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Mrs. Ford. Nay, good, sweet husband;-good gentlemen, let him not strike the old woman. Enter Falstaff in women's clothes, led by Mrs. Page. Mrs. Page. Come, mother Prat, come, give me your hand. Ford. I'll prat her:Out of my door, you witch, [beats him, you rag, you baggage, you polecat, you ronyon! out out! I'll conjure you, I'll fortunetell you. [Exit Falstaff. Mrs. Page. Are you not ashamed? I think you have killed the poor woman.

credit for you.

Mrs. Ford. Nay, he will do it :-'T is a goodly
Ford. Hang her, witch!
Eva. By yea and no, I think, the 'oman is a witch
indeed: I like not when a oman has a great peard;
I spy a great peard under her 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.

Page. Let's obey his humour a little further:
Come, gentlemen.

[Exeunt Page, Ford, Shallow, 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.
Mrs. Page. I'll have the cudgel hallowed and
hung o'er the altar; it hath done meritorious

[blocks in formation]

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.

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.

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: 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 come off; I'll sauce them:
[Exeunt.

Come.

SCENE IV.-A Room in Ford's House.
Enter Page, Ford, Mrs. Page, Mrs. Ford, and
Sir Hugh Evans.

Eva. 'T is one of the pest 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. [wilt;
Ford. Pardon me, wife: Henceforth do what thou
I rather will suspect the sun with cold
Than thee with wantonness: now doth thy honour
In him that was of late an heretic,
[stand,
As firm as faith.

Page.

'T is well, 't is well; no more:
Be not as extreine in subinission
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,
Where we may take him, and disgrace him for it.

Ford. There is no better way than that they
spoke of.

the park at midnight; fie, fie; he 'll never come.
Page. How to send him word they 'll meet him in
Eva. You say, he has been thrown in the rivers;
and 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
And let us two devise to bring him thither. [comes,
Mrs. Page. There is an old tale goes, that Herne
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;
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle;
And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a
In a most hideous and dreadful manner:
You have heard of such a spirit; and well you know,
The superstitious idle-headed eld
Received, and did deliver to our age,
This tale of Herne the hunter for a truth.

the hunter.

[chain

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;
That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us,
[Disguised like Herne, with huge horns on his head.]
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:

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,
As Falstaff, she, and I, are newly met,
Let them from forth a saw-pit rush at once
With some diffused song; upon their sight,
We two in great amazedness will fly:
Then let them all encircle him about,
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.
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.
Eva. I will teach the children their behaviours;
and I will be like a jack-an-apes also, to burn the
knight with my taber.
[vizards.

Ford. That will be excellent. I'll go buy them
Mrs. Page. My Nan shall be the queen of all the
Finely attired in a robe of white.
[fairies,
Page. That silk will I go buy!-and in that time
Shall master Slender steal my Nan away, [Aside.
And marry her at Eton.-Go, send to Falstaff
straight.

Ford. Nay, I'll to him again, in name of Brook;
He 'll tell me all his purpose: Sure, he 'll come.
Mrs. Page. Fear not you that: Go, get us pro-
And tricking for our fairies.
[perties,
Eva. Let us about it: It is admirable pleasures,
and fery honest knaveries.
[Exeunt Page, Ford, and Evans.
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;
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.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V.-A Room in the Garter Inn.

Enter Host and Simple.

Host. What would'st thou have, boor? what, thickskin? speak, breathe, discuss; brief, short, quick,

snap.

Sim, Marry, sir, I come to speak with sir John

Falstaff from master Slender.

It is not convenient you should be cozened: Fare
you well.
[Exit.
Enter Dr. Caius.

Caius. Vere is mine Host de Farterre?
Host. Here, master doctor, in perplexity, and
doubtful dilemma.

