purchased at an infinite rate; and that hath taught me to say this:

"Love like a shadow flies, when substance love pursues; Pursuing that that flies, and flying what pursues.” Fal. Have you received no promise of satisfaction at her hands?

Ford. Never.

Fal. Have you importuned her to such a purpose? Ford. Never.

Fal. Of what quality was your love, then?

Ford. Like a fair house, built upon another man's ground; so that I have lost my edifice, by mistaking the place where I erected it.

Fal. To what purpose have you unfolded this to me? Ford. When I have told you that, I have told you all. Some say, that, though she appear honest to me, yet, in other places, she enlargeth her mirth so far, that there is shrewd construction made of her. Now, Sir John, here is the heart of my purpose: you are a gentleman of excellent breeding, admirable discourse, of great admittance, authentic in your place and person, generally allowed for your many warlike, court-like, and learned preparations.

Fal. O, Sir!

Ford. Believe it, for you know it:-There is money; spend it, spend it; spend more; spend all I have; only give me so much of your time in exchange of it, as to lay an amiable siege to the honesty of this Ford's wife: use your art of wooing, win her to consent to you; if any man may, you may as soon as any.

Fal. Would it apply well to the vehemency of your affection, that I should win what you would enjoy? Methinks, you prescribe to yourself very preposterously.

Ford. O, understand my drift! she dwells so securely on the excellency of her honour, that the folly of my soul dares not present itself; she is too bright to be looked against. Now could I come to her with any detection in my hand, my desires had instance and argument to commend themselves; I could drive her then from the ward of her purity, her reputation, her marriage-vow, and a thousand other her defences, which now are too strongly embattled against me. you to 't. Sir John.

What say

Fal. Master Brook, I will first make bold with your money; next, give me your hand; and last, as I am a gentleman, you shall, if you will, enjoy Ford's wife. Ford. O, good Sir!

Fal. Master Brook, I say you shall.

Ford. Want no money, Sir John, you shall want

none.

Fal. Want no mistress Ford, master Brook, you shall want none. I shall be with her (I may tell you) by her own appointment; even as you came in to me, her assistant, or go-between, parted from me: I say, I shall be with her between ten and eleven; for at that time the jealous rascally knave, her husband, will be forth. Come you to me at night; you shall know how I speed. Ford. I am blest in your acquaintance. Do you know Ford, Sir?

Fal. Hang him, poor cuckoldly knave! I know him not-yet I wrong him to call him poor; they say, the jealous wittolly knave hath masses of money; for the which his wife seems to me well-favoured. I will use

her as the key of the cuckoldly rogue's coffer; and there's my harvest-home.

Ford. I would you knew Ford, Sir; that you might avoid him, if you saw him.

Fal. Hang him, mechanical salt-butter rogue! I will stare him out of his wits; I will awe him with my cudgel: it shall hang like a meteor o'er the cuckold's horns. Master Brook, thou shalt know I will predominate o'er the peasant, and thou shalt lie with his wife. -Come to me soon at night-Ford's a knave, and I will aggravate his stile; thon, master Brook, shalt know him for a knave and cuckold-come to me soon at night. [Exit.

Ford. What a damned Epicurean rascal is this]-My heart is ready to crack with impatience.-Who says this is improvident jealousy? My wife hath sent to him, the hour is fixed, the match is made. Would any man have thought this?-See the hell of having a false woman! my bed shall be abused, my coffers ransacked, my reputation gnawn at; and I shall not only receive this villanous wrong, but stand under the adoption of abominable terms, and by him that does me this wrong.

Terms! names! Amaimon sounds well; Lucifer, well; Barbason, well; yet they are devils' additions, the names of fiends: but cuckold! wittolcuckold! the devil himself hath not such a name,

Page is an ass, a secure ass; he will trust his wife, he will not be jealous. I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter, parson Hugh the Welshman with my cheese, an Irishman with my aqua-vita bottle, or a thief to walk my ambling gelding, than my wife with herself: then she plots, then she ruminates, then she devises and what they think in their hearts they may effect, they will break their hearts but they will effect. Heaven be praised for my jealousy!-Eleven o'clock the hour;-I will prevent this, detect my wife, be revenged on Falstaff, and laugh at Page. I will about it; better three hours too soon, than a minute too late. Fie, fie, fie! cuckold! cuckold! cuckold! [Exit.

SCENE III.-WINDSOR PARK.

