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Windsor Forest
SHAKESPEARE'S
COMEDY OF THE
Merry Wives of Windsor
EDITED, WITH NOTES
BY
WILLIAM J. ROLFE, Litt.D.
FORMERLY HEAD MASTER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL,
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK.:. CINCINNATI.:. CHICAGO
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
Copyright, 1882 and 1898, by
HARPER & BROTHERS.
PR.
1005
Copyright, 1905, by
WILLIAM J. ROLFE.
MERRY WIVES.
W. P. I
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITVJLISB
PREFATORY NOTE
This play, originally edited by me in 1882, is now
thoroughly revised on the same general plan as the
earlier volumes in the new series.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction to the Merry Wives of Windsor . . 9
The History of the Play 9
The Sources of the Plot 13
General Comments on the Play 14
Merry Wives of Windsor 21
Act I 23
Act II 46
Act III 71
Act IV 100
ActV 124
Notes . • • . 141
Appendix
Comments on Some of the Characters .... 209
The Time- Analysis of the Play 215
List of Characters in the Play 216
Index of Words and Phrases explained • • • 219
Anne Page and Slender
(" I pray you, sir, walk in.")
Part of Windsor Castle
INTRODUCTION TO THE MERRY WIVES
OF WINDSOR
The History of the Play
The earliest edition of The Merry Wives was a quarto
printed in 1602, with the following title-page : —
*' A I Most pleasaunt and | excellent conceited Co-
I medie, of Syr John Falstaffe, and the | merrie Wiues
of Windsor. \ Entermixed with sundrie | variable and
pleasing humors of Syr Hugh \ the Welch Knight,
lustice Shallow, and his | wise Cousin M. Slender. \
With the swaggering vaine of Auncient | Fistoll, and
Corporall Nym. \ By William Shakespeare. \ As it hath
9
lo Merry Wives of Windsor
bene diuers times Acted by the right Honorable | my
Lord Chamberlaines servants Both before her | Mai-
estie, and else-where. | London | Printed by T. C. for
Arthur lohnson ; and are to be sold at | his shop in
Powles Churchyard, at the signe of the | Flower de
Leuse and the Crowne. | 1602."
A second quarto was published in 1619. These edi-
tions appear to be a pirated version of the play as first
written, probably in 1599.
This early sketch was afterward revised and enlarged
to about twice the original length ; and this is the form
in which it appears in the folio of 1623. Internal evi-
dence shows that this revision was made after James
came to the throne, and probably about 1605. In i. i.
no "king" is substituted for the '^council" of the
quarto. " These knights will hack," in ii. i. 50, is sup-
posed to allude to the 237 knights created by James in
1603. "When the court lay at Windsor," in ii. 2. 62,
may refer to July, 1603 ; the court was usually held at
Greenwich in the winter. The mention of " coach after
coach," in ii. 2. 66, is not likely to have been made
much before coaches came into general use, which,
according to Howe's Continuation of Stowe's Chronicle,
was in 1605. "Outrun on Cotsall," i. i. 89, appears
to allude to the reviving of the Cots wold games about
1603.
The entry in the Accounts of the Revels, according to
which the play was acted at Whitehall on Sunday, Nov.
4, 1604, is now known to be a forgery, but there is
Introduction ii
satisfactory evidence that it was based on correct in-
formation. It is probable that the revision of the play
was made for a court performance at Windsor. " The
fairy scene at the close, originally slight, gay, and sa-
tirical, such as the good folks of Windsor might have
invented when inspired by a spirit of frolic-mischief, is
discarded, in order to substitute a higher tone of fairy
poetry, graceful and delicate, fanciful and grotesque.
It seems probable that the author, when his play was
about to be reproduced before the court, after some
celebration of the Order of the Garter, rejected his
former verses, in order to enrich his piece with a scene
imitating and rivalling the high fanciful elegance of
the masques, which had then become popular, and in
which Ben Jonson was then exhibiting an exuberance
of refined and original and delicate fancy, which could
never have been anticipated from the stern satire, the
coarse humour, and the learned imitations of his regular
drama."
Tradition ascribes the origin of the play to Queen
Elizabeth. Rowe, in the life of Shakespeare prefixed
to his edition, first published in 1709, says that Eliza-
beth " was so well pleased with that admirable charac-
ter of Falstaff in the two parts of Henry IV. that she
commanded him to continue it for one play more, and
to show Falstaff in love." The same story had been
given by John Dennis, in 1702 (in the preface to The
Comical Gallant^ a comedy founded on the Merry
Wives\ with unimportant variations, indicating that he
12 Merry Wives of Windsor
derived his information from some other source. He
adds that the queen was so eager to see the play acted
" that she commanded it to be finished in fourteen
days, and was afterwards, as tradition tells us, very
well pleased at the representation." The anecdote was
repeated by Gildon in 1710, and was accepted without
controversy by Pope, Theobald, and other of the earlier
editors.
Some of the more recent critics have been more
sceptical ; but they are ably answered by Verplanck
thus : " Yet, as Rowe relates his anecdote on the same
authority with that on which most of the generally re-
ceived facts of the poet's history are known, acknowl-
edging his obligations to Betterton ' for the most
considerable passages ' of the biography ; as Betterton
was then seventy-four years of age, and thus might have
received the story directly from contemporary authority ;
as Gildon was Betterton's friend and biographer, and
as Dennis (a learned acute man, of a most uninventive
and matter-of-fact mind) told his story seven or eight
years before, 'with a difference,' yet without contradic-
tion, so as to denote another and an independent source
of evidence ; as Pope, the rancorous enemy of poor
Dennis, whom he and his contemporary wits have
* damned to everlasting fame,' received the traditions
without hesitation ; we have certainly, in the entire
absence of any external or internal evidence to the con-
trary, as good a proof as any such insulated piece of
literary history could well require or receive, although
Introduction 13
it may not amount to such evidence as might be de-
manded to establish some contested point of rehgious
or legal or political opinion."
The date that I have assigned to the play (1599)
places it between 2 Henry IV. and Henry V. That it
was written after 2 Henry IV. is evident from the fact
that Falstaff in that play was originally called Old-
castle, but not in this one. It has been urged that it
must have been produced before Henry V. in which
Falstaff's death is recorded; but it is not necessary to
regard the Merry Wives as an integral part of the his-
torical trilogy. If it was written at the request of
Elizabeth, the dramatist would not have hesitated to
resuscitate the knight for her gratification. It is more
probable, however, that if, as Row^e asserts, it was her
enjoyment of the two parts of Henry IV. that led her
to *' command " him to write a play showing Falstaff
in love, and if she insisted on its being finished in a
fortnight, the dramatist would have postponed the com-
pletion of the trilogy in order to do it.
The Sources of the Plot
Among the sources from which it has been supposed
that Shakespeare may have got some hints for the plot
of the Merry Wives are two tales in Straparola's Le
Tredici Piacevoli Notte, and a modified version of one
of these, under the title of " The Lovers of Pisa " in
Tarleton's Newes out of Furgatorie, 1590; the tale of
Bucciolo and Pietro Paulo in the Pecorone of Giovanni
14 Merry Wives of Windsor
Fiorentino ; and '' The Fishwife's Tale of Brainford "
from Westward for Smelts. This last, however, was
probably not published till 1620, though Malone refers
to an edition of 1603.
General Comments on the Play
The critics have wasted much ink and ingenuity in
trying to decide at what point in the career of Falstaff
these Windsor adventures belong ; but, as already sug-
gested, we may consider the comedy as having a certain
independence of the histories and not to be brought
into chronological relations to them. As White re-
marks, " Shakespeare was not writing biography, even
the biography of his own characters. He was a poet,
but he wrote as a playwright ; and the only consistency
to which he held himself, or can be held by others, is
the consistency of dramatic interest."
If we are to make a connected and consistent biog-
raphy of Sir John out of the four plays, there is no
alternative but to adopt the hypothesis of those critics
who put the Windsor exploits before all the other experi-
ences of the knight recorded by Shakespeare. Eliza-
beth may have induced the poet to write a play " with
Sir' John in it " in the role she proposed, but after com-
paring the new Sir John with the old we are constrained
to say " this is not the man." At some uncertain period
before we meet him in Eastcheap he may indeed have
been capable of such fatuity, but he was too old a bird
then to be caught with the chaff of the merry wives.