Caius. I cannot tell vat is dat : But it is tell-a me, Host. There's his chamber, his house, his castle, dat you make grand preparation for a duke de Far his standing-bed, and truckle-bed; 't is painted many: by my trot, dere is no duke dat de court is about with the story of the prodigal, fresh and new: know to come: I tell you for good vill: adieu. [Ex. Go, knock and call; he 'll speak like an Anthropo-Host. Hue and cry, villain, go:-assist me, knight; phaginian unto thee: Knock, I say. I am undone: fly, run, hue and cry, villain! fam undone ! [Exeunt Host and Bardolph. 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 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 fore-swore myself at primero. Well, if iny wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent.Enter Mistress Quickly.

Sim. There's an old woman, a fat woman, gone
up into 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, 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: Fye! privacy? fye!

Enter Falstaff.

Fal. There was, mine host, an old fat woman even
now with me; but she 's gone.
[Brentford?
Sim. Pray you, sir, was 't not the wise woman of
Fal. Ay, marry, was it, muscle-shell: What would
you with her?

Sim. My master, sir, my master Slender, sent to
her, seeing her go thorough the streets, to know,
sir, whether one Nym, sir, that beguiled him of

chain, had the chain, or no.

a

Fal. I spake with the old woman about it.
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, 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.

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 villain-
ous inconstancy of man's disposition is able to bear.
Quick. And have not they suffered? Yes, I war-
heart, is beaten black and blue, that you cannot see
rant; speciously one of them; mistress Ford, good
a white spot about her.

Fal. What tell'st 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 dexerity of wit, my counterfeiting the action of an old woman, deliver'd me, the knave constable 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, what ado here is to bring you together! Sim. Why, sir, they were nothing but about mis-Sure, one of you does not serve heaven well that tress Anne Page; to know if it were iny master's fortune to have her, or no. Fal. 'T is, 't is his fortune. Sim. What, sir?

[told me so.

Fal. To have her,-or no: Go; say, the woman:
Sim. May I be bold to say so, sir?
Fal. Ay, sir Tike; who more bold?
Sim. I thank your worship: I shall make my
master glad with these tidings. [Exit Simple.
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 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.

Bard. Run away with the cozeners: for so soon as
I came beyond Éton, they threw me off, from be-
hind 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 not say they be fled; Germans are honest men.

Enter Sir Hugh Evans.

you are so crossed.

[Exeunt. SCENE VI.-Another Room in the Garter Inn. Enter Fenton and Host.

Fal. Come up into my chamber.

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 pur
[pose,
And, as I am a gentleman, I'll give thee
A hundred pounds in gold, more than your loss.
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 answered my affection
(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,
Without the show of both,-wherein 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:
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:
Now, sir.

Eva. Where is mine host?
Host. What is the matter, sir?
Eva. Have a care of your entertainments: there Her mother, even strong against that match,
is a friend of mine come to town, tells me there is And firm for doctor Caius, hath appointed
three couzin germans, that has cozened all the hosts That he shall likewise shuffle her away,
of Readings, of Maidenhead, of Colebrook, of horses While other sports are tasking of their minds,
and money. I tell you for good-will, look you: you And at the deanery, where a priest attends,
are wise, and full of gibes and vlouting-stogs; and 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;
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,)
That, quaint in green, she shall be loose enrob'd,
With ribbands pendant, 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.
Host. Which means she to deceive? father
mother?

Fent. Both, my good host, to go along with me:
And here it rests,-that you 'll procure the vicar
To stay for me at church, 'twixt twelve and one,
And, in the lawful name of marrying,
To give our hearts united ceremony.

or

Host. Well, husband your device; I'll to the vicar: Bring you the maid, you shall not lack a priest. Fent. So shall I ever more be bound to thee; Besides, I'll make a present recompense. [Exeunt.

ACT V.

SCENE I.-A Room in the Garter Inn.

Enter Falstaff and Mrs. Quickly. Fal. Prithee, no more prattling-go. I'll hold: This is the third time; I hope, good luck lies in odd numbers. Away, go; they say there is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death. Away.

Quick. I'll provide you a chain: and I'll do what
I can to get you a pair of horns.
Fal. Away, I say; time wears: hold up your head,
[Exit Mrs. Quickly.

and mince.

Enter Ford. How now, master Brook? Master Brook, the matter will be known to-night, or never. Be you in the Park about midnight, at Herne's oak, and you shall

see wonders.

