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vel? Shall I lose my doctor? no; he gives me the plots!-they are laid; and our revolted wives potions, and the motions. Shall I lose my parson? share damnation together. Well; I will take him, my priest? my sir Hugh? no; he gives me the then torture my wife, pluck the borrowed veil of pro-verbs and the no-verbs.-Give me thy hand, modesty from the so seeming mistress Page, diterrestrial; so:-Give me thy hand, celestial; so. vulge Page himself for a secure and wilful Acteon; -Boys of art, I have deceived you both; I have and to these violent proceedings all my neighbours directed you to wrong places: your hearts are shall cry aim. [Clock strikes.] The clock gives mighty, your skins are whole, and let burnt sack me my cue, and my assurance bids me search; be the issue.-Come, lay their swords to pawn:-there I shall find Falstaff: I shall be rather praised Follow me, lad of peace; follow, follow, follow. for this, than mocked; for it is as positive as the Shal. Trust me, a mad host:-Follow, gentle-earth is firm, that Falstaff is there: I will go. men, follow.

Slen. O, sweet Anne Page!

[Exeunt Shal. Slen. Page, and Host. Caius. Ha! do I perceive dat? have you makea de sot1 of us? ha, ha!

Eva. This is well; he has made us his vloutingstog.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.

Caius. By gar, vit all my heart; he promise to bring me vere is Anne Page: by gar, he de

ceive me too.

Enter Page, Shallow, Slender, Host, Sir Hugh
Evans, Caius, and Rugby."

Shal. Page, &c. 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.
Slen. 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 linger'd about a match between Anne Page and my cousin Slender, and this day Eva. Well, I will smite his noddles:-Pray we shall have our answer. you, follow. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The Street in Windsor.
Mrs. Page and Robin.

Slen. I hope, I have your good-will, father Page. Enter Page. You have, master Slender; I stand wholly for you:-but my wife, master doctor, is for you altogether.

Mrs. Page. Nay, keep your way, little gallant; you were wont 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, see, you'll be a courtier.

Enter Ford.

I

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 hus

bands.

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!

Caius. 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? writes verses, he speaks holiday, he smells April The capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth, he his buttons; he will carry't. and May: he will carry't, he will carry't; 'tis in

Page. Not by my consent, I promise you. The gentlemen 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 show 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 Shallow and Slender. Caius. Go home, John Rugby; I come anon. [Exit Rugby. Host. Farewell, my hearts: I will to my honest

Mrs. Page. He, he: I can never hit on's name. knight Falstaff, and drink canary with him. There is such a league between my good man and he!-Is your wife at home, indeed?"

Ford. Indeed, she is.

Mrs. Page. By your leave, sir;-I am sick, till I see her.

[Exit Host. Ford. [Aside.] I think, I shall drink in pipewine first with him; I'll make him dance. Will

All. Have with you, to see this monster.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-A room in Ford's house. Enter
Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page.

[Exeunt Mrs. Page and Robin. you go, gentles? Ford. Has Page any brains? hath he any eyes? hath he any thinking? Sure, they sleep; he hath no use of them. Why, this boy will carry a letter twenty miles, as easy as a cannon will shoot pointblank 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 Doy with her. A man may hear this shower sing in the wind!-and Falstaff's boy with her!--Good (1) Fool. (2) Flouting-stock. (3) Specious. Shall encourage.

basket

Mrs. Ford. What, John! what, Robert!
Mrs. Page. Quickly, quickly: is the buck
Mrs. Ford. I warrant :-what, Robin, I say.
(6) Not rich.

(5) Out of the common style.

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.

Mrs. Ford. Believe me, there's no such thing

in me.

Fal. What made me love thee? let that per'suade thee, there's something extraordinary in thee. Come, I cannot cog, and say, thou art this and Mrs. Ford. Marry, as I told you before, John, that, like a many of these lisping hawthorn buds, and Robert, be ready here hard by in the brew that come like women in men's apparel, and smell like Bucklersbury in simple-time; I cannot: but house; and when I suddenly call you, come forth, love thee; none but thee; and thou deservest it. and (without any pause or staggering,) take this basket on your shoulders: that done, trudge with, Mrs. Ford. Do not betray me, sir; I fear, you in all haste, and carry it among the whitsters' in love mistress Page. Datchet Mead, and there empty it in the muddy ditch, close by the Thames' side.