Introduction 15
Verplanck (whose admirable criticisms of Shakespeare
are now unfortunately out of print) remarks : " Assum-
ing that Shakespeare, either in obedience to the com-
mand of his political sovereign — a lady somewhat
tyrannical, and not a little fantastical, and yet a woman
of genius and of letters, whose suggestions the most
republican poet might be proud to receive — or to
please that other many-headed sovereign, the public, to
whom the poet owed a still truer allegiance — after
having exhausted the last days of Falstaff in the his-
torical dramas, had revived him for a new display of
his character, and surrounded him with his former com-
panions, it is quite incredible that he should have done
so without some regard to the incidents, adventures,
and characteristics that he alone had bestowed upon
each one of them. Had these personages been like the
cunning slave, the parasite, and the bully, of the Latin
stage, or like the Scapins and Sganarelles of the old
French comedy (characters common to every dramatic
author), he would not have cared for any such connec-
tion. But these were the children of his own fancy,
and they had lived in a world of his own creation ;
so that, though like Cervantes in similar circumstances
he might fall into an occasional forgetful contradiction
of his own story, it was every way improbable that he
should not have had in his mind some plan of congru-
ous invention. Now, he had already made his readers
and audience familiar with the latter part of Falstaff's
career. When he reproduced him, therefore, it was |
1 6 Merry Wives of Windsor
(natural that he should return to a somewhat earlier
period of his life, especially when he was to represent
him as a lover. Who, indeed, does not assent to John-
son's remarks on Falstaff's appearance in this char-
acter ? He says : —
' No task is harder than that of writing to the ideas
of another. Shakespeare knew what the queen seems
not to have known, that by any real passion of tender-
ness, the selfish craft, the careless jollity, and the lazy
i luxury of Falstaff must have suffered so much abate-
ment that little of his former cast could have remained.
Falstaff could not love but by ceasing to be Falstaff.
He could only counterfeit love. Thus the poet ap-
proached as near as he could to the work enjoined him ;
yet having, perhaps, in the former plays completed his
own ideas, he seems not to have been able to give
Falstaff all his former power of entertainment.'
Every one of Falstaff's acquaintances must feel his
amusement at Windsor dashed with constant vexation
at seeing the hero of the Boar's Head ' made an ass
of,' hunted and worried, and at last obliged to veil his
triumphant wit even to 'the Welch flannel.' But we
also feel that this same pleasant 'villainous misleader
of youth,' that 'grey iniquity' delighting to 'take his
ease in his own inn,' could not easily have been made
the sport and butt even of ladies as sprightly and mali-
cious as those of Windsor. It is quite clear that in the
days of Mrs. Hostess Quickly, he had rid himself of all
personal vanity that could lead him into any such self-
Introduction
17
delusions. Yet, as the vanity of being thought accept-
able to the other sex is one of the last that men get rid
of, the author would naturally be led to paint Falstaff ,
in the perilous adventures to which he had destined
him, as being still of an age (however ridiculous his
courtship would seem to Mrs. Page and Mrs. Ford) to
be yet liable to the delusions of personal vanity, and
exposed to its attendant mortifications. He is of
course made to take his last lesson of experience in
that matter, before settling down into the lazy luxury
of the Boar's Head. He is accordingly, though sub-(
stantially the same character, made more of a viva-
cious, dissolute old boy, and less of the sagacious;
Epicurean wit, than he appears in Henry IV. We{
have, then, only to imagine an indefinite interval of
two or three years, during which Pistol and Bardolph
return to their old service, and Mrs. Quickly removes
from the quiet shades of Windsor to the more con-
genial atmosphere of a London tavern, and nothing is
wanted to make the whole consistent and probable."
Hartley Coleridge, in his Essays and Marginalia,
remarks : " That Queen Bess should have desired to
see Falstaff making love proves her to have been, as
she was, a gross-minded old baggage. Shakespeare
has evaded the difficulty with great skill. He knew
that Falstaff could not be in love, and has mixed
but a little, a very little, pruritus with his fortune-
hunting courtship. But the Falstaff of the Merry
Wives is not the Falstaff of Hefiry IV. It is a big-
MERRY WIVES — 2
1 8 Merry Wives of Windsor
bellied impostor, assuming his name and style, or,
at best, it is Falstaff in dotage. The Mrs. Quickly
of Windsor is not mine hostess of the Boar's Head ;
but she is a very pleasant, busy, good-natured, un-
principled old woman, whom it is impossible to be
angry with. Shallow should not have left his seat
in Gloucestershire and his magisterial duties. Ford's
jealousy is of too serious a complexion for the rest
of the play. The merry wives are a delightful pair.
Methinks I see them, with their comely, middle-aged
visages, their dainty white ruffs and toys, their half-
witch-like conic hats, their full farthingales, their
neat though not over-slim waists, their housewifely
keys, their girdles, their sly laughing looks, their apple-
red cheeks, their brows the lines whereon look more
like the work of mirth than years. And sweet Anne
Page — she is a pretty little creature whom one would
like to take on one's knee." It is noteworthy that
Maurice Morgann, in his essay on Falstaff, avoids the
Merry Wives.
Whether Shakespeare found his plot in Italian or
other literature, the play is thoroughly English. " It
* smells April and May,' like Fenton. It has the
bright healthy country air all through it: Windsor
Park with its elms, the glad light-green of its beeches,
its ferns, and deer. There is coursing and hawking,
Datchet Mead, and the silver Thames, and though not
• The white feet of laughing gids
Whose sires have marched to Rome,'
Introduction
19
yet those of stout, bare-legged, bare-armed English
wenches plying their washing-trade. There 's a healthy
moral as well : * Wives may be merry and yet honest
too.' The lewd court hanger-on, whose wit always
mastered men, is outwitted and routed by Windsor
wives " (Furnivall).
Charles Cowden-Clarke, in similar vein, remarks:
" The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of those delight-
fully happy plays of Shakespeare, beaming with sun-
shine and good-humour, that makes one feel the better,
the lighter, and the happier for having seen or read it.
It has a superadded charm, too, from the scene being
purely English; and we all know how rare and how
precious English sunshine is, both literally and meta-
phorically. The Merry Wives may be designated the
' sunshine ' of domestic life, as the As You Like It is
the ' sunshine ' of romantic life. The out-door character
that pervades both plays gives to them their tone of
buoyancy and enjoyment, and true holiday feeHng. We
have the meeting of Shallow and Slender and Page in
the streets of Windsor, who saunter on, chatting of the
' fallow greyhound,' and of his being * outrun on Cot-
sail ' ; and, still strolling on, they propose the match
between Slender and ' sweet Anne Page.' Then Anne
brings wine out of doors to them ; though her father,
with the genuine feeling of old English hospitality,
presses them to come into his house, and enjoy it with
a 'hot venison pasty to dinner.' And she afterwards
comes out into the garden to bid Master Slender to
20 Merry Wives of Windsor
table, where, we may imagine, he has been lounging
about, in the hope of the fresh air relieving his sheep-
ish embarrassment. When Doctor Caius bids his ser-
vant bring him his rapier, he answers, ' 'T is ready, sir,
here in the porch,' conveying the idea of a room lead-
ing at once into the open air — such a room as used to
be called ' a summer parlour.' Then we hear of Anne
Page being at a ' farm-house a-feasting ' ; and we have
Mrs. Page leading her little boy William to school;
and Sir Hugh Evans sees people coming ' from Frog-
more over the stile this way ' ; and we find that Master
Ford ' is this morning gone a-birding.' Even the very
headings to the scenes breathe of dear, lovely English
scenery — ^ Windsor Park ' — 'A field near Frogmore.'
They talk, too, of Datchet Lane ; and Sir John Falstaff
is 'slighted into the river.' And, with this, come
thronging visions of the ' silver Thames,' and some of
those exquisite leafy nooks on its banks, with the caw-
ing of rooks ; and its little islands, crowned with the
dark and glossy-leaved alder ; and barges lapsing on its
tranquil tide. To crown all, the story winds up with a
plot to meet in Windsor Park at midnight, to trick the
fat knight beneath ' Heme's oak.' The whole play,
indeed, is, as it were, a village, or even a homestead
pastoral."
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
DRAMATIS PERSONS
Sir John Falstaff.
Fenton, a gentleman.
Shallow, a country justice.
