Gates. I know vat I have to do; Adieu. [Exit. I will keep my fides to myself, my shoulders for Mrs. Page. Fare you well, fir. My husband will not rejoice fo much at the abuse of Falftaff, as he will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter: but 'tis no matter; better a little chiding, than a great deal of heart-break.

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

Mrs. Page. They are all couch'd in a pit hard by Herne's oak, with obfcur'd lights; which, at the very inftant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at once difplay to the night.

Mrs. Ford. That cannot chufe but amaze him. Mrs. Page. If he be not amaz'd, he will be mock'd; if he be amaz'd, he will every way be mock'd.

Mrs. Ford. We'll betray him finely. [lechery,
Mr. Page. Against fuch lewdsters, and their
Thafe that betray them do no treachery.
Mr. Ford. The hour draws on; To the oak,
[Exeunt.

to the oak!

SCENE IV.

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 d you; Come, come; trib, trib. [Exeunt.

SCENE V.

;

the fellow of this walk 4, 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 confcience; he makes restitution. As I am
a true fpirit, welcome!
[Noife within

Mrs. Page. Alas! what noife?
Mrs. Ford. Heaven forgive our fins!
Fal. What shall this be?
Mrs. Ford.
Mrs. Page.
Fal. I think the devil will not have me damn'd,
left the oil that is in me fhould fet hell on fire; he
never would elfe cross me thus.

} Away, away. [The women run out.

Enter Sir Hugh like a fatyr; Quickly, and others,
drefs'd like fairies, with tapers.

Quic. Fairies, black, grey, green, and white,
You moon-fhine revellers, and shades of night,
You orphan-heirs of fixed destiny,
Attend your office, and your quality.-
Crier Hobgoblin, make the fairy o-yes.

Eva. Elves, lift your names; filence, you airy toys.
Cricket, to Windfor chimneys fhalt thou leap:
Where fires thou find'st unrak'd, and hearths un-
There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry 5: [fwept,
Our radiant queen hates fluts, and fluttery. [die;

Fal. They are fairies; he, that speaks to them, fhall I'll wink and couch: No man their works muft eye. [Lies down upon his face. Eva. Where's Bede?-Go you, and where you find a maid,

That, ere she sleep, hath thrice her prayers faid,
Rein up the organs of her fantasy 6;
Sleep fhe as found as careless infancy:
But those, as fleep, and think not on their fins, [fhins.
Pinch them, arms, legs, backs, fhoulders, fides, and
Quic. About, about;

Enter Falfiaff with a buck's head on. Fal. The Windsor bell hath struck twelve; the minute draws on: Now, the hot-blooded gods affit me!-Remember, Jove, thou waft a bull for thy Europa; love fet on thy horns.-Oh powerful love! that, in fome refpects, makes a beast a man in fome other, a man a beaft.-You were alfo, Jupiter, a fwan, for the love of Leda ;-Oh, ompotent love! how near the god drew to the complexion of a goofe?-A fault done firft in the form Search Windfor castle, elves, within and out: of a beast ;—O Jove, a beaftly fault!-and then Strew good luck, ouphes, on every facred room; another fault in the femblance of a fowl;-think That it may stand till the perpetual doom, ent, Jove; a foul fault. When gods have hot In state as wholsome 7, as in state 'tis fit; backs, what shall poor men do? For me, I am Worthy the owner, and the owner it. here a Windfor ftag; and the fatteft, I think, i' the freft: Send me a cool rut-time, Jove, or who can blame me to pifs my tallow ? Who comes here? my doe?

men. catives.

The several chairs of order look you scour
With juice of balm, and every precious flower:
Each fair inftalment coat, and feveral creft,
With loyal blazon, evermore be bleft!

A technical phrase spoken of bucks who grow lean after rutting-time, and may be applied to 2 Potatoes, when they were first introduced in England, were fuppofed to be strong provo3 Sugar-plums perfum'd to make the breath sweet. 4 That is, for the keeper of this dit By cuftom, the fhoulders and humbles were a perquifite of the keeper's. 5 The whortleberry. That is, elevate her ideas above fenfual defires and imaginations. 7 Wholfome here fignifies entire ar perfelt.

And

And nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you fing,
Like to the Garter's compafs, in a ring:
The expreffure that it bears, green let it be,
More fertile-fresh than all the field to fee;
And Honi Sait Qui Mal y Penfe, write,

}

In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and white;
Like faphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,
Buckled below fair knighthood's bending knee;
Fairies ufe flowers for their charactery1.
Away; difperfe: But, till 'tis one o'clock,
Our dance of custom, round about the oak

Of Herne the hunter, let us not forget. [order fet:
Eva. Pray you, lock hand in hand; yourfelves in
And twenty glow-worms fhall our lanthorns be,
To guide our measure round about the tree.
But, ftay; 1 fmell a man of middle earth.