Ford. Went you not to her yesterday, sir, as you told me you had appointed?

Fal. I went to her, master Brook, as you see, like a poor old man: but I came from her, master Brook, like a poor old woman. That same knave, Ford her husband, hath the finest mad devil of jealousy in him, master Brook, that ever governed frenzy. I will tell you:-He beat me grievously, in the shape of a woman; for in the shape of man, master Brook, I fear not Goliah with a weaver's beam; because I know also, life is a shuttle. I am in haste; go along with me; I'll tell you all, master Brook. Since I pluck'd geese, play'd truant, and whipp'd top, I knew not what it was to be beaten, till lately. Follow me: I'll tell you strange things of this knave Ford on whom to-night I will be revenged, and I will deliver his wife into your hand.-Follow: Strange things in hand, master Brook! follow. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Windsor Park. Enter Page, Shallow, and Slender. Page. Come, come: we 'll couch i' the castle-ditch, Will we see the light of our fairies.-Remember, son Slender, my daughter.

Slen. Ay, forsooth; I have spoke with her, and we have a nay-word, how to know one another. I come to her in white, and cry, mum; she cries budget; and by that we know one another.

Shal. That's good too: but what needs either your mum, or her budget? the white will decipher her well enough.-It hath struck ten o'clock.

Page. The night is dark; light and spirits will become it well Heaven prosper our sport! No man means evil but the devil, and we shall know him by his horns. Let's away; follow me. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The Street in Windsor. Enter Mrs. Page, Mrs. Ford, and Dr. Caius. Mrs. Page. Master Doctor, my daughter is in green when you see your time, take her by the hand, away with her to the deanery, and despatch

it quickly: Go before into the park; we two must go together.

Caius. I know vat I have to do; Adieu.

Mrs. Page. Fare you well, sir. Exit Calus. My husband will not rejoice so much at the abuse of Falstaff, as he will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter: but 't is no matter; better a little chiding than a great deal of heart-break.

Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now, and her troop of fairies and the Welch devil, Hugh?

Mrs. Page. They are all couched in a pit hard by Herne's oak, with obscured lights; which, at the very instant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at once display to the night.

Mrs. Ford. That cannot choose but amaze him.
Mrs. Page. If he be not amazed, he will be mocked;
if he be amazed, he will every way be mocked.
Mrs. Ford. We 'll betray him finely.

Mrs. Page. Against such lewdsters, and their lechThose that betray them do no treachery. [ery, Mrs. Ford. The hour draws on. To the oak, to the oak! [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-Windsor Park.

Enter Sir Hugh Evans, and Fairies. Eva. Trib, trib, fairies; come; and remember your parts: be pold, I pray you; follow me into the pit; and when I give the watch-'ords, do as I pid you; Come, come; trib, trib. [Exeunt.

SCENE V.-Another part of the Park. Enter Falstaff, disguised with a buck's head on. Fal. The Windsor bell hath struck twelve; the minute draws on: Now, the hot-blooded gods assist me:-Remember, Jove, thou wast a bull for thy Europa; love set on thy horns. O powerful love! that, in some respects, makes a beast a man; in some other, a man a beast. You were also, Jupiter, a swan, for the love of Leda :-O, omnipotent love! how near the god drew to the complexion of a goose ?-A fault done first in the form of a beast;

Jove, a beastly fault! and then another fault in the semblance of a fowl; think on 't, Jove; a foul fault. When gods have hot backs, what shall poor men do? For me, I am here a Windsor stag; and the fattest, I think, i' the forest: Send me a cool rut-time, Jove, or who can blame me to piss my tallow? Who comes here? my doe?

Enter Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page, Mrs. Ford. Sir John? art thou there, my deer? my male deer?

Fal. My doe with the black scut?-Let the sky rain potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of Green sleeves; hail kissing-comfits, and snow eringoes; let there come a tempest of provocation I will shelter me here. [Embracing her.

Mrs. Ford. Mistress Page is come with me, sweetheart.