Slender, a cousin to Shallow.
Page' i *^° gentlemen dwelling at Windsor.
William Page, a boy. son to Page.
Sir Hugh Evans, a Welsh parson.
Doctor Caius, a French physician.
Host of the Garter Inn.
Bardolph, ^
Pistol, \ sharpers attending on Falstaff.
Nym, J
Robin, page to Falstaff.
Simple, servant to Slender.
Rugby, servant to Doctor Caius.
Mistress Ford.
Mistress Page.
Anne Page, her daughter.
Mistress Quickly, servant to Doctor Caius.
Servants to Page, Ford, etc.
Scene : Windsor and the neighbourhood.
Winchester Tower, Windsor Castle
ACT I
Scene I. Windsor. Before Page's House
Enter Justice Shallow, Slender, and Sir Hugh
Evans
Shallow. Sir Hugh, persuade me not; I will
make a Star-chamber matter of it. If he were
twenty Sir John Falstaffs, he shall not abuse Robert
Shallow, esquire.
Slender. In the county of Gloucester, justice of
peace and coram.
23
24 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act i
Shallow. Ay, cousin Slender, and custalorum.
Slender. Ay, and ratolorum too ; and a gentleman
born, master parson, who writes himself armigero,
in any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation, armi-
gero. II
Shallow. Ay, that I do, and have done any time
these three hundred years.
Slender. All his successors gone before him hath
done 't, and all his ancestors that come after him
may ; they may give the dozen white luces in their
coat. 7"'"*'
Shallow. It is an old coat.
Evans. The dozen white louses do become an old
coat well. It agrees well, passant ; it is a familiar
beast to man, and signifies love. 21
Shallow. The luce is the fresh fish ; the salt fish
is an old coat.
Slender. I may quarter, coz.
Shallow. You may, by marrying.
Evans. It is marring indeed, if he quarter it.
Shallow. Not a whit.
Evans. Yes, py'r lady. If he has a quarter of
your coat, there is but three skirts for yourself, in
my simple conjectures ; but that is all one. If Sir
John Falstaff have committed disparagements unto
you, I am of the church and will be glad to do my
benevolence to make atonements and compremises
between you. 34
Shallow. The council shall hear it ; it is a riot.
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 25
Evans, 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 in that, ts^ - c . 39*
Shallow. Ha ! o' my life, if I were young again,
the swords should end it.
Evans. 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.
Slender. Mistress Anne Page ? She has brown
hair, and speaks small like a woman. 48
Evans. It is that fery person for all the orld, as
just as you will desire ; and seven hundred pounds
of moneys, and gold and silver, is her grandsire upon
his death's-bed — Got deliver to a joyful resurrec-
tions ! — give, when she is able to overtake seven-
teen 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.
Shallow. Did her grandsire leave her seven hun-
dred pound ? 58
Evans. Ay, and her father is make her a petter
penny.
Shallow. I know the young gentlewoman ; she
has good gifts.
Evafis. Seven hundred pounds and possibilities
is goot gifts.
Q.6 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act i
Shallow. Well, let us see honest Master Page. Is
Falstaff there ?
Evans. 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 peseech you, be ruled by your well-willers. I
will peat the door for Master Page. — \Knocks^
What, hoa ! Got pless your house here 1 72
Page. \Within\ Who 's there?
Enter Page
Evans. Here is Got's plessing, and your friend,
and Justice Shallow ; and here young Master Slen-
der, that peradventures shall tell you another tale,
if matters grow to your likings.
Page. I am glad to see your worships well. — I
thank you for my venison. Master Shallow. 79
Shallow. Master Page, I am glad to see you ;
much good do it your good heart 1 I wished your
venison better ; it was ill killed. — How doth good
Mistress Page ? — and I thank you always with my
heart, la ! with my heart.
Page. Sir, I thank you.
Shallow. Sir, I thank you ; by yea and no, I do.
Page. I am glad to see you, good Master Slender.
Slender. How does your fallow greyhound, sir?
I heard say he was outrun on Cotsall.
Page. It could not be judged, sir. 90
Slender. You '11 not confess, you '11 not confess.
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 27
Shallow. That he will not. — 'T is your fault, 't is
your fault ; 't is a good dog.
Page. A cur, sir.
Shallow. Sir, he 's a good dog, and a fair dog ; can
there be more said ? he is good and fair. Is Sir John
Falstaff here ?
Page. Sir, he is within ; and I would I could do a
good office between you.
Evans. It is spoke as a Christians ought to
speak. loi
Shallow. He hath wronged me, Master Page.
Page. Sir, he doth in some sort confess it.
Shallow. If it be confessed, it is not redressed ; is
not that so. Master Page ? He hath wronged me,
indeed he hath; at a word, he hath, believe me.
Robert Shallow, esquire, saith he is wronged.
Page. Here comes Sir John.
Enter Sir John Falstaff, Bardolph, Nym, and
Pistol
Falstaff. Now, Master Shallow, you '11 complain
of me to the king ? no
Shallow. Knight, you have beaten my men, killed
my deer, and broke open my lodge.
Falstaff. But not kissed your keeper's daughter ?
Shallow. Tut, a pin ! this shall be answered.
Falstaff. I will answer it straight; I have done
all this. That is now answered.
Shallow. The council shall know this.
28 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act i
Falstaff. 'T were better for you if it were known
in counsel ; you '11 be laughed at.
Evans. Pauca verba, Sir John ; goot worts. 120
Falstaff. Good worts ? good cabbage ! — Slender, I
broke your head ; what matter have you against me ?
Slender. Marry, sir, I have matter in my head
against you, and against your cony-catching rascals,
Bardolph, Nym, and Pistol. They carried me to
the tavern, and made me drunk, and afterwards
picked my pockets.
Bardolph. You Banbury cheese !
Slender. Ay, it is no matter.
Pistol. How now, Mephostophilus ! 130
Slender. Ay, it is no matter.
Nym. Slice, I say ! pauca, pauca ; slice ! that 's
my humour.
Slender. Where 's Simple, my man ? — Can you
tell, cousin ?
Evans. Peace, I pray you. Now let us under-
stand. 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. 141
Page. We three, to hear it and end it between
them.
Evans. Fery goot; I will make a prief of it in
my note-book, and we will afterwards ork upon the
cause with as great discreetly as we can.
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 29
Falsiaff. Pistol!
Pistol. He hears with ears.
Evans. The tevil and his tarn ! what phrase is
this, he hears with ear? why, it is affectations. 150
Falsiaff. Pistol, did you pick Master Slender's
purse ?
Slejtder. 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 Ed-
ward shovel-boards, that cost me two shillings and
two pence a-piece of Yead Miller, by these gloves.
Falsiaff. Is this true. Pistol ?
Evans. No ; it is false, if it is a pick-purse.
Pistol. Ha, thou mountain-foreigner ! — Sir John and
master mine, 160
I combat challenge of this latten bilbo. —
Word of denial in thy labras here !
Word of denial ! froth and scum, thou liest I
Slender. By these gloves, then, 't was he.
Nym. Be avised, sir, and pass good humours.
I will say marry trap with you, if you run the nut-
hook's humour on me ; that is the very note of it.
Slender. 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. 171
Falsiaff. What say you, Scarlet and John ?
Bardolph. Why, sir, for my part, I say the gentle-
man had drunk himself out of his five sentences.
30 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act i
Evans. It is his five senses ; fie, what the igno-
rance is !
Bardolph. And being fap, sir, was, as they say,
cashiered ; and so conclusions passed the careers.
Slender. Ay, you spake in Latin then too ; but 't is
no matter. I '11 ne'er be drunk whilst I live again,
but in honest, civil, godly company, for this trick.
If I be drunk, I '11 be drunk with those that have
the fear of God, and not with drunken knaves. 183
Evans. So Got udge me, that is a virtuous mind.
Falstaff. You hear all these matters denied, gen-
tlemen ; you hear it.
Enter Anne Page, with wine; Mistress Ford and
Mistress Yk^y.^ following
Page. Nay, daughter, carry the wine in ; we '11
drink within. \^Exit Anne Page.
Slender. O heaven ! this is Mistress Anne Page.
Page. How now. Mistress Ford ! 190
Falstaff. Mistress Ford, by my troth, you are very
well met ; by your leave, good mistress. [Kisses her.
