Re-enter Ford, Page, and the rest at a distance. Ford. I cannot find him; may be the knave brag'd of that he could not compaís.

Mrs Page. Heard you that?

Mrs Ford. I, I; peace:

Master Ford, do you?

Ford. Ay, ay, I do fo.

-You ufe me well,

Mrs Ford. Heav'n make you better than your thoughts!

Ford. Amen.

Mrs Page. You do yourself mighty wrong, Mr Ford.

Ford. Ay, ay; I muft bear it.

Eva. If there be any pody in the house, and in the chambers, and in the coffers, and in the preffes, Heav'n forgive my fins at the day of judgment?

Caius. By gar, nor I too; there is no bodies. Page. Fy, fy, Mr Ford, are you not afham'd? what fpirit, what devil fuggefts this imagination? I would not ha' your distemper in this kind, for the wealth of Windfor-castle.

Ford. 'Tis my fault, Mr Page: I fuffer for it. Eva. You fuffer for a pad confcience; your wife is as honeft a o'mans, as I will defires among five thousand, and five hundred too.

Caius. By gar I fee 'tis an honeft woman.

Ford. Well-I promis'd you a dinner-Come, come, walk in the park. I pray you, pardon me; I will hereafter make known to you why I have done this. Come, wife; come, Miftrefs 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 house to breakfast; after, we'll a-birding together; I have a fine hawk for the bufh. Shall it be fo?

Ford. Any thing.

Eva. If there is one, I fhall make two in the company.

Caius. If there be one or two, I fhall make-a de turd.

Eva. In your teeth-for fhame.

Ford. Pray you go, Mr Page.

Eva. I pray you now, remembrance to-morrow on the loufy knave, mine hoft.

Caius. Dat is good, by gar, with all my heart. Eva. A lousy knave, to have his gibes and his mockeries. [Exeunt.

Changes to Page's Houfe.

Enter Fenton and Mistress Anne Page.

Fent. I fee I cannot get thy father's love; Therefore no more turn me to him, fweet-Nan. Anne. Alas! how then?

Fent. Why, thou must be thyself.

He doth object I am too great of birth;
And that my ftate being gall'd with my expence,
I'feek to heal it only by his wealth.
Befides thefe, other bars he lays before me,
My riots paft, my wild focieties;

And tells me 'tis a thing impoffible

I fhould love thee, but as a property.
Anne. May be he tells you true.

Fent. No, Heav'n fo fpeed me in my time to come! Albeit I will confefs thy father's wealth

Was the first motive that I woo'd thee, Anne;
Yet wooing thee, I found thee of more value
Than ftamps in gold, or fums in fealed bags;
And 'tis the very riches of thyfelf

That now I aim at.

Anne. Gentle Mr Fenton,

Yet feek my father's love; ftill feek it, Sir:
If importunity and humbleft fuit

Cannot attain it, why then- -hark you hither.
[Fenton and Mistress Anne go apart.

Enter Shallow, Slender, and Mistress Quickly.

Shal. Break their talk, Miftrefs Quickly; my kinfman fhall speak for himself.

Slen. I'll make a fhaft or a bolt on't; 'd'flid, 'tis but venturing.

Shal. Be not dismay'd.

Slen. No, fhe fhall not difmay me: I care not for that, but that I am affeard.

Quic. Hark you, Mr Slender would speak a word with you.

Anne. I come to him.-This is my father's choice. O, what a world of vile ill-favour'd faults Look handsome in three hundred pounds a-year! Quic. And how does good Mr Fenton? pray you, a word with you.

Shal. She's coming; to her, coz. O boy, thou hadft a father!

Slen. I had a father, Mrs Anne; my uncle can tell you good jefts of him.-Pray you, uncle, tell Mrs Anne the jeft, how my father stole two geefe out of a pen, good uncle.

Shal. Mistress Anne, my coufin loves you.

Slen. Ay, that I do, as well as I love any woman in Gloucefterfhire.

