Evans._ Ay.
_Will._ Genitive,--horum, harum, horum. 55
_Quick._ Vengeance of Jenny's case! fie on her! never
name her, child, if she be a whore.
_Evans._ For shame, 'oman.
_Quick._ You do ill to teach the child such words:--he
teaches him to hick and to hack, which they'll do fast 60
enough of themselves, and to call 'horum':--fie upon
you!
_Evans._ 'Oman, art thou lunaties? hast thou no understandings
for thy cases, and the numbers of the genders?
Thou art as foolish Christian creatures as I would desires. 65
_Mrs Page._ Prithee, hold thy peace.
_Evans._ Show me now, William, some declensions of
your pronouns.
_Will._ Forsooth, I have forgot.
_Evans._ It is qui, quæ, quod: if you forget your 70
'quies,' your 'quæs,' and your 'quods,' you must be preeches.
Go your ways, and play; go.
_Mrs Page._ He is a better scholar than I thought he
was.
_Evans._ He is a good sprag memory. Farewell, Mistress 75
Page.
_Mrs Page._ Adieu, good Sir Hugh. [_Exit Sir Hugh._]
Get you home, boy. Come, we stay too long. [_Exeunt._
NOTES: IV, 1
[A Street] Capell. Page's House. Pope.
10: _let_] _get_ Collier MS.
25: _polecats_] _powlcat_ Q3.
41: _Accusativo_] _accusative_ F3 F4.
_hinc_] _hunc_ Halliwell.
43: _hung_] Pope. _hing_ Ff Q3.
56: _Jenny's_] _Ginyes_ Ff Q3.
63: _lunaties_] Ff Q3. _lunacies_ Rowe. _lunaticks_ Capell.
64: _of_] _and_ Collier MS.
65: _desires_] _desire_ Pope.
70, 71: _quæ ... quæs_] _que ... ques_ Ff Q3.
SCENE II. _A room in FORD'S house._
_Enter FALSTAFF and MISTRESS FORD._
_Fal._ Mistress Ford, your sorrow hath eaten up my
sufferance. I see you are obsequious in your love, and
I profess requital to a hair's breadth; not only, Mistress
Ford, in the simple office of love, but in all the accoutrement,
complement, and ceremony of it. But are you sure 5
of your husband now?
_Mrs Ford._ He's a-birding, sweet Sir John.
_Mrs Page._ [_Within_] What, ho, gossip Ford! what, ho!
_Mrs Ford._ Step into the chamber, Sir John.
[_Exit Falstaff._
_Enter MISTRESS PAGE._
_Mrs Page._ How now, sweetheart! who's at home besides 10
yourself?
_Mrs Ford._ Why, none but mine own people.
_Mrs Page._ Indeed!
_Mrs Ford._ No, certainly. [_Aside to her_] Speak louder.
_Mrs Page._ Truly, I am so glad you have nobody here. 15
_Mrs Ford._ Why?
_Mrs Page._ Why, woman, your husband is in his old
lunes again: he so takes on yonder with my husband; so
rails against all married mankind; so curses all Eve's
daughters, of what complexion soever; and so buffets himself 20
on the forehead, crying, 'Peer out, peer out!' that any
madness I ever yet beheld seemed but tameness, civility,
and patience, to this his distemper he is in now: I am glad
the fat knight is not here.
_Mrs Ford._ Why, does he talk of him? 25
_Mrs Page._ Of none but him; and swears he was carried
out, the last time he searched for him, in a basket;
protests to my husband he is now here; and hath drawn
him and the rest of their company from their sport, to make
another experiment of his suspicion: but I am glad the 30
knight is not here; now he shall see his own foolery.
_Mrs Ford._ How near is he, Mistress Page?
_Mrs Page._ Hard by; at street end; he will be here anon.
_Mrs Ford._ I am undone!--the knight is here.
_Mrs Page._ Why, then, you are utterly shamed, and 35
he's but a dead man. What a woman are you!--Away
with him, away with him! better shame than murder.
_Mrs Ford._ Which way should he go? how should I
bestow him? Shall I put him into the basket again?
_Re-enter FALSTAFF._
_Fal._ No, I'll come no more i' the basket. May I not 40
go out ere he come?
_Mrs Page._ Alas, three of Master Ford's brothers watch
the door with pistols, that none shall issue out; otherwise
you might slip away ere he came. But what make you
here? 45
_Fal._ What shall I do?--I'll creep up into the chimney.