Page. Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome. — Come,
we have a hot venison pasty to dinner ; come, gentle-
men, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.
[Exeunt all except Shallow^ Slender^ and Evans.
Slender. I had rather than forty shillings I had
my Book of Songs and Sonnets here. —
Enter Simple
How now, Simple 1 where have you been ? I must
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 3 1
wait on myself, must I ? You have not the Book of
Riddles about you, have you ? 200
Simple. Book of Riddles ! why, did you not lend
it to Alice Shortcake upon All-hallowmas last, a fort-
night afore Michaelmas ?
Shallow. Come, coz ; come, coz ; we stay for you.
A word with you, coz ; marry, this, coz : there is, as
't were, a tender, a kind of tender, made afar off by
Sir Hugh here. Do you understand me ?
Slender. Ay, sir, you shall find me reasonable ; if
it be so, I shall do that that is reason.
Shallow. Nay, but understand me. 210
Slender. So I do, sir.
Evans. Give ear to his motions, Master Slender.
I will description the matter to you, if you be ca-
pacity of it.
Slender. 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.
Evans. But that is not the question ; the question
is concerning your marriage.
Shallow. Ay, there 's the point, sir. 220
Evans. Marry, is it, the very point of it ; to Mis-
tress Anne Page.
Slender. Why, if it be so, I will marry her upon
any reasonable demands.
Evans. 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
32 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act i
parcel of the mouth. Therefore, precisely, can you
carry your good will to the maid ?
Shallow. Cousin Abraham Slender, can you love
her ? 231
Slender. I hope, sir, I will do as it shall become
one that would do reason.
Evans. Nay, Got's lords and his ladies ! you must
speak possitable, if you can carry her your desires
towards her.
Shallow. That you must. Will you, upon good
dowry, marry her ?
Slender. I will do a greater thing than that, upon
your request, cousin, in any reason. 240
Shallow. Nay, conceive me, conceive me, sweet
coz ; what I do is to pleasure you, coz. Can you
love the maid ?
Slender. 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,' I will marry
her ; that I am freely dissolved, and dissolutely. 250
Evans. It is a fery discretion answer, save the fall
is in the ort ' dissolutely ' ; the ort is, according to
our meaning, * resolutely.' His meaning is goot.
Shallow. Ay, I think my cousin meant well.
Slender. Ay, or else I would I might be hanged,
la I
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor ^3
Shallow. Here comes fair Mistress Anne. —
Re-enter Anne Page
Would I were young for your sake, Mistress Anne !
Anne. The dinner is on the table ; my father de-
sires your worships' company. 260
Shallow. I will wait on him, fair Mistress Anne.
Evans. Od's plessed will ! I will not be absence
at the grace. . [^Exeunt Shallow and Evans.
Anne. Will 't please your worship to come in, sir ?
Slender. No, I thank you, forsooth, heartily ; I am
very well.
Anne. The dinner attends you, sir. 267
Slender. 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 sometimes may be beholding 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.
Slender. V faith, I '11 eat nothing ; I thank you as
much as though I did.
Anne. I pray you, sir, walk in. 279
Slender. 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 for
a dish of stewed prunes — and, by my troth, I cannot
MERRY WIVES — 3
34 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act I
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.
Slender. 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. 290
Slender. 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 shrieked at it that it
passed. But women, indeed, cannot abide 'em ;
they are very ill-favoured rough things.
Re-enter Page
Page. Come, gentle Master Slender, come ; we
stay for you.
Slender. I '11 eat nothing, I thank you, sir.
Page. By cock and pie, you shall not choose, sir !
come, come. 301
Slender. Nay, pray you, lead the way.
Page. Come on, sir.
Slender. Mistress Anne, yourself shall go first.
Anne. Not I, sir ; pray you, keep on.
Slender. Truly, I will not go first ; truly, la I I
will not do you that wrong.
Anne. I pray you, sir. 308
Slender. I '11 rather be unmannerly than trouble-
some. You do yourself wrong, indeed, la ! \_Exeunt.
Scene III] Merry Wives of Windsor 35
Scene II. The Same
Enter Sir Hugh Evans a7td Simple
Evans. Go your ways, and ask of Doctor Caius'
house which is the way ; and there dwells one Mis-
tress Quickly, which is in the manner of his nurse,
or his dry nurse, or his cook, or his laundry, his
washer, and his wringer.
Simple. Well, sir.
Evans. Nay, it is petter yet. — Give her this
letter, for it is a oman that altogether 's acquaintance
with Mistress Anne Page ; and the letter is, to desire
and require her to solicit your master's desires to
Mistress Anne Page. I pray you, be gone. I will
make an end of my dinner ; there 's pippins and
seese to come. \Exeunt.
Scene III. A Room in the Garter Inn
Enter Falstaff, Host, Bardolph, Nym, Pistol, and
Robin
Falstaff. Mine host of the Garter !
Host. What says my bully-rook ? speak scholarly and
wisely.
Falstaff. Truly, mine host. I must turn away
some of my followers.
Host. Discard, bully Hercules ; cashier. Let
them wag ; trot, trot.
Falstaff. I sit at ten pounds a week.
36 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act i
Host. Thou 'rt an emperor, Caesar, Keisar, and
Pheezar. I will entertain Bardolph ; he shall draw,
he shall tap. Said I well, bully Hector ? 10
Falstaff. Do so, good mine host.
Host, I have spoke ; let him follow. — \To Bar-
dolpK\ Let me see thee froth and lime. I am at a
word ; follow. \Exit,
Falstaff. Bardolph, follow him. A tapster is a
good trade ; an old cloak makes a new jerkin, a
withered serving-man a fresh tapster. Go ; adieu.
Bardolph. It is a life that I have desired. I will
thrive. 19
Pistol. O base Hungarian wight! wilt thou the
spigot wield ? \^Exit Bardolph.
Nym. He was gotten in drink ; is not the humour
conceited ?
Falstaff. I am glad I am so acquit of this tinder-
box. His thefts were too open ; his filching was
like an unskilful singer, he kept not time.
Nym, The good humour is to steal at a minim's
rest.
Pistol. Convey, the wise it call. Steal ! foh ! a
ficQ for the phrase I Jj^'xa.
Falstaff. Well, sirs, I am almost out at heels. 30
Pistol. Why, then, let kibes ensue.
Falstaff. There is no remedy ; I must cony-catch,
I must shift.
Pistol. Young ravens must have food.
Falstaff, Which of you know Ford of this town ?
Scene III] Merry Wives of Windsor 37
Pistol. I ken the wight ; he is of substance good.
Falstaff. My honest lads, I will tell you what I
am about.
Pistol. Two yards, and more. 39
Falstaff. No quips now, Pistol ! — Indeed, I am
in the waist two yards about ; but I am now about
no waste, I am about thrift. — Briefly, I do mean to
make love to Ford's wife. I spy entertainment in
her ; she discourses, she carves, she gives the leer
of invitation. I can construe the action of her fa-
miliar style ; and the hardest voice of her behaviour,
to be Englished rightly, is, * I am Sir John Falstaff 's.'
Pistol. He hath studied her well, and translated
her ill — out of honesty into English. 49
Nym. The anchor is deep ; will that humour pass ?
Falstaff. Now, the report goes she has all the rule
of her husband's purse ; he hath a legion of angels.
Pistol. As many devils entertain, and 'To her,
boy,' say I.
Nym. The humour rises, it is good ; humour me
the angels.
Falstaff. I have writ me here a letter to her ; and
here another to Page's wife, who even now gave me
good eyes too, examined my parts with most judi-
cious oeillades ; sometimes the beam of her view
gilded my foot, sometimes my portly belly. 61
Pistol. Then did the sun on dunghill shine.
Nym. I thank thee for that humour.
Falstaff. O, she did so course o'er my exteriors
38 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act i
with such a greedy intention that the appetite of her
eye did seem to scorch me up like a burning-glass !
Here 's another letter to her. 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 wdll thrive.
Pistol. Shall I Sir Pandarus of Troy become, 74
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.
Falstaff. [To Robin\ Hold, sirrah, bear you these
letters tightly ;
Sail like my pinnace to these golden shores. —
Rogues, hence, avaunt ! vanish like hailstones, go 1
Trudge, plod away o' the hoof ! seek shelter, pack I
Falstaff will learn the humour of the age, — 82
French thrift, you rogues ; myself and skirted page.