Enter CAIUS and RUGBY.

Caius. Jack Rugby!

Rug. Sir.

Caius. Vat is de clock, Jack?

Rug. 'Tis past the hour, Sir, that Sir Hugh promised to meet.

Caius. By gar, he has save his soul, dat he is no come; he has pray his Pible vell, dat he is no come: by gar, Jack Rugby, he is dead already, if he be come.

Rug. He is wise, Sir; he knew your worship would kill him, if he came.

Caius. By gar, de herring is no dead, so as I vill kill him. Take your rapier, Jack: I vill tell you how I vill kill him.

Rug. Alas, Sir, I cannot fence.
Caius, Villany, take your rapier.

Rug. Forbear; here's company.

Enter Host, SHALLOW, SLENDER, and PAGE.
Host. Bless thee, bully doctor.
Shal. Save you, master doctor Caius.
Page. Now, good master doctor!
Slen. Give you good-morrow, Sir.

Caius. Vat be all you, one, two, tree, four, come for? Host. To see thee fight, to see thee foin, to see thee traverse, to see thee here, to see thee there; to see thee pass thy punto, thy stock, thy reverse, thy distance, thy montánt. Is he dead, my Ethiopian? is he dead, my Francisco? ha, bully! What says my Esculapius? my Galen? my heart of elder? ha! is he dead, bully Stale? is he dead?

Calus. By gar, he is de coward Jack priest of the vorld he is not shew his face.

Host. Thou art a Castilian king, Urinal! Hector of Greece, my boy!

Caius. I pray you, bear vitness that me have stay six or seven, two, tree hours for him, and he is no come.

Shal. He is the wiser man, master doctor: he is a curer of souls, and you a curer of bodies; if you should fight, you go against the hair of your professions; is it not true, master Page?

Page. Master Shallow, you have yourself been a great fighter, though now a man of peace.

Shal. Bodykins, master Page, though I now be old, and of the peace, if I see a sword out, my finger itches to make one: though we are justices, and doctors, and churchmen, master Page, we have some salt of our youth in us; we are the sons of women, master l'age. Page. 'Tis true, master Shallow.

Shal. It will be found so, master Page. Master doctor Caius, I am come to fetch you home. I am sworn of the peace; you have shewed yourself a wise physician, and Sir Hugh hath shewn himself a wise and patient churchman; you must go with me, master doctor. Host. Pardon, guest-justice-A word, Monsieur Muck-water.

Calus. Muck-vater! vat is dat?

Host. Muck-water, in our English tongue, is valour, bully.

Caius. By gar, then I have as much muck-vater as de Englishman:-Scurvy jack-dog priest! by gar, me vill cut his ears.

Host. He will clapper-claw thee tightly, bully.
Catus. Clapper-de-claw! vat is dat?

Host. That is, he will make thee amends. Caius. By far, me do look he shall clapper-de claw me; for, by 'gar, me vill have it.

Host. And I will provoke him to 't, or let him wag. Caius. Me tank you for dat.

Host. And moreover, bully, -But first, master guest, and master Page, and eke cavalero Slender, go you through the town to Frogmore. [As.de to them.

Page. Sir Hugh is there, is he? Host. He is there: see what humour he is in; and I will bring the doctor about by the fields; will it do well?

Shal. We will do it. Page, Shal., and Slen. Adieu, good master doctor. [Exeunt PAGE, SHALLOW, and SLENDER. Caius. By gar, me vill kill de priest; for he speak for a jack-an-ape to Anne Page.

Host. Let him die: but, first, sheath thy impatience; throw cold water on thy choler; go about the fields with me through Frogmore; I will bring thee where mistress Anne Page is, at a farmhouse a-feasting; and thou shalt woo her. Cry'd game, said I well?

Caius. By gar, me tank you for dat: by gar, I love you; and I shall procure-a you de good guest, de earl, de knight, de lords, de gentlemen, my patients.

Host. For the which, I will be thy adversary towards Anne Page. Said I well?

Caius. By gar, 'tis good; vell said.

Host. Let us wag then.

Calus. Come at my heels, Jack Rugby.

ACT III.

SCENE I-A Field near FROGMORE.

[Exeunt.

Good-morrow,

Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, and SLENDER. Shal. How now, master parson? good Sir Hugh. Keep a gamester from the dice, and a good student from his book, and it is wonderful. Slen. Ah, sweet Anne Page!