Fal. Divide me like a bribe-buck, each a haunch: I will keep my sides to myself, my shoulders for the fellow of this walk, and my horns I bequeath your husbands. Am I a woodman? ha! Speak I like Herne the hunter ?-Why, now is Cupid a child of conscience; he makes restitution. As I am a true spirit, welcome! [Noise within.

Mrs. Page, Alas! what noise!
Mrs. Ford. Heaven forgive our sins!
Fal. What should this be?

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Mrs. Page. Away, away.

[They run off.

Fal. I think the devil will not have me damned, lest the oil that is in me should set hell on fire; he would never else cross me thus.

Enter Sir Hugh Evans like a satyr; Mrs. Quickly, and Pistol; Anne Page, as the Fairy Queen, attended by her brother and others, dressed like fairies, with waxen tapers on their heads. Quick. Fairies, black, grey, green, and white, You moon-shine revellers, and shades of night, You orphan-heirs of fixed destiny, Attend your office and your quality Crier Hobgoblin, make the fairy oyes. Pist. Elves list your names; silence, you airy toys. Cricket, to Windsor chimnies shalt thou leap:

Where fires thou find'st unrak'd, and hearths un-Jare his horns, master Brook: And, master Brook,
There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry: [swept, he hath enjoyed nothing of Ford's but his buck-
Our radiant queen hates sluts and sluttery. [díe: basket, his cudgel, and twenty pounds of money,
Fal. They are fairies; he that speaks to them shall which must be paid to master Brook; his horses are
I'll wink and couch: no man their works must eye. arrested for it, master Brook.
[Lies down upon his face.
Eva. Where's Pede?-Go you, and where you
find a maid,

That, ere she sleep, has thrice her prayers said,
Raise up the organs of her fantasy.
Sleep she as sound as careless infancy;
But those as sleep and think not on their sins,
Pinch them, arms, legs, backs, shoulders, sides, and
Anne. About, about;
[shins.

Search Windsor castle, elves, within and out:
Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room;
That it may stand till the perpetual doom,
In state as wholesome, as in state 't is fit;
Worthy the owner, and the owner it.
The several chairs of order look you scour
With juice of balm, and every precious flower:
Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest,
With loyal blazon, evermore be blest!
And nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you sing,
Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring:
The expressure that it bears, green let it be,
More fertile-fresh than all the field to see;
And, Honi soit qui mal y pense, write,

In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and white:
Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,
Buckled below fair knight-hood's bending knee:
Fairies use flowers for their charactery.
Away; disperse : But till 't is one o'clock,
Our dance of custom, round about the oak
Ot Herne the hunter, let us not forget. [order set:
Eva. Pray you, lock hand in hand; yourselves in
And twenty glow-worms shall our lanterns be,
To guide our measure round about the tree.
But, stay: I smell a man of middle earth.

Fal. Heavens defend me from that Welch fairy!
Lest he transform me to a piece of cheese! [birth.
Pist. Vile worm, thou wast overlook'd even in thy
Anne. 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.
Pist. A trial, come.
Eva.

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

Fal. Oh, oh, oh!
Anne. Corrupt, corrupt, and tainted in desire!
About him, fairies; sing a scornful rhyme;
And, as you trip, still pinch him to your time.

SONG.

Fye on sinful fantasy!

Fye on lust and luxury!

Lust is but a bloody fire,

Kindled with unchaste desire,

Fed in heart; whose flames aspire,

Mrs. Ford. Sir John, we have had ill luck; we
could never meet. I will never take you for any love
again, but I will always count you my deer.
Fal. I do begin to perceive that I am made an ass.
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 guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprize of my
powers, drove the grossness of the foppery into a
received belief, in despite of the teeth of all rhyme
and reason, that they were fairies. See now, how
wit may be made a Jack-a-lent, when 't is upon ill
employment.

Eva. Sir John Falstaff, serve Got, and leave your
desires, and fairies will not pinse you.
Ford. Well said, fairy Hugh.

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

Fal. Have I laid my brain in the sun, and dried it, that it wants matter to prevent so gross o'er-reaching as this? Am I ridden with a Welch goat too? Shall I have a coxcomb of frize? 'T is time I were choked with a piece of toasted cheese.