_Mrs Ford._ There they always use to discharge their
birding-pieces. Creep into the kiln-hole.
_Fal._ Where is it?
_Mrs Ford._ He will seek there, on my word. Neither 50
press, coffer, chest, trunk, well, vault, but he hath an abstract
for the remembrance of such places, and goes to
them by his note: there is no hiding you in the house.
_Fal._ I'll go out, then.
_Mrs Page._ If you go out in your own semblance, you 55
die, Sir John. Unless you go out disguised,--
_Mrs Ford._ How might we disguise him?
_Mrs Page._ Alas the day, I know not! There is no
woman's gown big enough for him; otherwise he might put
on a hat, a muffler, and a kerchief, and so escape. 60
_Fal._ Good hearts, devise something: any extremity
rather than a mischief.
_Mrs Ford._ My maid's aunt, the fat woman of Brentford,
has a gown above.
_Mrs Page._ On my word, it will serve him; she's as big 65
as he is: and there's her thrummed hat, and her muffler
too. Run up, Sir John.
_Mrs Ford._ Go, go, sweet Sir John: Mistress Page and
I will look some linen for your head.
_Mrs Page._ Quick, quick! we'll come dress you straight: 70
put on the gown the while. [_Exit Falstaff._
_Mrs Ford._ I would my husband would meet him in
this shape: he cannot abide the old woman of Brentford;
he swears she's a witch; forbade her my house, and hath
threatened to beat her. 75
_Mrs Page._ Heaven guide him to thy husband's cudgel,
and the devil guide his cudgel afterwards!
_Mrs Ford._ But is my husband coming?
_Mrs Page._ Ay, in good sadness, is he; and talks of
the basket too, howsoever he hath had intelligence. 80
_Mrs Ford._ We'll try that; for I'll appoint my men to
carry the basket again, to meet him at the door with it, as
they did last time.
_Mrs Page._ Nay, but he'll be here presently: let's go
dress him like the witch of Brentford. 85
_Mrs Ford._ I'll first direct my men what they shall do
with the basket. Go up; I'll bring linen for him straight.
[_Exit._
_Mrs Page._ Hang him, dishonest varlet! we cannot misuse
him enough.
We'll leave a proof, by that which we will do, 90
Wives may be merry, and yet honest too:
We do not act that often jest and laugh;
'Tis old, but true,--Still swine eat all the draff. [_Exit._
_Re-enter MISTRESS FORD with two SERVANTS._
_Mrs Ford._ Go, sirs, take the basket again on your
shoulders: your master is hard at door; if he bid you set it 95
down, obey him: quickly, dispatch. [_Exit._
_First Serv._ Come, come, take it up.
_Sec. Serv._ Pray heaven it be not full of knight again.
_First Serv._ I hope not; I had as lief bear so much lead.
_Enter FORD, PAGE, SHALLOW, CAIUS, and SIR HUGH EVANS._
_Ford._ Ay, but if it prove true, Master Page, have you 100
any way then to unfool me again? Set down the basket,
villain! Somebody call my wife. Youth in a basket!--O
you panderly rascals! there's a knot, a ging, a pack, a conspiracy
against me: now shall the devil be shamed. --What,
wife, I say!--Come, come forth! Behold what honest 105
clothes you send forth to bleaching!
_Page._ Why, this passes, Master Ford; you are not to
go loose any longer; you must be pinioned.
_Evans._ Why, this is lunatics! this is mad as a mad
dog! 110
_Shal._ Indeed, Master Ford, this is not well, indeed.
_Ford._ So say I too, sir.
_Re-enter MISTRESS FORD._
Come hither, Mistress Ford; Mistress Ford, the honest woman,
the modest wife, the virtuous creature, that hath the
jealous fool to her husband! I suspect without cause, mistress, 115
do I?
_Mrs Ford._ Heaven be my witness you do, if you suspect
me in any dishonesty.
_Ford._ Well said, brazen-face! hold it out. Come forth,
sirrah! [_Pulling clothes out of the basket._ 120
_Page._ This passes!
_Mrs Ford._ Are you not ashamed? let the clothes alone.
_Ford._ I shall find you anon.
_Evans._ 'Tis unreasonable! Will you take up your
wife's clothes? Come away. 125
_Ford._ Empty the basket, I say!
_Mrs Ford._ Why, man, why?