Page. Save you, good Sir Hugh!

Era. Pless you for his mercy sake, all of you! Shal. What! the sword and the word! do you study them both, master parson?

Page. And youthful still, in your doublet and hose, this raw rheumatic day?

Eva. There is reasons and canses for it.

Page. We are come to you, to do a good office, master parson.

Eva. Fery well: what is it?

Page. Yonder is a most reverend gentleman, who belike, having received wrong by some person, is at most odds with his own gravity and patience, that ever you saw.

Shal. I have lived fourscore years and upward; I never heard a man of his place, gravity, and learning, so wide of his own respect.

Era. What is he?

Page. I think you know him; master doctor Caius, the renowned French physician.

Eva. Got's will, and his passion of my heart! I had as lief you would tell me of a mess of porridge. Page. Why?

Era. He has no more knowledge in Hibocrates and

Galen, and he is a knave besides; a cowardly knave, as you would desires to be acquainted withal. Page. I warrant you, he's the man should fight with

him.

Slen. O, sweet Anne Page!

Shal. It appears so, by his weapons:-Keep them asunder;-here comes doctor Caius.

Enter Host, CAIUS, and RUGBY. Page. Nay, good master parson, keep in your weapon. Shal. So do you, good master doctor.

Host. Disarm them, and let them question; let them keep their limbs whole, and hack our English.

Caius. I pray you, let-a me speak a word vit your ear: verefore vill you not meet-a me?

Era. Pray you, use your patience: in good time. Caius. By gar, you are de coward, de Jack dog, John ape.

Eva. Pray you, let us not be laughing-stogs to other men's humours; I desire you in friendship, and I will one way or other make you amends:-I will knog your urinals about your knave's cogscomb, for missing your meetings and appointments.

Caius. Diable!-Jack Rugby.-mine Host de Jarterre, have I not stay for him, to kill him? have I not, at de place I did appoint?

Era. As I am a Christians soul, now, look you, this is the place appointed; I'll be judgment by mine Host of the Garter.

Host. Peace, I say, Gallia and Gaul, French and Welsh; soul-curer and body-curer.

Caius. Ay, dat is very good! excellent!

Host. Peace, I say; hear mine Host of the Garter. Am I politic? am I subtle? am I a Machiavel? Shall I lose my doctor? No; he gives me the potions and the motions. Shall I lose my parson? my priest? my Sir Hugh? No; he gives me the proverbs and the noverbs. Give me thy hand, terrestrial; so:-Give me thy hand, celestial; so.-Boys of art, I have deceived you both; I have directed you to wrong places: your hearts are mighty, your skins are whole, and let burnt sack be the issue.-Come, lay their swords to pawn:Follow me, lad of peace; follow, follow, follow. Shal. Trust me, a mad host:-Follow, gentlemen, follow.

Slen. O, sweet Anne Page!

[Exeunt SHAL., SLEN., PAGE, and Host. Caius. Ha! do I perceive dat? have you make-a de sot of us? ha, ha!

Eva. This is well; he has made us his vlouting-stog.I desire you, that we may be friends; and let us knog our prains together, to be revenge on this same scall, scurvy, cogging companion, the Host of the Garter. Cains. By gar, vit all my heart; he promise to bring me vere is Anne Page: by gar, he deceive me too. Eva. Well, I will smite his noddles:-Pray you, follow. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The Street in WINDSOR.

Enter Mistress PAGE and ROBIX.

Mrs Page. Nay, keep your way, little gallant; you were wout to be a follower, but now you are a leader. Whether had you rather lead mine eyes, or eye your master's heels?

Rob. I had rather, forsooth, go before you like a man, than follow him like a dwarf.

Mrs Page. O you are a flattering boy; now, I see, you'll be a courtier.

Enter FORD.

Ford. Well met, mistress Page: whither go you? Mrs Page. Truly, Sir, to see your wife: is she at home?

Ford. Ay; and as idle as she may hang together, for want of company: I think, if your husbands were dead, you two would marry.

Mrs Page. Be sure of that,-two other husbands. Ford. Where had you this pretty weather-cock? Mrs Page. I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had him of. What do you call your knight's name, sirrah?

