ACT I. Windsor. Before Page's House. Slen. I may quarter, coz? Eva. It is marring indeed, if he quarter it. Eva. Yes, py'r 3 lady; if he has a quarter of your coat, there is but three skirts for yourself, in my simple conjectures: but this is all one: If Sir John Falstaff have committed disparagements unto you, I am of the church, and will be glad to do my be nevolence, to make atonements and compromises between you. Shal. The Council shall hear it; it is a riot. Eva. It is not meet the Council hear a riot; there is no fear of Got in a riot; the Council, look you. shall desire to hear the fear of Got, and not to hear a riot; take your vizaments 4 in that. Shal. Ha! o' my life, if I were young again, the sword should end it. Eva. It is petter that friends is the sword, and end it: and there is also another device in my prain, which, peradventure, prings goot discretions with it: There is Anne Page, which is daughter to master George Page, which is pretty virginity. Slen. Mistress Anne Page? She has brown hair, and speaks small like a woman. Eva. It is that fery person for all the 'orld, as just as you will desire: and seven hundred pounds of monies, and gold, and silver, is her grandsire, Advisement. 3 By cur. upon his death's bed, give, when she is able to overtake seventeen years old: it were a goot motion, if we leave our pribbles and prabbles, and desire a marriage between master Abraham and mistress Anne Page. Shal. Did her grandsire leave her seven hundred pound? Eva. Ay, and her father is make her a petter penny. Shal. I know the young gentlewoman; she has good gifts. Eva. Seven hundred pounds, and possibilities, is good gifts. Shal. Well, let us see honest master Page: Is Falstaff there? Eva. Shall I tell you a lie? I do despise a liar, as I do despise one that is false; or as I despise one that is not true. The knight, sir John, is there; and, I beseech you, be ruled by your wellwillers. I will peat the door [knocks] for master Page. What, hoa! pless your house here! Enter PACE. Page. Who's there? Eva. Here's your friend, and justice Shallow: and here young master Slender; that peradventures shall tell you another tale, if matters grow to your likings. Page. I am glad to see your worships well: 1 thank you for my venison, master Shallow. Shal. Master Page, I am glad to see you; Much good do it your good heart! I wished your venison better; it was ill-kill'd:- How doth good mistress Page?- and I love you always with my heart, la; with my heart. John Falstaff here? Page. Sir, he is within; and I would I could do a good office between you. Eva. It is spoke as a Christian ought to speak. Shal. He hath wrong'd me, master Page. Page. Sir, he doth in some sort confess it. Shal. If it be confess'd, it is not redress'd; is not that so, master Page? He hath wrong'd me; indeed, he hath; - at a word, he hath ; - believe me ; - Robert Shallow, esquire, saith, he is wrong'd. Page. Here comes sir John. Enter Sir JOHN FALSTAFF, Bardolph, Nym, and Eva. Pauca verba, sir John, good worts. Fal. Good worts! good cabbage. Slender, I broke your head; What matter have you against me? Slen. Marry, sir, I have matter in my head against you; and against Bardolph, Nym, and Pistol. They carried me to the tavern, and made me drunk, and afterwards picked my pocket. Bar. You Banbury cheese! 7 Slen. Ay, it is no matter. Pist. How, now, Mephostophilus ? 8 Nym. Slice, I say! pauca, pauca; slice! that's my humour. Slen. Where's Simple, my man? cousin? - can you tell, Eva. Peace: I pray you! Now let us understand: There is three umpires in this matter as I understand: that is - -master Page, fidelicet, master Page; and there is myself, fidelicet, myself; and the three party is, lastly and finally, mine host of the Garter. Page. We three, to hear it, and end it between them. Eva. Fery goot: I will make a prief of it in my note-bcok; and we will afterwards 'ork upon the cause, with as great discreetly as we can. Fal. Pistol, Pist. He hears with ears. Eva. What phrase is this, He hears with ear? Why, it is affectations. Fal. Pistol, did you pick master Slender's purse? Slen. Ay, by these gloves, did he, (or I would I might never come in mine own great chamber again else,) of seven groats in mill-sixpences, and two Edward shovel-boards, that cost me two shillings and two pence a-piece of Yead Miller, by these gloves. Fal. Is this true, Pistol? Eva. No; it is false, if it is a pick-purse. I combat challenge of this latten bilbo : 1 Slen. By these gloves, then 'twas he. Nym. Be advised, sir, and pass good humours: I will say, marry trap, with you if you run the nuthook's 3 humour on me; that is the very note of it. Slen. By this hat, then he in the red face had it: for though I cannot remember what I did when you made me drunk, yet I am not altogether an ass. Fal. What say you, Scarlet and John? Bard. Why, sir, for my part, I say, the gentleman had drunk himself out of his five sentences. Eva. It is his five senses: fie, what the ignorance is! Bard. And being fap, sir, was, as they say, cashier'd; and so conclusions pass'd the careires. 