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

Fal. Seese and putter! have I lived to stand at the taunts of one that makes fritters of English? This is enough to be the decay of lust and late-walking through the realm.

Mrs. Page. Why, sir John, do you think, though
we would have thrust virtue out of our hearts by the
head and shoulders, and have given ourselves with-
out scruple to hell, that ever the devil could have
made you our delight?

Ford. What, a hodge-pudding? a bag of flax?
Mrs. Page. A puffed man?
[trails?
Page. Old, cold, withered, and of intolerable en-
Ford. And one that is as slanderous as Satan?
Page. And as poor as Job?

Ford. And as wicked as his wife?

Eva. And given to fornications, and to taverns, and sack, and wine, and metheglins, and to drinkings, and swearings, and starings, pribbles and prabbles? Fal. Well, I am your theme: you have the start of me; I am dejected; I am not able to answer the Welch flannel: ignorance itself is a plummet o'er me; use me as you will.

Ford. Marry, sir, we 'll bring you to Windsor, to one master Brook, that you have cozened of money, to whom you should have been a pander: over and above that you have suffered, I think, to repay that money will be a biting affliction.

Page. Yet be cheerful, knight: thou shalt eat a posset to-night at my house; where I will desire

As thoughts do blow them, higher and higher. thee to laugh at my wife that now laughs at thee: Pinch him, fairies, mutually;

Pinch him for his villainy;

Pinch him, and burn him, and turn him about,

Till candles, and star-light, and moon-shine be out. During this song, the fairies pinch Falstaff. Doctor Caius comes one way, and steals away a fairy in green; Slender another way, and takes off a fairy in white; and Fenton comes, and steals away Mrs. Anne Page. A noise of hunting is made within. All the fairies run away. Falstaff pulls off his buck's head, and rises.

Enter Page, Ford, Mrs. Page, and Mrs. Ford.
They lay hold on him.

Page. Nay, do not fly; I think, we have watch'd
you now:

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

Now, good sir John, how like you Windsor wives?
See you these, husband? do not these fair yokes
Become the forest better than the town?
Ford. Now, sir, who 's a cuckold now?-Master
Brook, Falstaff's a knave, a cuckoldly knave; here

Tell her master Slender hath married her daughter.
Mrs. Page. Doctors doubt that; if Anne Page be

my daughter, she is, by this, doctor Caius' wife.

Enter Slender.

[Aside.

Slen. Whoo, ho! ho! father Page!
Page. Son! how now? how now, son? have you
despatched?

Slen. Despatched!-I'll make the best in Gloces-
tershire know on 't; would I were hanged, la, else.
Page. Of what, son?

Slen. I came yonder at Eton to marry mistress Anne Page, and she's a great lubberly boy. If it had not been i' the church, I would have swinged him, or he should have swinged me. If I did not think it had been Anne Page would I might never stir, and 't is a post-master's boy.

I

Page. Upon my life then you took the wrong.
Slen. What need you tell me that? I think so, when
took a boy for a girl: If I had been married 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 should know my daughter by her garments?

Slen. I went to her in white, and cry'd mum, and she cry'd budget, as Anne and I had appointed; and yet it was not Anne, but a post-master's boy. Mrs. Page. Good George, be not angry; I knew of your purpose; turned my daughter into green; and, indeed, she is now with the doctor at the deanery, and there married.

Enter Caius.

Caius. Vere is mistress Page? By gar, I am cozened; I ha' married un garçon, a boy; un paisan, by gar, a boy; it is not Anne Page: by gar, I am

cozened.

[her.

