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 compass. 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. Amer.

Mrs Page. You do yourself mighty wrong, Mr

Ford.

Ford. Ay, ay; I must 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 asham'd? what fpirit, what devil fuggefts this imagination? I would not ha' your diftemper in this kind, for the wealth of Windfor-caftle.

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, Mistress Page; I pray you pardon me; pray heartily, pardon ine.

Page. Let's go in, gentlemen; but trust me, we'll mock him. I do invite you to-morrow morning to my houfe 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 loufy kuave, to have his gibes and his mockeries.

[Exeunt.

SCENE

XII.

Changes to Page's House.

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 thyfelf.

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 past, 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 speed 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 stamps in gold, or fums in sealed 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 humblest fuit

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

XIII.

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 difmay'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.

O boy, thou

Shal. She's coming; to her, coz. hadst 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 geese out of a pen, good uncle.

Shal. Miftrefs Anne, my coufin loves you.

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

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 Mafter Shallow, let him woo for himfelf.

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

Anne. Now, Master Slender.

Slen. 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.

SCENE

XIV.

Enter Page, and Mistress Page,

Page. Now, Master Slender: love him, daughter

Anne.

-Why, how now? what does Mafter 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 Mafter Fenton, come hot to my

child.

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

Come, Master Shallow; come, fon Slender, in.

Knowing my mind, you wrong me, Master Fenton, [Exeunt Page, Shallow, and Slender.

Quic. Speak to Mistress Page.

Fent. Good Miftrefs Page, for that I love your

daughter

In fuch a righteous fafhion as I do,
Perforce against all checks, rebukes, and man-

ners,

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 master, Master 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 Maiter Fenton,

I will not be your friend nor enemy:

My daughter will I queftion how the 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, said I, will you caft away your child on a fool, and a phyfician? look on Master Fenton-This is my doing.

Fent. I thank thee; and I pray thee, once tonight, give my sweet Nan this ring. There's for thy pains. [Exit. Quic. Now heav'n fend thee good fortune! A 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 fo I have promis'd; and I'll be as good as my word, but fpecioufly for Mr Fenton. Well, I muft of another errand to Sir John Falstaff from my two miftreffes; what a beaft am I to flack it? [Exit.

SCENE

XV.

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 ferv'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 fize, 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