[Exeunt Falstaff and Robin.
Pistol Let vultures gripe thy guts 1 for gourd and
fullam holds.
And high and low beguiles the rich and poor.
Tester I '11 have in pouch when thou shalt lack,
Base Phrygian Turk !
Nym. I have operations in my head which be
humours of revenge. 89
Pistol. Wilt thou revenge ?
Scene IV] Merry Wives of Windsor 39
\
Nym. By welkin and her star !
Pistol. With wit or steel ?
Nym. With both the humours, I ;
I will discuss the humour of this love to Page.
Pistol. 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
Page to deal with poison ; I will possess him with
yellowness, for the revolt of- mine is dangerous.
That is my true humour. 100
Pistol. Thou art the Mars of malecontents. I sec-
ond thee ; troop on. \_Exeunt.
Scene IV. A Room in Doctor Caius's House
Enter Mistress Quickly, Simple, and Rugby
Quickly. 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 anybody in the house, here will be an old
abusing of God's patience and the king's EngHsh.
Rugby. I '11 go watch. 6
Quickly. Go ; and we '11 have a posset for 't soon
at night, in faith, at the latter end of a sea-coal fire.
— \_Exit Rugby ^ An honest, willing, kind fellow, as
ever servant shall come in house withal, and, I war-
rant you, no tell-tale nor no breed-bate. His worst
40 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act I
fault is, that he is given to prayer ; he is something
peevish that way. But nobody but has his fault ; but
let that pass. — Peter Simple, you say your name is ?
Simple. Ay, for fault of a better.
Quickly. And Master Slender 's your master ?
Simple. Ay, forsooth.
Quickly. Does he not wear a great round beard,
like a glover's paring-knife ? 19
Simple. No, forsooth ; he hath but a little wee
face, with a little yellow beard, a Cain-coloured
beard.
Quickly. A softly-sprighted man, is he not ?
Simple. Ay, forsooth, but he is as tall a man of his
hands as any is between this and his head ; he hath
fought with a warrener.
Quickly. How say you? — O, I should remember
him ; does he not hold up his head, as it were, and
strut in his gait ?
Simple. Yes, indeed, does he. 30
Quickly. Well, heaven send Anne Page no worse
fortune I Tell Master Parson Evans I will do what
I can for your master. Anne is a good girl, and I
wish —
Re-enter Rugby
Rugby. Out, alas I here comes my master. \_Exit.
Quickly. We shall all be shent. — Run in here,
good young man ; go into this closet : he will not
stay long. — {Shuts Simple in the closet.'] What,
John Rugby ! John ! what, John, I say ! — Go, John,
Scene IV] Merry Wives of Windsor 41
go inquire for my master ; I doubt he be not well,
that he comes not home. 41
[Singing] And down, down, ado7vn-a, etc.
Enter Doctor Caius
Caius. Vat is you sing ? I do not like dese toys.
Pray you, go and vetch me in my closet un boitier
vert, a box, a green-a box ; do intend vat I speak ?
a green-a box.
Quickly, Ay, forsooth ; I '11 fetch it you. — \_Aside\
I am glad he went not in himself ; if he had found
the young man, he would have been horn-mad. 49
Cams. Fe, fe, fe, fe ! ma foi, il fait fort chaud.
Je m'en vais a la cour — la grande affaire.
Quickly. Is it this, sir ?
Caius. Oui ; mette le au mon pocket ; d^peche,
quickly. Vere is dat knave Rugby?
Quickly. What, John Rugby ! John 1
Re-enter Rugby
Rugby. Here, sir !
Caius. You are John Rugby, and you are Jack
Rugby. Come, take-a your rapier, and come after
my heel to the court.
Rugby. 'T is ready, sir, here in the porch. 60
Caius. By my trot, I tarry too long. — Od 's me !
Qu'ai-j'oubli^ ! dere is some simples in my closet,
dat I vill not for the varld I shall leave behind.
Quickly. Ay me, he '11 find the young man there,
and be mad I
42 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act i
Caius. O diable, diable ! vat is in my closet ? —
Villain ! larron ! — [^Pu/ling Swiple out.'] Rugby, my
rapier !
Quickly. Good master, be content.
Caius. Wherefore shall I be content-a ? 70
^ Quickly. The young man is an honest man.
Caius. What shall de honest man do in my
closet? dere is no honest man dat shall come in
my closet.
Quickly. I beseech you, be not so phlegmatic.
Hear the truth of it ; he came of an errand to me
from Parson Hugh.
Caius. Veil.
Simple. Ay, forsooth ; to desire her to —
Quickly. Peace, I pray you. 80
Caius. Peace-a your tongue. — Speak-a your tale.
Simple. To desire this honest gentlewoman, your
maid, to speak a good word to Mistress Anne Page
for my master in the way of marriage.
Quickly. This is all, indeed, la ! but I '11 ne'er
put my finger in the fire, and need not.
Caius. Sir Hugh send-a you ? — Rugby, bailie me
some paper. — Tarry you a little-a while. [ Writes.
Quickly. \Aside to Simple] I am glad he is so
quiet ; if he had been throughly moved, you should
have heard him so loud and so melancholy. But not-
withstanding, man, I '11 do you your master what ^
good I can ; and the very yea and the no is, the I
French doctor, my master, — I may call him my '
Scene IV] Merry Wives of Windsor 43
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, —
Simple. [Aside to Quickly'] 'T is a great charge
to come under one body's hand. 99
Quickly. [Aside to Simple] Are you avised o' that ?
you shall find it a great charge ; and to be up early
and down late ; — but notwithstanding, — to tell you
in your ear, — I would have no words of it, — my
master himself is in love with Mistress Anne Page ;
but notwithstanding that, I know Anne's mind, —
that 's neither here nor there.
Caius. You jack-a-nape, give-a this letter to Sir
Hugh ; by gar, it is a shallenge : I will cut his troat
in de park; and I will teach a scurvy jack-a-nape
priest to meddle or make. You may be gone ; it is
not good you tarry here. — By gar, I will cut all his
two stones ; by gar, he shall not have a stone to
trow at his dog. [Exit Simple.
Quickly. Alas, he speaks but for his friend. 114
Caius. It is no matter-a vor dat ; do not you tell-a
me dat I shall have Anne Page for myself ? By gar,
I vill kill de Jack priest ; and I have appointed mine
host of de Jarteer to measure our weapon. By gar,
I will myself have Anne Page.
Quickly. Sir, the maid loves you, and all shall be
well. We must give folks leave to prate ; what, the
good-year ! 122
Caius. Rugby, come to the court with me. — By
44 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act I
gar, if I have not Anne Page, I shall turn your head
out of my door. — Follow my heels, Rugby.
\_Exeunt Caius and Rugby.
Quickly. You shall have An fool's-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, I thank
heaven. 130
Fenton. [ Within\ Who 's within there ? ho !
Quickly. Who 's there, I trow ? Come near the
house, I pray you.
Enter Fenton
Fenton. How now, good woman ! how dost thou ?
Quickly. The better that it pleases your good
worship to ask.
Fenton. What news ? how does pretty Mistress
Anne?
Quickly. In truth, sir, and she is pretty, and honest,
and gentle ; and one that is your friend, I can tell
you that by the way ; I praise heaven for it. 141
Fenton. Shall I do any good, thinkest thou ? shall
I not lose my suit ?
Quickly. Troth, sir, all is in his hands above ; but
notwithstanding. Master Fenton, I '11 be sworn on
a book, she loves you. — Have not your worship a
wart above your eye ?
Fenton. Yes, marry, have I ; what of that ?
Quickly. Well, thereby hangs a tale. Good faith,
Scene IV] Merry Wives of Windsor 45
it is such another Nan ; but, I detest, an honest maid
as ever broke bread : we had an hour's talk of that
wart. I shall never laugh but in that maid's com-
pany I But indeed she is given too much to alli-
choly and musing ; but for you — well, go to. 154
Fenton. Well, I shall see her to-day. Hold,
there 's money for thee ; let me have thy voice in my
behalf. If thou seest her before me, commend me.
Quickly, W\\\ I ? i' faith, that we will ; and I will
tell your worship more of the wart the next time we
have confidence, and of other wooers. 160
Fenton. Well, farewell ; I am in great haste now.