_Ford._ Master Page, as I am a man, there was one conveyed
out of my house yesterday in this basket: why may
not he be there again? In my house I am sure he is: my 130
intelligence is true; my jealousy is reasonable. Pluck me
out all the linen.
_Mrs Ford._ If you find a man there, he shall die a flea's
death.
_Page._ Here's no man. 135
_Shal._ By my fidelity, this is not well, Master Ford;
this wrongs you.
_Evans._ Master Ford, you must pray, and not follow the
imaginations of your own heart: this is jealousies.
_Ford._ Well, he's not here I seek for. 140
_Page._ No, nor nowhere else but in your brain.
_Ford._ Help to search my house this one time. If I
find not what I seek, show no colour for my extremity; let
me for ever be your table-sport; let them say of me, 'As
jealous as Ford, that searched a hollow walnut for his wife's 145
leman.' Satisfy me once more; once more search with me.
_Mrs Ford._ What, ho, Mistress Page! come you and the
old woman down; my husband will come into the chamber.
_Ford._ Old woman! what old woman's that?
_Mrs Ford._ Why, it is my maid's aunt of Brentford. 150
_Ford._ A witch, a quean, an old cozening quean! Have
I not forbid her my house? She comes of errands, does
she? We are simple men; we do not know what's brought
to pass under the profession of fortune-telling. She works
by charms, by spells, by the figure, and such daubery as 155
this is, beyond our element: we know nothing. Come
down, you witch, you hag, you; come down, I say!
_Mrs Ford._ Nay, good, sweet husband!--Good gentlemen,
let him not strike the old woman.
_Re-enter FALSTAFF in woman's clothes, and MISTRESS PAGE._
_Mrs Page._ Come, Mother Prat; come, give me your 160
hand.
_Ford._ I'll prat her. [_Beating him_] Out of my door,
you witch, you hag, you baggage, you polecat, you ronyon!
out, out! I'll conjure you, I'll fortune-tell you.
[_Exit Falstaff._
_Mrs Page._ Are you not ashamed? I think you have 165
killed the poor woman.
_Mrs Ford._ Nay, he will do it. 'Tis a goodly credit for
you.
_Ford._ Hang her, witch!
_Evans._ By yea and no, I think the 'oman is a witch indeed: 170
I like not when a 'oman has a great peard; I spy a
great peard under his muffler.
_Ford._ Will you follow, gentlemen? I beseech you,
follow; see but the issue of my jealousy: if I cry out thus
upon no trail, never trust me when I open again. 175
_Page._ Let's obey his humour a little further: come,
gentlemen. [_Exeunt Ford, Page, Shal., Caius, and Evans._
_Mrs Page._ Trust me, he beat him most pitifully.
_Mrs Ford._ Nay, by the mass, that he did not; he beat
him most unpitifully methought. 180
_Mrs Page._ I'll have the cudgel hallowed and hung
o'er the altar; it hath done meritorious service.
_Mrs Ford._ What think you? may we, with the warrant
of womanhood and the witness of a good conscience, pursue
him with any further revenge? 185
_Mrs Page._ The spirit of wantonness is, sure, scared
out of him: if the devil have him not in fee-simple, with
fine and recovery, he will never, I think, in the way of
waste, attempt us again.
_Mrs Ford._ Shall we tell our husbands how we have 190
served him?
_Mrs Page._ Yes, by all means; if it be but to scrape
the figures out of your husband's brains. If they can find
in their hearts the poor unvirtuous fat knight shall be any
further afflicted, we two will still be the ministers. 195
_Mrs Ford._ I'll warrant they'll have him publicly
shamed: and methinks there would be no period to the
jest, should he not be publicly shamed.
_Mrs Page._ Come, to the forge with it, then; shape it:
I would not have things cool. [_Exeunt._ 200
NOTES: IV, 2
18: _lunes_] Theobald. _lines_ Ff Q3. _vaine_ (Q1 Q2).
33: _street_] F1 Q3. _streets_ F2 F3 F4.
39: Re-enter F.] Enter. F2.
40: SCENE III. Pope.
43: _pistols_] _Pistol_ Jackson conj.
48: _Creep into the kiln-hole_] Given to Mrs Page by Dyce
(Malone conj.).
55: Mrs Page] (Q1 Q2) Malone. Mist. Ford. Ff Q3.
57: Mrs Ford] om. F2 F3 F4.
62: _a mischief_] _mischief_ F4.