Rob. Sir John Falstaff. Ford. Sir John Falstaff!

them. Why, this boy will carry a letter twenty miles, as easy as a cannon will shoot point-blank twelve score. He pieces-out his wife's inclination; he gives her folly motion and advantage: and now she's going to my wife, and Falstaff's boy with her. A man may hear this shower sing in the wind-and Falstaff's boy with her! Good plots!-they are laid; and our revolted wives share damnation together. Well; I will take him, then torture my wife, pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so-seeming mistress Page, divulge | Page himself for a secure and wilful Action; and to these violent proceedings all my neighbours shall cry aim. [Clock strikes.] The clock gives me my cue, and my assurance bids me search; there I shall find Falstaff: I shall be rather praised for this, than mocked; for it is as positive as the earth is firm, that Falstaff is there: I will go.

Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, SLENDER, Host, Sir HUGH
EVANS, CAIUS, and RUGBY.

Shal, Page, &e. Well met, master Ford. Ford. Trust me, a good knot: I have good cheer at home; and, I pray you, all go with me.

Shal. I must excuse myself, master Ford.

Sien. And so must I, Sir; we have appointed to dine with mistress Anne, and I would not break with her for more money than I'll speak of.

Shal. We have lingered about a match between Anne Page and my cousin Slender, and this day we shall have

our answer.

Sien. I hope I have your good-will, father Page.

Page. You have, master Slender; I stand wholly for you-but my wife, master doctor, is for you altogether. Cains. Ay, by gar! and de maid is love-a me; my nursh-a Quickly tell me so mush.

Host. What say you to young master Fenton? he capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth, he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he smells April and May: he will carry't, he will carry 't; 'tis in his buttons; he will carry't.

Page. Not by my consent, I promise you. The gentleman is of no having: he kept company with the wild Prince and Poins; he is of too high a region, he knows too much. No, he shall not knit a knot in his fortunes with the finger of my substance: if he take her, let him take her simply; the wealth I have waits on my consent, and my consent goes not that way.

Ford. I beseech you, heartily, some of you go home with me to dinner: besides your cheer, you shall have sport; I will shew you a monster. Master doctor, you shall go;-so shall you, master Page;-and you, Sir Hugh.

Shal. Well, fare you well:-we shall have the freer wooing at master Page's. [Exeunt SHAL. and SLENDER. Caius. Go home, John Rugby; I come anon.

[Exit RUGBY. Host. Farewell, my hearts: I will to my honest knight Falstaff, and drink canary with him. [Exit Host. Ford. [Aside] I think I shall drink in pipe-wine first with him; I'll make him dance. Will you go, gentles?

Mra Ford. What, John! what, Robert!
Mrs Page. Quickly, quickly. Is the buck-basket—
Mrs Ford. I warrant:-What, Robin, I say.

Enter Servants with a Basket.

Mrs Page. Come, come, come. Mrs Ford. Here, set it down. Mrs Page. Give your men the charge, we must be brief. Mra Ford. Marry, as I told you before, John and Robert, be ready here hard by in the brewhouse; and when I suddenly call you, come forth, and (without any pause or staggering) take this basket on your shoulders that done, trudge with it in all haste, and carry it among the whitsters in Datchet mead, and there empty it in the muddy ditch, close by the Thames

side.

Rob. My master Sir John is come in at your backdoor, mistress Ford; and requests your company. Mrs Page. You little Jack-a-lent. have you been true to us?

Rob. Ay, I'll be sworn: my master knows not of your being here; and hath threatened to put me into everlasting liberty, if I tell you of it; for he swears he'll turn me away.

Mrs Page. Thou'rt a good boy; this secrecy of thine shall be a tailor to thee, and shall make thee a new doublet and hose.--I'll go hide me.

Mrs Ford. Do so-Go, tell thy master I am alone. Mistress Page, remember you your cue. [Exit ROBIN. Mrs Page. I warrant thee; if I do not act it, hiss [Exit Mrs PAGE. Mrs Ford. Go to then; we'll use this unwholesome humidity, this gross watery pumpion;--we'll teach him to know turtles from jays.

me.

Enter FALSTAFF.

Fal. "Have I caught thee, my heavenly jewel?" Why, now let me die, for I have lived long enough; this is the period of my ambition: 0 this blessed hour! Mrs Ford. O sweet Sir John.

Fal. Mistress Ford, I cannot cog, I cannot prate, mistress Ford. Now shall I sin in my wish: I would thy husband were dead: I'll speak it before the best lord, I would make thee my lady.

