ACT THE FIFTH. SCENE I. A Street. Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, and Slender. Page. Come, come; we'll couch i'the castleditch, till we see the light of our fairies.-Remember, son Slender, my daughter. Slen. Ay, forsooth; I have spoke with her, and we have a nay-word how to know one another. I come to her in white, and cry, mum; she cries, budget; and by that we know one another. Shal. That's good too: But what needs either your mum, or her budget? the white will decipher her well enough. Page. The night is dark; light and spirits will become it well. No man means evil but the devil, and we shall know him by his horns. Let's away; low me. fol [Exeunt. Enter MRS. PAGE, MRS. FORD, and CAIUS. it Mrs. Page. Master Doctor, my daughter is in green : when you see your time, take her by the hand, away with her to the deanery, and despatch quickly: Go before into the park; we two must go together. Caius. I know vat I have to do ; Adieu. [Exit CAIUS. Mrs. Page. Fare you well, sir.-My husband will not rejoice so much at the abuse of Falstaff, 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 fairies? and the Welch devil, Evans? Mrs. Page. They are all couch'd in a pit hard by Herne's oak, with obscur'd lights; which, at the very instant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at once display to the night. Mrs. Ford. That cannot chuse 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. Mrs. Page. Against such lewdsters, Those that betray them do no treachery. Mrs. Ford. The hour draws on;-To the oak, to the oak! [Exeunt. SCENE II. Windsor Park. Enter 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 pid you; Come, come; trib, trib. [Exeunt. SCENE III. Another Part of the Park. A Clock strikes Twelve. Enter FALSTAFF, with a Buck's Head on, clanking a Chain. Fal. The Windsor bell hath struck twelve; the minute draws on: Now, the gods assist me!-Remember, Jove, thou wast a bull for thy Europa; love set on thy horns. For me, I am here a Windsor stag; and the fattest, I think, i'the forest.-Who comes here? my doe? Enter MRS. FORD and MRS. PAGE. Mrs. Ford. Sir John!--Art thou there, my deer? Fal. Let the sky rain potatoes: let it thunder to the tune of "Green Sleeves;" hail kissing-comfits, and snow eringoes; let there come a tempest of provocation, I will shelter me here. Mrs. Ford. Mistress Page is come with me, sweetheart. Fal. Divide me like a bribe-buck, each a haunch: I will keep my sides to myself, my shoulders for the fellow of this walk, and my horns I bequeathe your husbands. Am I a woodman? ha! Speak I like Herne the hunter?--Why, now is Cupid a child of conscience; he makes restitution. As I am a true spirit, welcome! [Noise by the FAIRIES within. Mrs. Page. Alas! what noise? Mrs. Ford. } Away, away. [MRS. FORD and MRS. PAGE run away. Enter EVANS and Others, dressed like Fairies. Fal. They are fairies; he, that speaks to them, shall die: I'll wink and couch; no man their works must eye. [Lies down upon his Face. Eva. Our dance of custom, round about the oak Of Herne the hunter, let us not forget. Pray you, lock hand in hand; yourselves in order set: But, stay; I smell a man of middle earth. Fal. Heavens defend me from that Welch fairy! Lest he transform me to a piece of cheese! [All the FAIRIES speak.] Pinch him, and burn him, and turn him about, Till candles, and star-light, and moon-shine be out. [During this rhyme, they pinch him.-DR. CAIUS comes one Way, and steals away a FAIRY in Green; SLENDER another Way, and he takes away a FAIRY in White; and FENTON comes, and steals away ANNE PAGE. A Noise of Hunting is made within. All the FAIRIES, except EVANS, run away. pulls off his Buck's Head, and rises.] FALSTAFF Enter FORD, PAGE, MRS. FORD, and MRS. PAGE. Page. Nay, do not fly: I think, we have watch'd you now; Will none but Herne the hunter, serve your turn? See you these, husband? do not these fair yokes Ford. Now, sir, who's a cuckold now?-Master Brook, Falstaff's a knave, a cuckoldly knave; here are his horns, Master Brook: And, Master Brook, he hath enjoy'd nothing of Ford's but his buck-basket, his cudgel, and twenty pounds of money; which must be paid to 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 ass. Ford. Ay, and an ox too; both the proofs are extant. Eva. Sir John Falstaff, serve Heaven, and leave your desires, and fairies will not pinse you. Ford. Well said, fairy Hugh. Eva. And leave your jealousies also, I pray you. Ford. I will never mistrust my wife again, till thou art able to woo her in good English. Fal. Have I laid my brain in the sun, and dried it, that it wants matter to prevent so gross o'er-reaching as this? Am I ridden with a Welch goat too? 'tis time I were choak'd with a piece of toasted cheese. Eva. Seese is not good to give putter; your pelly is all putter. Fal. Seese and putter! have I liv'd to stand in the taunt of one that makes fritters of English? Mrs. Page. Why, Sir John, do you think, though we would have thrust virtue out of our hearts by the head and shoulders, that ever the devil could have made you our delight? Ford. What, a hodge-pudding? a bag of flax? Page. Old, cold, wither'd, and of intolerable entrails? Ford. And one that is as slanderous as Satan? Ford. And as wicked as his wife? Eva. And given to fornications, and to taverns, and sacks, and wines, and metheglins, and to drinkings, and swearings, and starings, pribbles, and prabbles? |