Quickly, Farewell to your worship. — \^Exit Fen-
ton?^ Truly, an honest gentleman ; but Anne loves
him not, for I know Anne's mind as well as another
does. — Out upon 't I what have I forgot ?
* Here 's the Twin-brother of thy Letter ■
ACT II
Scene I. Before Page's House
Enter Mistress Page with a letter
Mrs, Page. What, have I scaped love-letters in
the holiday-time of my beauty, and am I now a sub-
ject for them ? Let me see.
[Reads] ' Ask me no reason why I love you ; for
though Love use Reason for his physician^ he admits
him not for his counsellor. You are not young, no
more am I ; go to then, there V sy??ipathy : you are
merry, so am I; ha, ha! then there 'j more syf?ipathy :
you love sack, and so do I; would you desire better
46
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 47
sympathy ? Let it suffice thee^ Mistress Page, — at the
leasts if the love of soldier can suffice, — that I love thee.
I will not say, pity me, — V is not a soldier-like
phrase; but I say, love me. By me, 13
Thine owft true knight.
By day or night.
Or any kind of light,
With all his might
For thee to fight, John Falstaff.'
What a Herod of Jewry is this ! — O wicked, wicked
world 1 One that is well-nigh worn to pieces with
age to show himself a young gallant ! What an un-
weighed behaviour hath this Flemish drunkard
picked — with the devil's name! — out of my con-
versation, that he dares in this manner assay me ?
Why, he hath not been thrice in my company ! —
What should I say to him ? — I was then frugal of
my mirth, — Heaven forgive me I — Why, I '11 exhibit
a bill in the parliament for the putting down of men.
How shall I be revenged on him ? for revenged I
will be, as sure as his guts are made of puddings. 30
Enter Mistress Ford
F Mrs. Ford. Mistress Page ! trust me, I was going
to your house.
Mrs. Page. And, trust me, I was coming to you.
You look very ill.
Mrs. Ford. Nay, I '11 ne'er believe that ; I have to
show to the contrary.
48 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act il
Mrs. Page. Faith, but you do, in my mind.
Mrs. Ford. Well, I do then ; yet I say I could
show you to the contrary. O Mistress Page, give
me some counsel ! 40
Mrs, Page. What 's the matter, woman ?
Mrs. Ford. O woman, if it were not for one tri-
fling respect, I could come to such honour !
Mrs. Page. Hang the trifle, woman ! take the
honour. What is it ? dispense with trifles ; what
is it?
Mrs. Ford. If I would but go to hell for an eternal
moment or so, I could be knighted.
Mrs. Page. What ? thou Rest ! Sir Alice Ford !
These knights will hack; and so thou shouldst not
alter the article of thy gentry. 51
Mrs. Ford. We burn daylight. Here, read, read ;
perceive how I might be knighted. I shall think
the worse of fat men as long as I have an eye to
make difference of men's liking; and yet he would
not swear, praised women's modesty, and gave such
orderly and well-behaved reproof to all uncomeliness
that I would have sworn his disposition would have
gone to the truth of his words ; but they do no more
adhere and keep place together than the Hundredth
Psalm to the tune of ' Green Sleeves.' What tem-
pest, I trow, threw this whale, with so many tuns of
oil in his belly, ashore at Windsor? How shall I
be revenged on him ? I think the best way were to j
entertain him with hope, till the wicked fire of lust
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 49
have melted him in his own grease. — Did you ever
hear the like ? 67
J/;-j. Page. Letter for letter, but that the name of
Page and Ford differs ! — To thy great comfort in
this mystery of ill opinions, here 's the twin-brother
of thy letter ; but let thine inherit first, for I protest
mine never shall. I warrant he hath a thousand
of these letters, writ with blank space for different
names, — sure, more, — and these are of the second
edition. He will print them, out of doubt ; for he
cares not what he puts into the press, when he
would put us two. I had rather be a giantess, and
lie under Mount Pelion. Well, I will find you twenty
lascivious turtles ere one chaste man. 79
Mrs. Ford. Why, this is the very same ; the very
hand, the very words. What doth he think of
us?
Mrs. Page. Nay, I know not ; it makes me almost
ready to wrangle with mine own honesty. I '11 enter-
tain myself like one that I am not acquainted withal ;
for, sure, unless he know some strain in me that I
know not myself, he would never have boarded me
in this fury.
Mrs. Ford. Boarding call you it ? I '11 be sure to
keep him above deck. 90
Mrs, Page. So will I ; if he come under my hatches,
I '11 never to sea again. Let 's be revenged on him ;
let 's appoint him a meeting, give him a show of com-
fort in his suit, and lead him on with a fine-baited
MERRY WIVES — 4
i
50 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act il
delay, till he hath pawned his horses to mine host of
the Garter.
Mrs. Ford. Nay, I will consent to act any villany
against him that may not sully the chariness of our
honesty. O, that my husband saw this letter ! it
would give eternal food to his jealousy. loo
Mrs. Page. Why, look where he comes ; and my
good man too. He 's as far from jealousy as I am
from giving him cause ; and that I hope is an un-
measurable distance.
Mrs. Ford. You are the happier woman. I
Mrs. Page. Let 's consult together against this *
greasy knight. Come hither. \They retire.
Enter Ford with Pistol, and Page with Nym
Ford. Well, I hope it be not so.
Pistol. Hope is a curtal dog in some affairs; Sir
John affects thy wife. ' ^^ • ' ' ' no
Ford. Why, sir, my wife is not young.
Pistol. He wooes both high and low, both rich and
poor.
Both young and old, one with another, Ford.
He loves the gallimaufry ; Ford, perpend.
Ford. Love my wife I
Pistol, With liver burning hot. Prevent, or go thou.
Like Sir Actaeon he, with Ringwood at thy heels.
O, odious is the name I
Ford. What name, sir ?
Pistol. The horn, I say. Farewell. m
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 51
Take heed, have open eye, for thieves do foot by
night ;
Take heed, ere summer comes or cuckoo-birds do
sing. —
Away, Sir Corporal Nym ! —
BeHeve it. Page ; he speaks sense. \^Exit.
Ford, \_Aside\ I will be patient ; I will find out
this. 125
Nym. \To Page'] And this is true ; I like not the
humour of lying. He hath wronged me in some
humours ; I should have borne the humoured letter
to her, but I have a sword, and it shall bite upon
my necessity. He loves your wife ; there's the
short and the long. My name is Corporal Nym ; I
speak and I avouch ; 't is true ; my name is Nym,
and Falstaff loves your wife. Adieu. I love not the
humour of bread and cheese, and there 's the hu-
mour of it. Adieu. [Exit.
Page. The humour of it, quoth a' ! here 's a fel-
low frights English out of his wits.
Ford. I will seek out Falstaff.
Page. I never heard such a drawling, affecting
rogue. 140
Ford. If I do find it, — well.
Page. I will not believe such a Catalan, though the
priest o' the town commended him for a true man.
Ford. 'T was a good sensible fellow ; well.
Page. How now, Meg ?
\_Mrs. Page and Mrs. Ford come forward.
52 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act il
Mrs. Page. Whither go you, George ? Hark you.
Mrs. Ford. How now, sweet Frank ! why art thou
melancholy ?
Ford. I melancholy ! I am not melancholy. —
Get you home, go. 150
Mrs. Ford. Faith, thou hast some crotchets in thy
head. — Now, will you go. Mistress Page ?
Mrs. Page. Have with you. — You '11 come to
dinner, George ? — \_Aside to Mrs. Foj^d~\ Look who
comes yonder ; she shall be our messenger to this
paltry knight.
Mrs. Ford. [Aside to Mrs. Page] Trust me, I
thought on her ; she '11 fit it.
Enter Mistress Quickly
Mrs. Page. You are come to see my daughter
Anne ?
Quickly. Ay, forsooth ; and, I pray, how does
good Mistress Anne ? 162
Mrs. Page. Go in with us and see ; we have an
hour's talk with you.
[Exeunt Mrs. Page, Mrs. Ford, and Mrs. Quickly.
Page. How now, Master Ford !
Ford. You heard what this knave told me, did you
not?
Page. Yes ; and you heard what the other told me ?
Ford. Do you think there is any truth in them ?
Page. Hang 'em, slaves 1 I do not think the
knight would offer it. But these that accuse him in
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor ^^
his intent towards our wives are a yoke of his dis-
carded men, very rogues now they be out of service.