63, 73, 85, 150, and passim: _Brentford_] _Brainford_ (Q1 Q2) Ff Q3.
66: _thrummed_] _thrum'd_ F1 F2 F3. _thrumb_ F4.
89: _him_] F2 F3 F4. om. F1 Q3.
98: _knight_] F1 Q3. _the knight_ F2 F3 F4.
99: _as lief_] F2 F3 F4. _liefe as_ F1 Q3.
100: SCENE IV. Pope.
102: _villain_] _villains_ Dyce.
_Youth in a basket_] _you youth in a basket come out here_
Malone (from Q1 Q2).
103: _ging_] F2 F3 F4. _gin_ F1 Q3 _gang_ Rowe.
104: _shamed_] _ashamed_ F2.
105: _wife_] om. Rowe.
159: _not_] om. F1.
160: SCENE V. Pope.
Re-enter ... clothes] Rowe. Enter Fal. Ff. and Mistress Page] Pope.
163: _hag_] F3 F4. _ragge_ F1. _hagge_ Q3. _rag_ F2.
170: _By yea and no_] _By Jeshu_ (Q1 Q2).
171: _'oman_] _'omans_ Q3.
172: _his_] Ff Q3. _her_ (Q1 Q2) Pope.
175: _trail_] F1 Q3 F2 F3. _Tryal_ F4.
188: _fine_] _find_ Q3.
193: _brains_] _brain_ F3 F4.
197: _period_] _right period_ Hanmer.
198: _the jest_] _jest_ Q3.
199: _it, then; shape it:_] _it, then shape it:_ Ff Q3.
SCENE III. _A room in the Garter Inn._
_Enter HOST and BARDOLPH._
_Bard._ Sir, the Germans desire to have three of your
horses: the duke himself will be to-morrow at court, and
they are going to meet him.
_Host._ What duke should that be comes so secretly? I
hear not of him in the court. Let me speak with the gentlemen: 5
they speak English?
_Bard._ Ay, sir; I'll call them to you.
_Host._ They shall have my horses; but I'll make them
pay; I'll sauce them: they have had my house a week at
command; I have turned away my other guests: they must 10
come off; I'll sauce them. Come. [_Exeunt._
NOTES: IV, 3
SCENE III.] SCENE VI. Pope.
1: _Germans desire_] Capell. _Germane desires_ Ff Q3.
7: _Ay_] om. F3 F4.
9: _house_] (Q1 Q2) Rowe. _houses_ Ff Q3.
11: _come off_] _compt off_ Theobald (Warburton). _not come off_
Capell.
SCENE IV. _A room in FORD'S house._
_Enter PAGE, FORD, MISTRESS PAGE, MISTRESS FORD,
and SIR HUGH EVANS._
_Evans._ 'Tis one of the best discretions of a 'oman as
ever I did look upon.
_Page._ And did he send you both these letters at an
instant?
_Mrs Page._ Within a quarter of an hour. 5
_Ford._ Pardon me, wife. Henceforth do what thou wilt;
I rather will suspect the sun with cold
Than thee with wantonness: now doth thy honour stand,
In him that was of late an heretic,
As firm as faith.
_Page._ 'Tis well, 'tis well; no more: 10
Be not as extreme in submission
As in offence.
But let our plot go forward: let our wives
Yet once again, to make us public sport,
Appoint a meeting with this old fat fellow, 15
Where we may take him, and disgrace him for it.
_Ford._ There is no better way than that they spoke of.
_Page._ How? to send him word they'll meet him in the
Park at midnight? Fie, fie! he'll never come.
_Evans._ You say he has been thrown in the rivers, and 20
has been grievously peaten, as an old 'oman: methinks
there should be terrors in him that he should not come;
methinks his flesh is punished, he shall have no desires.
_Page._ So think I too.
_Mrs Ford._ Devise but how you'll use him when he comes, 25
And let us two devise to bring him thither.
_Mrs Page._ There is an old tale goes that Herne the hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest,
Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight,
Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns; 30
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,
And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner:
You have heard of such a spirit; and well you know
The superstitious idle-headed eld 35
Receiv'd, and did deliver to our age,
This tale of Herne the hunter for a truth.
_Page._ Why, yet there want not many that do fear
In deep of night to walk by this Herne's oak:
But what of this?
_Mrs Ford._ Marry, this is our device; 40
That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us.
