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Shal. Be not dismayed.

Slen. No, she shall not dismay me: I care not for that, but that I am afeard.

Mrs. Quick. Hark ye; master 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-favor'd faults Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year!

[aside. Mrs. Quick. And how does good master Fenton ? Pray you, a word with you.

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, good uncle.

Shal. Mistress Anne, my cousin loves you.

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

Shal. He will maintain you like a gentlewoman. Slen. Ay, that I will, come cut and long-tail,1 under the degree of a squire.

a short, thick one. In this place the fool's bolt is probably alluded to.

1 Come poor or rich to offer himself as my rival. According to the forest laws,' says Steevens, a man who had no right to the privilege of chase, was obliged to cut his dog, by depriving him of his tail. 'Cut and long-tail' therefore signify the dog of a clown and the dog of a gentleman.'

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. She calls you, coz : I'll leave you. Anne. Now, master Slender.

Slen. Now, good mistress Anne.

Anne. What is your will?

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?

Slen. Truly, for mine own part, I would little or nothing with you. Your father, and my uncle, have made motions: 1 if it be my luck, so; if not, happy man be his dole! 2 They can tell you how things go, better than I can. You may ask your father;

here he comes.

Enter PAGE and MRS. PAGE.

Page. Now, master Slender!-Love him, daughter Anne.

Proposals.

2 A proverbial expression, frequent in Shakspeare; signifying here Happy may that man be whom you choose for a husband!'

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.
Fen. Nay, master Page, be not impatient.
Mrs. Page. Good master Fenton, come not to my

child.

Page. She is no match for you.

Fen. 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. [Exeunt Page, Shallow, and Slender.

Mrs. Quick. Speak to mistress Page.

Fen. Good mistress Page, for 1 that I love your daughter

In such a righteous fashion as I do,

Perforce, against all checks, rebukes, and manners, I must advance the colors of my love,

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.

Mrs. Quick. That's my master, master doctor. Anne. Alas, I had rather be set quick i' the earth, And bowl'd to death with turnips.

Mrs. Page. Come, trouble not yourself. Good master Fenton,

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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;

'Till then, farewell, sir.—She must needs go in ;
Her father will be angry.

[Exeunt Mrs. Page and Anne. Fen. Farewell, gentle mistress; farewell, Nan. Mrs. Quick. This is my doing now.-Nay, said I, will you cast away your child on a fool, and 1 a physician? Look on master Fenton :-this is my doing.

Fen. I thank thee; and I pray thee, once to

night

Give my sweet Nan this ring: there's for thy pains.

[Exit.

Mrs. Quick. Now Heaven send thee good fortune! A kind heart he hath: a woman would run 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; but speciously 3 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.

1 Or.

2 Some time.

• Especially. 4 Neglect.

SCENE V.

A room in the Garter Inn.

Enter FALSTAFF and BARDOLPH.

Fal. Bardolph, I say,

Bar. Here, sir.

1

Fal. Go, fetch me a quart of sack; put a toast in't. [Exit Bar.] Have I lived to be carried in a basket, like a barrow of butcher's offal; and to be thrown into the Thames? Well; 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 1 me into the river with as little remorse as they would have drowned a bitch's blind puppies, fifteen i'the litter; and you may know by my size, 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 have been a mountain of mummy.

Re-enter BARDOLPH, with the wine.

Bar. Here's mistress Quickly, sir, to speak with you.

Fal. Come, let me pour in some sack to the

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SHAK.

Carelessly threw.

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