For^f. Were they his men ? 174
Page. Marry, were they.
For{/, I like it never the better for that. Does he
lie at the Garter ?
Page. Ay, marry, does he. If he should intend
this voyage towards my wife, I would turn her loose
to him ; and what he gets more of her than sharp
words, let it lie on my head. 181
Pord, I do not misdoubt my wife, but I would be
loath to turn them together. A man may be too
confident. I would have nothing lie on my head.
I cannot be thus satisfied.
Page. Look where my ranting host of the Garter
comes ; there is either liquor in his pate or money
in his purse when he looks so merrily. —
P?tfer Host
How now, mine host !
Hosf. How now, bully-rook ! thou 'rt a gentleman.
— Cavalero-justice, I say ! 191
Pnfer Shallow
Shahow. I follow, mine host, I follow. — Good
even and twenty, good Master Page ! Master Page,
will you go with us ? we have sport in hand.
Host. Tell him, cavalero-justice ; tell him, bully-
_^ rook.
|P Shallow. Sir, there is a fray to be fought between
I
54 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act II
Sir Hugh the Welsh priest and Caius the French
doctor. 199
Ford. Good mine host o' the Garter, a word with
you. \_D rawing him aside.
Host. What sayest thou, my bully-rook ?
Shallow. \_To Page'] Will you go with us to behold
it ? My merry host hath had the measuring of their
weapons, and, I think, hath appointed them con-
trary places ; for, believe me, I hear the parson is no
jester. Hark, I will tell you what our sport shall be.
\_They convei-se apart.
Host. Hast thou no suit against my knight, my
guest-cavalier ? 209
Ford. None, I protest ; but I '11 give you a pottle
of burnt sack to give me recourse to him and tell . I;
him my name is Brook, — only for a jest. ''\
Host. My hand, bully. Thou shalt have egress
and regress ; — said I well ? — and thy name shall
be Brook. It is a merry knight. — Will you go,
mynheers ?
Shallow. Have with you, mine host.
Page. I have heard the Frenchman hath good
skill in his rapier. 219
Shallow. Tut, sir, I could have told you more. In
these times you stand on distance, your passes, stoc-
cadoes, and I know not what. 'T is the heart.
Master Page ; 't is here, 't is here. I have seen the
time, with my long sword I would have made you
four tall fellows skip like rats.
Scene II] Merry Wives of Windsor 55
Host, Here, boys, here, here ! shall we wag ? 226
Page. Have with you. — I had rather hear them
scold than fight. \_Exeunt Host, Shallow, and Page.
Ford. Though Page be a secure fool, and stands
so firmly on his wife's frailty, yet I cannot put off
my opinion so easily. She was in his company at
Page's house, and what they made there, I know not.
Well, I will look further into 't ; and I have a dis-
guise to sound Falstaff . If I find her honest, I lose
not my labour ; if she be otherwise, 't is labour well
bestowed. [Exit.
Scene II. A Room in the Garter Inn
Enter Falstaff and Pistol
» Falstaff. I will not lend thee a penny.
• Pistol. Why, then the world 's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open.
Falstaff. Not a penny. I have been content, sir,
yo\i should lay my countenance to pawn ; I have
grated upon my good friends for three reprieves for
you and your coach-fellow Nym, or else you had
looked through the grate, like a geminy of baboons.
I am damned in hell for swearing to gentlemen my
friends, you were good soldiers and tall fellows ;
and when Mistress Bridget lost the handle of her
fan, I took 't upon mine honour thou hadst it not. 12
Pistol. Didst not thou share ? hadst thou not fifteen
pence ?
56 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act 11
Fahtaff. Reason, you rogue, reason ; thinkest thou
I '11 endanger my soul gratis ? At a word, hang no
more about me, I am no gibbet for you. Go. A short
knife and a throng ! To your manor of Pickt-hatch !
Go. — You '11 not bear a letter for me, you rogue ! you
stand upon your honour. Why, thou unconfinable
baseness, it is as much as I can do to keep the terms
of my honour precise. I, ay, I myself sometimes,
leaving the fear of God on the left hand and hiding
mine honour in my necessity, am fain to shuffle, to
hedge, and to lurch ; and yet you, rogue, will en-
sconce your rags, your cat-a-mountain looks, your
red-lattice phrases, and your bold-beating oaths,
under the shelter of your honour I You will not do
it, you ! 28
Pistol. I do relent ; what would thou more of man ?
Enter Robin
Robin. Sir, here 's a woman would speak with
you.
Fahtaff. Let her approach.
Enter Mistress Quickly
Quickly. Give your worship good morrow.
Fahtaff. Good morrow, good wife.
Quickly. Not so, an 't please your worship.
Fahtaff. Good maid, then.
Quickly. I '11 be sworn ; as my mother was, the
first hour I was born. 38
^Rei
ne II] Merry Wives of Windsor 57
Two
Falstaff. I do believe the swearer. What with
Quickly. Shall I vouchsafe your worship a word or
Falstaff. Two thousand, fair woman ; and I '11
vouchsafe thee the hearing.
Quickly. There is one Mistress Ford, sir, — I pray,
come a little nearer this ways. — I myself dwell with
Master Doctor Caius, —
■ Falstaff. Well, one Mistress Ford, you say, —
^Quickly. Your worship says very true. — I pray
your worship, come a little nearer this ways. 50
Falstaff. I warrant thee, nobody hears ; — mine
own people, mine own people..
Quickly. Are they so ? God bless them and make
Ijm his servants !
Falstaff. Well, Mistress Ford, —what of her ?
Quickly. Why, sir, she's a good creature. Lord,
rd ! your worship 's a wanton ! Well, heaven for-
give you and all of us, I pray !
(Falstaff. Mistress Ford ; come. Mistress Ford, — 59
Quickly. Marry, this is the short and the long of
; you have brought her into such a canaries as 't is
nderful. The best courtier of them all, when the
court lay at Windsor, could never have brought her
to such a canary. Yet there has been knights, and
lords, and gentlemen, with their coaches, I warrant
you, coach after coach, letter after letter, gift after
gift ; smelling so sweetly, all musk, and so rushling,
I
58 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act 11
I warrant you, in silk and gold ; and in such alligant
terms ; and in such wine and sugar of the best and
the fairest, that would have won any woman's heart ;
and, I warrant you, they could never get an eye-wink
of her. I had myself twenty angels given me this
morning, but I defy all angels, in any such sort, as
they say, but in the way of honesty ; and, I warrant
you, they could never get her so much as sip on a
cup with the proudest of them all ; and yet there has
been earls, nay, which is more, pensioners ; but, I
warrant you, all is one with her.
Falstaff. But what says she to me ? be brief, my
good she-Mercury.
Quickly. Marry, she hath received your letter, for
the which she thanks you a thousand times ; and
she gives you to notify that her husband will be ab-
sence from his house between ten and eleven.
Falstaff. Ten and eleven ?
Quickly. Ay, forsooth ; and then you may come
and see the picture, she says, that you wot of. Mas-
ter Ford, her husband, will be from home. Alas !
the sweet woman leads an ill life with him. He 's
a very jealousy man ; she leads a very frampold life
with him, good heart. >'..■■ 9 • ^'^ • • "
Falstaff. Ten and eleven. — Woman, commend
me to her ; I will not fail her.
Quickly. Why, you say well. But I have another
messenger to your worship. Mistress Page hath her
hearty commendations to you too ; and let me tell
I
ne IIJ Merry Wives of Windsor ^g
5'ou in your ear she 's as fartuous a civil modest wife,
and one, I tell you, that will not miss you morning
nor evening prayer, as any is in Windsor, whoe'er be
the other ; and she bade me tell your worship that her
husband is seldom from home, but she hopes there
will come a time. I never knew a woman so dote
upon a man. Surely I think you have charms, la ;
es, in truth. 104
Fahtaff. Not I, I assure thee ; setting the attrac-
;on of my good parts aside, I have no other charms.
Quickly. Blessing on your heart for 't !
