Away, difperfe; but, till 'tis one o'clock,
Our dance of cuftom round about the oak
Of Herne the hunter, let us not forget.

Eva. Pray you lock hand in hand, yourselves in order fet:

And twenty glow-worms fhall our lanthorns be,
To guide our measure round about the tree.
But ftay, I fmell a man of middle earth.

Ful. Heav'ns defend me from that Welch fairy, left he transform me to a piece of cheese!

Eva. Vild worm, thou waft o'erlook'd ev'n in thy birth.

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.

[They burn him with their tapers, and pinch him. Come, will this wood take fire.

Fal. Oh, oh, oh!

Quic. Corrupt, corrupt and tainted in defire. About him, fairies, fing a fcornful rhime: And, as you trip, ftill pinch nim to your time. Eva. It is right, indeed, he is full of leacheries and iniquity.

Fy on finful phantafy,

Fy on luft and luxury!

Luft is but a bloodish fire +,

Kindled with unchafte defire,

Fed in heart, whofe flames afpire,

As thoughts do blow them, higher and higher.
Pinch him, fairies, mutually;

Pinch him for his villainy :

Pinch him, and burn him, and turn him about,
Till candles, and star-light, and moonshine be

out.

Daring this fong they pinch him. Doctor Caius

+ Luft is but i'th' blood a fire. a fire. VOL. III.

Hanmer.

comes one way, and steals away a boy in green; Slender another way, and he takes away a boy in white; and Fenton comes, and steals away Mrs Anne Page. A noife of hunting is made within. All the fairies run away. Falftaff pulls off his buck's head, and rifes.

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

you now:

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

higher.

Now, good Sir John, how like you Windfor wives? See you thefe, husbands? do not these fair yoaks Become the foreft 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, Mafter Brook; and, Mafter 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, Mafter Brook.

Mrs Ford. Sir John, we have had ill luck; we 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 afs. Ford. Ay, and an ox too: both the proofs are

extant.

Fal. And these are not fairies? I was three or four times in the thought they were not fairies; and yet the guiltinefs of my mind, the fudden furprize of my powers, drove the grofsnefs of the foppery into a receiv'd belief, in despight of the teeth of all rhime and reafon, that they were fairies. See now how wit may be made a jack-a-lent, when 'tis upon ill-employment!

Eva, Sir John Falstaff, ferve Got, and leave your defires, and fairies will not pince you. Ford. Well faid, Fairy Hugh.

Eva. And leave you your jealoufies too, I pray you. Ford. I will never miftruft my wife again, 'till thou art able to woo her in good English.

Fal. Have I laid my brain in the fun and dry'd it, that it wants matter to prevent fo grofs o'erreaching as this? am I ridden with a Welch goat too? fhall I have a coxcomb of frize? 'tis time, I were choak'd with a piece of toasted cheese.

Eva. Seefe is not good to give putter; your pelly is all putter.

Fal Seefe and putter! Have I liv'd to ftand in the taunt of one that makes fritters of English? this is enough to be. the decay of luft and latewalking through the realm.

Mrs Page. Why, Sir John, do you think, tho we would have thruft virtue out of our hearts by the head and fhoulders, and have given ourfelves without fcruple to hell, that ever the devil could have made you our delight?

Ford. What a hodge-pudding? a bag of flax? Mes Page. A puft man?

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

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

Ford. And as wicked as his wife?

Eva. And given to fornications, and to taverns, and facks, and wines, and metheglins, and to drinkings, and fwearings, and ftarings, pribbles and prabbles?

Fal. Well, I am your theme; you have the start of me; I am dejected; I am not able to anfwer the Welch flannel; ignorance itself is a plummet o'er me; ufe me as you will.

Ford. Marry, Sir, we'll bring you to Windfor to one Mr Brook, that you have cozen'd of money, to whom you fhould have been a pander: over and above that you have suffer'd, I think to repay that money will be a biting affliction.

Mrs Ford. Nay, husband, let that go to make amends:

Forgive that fum, and fo we'll all be friends..

Ford. Well, here's my hand; all's forgiven at laft. Page. Yet be chearful, Knight; thou fhalt eat a poffet to-night at my houfe, where I will defire thee jo laugh at my wife, that now laughs at thee. Tell her, Mr Slender hath marry'd her daughter.

Mrs Page. Doctors doubt that; if Anne Page be my daughter, fhe is, by this, Doctor Caius' wife. [Afide.

Slen. What hoe! hoe! father Page.

Page. Son, how now? how now, fon, have you difpatch'd?

Slen. Difpatch'd? I'll make the beft in Gloucefterfhire know on't; would I were hang'd la, elfe. Page. Of what, fon?

Slen. I came yonder at Eaton, to marry Mistress Anne Page, and fhe's a great lubberly boy. If it had not been i' th' church, I would have fwing'd him, or he should have fwing'd me. If I did not think it had been Anne Page, would I might never ftir; and 'tis a poftmafter's boy.

Page. Upon my life, then, you took the wrong. Slen. What need you tell me that? I think fo, when I took a boy for a girl: if I had been marry'd 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 fhould know my daughter by her garments?

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

Eva. Jefhu! Mafter Slender, cannot you fee, but marry boys?

Page. O, I am vext at heart. What fhall I do? Mrs Page. Good George, be not angry; I knew of your purpose, turn'd my daughter into green; and, indeed, fhe is now with the Doctor at the Deanry, and there married.

Caius. Ver is Mistress Page? by gar I am cozen'd; I ha' married one garfoon, a boy; one peafant, 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. Py, be gar, and 'tis a boy; be gar, I'll raise all Windfor.

Ford. This is ftrange! who hath got the right Anne?

Page. My heart mifgives me; here comes Mr Fenton.

Enter Fenton and Anne Page.

How now, Mr Fenton?

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

Page. Now, miftrefs, how chance you went not with Mr Slender?

Mrs Page. Why went you not with Mr Doctor,. maid?

Fent. You do amaze her: hear the truth of it.
You would have marry'd her most shamefully,
Where there was no proportion held in love:
The truth is, fhe and I long fince contracted,
Are now fo fure that nothing can diffolve us.
Th' offence is holy, that he hath committed;
And this deceit lofes the name of craft,
Of difobedience, or unduteous title;
Since therein fhe doth evitate and fhun
A thousand irreligious curfed hours,

Which forced marriage would have brought upon

her.

Ford. Stand not amaz'd, here is no remedy. In love, the heav'ns themselves do guide the ftate; Money buys lands, and wives are fold by fate.

Fal. I am glad, tho' you have ta'en a special ftand to ftrike at me, that your arrow hath glanc'd.