Where there was no proportion held in love. The truth is, she and I, long since contracted, Are now so sure that nothing can dissolve us. The offence is holy that she hath committed: And this deceit loses the name of craft, Of disobedience, or unduteous title; Since therein she doth evitate and shun A thousand irreligious cursed hours, Ford. Stand not amaz'd: here is no remedy: Which forced marriage would have brought upon In love, the heavens themselves do guide the state; Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate. Fal. I am glad, though you have ta'en a special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanced. Page. Well, what remedy? Fenton, heaven give What cannot be eschew'd must be embrac'd. thee joy! Fal. When night-dogs run all sorts of deer are chas'd. [Fenton, Mrs. Page. Well, I will muse no further: master Heaven give you many, many merry days! Good husband, let us every one go home, And laugh this sport o'er by a country fire; [maid? Sir John and all." Ford. Let it be so:-Sir John, Mrs. Page. Why went you not with master doctor, To master Brook you yet shall hold your word; Fent. You do amaze her: Hear the truth of it. For he, to-night, shall lie with mistress Ford. You would have married her most shamefully,

raise all Windsor.

Mrs. Page. Why, did you take her in green?
Caius. Ay, be gar, and 't is a boy; be gar, I
[Exit Caius.
Ford. This is strange: Who hath got the right
Anne ?
[Fenton.
Page. My heart misgives me: Here comes master
Enter Fenton and Anne Page.

How now, master Fenton?
[pardon!
Anne. Pardon, good father! good, my mother,
Page. Now, mistress? how chance you went not
with master Slender?

[Exeunt.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

VINCENTIO, the Duke.
ANGELO,the deputy [in the Duke's
absence].

ESCALUS, an ancient lord joined
with Angelo in the deputation].
CLAUDIO, a young gentleman.
LUCIO, a fantastic.

Two other like gentlemen.
Provost.

ACT I.

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SCENE I.-An Apartment in the Duke's Palace.
Enter Duke, Escalus, Lords, and Attendants.
Duke. Escalus,- Escal. My lord.

Duke. Of government the properties to unfold,
Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse;
Since I am put to know, that your own science
Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice

My strength can give you: Then, no more remains:
But that, to your sufficiency as your worth, is able;
And let them work. The nature of our people,
Our city's institutions, and the terms

For common justice, you are as pregnant in,
As art and practice hath enriched any
That we remember: There is our commission,
From which we would not have you warp.-Call
I say, bid come before us Angelo.- [hither,
[Exit an Attendant.
What figure of us think you he will bear?
For you must know, we have with special soul
Elected him our absence to supply
Lent him our terror, dress'd him with our love;
And given his deputation all the organs
Of our own power: What think you of it?
Escal. If any in Vienna be of worth

To undergo such ample grace and honour,
It is lord Angelo.

Enter Angelo.
Duke.
Look, where he comes.
Ang. Always obedient to your grace's will,
I come to know your pleasure. Duke. Angelo,
There is a kind of character in thy life,
That, to the observer, doth thy history
Fully unfold: Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own so proper, as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.

ISABELLA, sister to Claudio.
MARIANA, betrothed to Angelo.
JULIET, beloved of Claudio.
FRANCISCA, a nun.
Mistress OVERDONE, a bawd.
Lords, Gentlemen, Guards, Of
ficers, and other Attendants.
SCENE.-VIENNA.

Heaven doth with us as we with torches do;
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, 't were all alike

As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd
But to find issues: nor nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,

Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speech
To one that can my part in him advertise;
Hold, therefore, Angelo;

In our remove, be thou at full ourself:
Mortality and mercy in Vienna

Live in thy tongue and heart: Old Escalus,
Though first in question, is thy secondary:
Take thy commission. Ang. Now, good my lord,
Let there be some more test made of my metal,
Before so noble and so great a figure
Be stamp'd upon it. Duke. No more evasion:
We have with a leaven'd and prepared choice
Proceeded to you; therefore take your honours.
Our haste from hence is of so quick condition,
That it prefers itself, and leaves unquestion'd'
Matters of needful value. We shall write to you,
As time and our concernings shall importune,
How it goes with us; and do look to know
What doth befall you here. So, fare you well:
To the hopeful execution do I leave you
Of your commissions.
Ang.
Yet, give leave, my lord,
That we may bring you something on the way.
Duke. My haste may not admit it;

Nor need you, on mine honour, have to do
With any scruple: your scope is as mine own:

So to enforce or qualify the laws

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As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand;
I'll privily away: I love the people,

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