_Page._ Well, let it not be doubted but he'll come:
And in this shape when you have brought him thither,
What shall be done with him? what is your plot?
_Mrs Page._ That likewise have we thought upon, and thus: 45
Nan Page my daughter and my little son
And three or four more of their growth we'll dress
Like urchins, ouphes and fairies, green and white,
With rounds of waxen tapers on their heads,
And rattles in their hands: upon a sudden, 50
As Falstaff, she, and I, are newly met,
Let them from forth a sawpit rush at once
With some diffused song: upon their sight,
We two in great amazedness will fly:
Then let them all encircle him about, 55
And, fairy-like, to-pinch the unclean knight;
And ask him why, that hour of fairy revel,
In their so sacred paths he dares to tread
In shape profane.
_Mrs Ford._ And till he tell the truth,
Let the supposed fairies pinch him sound, 60
And burn him with their tapers.
_Mrs Page._ The truth being known,
We'll all present ourselves, dis-horn the spirit,
And mock him home to Windsor.
_Ford._ The children must
Be practised well to this, or they'll ne'er do't.
_Evans._ I will teach the children their behaviours; and 65
I will be like a jack-an-apes also, to burn the knight with
my taber.
_Ford._ That will be excellent. I'll go and buy them
vizards.
_Mrs Page._ My Nan shall be the queen of all the fairies, 70
Finely attired in a robe of white.
_Page._ That silk will I go buy. [_Aside_] And in that time
Shall Master Slender steal my Nan away,
And marry her at Eton. Go send to Falstaff straight.
_Ford._ Nay, I'll to him again in name of Brook: 75
He'll tell me all his purpose: sure, he'll come.
_Mrs Page._ Fear not you that. Go get us properties
And tricking for our fairies.
_Evans._ Let us about it: it is admirable pleasures and
fery honest knaveries. [_Exeunt Page, Ford, and Evans._ 80
_Mrs Page._ Go, Mistress Ford,
Send quickly to Sir John, to know his mind.
[_Exit Mrs Ford._
I'll to the doctor: he hath my good will,
And none but he, to marry with Nan Page.
That Slender, though well landed, is an idiot; 85
And he my husband best of all affects.
The doctor is well money'd, and his friends
Potent at court: he, none but he, shall have her,
Though twenty thousand worthier come to crave her. [_Exit._
NOTES: IV, 4
SCENE IV.] SCENE VII. Pope.
1: _'oman_] _o'mans_ Q3.
7: _cold_] Rowe. _gold_ Ff Q3.
9: _as faith_] F1 Q3. _of faith_ F2 F3 F4.
11: _as extreme_] F1 Q3. om. _as_ F2 F3 F4.
11, 12: Printed in one line in Ff Q3.
20: _say_] _see_ Collier MS.
_in the rivers_] F1 Q3. _into the river_ F2 F3 F4.
22: _terrors_] _terror_ Q3.
29: _midnight_] F1 Q3. _of midnight_ F2 F3 F4.
30: _great ragg'd_] _ragged_ Pope.
31: _tree_] _trees_ Hanmer.
41: Here Theobald inserts from Q1 Q2, _We'll send him word to meet
us in the field, Disguised like Herne_ [_Horne_ Q1 Q2] _with huge
horns on his head._ Malone gives the second line only. See note
(VIII).
56: _to-pinch_] Steevens (Tyrwhitt conj.).] _to pinch_ Ff Q3.
_too, pinch_ Warburton.
_fairy-like, to-pinch_] _like to fairies pinch_ Hanmer.
60: _him sound_] F2 F3 F4. _him, sound,_ F1 Q3. _him round,_ Pope.
_him soundly_ Collier MS.
67: _taber_] _taper_ Pope.
72: _time_] _tire_ Theobald.
75: _in name_] _in the name_ Q3.
86: _he_] _him_ Hanmer.
SCENE V. _A room in the Garter Inn._
_Enter HOST and SIMPLE._
_Host._ What wouldst thou have, boor? what, thick-skin?
speak, breathe, discuss; brief, short, quick, snap.
_Sim._ Marry, sir, I come to speak with Sir John Falstaff
from Master Slender.
_Host._ There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his 5
standing-bed, and truckle-bed; 'tis painted about with the
story of the Prodigal, fresh and new. Go knock and call;
he'll speak like an Anthropophaginian unto thee: knock,
I say.