Mrs Ford. I your lady, Sir John! alas, I should be a pitiful lady.

Fal. Let the court of France shew me such another; I see how thine eye would emulate the diamond: thou hast the right arched bent of the brow, that becomes the ship-tire, the tire-valiant, or any tire of Venetian admittance.

Mrs Ford. A plain kerchief, Sir John: my brows become nothing else; nor that well neither.

Fal. Thou art a traitor to say so: thou wouldst make an absolute courtier; and the firm fixture of thy foot would give an excellent motion to thy gait, in a semicircled farthingale. I see what thou wert, if fortune thy foe were not; nature is thy friend: come, thou canst not hide it.

Mrs Ford. Believe me, there's no such thing in me. Fal. What made me love thee? let that persuade thee there's something extraordinary in thee. Come, I cannot cog, and say, thou art this and that, like a many of these lisping hawthorn buds, that come like women in men's apparel, and smell like Bucklersbury in simple-time; I cannot; but I love thee; none but thee; and thou deservest it.

Mrs Ford. Do not betray me, Sir; I fear you love Mrs Page.

Fal. Thou mightst as well say, I love to walk by the Countergate; which is as hateful to me as the reek of a lime-kiln.

Mrs Ford. Well, heaven knows how I love you; and you shall one day find it.

Fal. Keep in that mind; I'll deserve it.

Mrs Ford. Nay, I must tell you, so you do; or else I could not be in that mind.

Rob. [Within.] Mistress Ford, mistress Ford; here's mistress Page at the door, sweating, and blowing, and looking wildly, and would needs speak with you presently.

Fal. She shall not see me; I will ensconce me behind the arras.

Mrs Ford. Pray you, do so; she's a very tattling [FALSTAFF hides himself.

woman.

Enter Mistress PAGE and ROBIN. What's the matter? how now!

Mrs Page. O mistress Ford, what have you done? You're shamed, you are overthrown, you are undone for ever.

Mrs Ford. What's the matter, good mistress Page? Mrs Page. O well-a-day, mistress Ford! having an honest man to your husband, to give him such cause of suspicion!

Mrs Ford. What cause of suspicion?

Mrs Page. What cause of suspicion?-Out upon you! how am I mistook in you?

Mrs Ford. Why, alas! what's the matter?

Mrs Page. Your husband's coming hither, woman, with all the officers in Windsor, to search for a gentleman, that, he says, is here now in the house, by your consent, to take an ill advantage of his absence. You are undone.

Mrs Ford. [Aside.] Speak louder.-Tis not so, I hope.

Mrs Page. Pray heaven it be not so, that you have such a man here; but 'tis most certain your husband's

coming with half Windsor at his heels, to search for such a one. I come before to tell you. If you know yourself clear, why I am glad of it: but if you have a friend here, convey, convey him out. Be not amazed; ca'l all your senses to you; defend your reputation, or bid farewell to your good life for ever.

Mrs Ford. What shall I do? --There is a gentleman, my dear friend; and I fear not mine own shame, so | much as his peril: I had rather than a thousand pound he were out of the house.

Mrs Page. For shame, never stand "you had rather," and "you bad rather;" your husband's here at hand; bethink you of some conveyance: in the house you cannot hide him. -0, how have you deceived me!-Look, here is a basket; if he be of any reasonable stature, he may creep in here; and throw foul Enen upon him, as if it were going to bucking: or, it is whiting-t me, send him by your two men to Datchet mend. Mrs Ford. He's too big to go in there. What shall I do?

Re-enter FALSTAFF.

Fal. Let me see't, let me see't! O let me see't! I'll in. I'll in ;-follow your friend's counsel;-'il in.

Mrs Page. What! Sr John Falstaff! Are those your icttrs, knight?

Fal. I love thee, and none but thee; help me away: let me creep in here; I'il never-

He goes into the basket; they cover him with foul Unen. Mrs Poge. Help to cover your master. boy. Call your men, mistress Ford :- You diesembling kn'ght!

Mrs Ford. What John, Robert John!-[Exit ROEIN; Re-enter Servants.] Go, take up these clothes here, quickly. Where's the cowl-staff? look, bow you drumble: carry them to the laundress in Datchet mead; quickly, come.

Enter FORD, PAGE, CAIUS, and Sir HUGH EVANS. Ford. Pray you, come near: if I suspect without cause, why then make sport at me, then let me be your jest; I deserve it.-How now! whither bear you this? Serv. To the laundress, forsooth,

Mrs Ford. Way, what have you to do whither they bear it? You were best meddle with buckwashing.

