But constant, he were perfect.

Fills him with faults; makes him run through all the sins:
Inconstancy falls off ere it begins.

What is in Silvia's face, but I may spy
More fresh in Julia's with a constant eye?
Val. Come, come, a hand from either :

Let me be blest to make this happy close;
"T were pity two such friends should be long foes.
Pro. Bear witness, Heaven, I have my wish for ever.
Jul. And I mine.

Enter Outlaws, with DUKE and THURIO.

Outlaws. A prize, a prize, a prize!

Val. Forbear, forbear, I say! it is my lord the Duke.
Your grace is welcome to a man disgraced,
Banished Valentine.

Thu. Yonder is Silvia; and Silvia's mine.

Val. Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death;
Come not within the measure of my wrath;
Do not name Silvia thine; if once again,
Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands :
Take but possession of her with a touch:
I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.
Thu. Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I:
I hold him but a fool that will endanger
His body for a girl that loves him not:

I claim her not, and therefore she is thine.

Duke. The more degenerate and base art thou,
To make such means for her as thou hast done
And leave her on such slight conditions.
Now, by the honour of my ancestry,
I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine,
And think thee worthy of an empress' love:
Know then, I here forget all former griefs,
Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
Plead a new state in thy unrival'd merit,
To which I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine,
Thou art a gentleman and well deriv'd ;

Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserv'd her.

Val. I thank your grace; the gift hath made me happy. I now beseech you, for your daughter's sake,

To grant one boon that I shall ask of you.

Duke. I grant it, for thine own, whate'er it be.
Val. These banish'd men that I have kept withal

120

130

140

150

128 Verona. Probably a blunder for Milan, which, however, will not fit into the

verse.

Are men endu'd with worthy qualities:

Forgive them what they have committed here
And let them be recall'd from their exile :
They are reformed, civil, full of good

And fit for great employment, worthy lord.

Duke. Thou hast prevail'd; I pardon them and thee:
Dispose of them as thou know'st their deserts.
Come, let us go: we will include all jars

With triumphs, mirth and rare solemnity.

Val. And, as we walk along, I dare be bold
With our discourse to make your grace to smile.
What think you of this page, my lord?

Duke. I think the boy hath grace in him; he blushes.
Val. I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy.
Duke. What mean you by that saying?

Val. Please you, I'll tell you as we pass along
That you will wonder what hath fortuned.
Come, Proteus; 't is your penance but to hear
The story of your loves discovered:

That done, our day of marriage shall be yours;
One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.

150 include restrain.

160

170

[Exeunt.

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

INTRODUCTION.

THIS amusing comedy appears to be the only one of Shakespeare's plays which is wholly original. It is also the only one which professes to set forth English life and manners, or which (excepting the Histories) has even an English plot, a fact somewhat worthy of the consideration of those patriotic people who are continually crying out that literature and art must needs be naught if they are not national in their subjects and their purpose. Tradition tells us, and perhaps truly, that Shakespeare wrote The Merry Wives at the command of Queen Elizabeth, who was so pleased with the Falstaff of Henry IV. that she wished to see the fat knight represented as a lover. If this were true, it would make us sure that the comedy was written between 1597, the date of Henry IV., and 1601, when it was entered upon the Stationers' Register in London for publication. And therein would be all the significance of the story for the general reader; because the only other question supposed to be affected by it, the proper succession in which the two parts of Henry IV., Henry V., and The Merry Wives should be read, is one not worth a moment's consideration, the comedy being a perfect thing by itself, and having no real connection with the historical plays. We may even be pretty sure that Shakespeare himself took no thought whether Falstaff and his followers and Mrs. Quickly were a little older or a little younger in The Merry Wives than in Henry IV. What matter, indeed, when they were, in fact, brought down from the reign of Henry to that of Elizabeth! Internal evidence shows that this comedy was written about 1600. A surreptitious and garbled edition was published in quarto in 1602. The text of that edition contains evidence that it was written after the production of Henry IV., and it probably represents imperfectly a play hastily written (in a fortnight, to please the Queen, tradition says) by Shakespeare, with the help of some other playwright, whose work was rejected on a revision of the comedy, to which we owe the version printed in the folio of 1623. There is a likeness in some of their incidents between this comedy and various old English and Italian tales; but it is not a dramatization of any one of them.

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