5 Slen. Ay, you spake in Latin then too: but 'tis no matter: I'll ne'er be drunk whilst I live again, but in honest, civil, godly company, for this trick: if I be drunk, I'll be drunk with those that have the fear of God, and not with drunken knaves. Eva. That is a virtuous mind. Fal. You hear all these matters denied, gentlemen; you hear it. 6 Worts was the ancient name of all the cabbage kind. 7 Nothing but paring! 8 The name of an ugly spirit. 9 King Edward's shillings used in the game of shuffleboard. 1 Blade as thin as a lath. 3 If you say I am a thief. 5 The bounds of good behaviour. 2 Lips. 4 Drunk. Enter Mistress ANNE PAGE with wine; Mistress FORD and Mistress PAGE following. Page. Nay, daughter, carry the wine in; we'll drink within. [Exit ANNE PAGE. Slen. O heaven! this is mistress Anne Page. Page. How now, mistress Ford? Fal. Mistress Ford, by my troth, you are very well met by your leave, good mistress. [Kissing her. Page. Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome: Come, we have a hot venison pasty to dinner; come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness. [Exeunt all but SHAL. SLENDER, and EVANS. Slen. I had rather than forty shillings, I had my book of Songs and Sonnets here : — Enter SIMPI.E. How now, Sinple! where have you been? I must wait on myself, must I? You have not The Book of Riddles about you, have you ? Sim. Book of Riddles! why did you not lend it to Alice Shortcake upon Allhallowmas last, a fortnight afore Michaelmas ? 6 Shal. Come, coz; come, coz; we stay for you. A word with you, coz; marry, this, coz; There is, as 'twere a tender, a kind of tender, made afar off by sir Hugh here; Do you understand me? Sien. Ay, sir, you shall find me reasonable; if it be so, I shall do that that is reason. Shal. Nay, but understand me. Slen. So I do, sir. Eva. Give ear to his motions, master Slender : I will description the matter to you, if you be capacity of it. Slen. Nay I will do as my cousin Shallow says: I pray you, pardon me; he's a justice of peace in his country, simple though I stand here. Eva. But this is not the question; the question is concerning your marriage. Shal. Ay, there's the point, sir. Eva. Marry, is it; the very point of it; to mistress Anne Page. Slen. Why, if it be so, I will marry her, upon any reasonable demands. Eva. But can you affection the 'oman? Let us command to know that of your mouth, or of your lips; for divers philosophers hold, that the lips is parcel of the mouth; Therefore, precisely, can you carry your good will to the maid? Shal. Cousin Abraham Slender, can you love her? Slen. I hope, sir, I will do, as it shall become one that would do reason. Eva. Nay, you must speak possitable, if you can carry her your desires towards her. Shal. That you must: Will you, upon good dowry, marry her? Slen. I will do a greater thing than that, upon your request, cousin, in any reason. Shal. Nay, conceive me, conceive me, sweet coz ; what I do, is to pleasure you, coz: Can you love the maid? Slen. I will marry her, sir, at your request; but if there be no great love in the beginning, yet heaven may decrease it upon better acquaintance, when we are married, and have more occasion to know one another: I hope, upon familiarity will grow more contempt; but if you say, marry her, An intended blunder. I will marry her, that I am freely dissolved, and dissolutely. Eva. It is a fery discretion answer; save, the faul' is in the 'ort dissolutely: the 'ort is, according to our meaning, resolutely ; — his meaning is good. Shal. Ay, I think my cousin meant well. Slen. Ay, or else I would I might be hanged, la. Re-enter ANNE PAGE. Shal. Here comes fair mistress Anne: -Would I were young, for your sake, mistress Anne! Anne. The dinner is on the table; my father desires your worships' company. Shal. I will wait on him, fair mistress Anne. [Exeunt SHALLOW and Sir H. EVANS. Anne. Wil't please your worship to come in, sir? Slen. No, I