Ford. Buck? I would I could wash myself of the buck! Buck, buck, buck? Ay, buck; I warrant you buck; and of the season, too, it shall appear. [Exeunt Servants with the basket.] Gentlemen, I have dreamed to-night; I'll tell you my dream. Here, here, here be my keys: ascend my chambers, search, seek, find out: I'll warrant we'll unkennel the fox: let me stop this way first:-So, now uncape.

Page. Good master Ford, be contented: you wrong yourself too much.

Ford True, master Page.-Up, gentlemen; you shall see sport anon: follow me, gentlemen.

[Exit.

Era. This is fery fantastical humours and jealousies. Calus. By gar, 'tis no de fashion of France: it is not Jealous in France.

Page. Nay, follow him, gentlemen; see the issue of his search. [Exeunt EVANS, PAGE, and CAIUS. Mrs Page. Is there not a double excellency in this? Mrs Ford. I know not which pleases me better, that my husband is deceived, or Sir John.

Mrs Page. What a taking was he in, when your husband asked who was in the basket!

Mrs Ford. I am half afraid he will have need of washing; so throwing him into the water will do him a benefit.

Mrs Page. Hang him, dishonest rascal! I would all of the same strain were in the same distress.

Mrs Ford. I think my husband hath some special suspicion of Falstaff's being here; for I never saw him so cross in his jealousy till now.

Mrs Page. I will lay a plot to try that: and we will yet have more tricks with Falstaff: his dissolute disease will scarce obey this medicine.

Mrs Ford. Shall we send that foolish carr'on, mistress Quickly, to him, and excuse his throwing into the water; and give him another hope, to betray him to another punishment?

Mrs Page. We'll do it; let him be sent for to-morrow eight o'clock, to have amends.

Re-enter FORD, PAGE, CAIUS, and Sir HгGH EVANS. Ford. I cannot find him: may be the knave bragged of that he could not compass.

Mrs Page. Heard you that?

Mrs Ford. Ay, ay, peace:-You use me well, master Ford, do you?

Ford. Ay, ay; I must bear it.

Era. If there be any pody in the house, and in the chambers, and in the coffers, and in the presses, heaven forgive my sins at the day of judgment!

Ca'us. By gar, nor I too; dere is no bodies.

Page. Fie, fie, master Ford! are you not ashamed? What spirit, what devil suggests this imagination? I would not have your distemper in this kind, for the wealth of Windsor Castle.

Ford. 'Tis my fault, master Page: I suffer for it. Era. You suffer for a pad conscience: your wife is as honest a 'omans as I will desires among five thou sand, and five hundred too.

Caus. By gar. I see 'tis an honest woman.

Ford. Well; -I promised you a dinner:-Come, come, walk in the park: I pray you, pardon me; I will hereafter make known to you why I have done this.—Come, wife;-come, mistress Page; I pray you pardon me; pray heartily, pardon me.

Page. Let's go in, gentlemen; but, trust me, we'l mock him. I do invite you to-morrow morning to my house to breakfast; after, we'll a-birding together; I. have a fine hawk for the bush: shall it be so? Ford. Anything.

Era. If there is one, I shall make two in the company.

Calus. If there be one or two, I shall make-a de turd.
Era. In your teeth: for shame.
Ford. Pray you go, master Page.

Eva. I pray you now, remembrance to-morrow on the lousy knave, mine host.

Calus. Dat is good; by gar, vit all my heart. Dra. A lousy knave; to have his gibes and his mockeries. [Exeunt

SCENE IV.-A Room in PAGE's House.

Enter FENTON and Mistress ANNE PAGE. Fent. I see I cannot get thy father's love; Therefore, no more turn me to him, sweet Nan. Anne. Alas! how then?

Fent. Why, thou must be thyself.

He doth object, I am too great of birth;
And that, iny state being gall'd with my expense,
I seek to heal it only by his wealth:
Besides these, other bars he lays before me,---
My rots past, my wild societies;
And tells me, 'tis a thing impossible
I should love thee, but as a property.
Anne. May be he tells you true.

Fent. No, heaven so speed me in my time to come!
Albeit, I will confess, thy father's wealth
Was the first motive that I woo'd thee, Anne:
Yet, wooing thee, I found thee of more value
Than stamps in gold, or sums in sealed bags;
And 'tis the very riches of thyself
That now I aim at.