Fal. Heavens defend me from that Weich fairy! |
Left he transform me to a piece of cheese! [birth.
Eva. Vile worm, thou waft o'erlook'd even in thy
Quic. With trial-fire touch me his finger end:
If he be chafte, the flame will back defcend,
And turn him to no pain; but if he start,
It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.

Eva. A trial, come.

Become the foreft better than the town?

Ford. Now, fir, who's a cuckold now? Mafter Brook, Falftaff's a knave, a cuckoldly knave: here are his horns, mafter Brook: And, mafter Brook, he hath enjoyed nothing of Ford's but his buckbafket, his cudgel, and twenty pounds of money i which must be paid to mafter Brook; his horses are arrefted for it, master 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 aro

extant.

Fal. And thefe 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 grofinefs 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-alent 5, when 'tis upon ill employment!

Eva. Sir John Falstaff, ferve Got, and leave

[They burn him with their tapers, and pinch him. your defires, and fairies will not pinfe you. 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 him to your time.
Eva. It is right; indeed, he is full of leacheries
and iniquity.

The SONG.

Fie on finful phantafy!
Fie on luft and luxury 3!
Luft is but a bloody fire 4,
Kindled with unchafte defire,

Fed in heart; whose 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 far-light, and moon-fhine be out.
[During this fong, they pinch him. Doctor Caius comes
one way, and fleals away a fairy in green; Sten-
der another way, and he takes away a fairy in
zobite; and Fenton comes, and freals away Mrs.
Anne Page. A noife of hunting is made within.
All the fairies run away. Falstaff pulls off his
buck's head, and rifes.]

Enter Page, Ford, &c. They lay bold on him.
Page. Nay, do not fly: I think, we have

watch'd you now ;

Ford. Well faid, fairy Hugh.

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

Fal. Have I lay'd my brain in the fun, and dried 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 stand 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, fir John, do you think, though we would have thruft virtue out of our hearts by the head and fhoulders, and have given ourselves without fcruple to hell, that ever the devil could have made you our delight?

Ford. What, a hodge-pudding ? a bag of flax?
Mrs. Page. A puff'd 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,

Will none but Herne the hunter ferve your turn?and facks, and wines, and metheglins, and to Mrs. Page. I pray you come; hold up the jeft drinkings, and fwearings, and ftarings, pribbles no higher :and prabbles? Now, good fir John, how like you Windfor wives? See you thefe, husband? do not these fair yoaks

--

Fal. Well, I am your theme; you have the ftart of me; I am dejected; I am not ablę to an

1 Or the matter with which they make letters. 2 Spirits being fuppofed to inhabit the etherial regions, and fairies to dwell under ground, men therefore are in a middle ftation. 3 Luxury here fignifies incontinence. 4 That is, the fire in the blood. 5 A Jack o' Lent was a puppet thrown at in Lent, like Shrove-tide cocks. 6 That is, a fool's cap made out of Welch cloth.

fwen

fer the Welch flannel; ignorance itself is a zen'd; I ha' married un garcon, a boy; un paisan, plummet o'er me 2: ufe me as you will. by gar, a boy; it is not Anne Page: by gar, I am cozen'd.

Fad. Marry, fir, we'll bring you to Windfor, to the mater Brook, that you cozened of money, to whom you should have been a pandar: over and above that you have fuffer'd, I think, to repay that money will be a biting affliction. [amends: Mrs. Ford. Nay, huíband, let that go to make Forgive that fum, and fo we'll all be friends. Ford. Well, here's my hand; all's forgiven at laft. Page. Yet be cheerful, knight: thou fhalt eat a polet to-night at my houfe; where I will defire Lice to laugh at my wife, that now laughs at thee: Tell her, mafter Slender hath married her daughter.

Mrs. Page. Doctors doubt that; if Anne Page be my daughter, the is, by this, doctor Caius' wife.

Enter Slender,

Sl. Whoo, ho! ho! father Page! Pags. Son! how now how now, fon you dispatch'd?

[Afide.

Sim. Dispatch'd !—I'll make the best in cestershire know on 't; would I were hang'd, elfe.

Page. Of what, fon?

Mrs. Page. Why, did you not take her in green?

Caius. Ay, be gar, and 'tis a boy: be gar, I'll raife all Windfor. [Exit Caius. Ford. This is ftrange: Who hath got the right Anne ?