Mrs. Page. You will do it?

Mrs. Ford. I have told them over and over; they lack no direction: be gone, and come when [Exeunt Servants. you are called. Mrs. Page. Here comes little Robin.

Enter Robin.

Mrs. Ford. How now, my eyas-musket ? what news with you?

Rob. My master, sir John, is come in at your back-door, 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. Mrs. Page, remember you your cue. [Erit Robin. Mrs. Page. I warrant thee; if I do not act it, his e. [Exit Mrs. Page. Mrs. Ford. Go to then; we'll use this unwholesome humidity, this gross watry pumpion;-we'll teach him to know turtles from jays.

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: O this blessed hour!

I

Fal. Thou might'st as well say, I love to walk by the Counter-gate; 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 tat[Falstaff hides himself. tling 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. so, I hope.

Speak louder.-[Aside.]—'Tis not

Mrs. Page. Pray heaven it be not so, that you Mrs. Ford. O sweet sir John! Fal. Mistress Ford, I cannot cog, I cannot prate, have such a man here; but 'tis most certain your Mistress Ford. Now shall I sin in my wish: I husband's coming, with half Windsor at his heels, would thy husband were dead: I'll speak it before to search for such a one. I come before to tell the best lord, I would make thee my lady. you: if you know yourself clear, why I am glad

Mrs. Ford. I your lady, sir John! alas, I should of it: but if you have a friend here, convey, convey him out. Be not amazed; call all your senses be a pitiful lady. Fal. Let the court of France show me such ano-to you; defend your reputation, or bid farewell to ther; I see how thine eyes would emulate the your good life forever. Mrs. Ford. What shall I do?-There is a gendiamond: thou hast the right arched bent of the brow, that becomes the ship-tire, the tire-valiant, tleman, my dear friend; and I fear not mine own shame, so much as his peril: I had rather than a or any tire of Venetian admittance.* Mrs. Ford. A plain kerchief, sir John: my thousand pound, he were out of the house. Mrs. Page. For shame, never stand you had brows become nothing else; nor that well neither. Fal. Thou art a traitor to say so: thou would'st rather, and you had rather; your husband's here make an absolute courtier; and the firm fixture of at hand, bethink you of some conveyance: in the thy foot would give an excellent motion to thy gait, house you cannot hide him.-O, how have you dein a semi-circled farthingale. I see what thou ceived me!-Look, here is a basket; if he be of wert, if fortune thy foe were not; nature is thy any reasonable stature, he may creep in here; and friend: come, thou canst not hide it. throw foul linen upon him, as if it were going to

(1) Bleachers of linen.

(2) A young small hawk.

(3) A puppet thrown at in Lent, like shrove-cocks.

(4) Venetian fashions.

(5) Formerly chiefly inhabited by druggists.
(6) Prison.
(7) Hide.

(8) Tapestry..

bucking: or, it is whiting-time,' send him by your men to Datchet Mead.

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;I'll in.

Mrs. Page. What! sir John Falstaff! Are these your letters, knight?

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

[He goes into the basket; they cover him with foul linen.]

Mrs. Page. Help to cover your master, boy: call your men, mistress Ford:-You dissembling Knight! Mrs. Ford. What, John, Robert, John! [Erit Robin; re-enter Servants.] Go take up these clothes here, quickly; where's the cowl-staff look, how 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. Shall we send that foolish carrion, 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 tomorrow eight o'clock, to have amends. Re-enter Ford, Page, Caius, and Sir Hugh 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, I do so.

Mrs. Ford. Heaven make you better than your thoughts!

Ford. Amen.

Mrs. Page. You do yourself mighty wrong, master Ford.

Ford. Ay, ay; I must bear it.

Eva. 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!

Caius. By gar, nor I too; dere is no bodies. Page. Fie, e, 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. Eva. You suffer for a pad conscience: your wife as honest a 'omans, as I will desires among five thousand, and five hundred too.

Mrs. Ford. Why, what have you to do whither they bear it? you were best meddle with buck-is washing.