Anne. Gentle master Fenton, Yet seek my father's love: still seek it, Sir: If opportunity and humblest suit Cannot attain it, why then,-Hark you hither. [They converse apart.

Enter SHALLOW, SLENDER, and Mrs QUICKLY. Shal. Break their talk, mistress Quickly; my kinsman shall speak for himself.

Sten. I'll make a shaft or a bolt on't: slid, 'tis but venturing.

Shal. Be not dismayed.

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

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-favour'd faults Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year!

[Aside 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.

Sten. Ay, that I do; as well as I love any woman in Gloucestershire.

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

He will make you a hundred and fifty pounds jointure.

Anne. Good master ShaNow, 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?

Sen. 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: if it be my luck, so: if not, happy man be his dole! They can tell you how things go, better than I can: you may ask your father; here he

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

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;

[Fenton,

Till then, farewell, Sir:-She must needs go in; Her father will be angry. [Exeunt Mrs PAGE and ANNE. Fent. Farewell, gentle mistress; farewell, Nan. Quick. This is my doing now;-Nay, said I, will you cast away your child on a fool, and a physician? Look on master Fenton:-this is my doing.

Fent. I thank thee; and I pray thee once to-night Give my sweet Nan this ring. There's for thy prns. [Erit. 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 Feuton 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 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!

SCENE V.-A Room in the Garter Inn.

Enter FALSTAFF and BARDOLPH.

Fal. Bardolph, I say,

Bard. Here, Sir.

[Exil.

Fal. Go fetch me a quart of sack; put a toast in't. [Ext BARD] 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 me into the river with as Ettle 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.

Bard. Here's mistress Quickly, Sir, to speak with you. Fal. Come, let me pour in some sack to the Thames water; for my belly's as cold as if I had swallowed snow-balls for pills to cool the reins. Call her in. Bard. Come in, woman.

Fal. Mistress Ford! I have had ford enough: I was thrown into the ford: I have my belly full of ford.

Quick. Alas the day! good heart, that was not her fauit; she does so take on with her men; they mistook their erection.

Fal. So did I mine, to build upon a foolish woman's promise.

Quick. Well, she laments, Sir, for it, that it would yearn your heart to see it. Her husband goes this morning a-birding; she desires you once more to come to her between eight and nine. I must carry her word quickly: she'll make you amends, I warrant you.

Fal. Well, I will visit her: tell her so; and bid her think what a man is: let her consider his frailty, and then judge of my merit.

Quick. I will tell her.

Fal. Now, master Brook? you come to know what hath passed between me and Ford's wife?

Ford. That, indeed, Sir John, is my business. Fal. Master Brook, I will not lie to you; I was at her house the hour she appointed me. Ford. And how sped you, Sir?

Fal. Very ill-favouredly, master Brook.

Ford. How so, Sir? Did she change her determination?

Fal. No, master Brook; but the peaking cornuto, her husband, master Brook, dwelling in a continual 'larum of jealousy, comes me in the instant of our encounter, after we had embraced, kissed, protested, and, as it were, spoke the prologue of our comedy; and at his heels a rabble of his companions, thither provoked and instigated by his distemper, and, forsooth, to search his house for his wife's love.

Ford. What, while you were there?
Fal. While I was there.

Ford. And did he search for you, and could not find you?

Fal. You shall hear. As good luck would have it, comes in one mistress Page; gives intelligence of Ford's approach; and, by her invention, and Ford's wife's distraction, they conveyed me into a buck-basket. Ford. A buck-basket!

Fal. By the Lord, a buck-basket: rammed me in with foul shirts and smocks, socks, foul stockings, and greasy napkins; that, master Brook, there was the rankest compound of villanous smell that ever offended nostril.

Ford. And how long lay you there?

Fal. Nay, you shall hear, master Brook, what I have suffered to bring this woman to evil for your good. Being thus crammed in the basket, a couple of Ford's knaves, his hinds, were called forth by their mistress, to carry me in the name of foul clothes to Datchet lane: they took me on their shoulders; met the jealous knave their master in the door; who asked them once or twice what they had in their basket: I quaked for fear, lest the lunatic knave would have searched it; but fate, ordaining he should be a cuckold, held his hand. Well; on went he for a search, and away went