thank you, forsooth, heartily; I am very well. Anne. The dinner attends you, sir. Slen. I am not a-hungry, I thank you, forsooth: Go, sirrah, for all you are my man, go, wait upon my cousin Shallow: [Exit SIMPLE.] A justice of peace sometime may be beholden to his friend for a man I keep but three men and a boy yet, till my mother be dead: But what though? yet I live like a poor gentleman born. Anne. I may not go in without your worship. they will not sit, till you come. Slen. I'faith, I'll cat nothing; I thank you as much as though I did. Anne. I pray you, sir, walk in. Slen. I had rather walk here, I thank you: I bruised my shin the other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence, three veneys 7 for a dish of stewed prunes; and, by my troth, I cannot abide the smell of hot meat since, Why do your dogs bark so? be there bears i'the town? Anne. I think there are, sir; I heard them talked of. Slen. I love the sport well; but I shall as soon quarrel at it, as any man in England: - You are afraid, if you see the bear loose, are you not? Anne. Ay, indeed, sir. Slen. That's meat and drink to me now: I have seen Sackerson & loose, twenty times: and have taken him by the chain: but, I warrant you, the women have so cried and shriek'd at it. that it pass'd 9: but women, indeed, cannot abide 'em ; they are very ill-favoured rough things. SCENE III. - A Room in the Garter Inn. Enter FALSTAFF, Host, BARDOLPH, NYM, PISTOL, and ROBIN. Fal. Mine host of the Garter, Host. What says my bully-rook? Speak scholarly, and wisely. Fal. Truly, mine host, I must turn away some of my followers. Host. Discard, bully Hercules; cashier: let them wag: trot, trot. Fal. I sit at ten pounds a week. Host. Thou art an emperor, Cæsar, Keisar, and Pheezar. I will entertain Bardolph ; he shall draw, he shall tap said I well, bully Hector? Fal. Do so, good mine host. Host. I have spoke; let him follow: Let me see thee froth, and lime: I am at a word; follow. [Erit Host. Fal. Bardolph, follow him; a tapster is a good trade; an old cloak makes a new jerkin; a withered servingman, a fresh tapster; Go, adieu. Bard. It is a life that I have desired; I will thrive. [Erit BARD. Pist. O base Gongarian wight! wilt thou the spigot wield? familiar style; and the hardest voice of her behaviour, to be English'd rightly, is, I am Sir John Falstaff's Pist. He hath studied her well, and translated her well; out of honesty into English. Nym. The anchor is deep: will that humour pass? Fal. Now, the report goes, she has all the rule of her husband's purse. Pist. To her, boy, say I. Nym. The humour rises; it is good. Fal. I have writ me here a letter to her: and here another to Page's wife; who even now gave me good eyes too; she bears the purse too; she is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty. I will be cheater to them both, and they shall be exchequers to me; they shall be my East and West Indies, and I will trade to them both. Go, bear thou this letter to mistress Page; and thou this to mistress Ford: we will thrive, lads, we will thrive. Pist. Shall I sir Pandarus of Troy become, And by my side wear steel? then, Lucifer take all ! Nym. I will run no base humour; here, take the humour letter; I will keep the 'haviour of reputation. Fal. Hold, sirrah, [To Roв.] bear you these letters tightly 4; Sail like my pinnace to these golden shores. - Pist. Let vultures gripe thee, for gourd and fullam 5 hold, will discuss the humour of this love to Page. Pist. And I to Ford shall eke unfold, How Falstaff, varlet vile, His dove will prove, his gold will hold, And his soft couch defile. Nym. My humour shall not cool: I will incense 7 Page to deal with poison; I will possess him with yellowness, for the revolt of mien is dangerous: that is my true humour. Pist. Thou art the Mars of malcontents: I second thee; troop on. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. - A Room in Dr. Caius's House. Enter Mrs. QUICKLY, SIMPLE, and RUGBY. Quick. What; John Rugby!— I pray thee, go to the casement, and see if you can see my master, master doctor Caius, coming: if he do, i' faith, and find any body in the house, here will be an old abusing of the king's English. Rug. I'll go watch. [Exit RUGBY. Quick. Go; and we'll have a posset for't soon at night, at the latter end of a sea-coal fire. honest, willing, kind fellow, as ever servant shall Escheatour, an officer in the Exchequer. 