Page. My heart mifgives me :-Here comes mafter Fenton,

Enter Fenton and Anne Page.

How now, mafter Fenton ?

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

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

Mrs, Page. Why went you not with master doctor, maid?

Fent. You do amaze her: Hear the truth of it
have You would have married her most shamefully,
Where there was no proportion held in love.
Glo-The truth is, She and I, long fince contracted,
la, Are now fo fure, that nothing can diffolve us.
The offence is holy, that the hath committed;
And this deceit lofes the name of craft,
Of difobedience, or unduteous title.
Since therein the doth evitate and fhun
A thousand irreligious curfed hours, [her.
Which forced marriage would have brought upon
Ford. Stand not amaz'd; here is no remedy:-
In love, the heavens themfelves do guide the flate;
Money buys lands, and wives are fold by fate.

Sim. I came yonder at Eaton to marry mistress Anne Page, and the's a great lubberly boy: If it had not been i' the church, I would have fwing'd En, or he should have fwing'd me. If I did not think it had been Anne Page, would I might never itir, and 'tis a poft-master's boy.

Page. Upon my life then you took the wrong. S. What need you tell me that? I think fo, Fal. I am glad, though you have ta'en a fpecial when I took a boy for a girl; If I had been mar-stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanc’d. red to him, for all he was in woman's apparel, 1 would not have had him.

Page. Why, this is your own folly: Did not I tell you, how you should know my daughter by ber garments?

Slor. I went to her in white, and cry'd mum, and the cry'd budget, as Anne and I had appointed; zad yet it was not Anne, but a post-master's boy. Eva. Jefhu! Mafter Slender, cannot you fee but marry poys?

Page. O, I am vex'd at heart: What fhall I do? Mrs. Page. Good George, be not angry; I knew of your purpose; turn'd my daughter into green; zd, indeed, she is now with the doctor at the denery, and there married.

Enter Caius.

Cas. Vere is miftrefs Page By gar, I am co

Page. Well, what remedy? Fenton, heaven
give thee joy!

What cannot be efchew'd, must be embrac'd.
Eva. I will dance and eat plums at your wedding.
Fal. When night-dogs run, all forts of deer are
chac’d.

Mrs. Pa ge. Well, I will mufe no further:-Master
Fenton,

Heaven give you many, many merry days!-
Good husband, let us every one go home,
And laugh this fport o'er by a country fire;
Sir John and all.

-Sir John,

Ford. Let it be fo:-
To master Brook you yet shall hold your word;
For he, to-night, fhali lye with mistress Ford.

[Exeunt omnes.

2 On the meaning of this difficult paffage

1 Flannel was originally the manufacture of Wales. commentators are greatly divided. Dr. Farmer's conjecture, that we should read, "Ignorance itfelf

a planet o'er me," appears to be the moft intelligible,

АСТ

Enter Duke, Efcalus, and Lords.

ESCALUS,

My lord.

Dake. Of government the properties to unfold,
Would feem in me to affect speech and discourse;
Since I am put to know, that your own fcience,
Exceeds, in that, the lifts 3 of all advice
My ftrength can give you: Then no more remains,

I.

But that your fufficiency, as your worth is able,
And let them work 4. The nature of our people,
Our city's inftitutions, and the terms

For common juftice, you are as pregnant 5 in,
As art and practice hath enrich'd any
That we remember: There is our commiffion,
From which we would not have you warp.-Call
I fay, bid come before us Angelo.-- [hither,
What figure of us think you he will bear?
For you must know, we have with special foul 6
Elected him our abfence to supply;

The ftory of this play is taken from the Promos and Caffandra of George Whetstone, publifhed in 1578, and which was probably originally borrowed from Cinthio's Novels. 2 Meaning, I am sbiged to acknowledge. 3 Limits. 4 This paffage has much exercifed the fagacity of different editors. Theobald is of opinion, that either from the impertinence of the actors, or the negligence of the copyifts, it has come mutilated to us by a line being accidentally left out, and propoles to read thus;

-Then no more remains,

But that to your fufficiency you add

Due diligency, as your worth is able,
And let them work.

Sir Tho. Hanmer endeavours to fupply the deficiency as follows:

Then no more remains,

But that to your fufficiency you join

A will to ferve us, as your worth is able.

Dr. Warburton is for reading, inftead of But that, Put to your fufficiency, which he fays here means authority, and then the fenfe will be as follows: Put your skill in governing (fays the duke) to the power which I give you to exercife it, and let them work together. Dr. Johnfon, however, approves seither of Theobald's conjecture, nor of Warburton's amendment. 5 That is, ready, or knowing Len

That is, of special favour or affection,