Ford. Buck? I would I could wash myself of Cuius. By gar, I see 'tis an honest woman. the buck! Buck, buck, buck? ay, buck; I war- Ford. Well;-I promised you a dinner :-Come, rant you, buck; and of the season too, it shall ap- come, walk in the park: I pray you, pardon me; pear. [Exeunt Servants with the basket.] Gentle- I will hereafter make known to you, why I have men, I have dreamed to-night; I'll tell you my done this. Come, wife;-come, mistress Page; I dream. Here, here, here be my keys: ascend my pray you pardon me; pray heartily, pardon me." chambers, search, seek, find out: I'll warrant, we'll Page. Let's go in, gentlemen; but, trust me, unkennel the fox:-Let me stop this way first:- we'll mock him. I do invite you to-morrow morn So, now, uncape,* ing to my house to breakfast; after, we'll a birding together; I have a fine hawk for the bush: shall it be so?

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

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

[Erit. Eva. This is fery fantastical humours, and jealousies.

Caius. 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 gross 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 disBolute disease will scarce obey this medicine.

[blocks in formation]

Ford. Any thing.

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

Caius. If there be one or two, I shall make-a de

tird.

Eva. 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.

Caius. Dat is good; by gar, vit all my heart.
Eva. A lousy knave; to have his jibes 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.

I

Why, thou must be thyself,
He doth object, I am too great of birth;
And that, my state being gall'd with my expense,
seek to heal it only by his wealth:
Besides these, other bars he lays before me,-
My riots 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.

(3) Drone. (4) Unbag the fox, (5) What.

Fent. No, heaven so speed me in my time to I told you, sir, my daughter is dispos'd of.

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 humble 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 kinsnian shall speak for himself.

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

Shal. Be not dismay'd.

Slen. 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.

Aside.

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!
Quick. And how does good master Fenton
Pray you, a word with you.
O boy, thou

Shal. She's coming; to her, coz. hadst a father!

61

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

my child.

Page. She is no match for you.
Fent. 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.
Quick. Speak to mistress Page.

Fent. Good mistress Page, for that I love your
daughter

In such a righteous fashion as I do,

And not retire: let me have your good will.
Perforce, against all checks, rebukes, and manners,
I must advance the colours of my love,

I

Anne. Good mother, do not marry me to yond

fool.

Mrs. Page. I mean it not; I seek you a better husband.

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,

will not be your friend, nor enemy: ? And as I find her, so am I affected; My daughter will I question how she loves you, Till then, farewell, sir :-She must needs go in : Her father will be angry.

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, under the degree of a squire.

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?

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

Give my sweet Nan this ring: there's for thy pains.
Fent. I thank thee; and I pray thee, once to
night
kind heart he hath: a woman would run through
[Exit.
Quick. Now heaven send thee good fortune! A
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
Fenton. Well, I must of another errand to sir John
as good as my word; but speciously for master
Falstaff from my two mistresses; what a beast am
I to slacks it!
[Exit.

SCENE V.A room in the Garter Inn. Enter
Falstaff and Bardolph.

Fal. Bardolph, I say,—
Bard. Here, sir.

Fal. Go fetch me a quart of sack; put a toast in't. [Exit Bard.] Have I lived to be carried in a basket,

Slen. Truly, for mine own part, I would little or like a barrow of butcher's offal; and to be thrown nothing with you: your father, and my uncle, have into the Thames? Well; if I be served such anmade motions: if it be my luck, so: if not, happy other trick, I'll have my brains ta'en out, and butman be his dole! They can tell you how things ter'd, and give them to a dog for a new year's gift, go, better than I can: you may ask your father; here he comes.

[blocks in formation]

The rogues slighted me into the river with as little remorses as they would have drown'd a bitch's blind puppies, fifteen i' the litter: and you may sinking; if the bottom werc as deep as hell, I should know by my size, that I have a kind of alacrity in shelvy and shallow; a death that I abhor; for the down. I had been drowned, but that the shore was water swells a man; and what a thing should I

(2) Come poor or rich. (3) Lot, (4) Specially, (5) Neglect. (6) Pity.

have been, when I had been swelled! I should] have been a mountain of mummy.

Re-enter Bardolph, with the wine.

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

Bard. Here's mistress Quickly, sir, to speak it, comes in one mistress Page; gives intelligence with you. of Ford's approach; and, by her invention, and Ford's wife's distraction, they conveyed me inte a buck-basket.