6 Sixpence I'll have in pocket. ♪ False dice. ? Instigate. An parson Hugh. come in house withal; and, I warrant you, no tell- | the truth of it. tale, nor no breed-bate 9: his worst fault is, that he is given to prayer: he is something peevish that way but nobody but has his fault; - but let that Peter Simple, you say your name is? pass. Sim. Ay, for fault of a better. Quick. And master Slender's your master? Quick. Does he not wear a great round beard, like a glover's paring knife? Sim. No, forsooth: he hath but a little wee face, with a little yellow beard; a Cain-coloured beard. Quick. A softly-sprighted man, is he not? Sim. Ay, forsooth: but he is as tall 2 a man of his hands, as any is between this and his head; he hath fought with a warrener. Quick. How say you? O, I should remember him; does he not hold up his head, as it were? and strut in his gait? Sim. Yes, indeed, does he. Quick. Well, heaven send Anne Page no worse fortune. Tell master parson Evans, I will do what I can for your master; Anne is a good girl, and I wish Caius. Vat is you sing? I do not like dese toys; Pray you, go and vetch me in my closet un boitier verd; a box, a green-a box; Do intend vat I speak? a green-a box. Quick. Ay forsooth, I'll fetch it you. I am glad he went not in himself; if he had found the young man, he would have been horn-mad. Aside. Caius. Fe, fe, fe, fe! ma foi, il fait fort chaud. Je m'en vais à la cour, la grande affaire. Quick. Is it this, sir? Caius. Ouy; mette le au mon pocket; Dépêche, quickly: Vere is dat knave Rugby? Quick. What, John Rugby! John! Rug. Here, sir. Caius. You are John Rugby, and you are Jack Rugby: Come, take-a your rapier, and come after my heel to de court. Rug. 'Tis ready, sir, here in the porch. Caius. By my trot, I tarry too long: - Od's me! Qu'ay-j' oublié ? dere is some simples in my closet, dat I vill not for the varld I shall leave behind. Quick. Ah me! he'll find the young man there, and be mad. Caius. O diable, diable! vat is in my closet? Villainy? larron! [Pulling SIMPLE out.] Rugby, my rapier. Quick. Good master, be content. Caius. Verefore shall I be content-a? Quick. The young man is an honest man. Caius. Vat shall de honest man do in my closet? dere is no honest man dat shall come in my closet. Quick. I beseech you, be not so flegmatick; hear Caius. Vell. He came of an errand to me from Sim. Ay, forsooth, to desire her to Caius. Peace-a your tongue :-Speak-a your tale. Sim. To desire this honest gentlewoman, your maid, to speak a good word to mistress Anne Page for my master, in the way of marriage. Quick. This is all, indeed, la; but I'll ne'er put my finger in the fire, and need not. Caius. Sir Hugh send-a you? Rugby, baillez me some paper : — Tarry you a little-a while. [Writes. Quick. I am glad he is so quiet: if he had been thoroughly moved, you should have heard him so loud, and so melancholy:- But notwithstanding, man, I'll do your master what good I can: and the very yea and the no is, the French doctor, my master, - I may call him my master, look you, for I keep his house; and I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour, dress meat and drink, make the beds, and do all myself; — Sim. 'Tis a great charge, to come under one body's hand. Quick. Are you avis'd o' that? you shall find it a great charge: and to be up early and down late: I would have no words of it;) my master himself but notwithstanding, (to tell you in your ear; is in love with mistress Anne Page; but notwithI know Anne's mind, standing that, - that's neither here nor there. Caius. You jack'nape; give-a dis letter to sir Hugh; by gar, it is a shallenge; I vill cut his troat in de park; and I will teach a scurvy jack-a-nape :- - you may be gone; it priest to meddle or make: [Exit SIMPLE. is not good you tarry here. Quick. Alas, he speaks but for his friend. Caius. It is no matter-a for dat; - do not you tell-a me dat I shall have Anne Page for myself? – by gar, I will kill de jack priest; and I have appointed mine host of de Jarterre to measure our weapon:-by gar, I vill myself have Anne Page. Quick. Sir, the maid loves you, and all shall be well: we must give folks leave to prate. Caius. Rugby, come to the court vit me; - By gar, if I have not Anne Page, I shall turn your head out of my door: - Follow my heels, Rugby. [Exeunt CAIUS and RUGBY. Quick. You shall have An fools-head of your own. No, I know Anne's mind for that; never a woman in Windsor knows more of Anne's mind than I do ; nor can do more than I do with her. Fent. [Within.] Who's within there, ho? Quick. Who's there, I trow? Come near the house, I pray you. |