_Sim._ There's an old woman, a fat woman, gone up into 10
his chamber: I'll be so bold as stay, sir, till she come
down; I come to speak with her, indeed.
_Host._ Ha! a fat woman! the knight may be robbed:
I'll call. --Bully knight! bully Sir John! speak from thy
lungs military: art thou there? it is thine host, thine Ephesian, 15
calls.
_Fal._ [_Above_] How now, mine host!
_Host._ Here's a Bohemian-Tartar tarries the coming
down of thy fat woman. Let her descend, bully, let her
descend; my chambers are honourable: fie! privacy? fie! 20
_Enter FALSTAFF._
_Fal._ There was, mine host, an old fat woman even now
with me; but she's gone.
_Sim._ Pray you, sir, was't not the wise woman of
Brentford?
_Fal._ Ay, marry, was it, muscle-shell: what would you 25
with her?
_Sim._ My master, sir, Master Slender, sent to her, seeing
her go thorough the streets, to know, sir, whether one Nym,
sir, that beguiled him of a chain, had the chain or no.
_Fal._ I spake with the old woman about it. 30
_Sim._ And what says she, I pray, sir?
_Fal._ Marry, she says that the very same man that beguiled
Master Slender of his chain cozened him of it.
_Sim._ I would I could have spoken with the woman
herself; I had other things to have spoken with her too 35
from him.
_Fal._ What are they? let us know.
_Host._ Ay, come; quick.
_Sim._ I may not conceal them, sir.
_Host._ Conceal them, or thou diest. 40
_Sim._ Why, sir, they were nothing but about Mistress
Anne Page; to know if it were my master's fortune to have
her or no.
_Fal._ 'Tis, 'tis his fortune.
_Sim._ What, sir? 45
_Fal._ To have her, or no. Go; say the woman told
me so.
_Sim._ May I be bold to say so, sir?
_Fal._ Ay, sir; like who more bold.
_Sim._ I thank your worship: I shall make my master 50
glad with these tidings. [_Exit._
_Host._ Thou art clerkly, thou art clerkly, Sir John.
Was there a wise woman with thee?
_Fal._ Ay, that there was, mine host; one that hath
taught me more wit than ever I learned before in my 55
life; and I paid nothing for it neither, but was paid for
my learning.
_Enter BARDOLPH._
_Bard._ Out, alas, sir! cozenage, mere cozenage!
_Host._ Where be my horses? speak well of them,
varletto. 60
_Bard._ Run away with the cozeners: for so soon as I
came beyond Eton, they threw me off, from behind one of
them, in a slough of mire; and set spurs and away, like
three German devils, three Doctor Faustuses.
_Host._ They are gone but to meet the duke, villain: do 65
not say they be fled; Germans are honest men.
_Enter SIR HUGH EVANS._
_Evans._ Where is mine host?
_Host._ What is the matter, sir?
_Evans._ Have a care of your entertainments: there is a
friend of mine come to town, tells me there is three 70
cozen-germans that has cozened all the hosts of Readins, of
Maidenhead, of Colebrook, of horses and money. I tell you for
good will, look you: you are wise, and full of gibes and
vlouting-stocks, and 'tis not convenient you should be
cozened. Fare you well. [_Exit._ 75
_Enter DOCTOR CAIUS._
_Caius._ Vere is mine host de Jarteer?
_Host._ Here, master doctor, in perplexity and doubtful
dilemma.
_Caius._ I cannot tell vat is dat: but it is tell-a me dat
you make grand preparation for a duke de Jamany: by my 80
trot, dere is no duke dat the court is know to come. I tell
you for good vill: adieu. [_Exit._
_Host._ Hue and cry, villain, go!--Assist me, knight. --I
am undone!--Fly, run, hue and cry, villain!--I am undone!
[_Exeunt Host and Bard._ 85
_Fal._ I would all the world might be cozened; for I
have been cozened and beaten too. If it should come to
the ear of the court, how I have been transformed, and how
my transformation hath been washed and cudgelled, they
would melt me out of my fat drop by drop, and liquor 90
fishermen's boots with me: I warrant they would whip me
with their fine wits till I were as crest-fallen as a dried pear.
I never prospered since I forswore myself at primero. Well,
if my wind were but long enough [to say my prayers,] I
would repent. 95
_Enter MISTRESS QUICKLY._
Now, whence come you?
_Quick._ From the two parties, forsooth.