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.

Enter Mrs. Quickly.

Quick. By your leave; I cry you mercy: give your worship good-morrow.

Fal. Take away these chalices: go brew me pottle of sack finely.

Bard. With eggs, sir?

a

Fal. Simple of itself; I'll no pullet-sperm in my brewage.-Exit Bardolph.]-How now?

Quick. Marry, sir, I come to your worship from mistress Ford.

ford.

Ford. A buck-basket!

Fal. By the Lord, a buck-basket: rammed me in with foui shirts and smocks, socks, foul stockings, and greasy napkins; that, master Brook, there was the rankest compound of villanous smell, that ever Joffended 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 Fal. Mistress Ford! I have had ford enough: I had in their basket. I quaked for fear, lest the was thrown into the ford: I have my belly full of lunatic knave would have searched it; but Fate ordaining he should be a cuckold, held his hand. Quick. Alas the day! good heart, that was not Well: on went he for a search, and away went I her fault; she does so take on with her men; they for foul clothes. But mark the sequel, master Brook: mistook their erection. I suffered the pangs of three several deaths: first, Fal. So did I mine, to build upon a foolish an intolerable fright, to be detected with a jealous woman's promise. rotten-bell-wether: next, to be compassed like a Quick. Well, she laments, sir, for it, that it good bilbo, in the circumference of a peck, hilt to would yearn your heart to see it. Her husband point, heel to head: and then, to be stopped in, like goes this morning a birding; she desires you once a strong distillation, with stinking clothes that fretmore to come to her between eight and nine: I must ted in their own grease: think of that,—a man of carry her word quickly: she'll make you amends, my kidney,-think of that; that am as subject to 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. Do so. Between nine and ten, say'st thou
Quick. Eight and nine, sir.

Fal. Well, be gone: I will not miss her.
Quick. Peace be with you, sir!

[Erit.

heat as butter; a man of continual dissolution and thaw; it was a miracle to 'scape suffocation. And in the height of this bath, when I was more than half stewed in grease, like a Dutch dish, to be thrown into the Thames, and cooled, glowing hot, ? in that surge, like a horse-shoe; think of that ;hissing hot,-think of that, master Brock.

Ford. In good sadness, sir, I am sorry that fer my sake you have suffered all this. My suit then Fal. I marvel, I hear not of master Brook; he is desperate; you'll undertake her no more. sent me word to stay within: I like his money well. O, here he comes.

Enter Ford.

Ford. Bless you, sir!

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 speed you, sir?

Fal. Very ill-favouredly, master Brook.
Ford. How so, sir? Did she change her deter-
mination?

Fal. Master Brook, I will be thrown into Etna, as I have been into the Thames, ere I will leave her thus. Her husband is this morning gone a birding: I have received from her another embassy of meeting; 'twixt eight and nine is the hour, master Brook.

Ford. "Tis past eight already, sir.

Fal. Is it? I will then address me to my appointment. Come to me at your convenient leisure, and you shall know how I speed; and the conclusion shall be crowned with your enjoying her: adieu. You shall have her, master Brook; master Brook, you shall cuckold Ford.

[Exit.

Ford. Hum! ha! is this a vision? is this a dream? do I sleep? Master Ford, awake; awake, master Fal. No, master Brook; but the peaking cornu- Ford; there's a hole made in your best coat, master to, her husband, master Brook, dwelling in a con- Ford. This 'tis to be married! this 'tis to have linen, tinual 'larum of jealousy, comes me in the instant and buck-baskets!-Well, I will proclaim myself of our encounter, after we had embraced, kissed, what I am: I will now take the lecher; he is at my protested, and, as it were, spoke the prologue of house he cannot 'scape me; 'tis impossible he our comedy; and at his heels a rabble of his com- should; he cannot creep into a half-penny purse, panions, thither provoked and instigated by his dis- nor into a pepper-box: but, lest the devil that temper, and, forsooth, to search his house for his guides him should aid him, I will search impossible wife's love. places. Though what I am I cannot avoid, yet to

(1) Cups.

Bilboa, where the best blades are made.

(3) Seriousness.

(4) Make myself ready.

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