Shal. He will maintain you like a gentlewoman. Slen. Ay, that I will, come, cut and long-tail, under the degree of a fquire.

Shal. He will make you a hundred and fifty pounds jointure.

Anne. Good Master Shallow, let him woo for himself.

Shal. Marry, I thank you for it; I thank you for that. Good comfort; fhe calls you, coz. I'

leave you.

Anne. Now, Master Slender.

Sten. Now, good Mistress Anne.

Anne. What is your will?

Slen. My will? od's heart-lings, that's a pretty jeft, indeed: I ne'er made my will yet, I thank Heav'n; I am not fuch a fickly creature, I give Heav'n praise.

Anne. I mean, Master Slender, what would you with me?

Slen. Truly, for my own part, I would little or nothing with you; your father and my uncle have

made motions: if it be my luck, fo; if not, happy man be his dole! they can tell how things go, better than I can; you may ask your father, here he comes.

Enter Page, and Mistress Page,

Page. Now, Mafter Slender: love him, daughter

Anne.

-Why, how now? what does Master Fenton here? You wrong me, Sir, thus ftill to haunt my house: I told you, Sir, my daughter is difpos'd of.

Fent. Nay, Maiter Page, be not impatient.
Mrs Page. Good Master Fenton, come not to my
child.

Page. She is no match for you.
Feat. Sir, will you hear me?
Page. No, good Mafter Fenton.

Come, Master Shallow; come, fon Slender, in. Knowing my mind, you wrong me, Mafter Fenton, [Exeunt Page, Shallow, and Slender.

Quic. Speak to Mistress Page.

Fent. Good Miftreis Page, for that I love your daughter

In fuch a righteous fashion as I do,

Perforce against all checks, rebukes, and manners,

I must advance the colours of my love,

And not retire. Let me have your good will.

Anne. Good mother, do not marry me to yon fool.

Mrs Page. I mean it not, I feek you a better hufband

Quic. That's my mafter, Mafter Doctor.

Anne. Alas, I had rather be fet quick i' th' earth, And bowl'd to death with turnips.

Mrs Page. Come, trouble not yourself; good Mafter Fenton,

I will not be your friend nor enemy:

My daughter will I queftion how he loves you,
And as I find her, so am I affected.

'Till then, farewell, Sir-she must needs go in, Her father will be angry.

[Exeunt Mrs Page and Anne. Fent. Farewell, gentle Mistress; farewell, Nan. Quic. This is my doing now. Nay, faid I, will you caft away your child on a fool, and a phyfician? look on Mafter Fenton-This is my doing.

Fent. I thank thee; and I pray thee, once tonight, give my fweet Nan this ring. There's for thy pains. [Exit.

Quic. Now heav'n fend thee good fortune! Ã kind heart he hath; a woman would run through fire and water for fuch a kind heart. But yet I would my mafter had Mistress Anne, or I would Mr Slender had her; or, in footh, I would Mr Fenton had her. I will do what I can for them all three, for so I have promis'd; and I'll be as good as my word, but fpeciously for Mr Fenton. Well, I muft of another errand to Sir John Falstaff from my two miftreffes; what a beast am I to flack it? [Exit.

Changes to the Garter-Inn.

Enter Falstaff and Bardolph.

Fal. Bardolph, I say.

Bard. Here, Sir.

Fal. Go fetch me a quart of fack, put a toast in't. [Ex. Bard.] Have I liv'd to be carry'd in a basket like a barrow of butchers' offal, and to be thrown into the Thames? Well, if I be serv'd fuch another trick, I'll have my brains ta'en out and butter'd, and give them to a dog for a new-year's gift. The rogues lighted me into the river with as little remorfe as they would have drown'd a bitch's blind puppies, fifteen i' th' litter; and you may know, by my size, that I have a kind of alacrity in finking: if the bottom were as deep as hell, I fhould down. I had been drown'd, but that the fhore was fhelvy and fhallow; a death that I abhor; for the water fwells a man and what a thing fhould I have been when