_Fal._ The devil take one party, and his dam the other!
and so they shall be both bestowed. I have suffered more
for their sakes, more than the villanous inconstancy of 100
man's disposition is able to bear.
_Quick._ And have not they suffered? Yes, I warrant;
speciously one of them; Mistress Ford, good heart, is
beaten black and blue, that you cannot see a white spot
about her. 105
_Fal._ What tellest thou me of black and blue? I was
beaten myself into all the colours of the rainbow; and I
was like to be apprehended for the witch of Brentford: but
that my admirable dexterity of wit, my counterfeiting the
action of an old woman, delivered me, the knave constable 110
had set me i' the stocks, i' the common stocks, for a
witch.
_Quick._ Sir, let me speak with you in your chamber:
you shall hear how things go; and, I warrant, to your content.
Here is a letter will say somewhat. Good hearts, 115
what ado here is to bring you together! Sure, one of you
does not serve heaven well, that you are so crossed.
_Fal._ Come up into my chamber. [_Exeunt._
NOTES: IV, 5
SCENE V.] SCENE VIII. Pope.
2: _snap_] _nap_ Q3.
17: [Above] Theobald. Enter Falstaff. Rowe. om. Ff Q3.
27: _Master Slender_] Steevens. _my master Slender,_ Ff Q3.
28: _thorough_] F1 Q3. _through_ F2 F3 F4.
39: Sim. _I may..._] Rowe. Fal. _I may..._ Ff Q3. Fal. _You may..._
Collier MS.
40: Host.] Fal. Warburton.
_Conceal them, or_] _Conceal them, and_ Hanmer. _Aye conseil them
or_ Becket conj.
39, 40: _conceal, Conceal_] _reveal, Reveal_ Farmer conj.
42: _master's_] _master_ Q3.
49: _Ay, sir; like_] Ff Q3. _I tike,_ (Q1 Q2). _Ay, sir Tike,_
Steevens (Farmer conj.). _Ay, sir, tike,_ Collier. See note (IX).
58: SCENE IX. Pope.
61: _with_] _with by_ Collier MS.
71: _Readins_] _Reading_ F4.
80: _grand_] _agrand_ F3 F4.
85: [Exeunt H. and B.] Capell. [Exit F2. om. F1 Q3.
94: [_to say my prayers_] (Q1 Q2) Pope. om. Ff Q3.
95: _repent_] _pray and repent_ Collier MS.
96: SCENE X. Pope.
110: _an old woman_] _a wode woman_ Theobald.
SCENE VI. _The same. Another room in the Garter Inn._
_Enter FENTON and HOST._
_Host._ Master Fenton, talk not to me; my mind is
heavy: I will give over all.
_Fent._ Yet hear me speak. Assist me in my purpose,
And, as I am a gentleman, I'll give thee
A hundred pound in gold more than your loss. 5
_Host._ I will hear you, Master Fenton; and I will at
the least keep your counsel.
_Fent._ From time to time I have acquainted you
With the dear love I bear to fair Anne Page;
Who mutually hath answer'd my affection, 10
So far forth as herself might be her chooser,
Even to my wish: I have a letter from her
Of such contents as you will wonder at;
The mirth whereof so larded with my matter,
That neither singly can be manifested, 15
Without the show of both; fat Falstaff
Hath a great scene: the image of the jest
I'll show you here at large. Hark, good mine host.
To-night at Herne's oak, just 'twixt twelve and one,
Must my sweet Nan present the Fairy Queen; 20
The purpose why, is here: in which disguise,
While other jests are something rank on foot,
Her father hath commanded her to slip
Away with Slender, and with him at Eton
Immediately to marry: she hath consented: 25
Now, sir,
Her mother, even strong against that match,
And firm for Doctor Caius, hath appointed
That he shall likewise shuffle her away,
While other sports are tasking of their minds,
And at the deanery, where a priest attends,
Straight marry her: to this her mother's plot
She seemingly obedient likewise hath
Made promise to the doctor. Now, thus it rests:
Her father means she shall be all in white; 35
And in that habit, when Slender sees his time
To take her by the hand and bid her go,
She shall go with him: her mother hath intended,
The better to denote her to the doctor,--
For they must all be mask'd and vizarded,-- 40
That quaint in green she shall be loose enrobed,
With ribands pendent, flaring 'bout her head;
And when the doctor spies his vantage ripe,
To pinch her by the hand, and, on that token,
The maid hath given consent to go with him. 45