Fahtaff. But, I pray thee, tell me this : has Ford's
ife and Page's wife acquainted each other how
ey love me ? no
Quickly, That were a jest indeed ! they have not
little grace, I hope ; that were a trick indeed I
But Mistress Page would desire you to send her your
little page, of all loves. Her husband has a marvel-
lous infection to the little page; and truly Master
Page is an honest man. Never a wife in Windsor
leads a better life than she does. Do what she will,
say what she will, take all, pay all, go to bed when
she list, rise when she list, all is as she will ; and
truly she deserves it, for if there be a kind woman
i in Windsor, she is one. You must send her your
\ page ; no remedy. 122
^ Falstaff. Why, I will.
^B Quickly. Nay, but do so, then ; and, look you, he
^■aay come and go between you both ; and in any case
I
6o Merry Wives of Windsor [Act il
have a nay-word, that you may know one another's
mind, and the boy never need to understand any
thing, for 't is not good that children should know
any wickedness. Old folks, you know, have discre-
tion, as they say, and know the world. 130
Falstaff. Fare thee well; commend me to them
both. There 's my purse ; I am yet thy debtor. —
Boy, go along with this woman. — [^Exeunt Mistress
Quickly and Robin.'] This news distracts me I
Pistol. This punk is one of Cupid's carriers. —
Clap on more sails ; pursue, up with your fights I
Give fire ! she is my prize, or ocean whelm them all I
[Exit
Falstaff. Sayest thou so, old Jack ? go thy ways ;
I '11 make more of thy old body than I have done.
Will they yet look after thee ? Wilt thou, after the
expense of so much money, be now a gainer ? Good
body, I thank thee. Let them say 't is grossly done ;
so it be fairly done, no matter. 143
Enter Bardolph
Bardolph. Sir John, there 's one Master Brook be-
low would fain speak with you and be acquainted
with you, and hath sent your worship a morning's
draught of sack.
Falstaff. Brook is his name ?
Bardolph. Ay, sir.
Falstaff. Call him in. — {Exit Bardolph?^ Such
Brooks are welcome to me, that o'erflow such liquor.
^» A
e II] Merry Wives of Windsor 6 1
Ah, ha ! Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, have
I encompassed you ? go to ; via ! 153
»[ Re-enter Bardolph, with Ford disguised
Ford. Bless you, sir !
Falstaff. And you, sir! Would you speak with
fe?
Ford. I make bold to press with so little prepara-
tion upon you.
Falstaff. You 're welcome. What 's your will ? —
Give us leave, drawer. {Exit Bardolph.
Ford. Sir, I am a gentleman that have spent
«uch ; my name is Brook. 162
\Falstaff. Good Master Brook, I desire more ac-
quaintance of you.
Ford. Good Sir John, I sue for yours ; not to
charge you, for I must let you understand I think
myself in better plight for a lender than you are, the
which hath something emboldened me to this unsea-
soned intrusion ; for they say, if money go before,
all ways do lie open. 170
Falstaff. Money is a good soldier, sir, and will on.
^^Ford. Troth, and I have a bag of money here
doubles me ; if you will help to bear it, Sir John,
take all, or half, for easing me of the carriage.
Falstaff. Sir, I know not how I may deserve to be
your porter.
Ford. I will tell you, sir, if you will give me the
faring.
62 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act ii
Falsiaff. Speak, good Master Brook ; I shall be
glad to be your servant. iSa
Ford. Sir, I hear you are a scholar, — I will be brief
with you, — and you have been a man long known to
me, though I had never so good means as desire to
make myself acquainted with you. I shall discover
a thing to you wherein I must very much lay open
mine own imperfection ; but, good Sir John, as you
have one eye upon my follies, as you hear them un-
folded, turn another into the register of your own,
that I may pass with a reproof the easier, sith you
yourself know how easy it is to be such an offender.
Falstaff. Very well, sir ; proceed. 191
Ford. There is a gentlewoman in this town ; her
husband's name is Ford.
Falstaff. Well, sir.
Ford. I have long loved her, and, I protest to you,
bestowed much on her ; followed her with a doting
observance, engrossed opportunities to meet her, feed
every slight occasion that could but niggardly give
me sight of her ; not only bought many presents to
give her, but have given largely to many to know
what she would have given ; briefly, I have pursued
her as love hath pursued me, which hath been on
the wing of all occasions. But whatsoever I have
merited, either in my mind or in my means, meed, I
am sure, I have received none, unless experience be
a jewel ; that I have purchased at an infinite rate,
and that hath taught me to say this :
Scene II] Merry Wives of Windsor 6^
^f*Zo7fe like a shadow flies when substance love pursues ^
Pursuing that that flies, and flying what pursues.^
Falstaff. Have you received no promise of satis-
faction at her hands ? 211
Ford. Never.
Falstaff. Have you importuned her to such a pur-
pose ?
^mFord. Never.
"^ Falstaff, Of what quality was your love, then ?
Ford. Like a fair house built on another man's
ground ; so that I have lost my edifice by mistaking
the place where I erected it.
Falstaff. To what purpose have you unfolded this
to me ? 221
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 per-
son, generally allowed for your many warlike, court-
like, and learned preparations. 230
Falstaff. O, sir I
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 ex-
change of it as to lay an amiable siege to the honesty
tthis Ford's wife. Use your art of wooing, win her
64 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act II
to consent to you ; if any man may, you may as soon
as any.
Falstaff. 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. 242
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 j
other her defences, which now are too-too strongly '
embattled against me. What say you to 't, Sir
John ? 253
Falstaff. 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.
Falstaff. I say you shall.
Ford. Want no money, Sir John ; you shall want
none. 261
Falstaff. 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 II] Merry Wives of Windsor 65
I
■pe, — I say I shall be with her between ten and
(lleven ; for at that time the jealous rascally knave
her husband will be forth. Come you to me at
light ; you shall know how I speed.
Ford. I am blest in your acquaintance. Do you
:now Ford, sir ? 271
Fahtaff. Hang him, poor cuckoldly knave ! I
:now him not. — Yet I wrong him to call him poor ;
ley say the jealous wittolly knave hath masses of
loney, for the which his wife seems to me well-
voured. I will use her as the key of the cuck-
ildly rogue's coffer, and there 's my harvest-home.
Ford. I would you knew Ford, sir, that you might
ivoid him if you saw him. 279
Falstaff. Hang him, mechanical salt-butter rogue 1
will stare him out of his wits, I will awe him with
my cudgel ; it shall hang Hke a meteor o'er the
cuckold's horns. Master Brook, thou shalt know I
will predominate over the peasant, and thou shalt lie
with his wife. — Come to me soon at night. — Ford 's
a knave, and I will aggravate his style ; thou. Master
Brook, shalt know him for knave and cuckold. —
Kome to me soon at night. \Exit.
Ford. What a damned Epicurean rascal is this !
[y 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
I false woman ! My bed shall be abused, my coffers
66 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act il
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 cuck- 300
old 1 wittol-cuckold ! 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 Welsh-
man with my cheese, an Irishman with my aqua-vitae
bottle, or a thief to walk my ambling gelding, than
my wife with herself. Then she plots, then she rumi-
nates, then she devises ; and what they think in their
hearts they may effect, they will break their hearts
but they will effect. God be praised for my jeal-310
ousy ! — 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 ! cuck-
old ! cuckold! [Extf,
Scene III. A Field near Windsor
Enter Caius and Rugby
Caius. Jack Rugby !
Rugby. Sir ? 1
Caius. Vat is de clock. Jack ?
Rugby. 'T is past the hour, sir, that Sir Hugh
promised to meet.
I
cene III] Merry Wives of Windsor 67
Caius. By gar, he has save his soul, dat he is no
come ; he has pray his Pible well, dat he is no come.
By gar, Jack Rugby, he is dead already, if he be
come.
Rugby, He is wise, sir ; he knew your worship
would kill him if he came. n
Caius. By gar, de herring is no dead so as I vill
kill him. Take your rapier, Jack ; I vill tell you how
vill kill him.
Rugby. Alas, sir, I cannot fence.
Caius. Villany, take your rapier.
Rugby. Forbear ; here 's company.
Enter Host, Shallow, Slender, and Page
Host. Bless thee, bully doctor !
Shallow. Save you. Master Doctor Caius !
Page. Now, good master doctor ! 20
Slender. Give you good morrow, sir.
Caius. Vat be all you, one, two, tree, four, come
tor?
Host. To see thee fight, to see thee foin, to see
lee traverse ; to see thee here, to see thee there ; to
je thee pass thy punto, thy stock, thy reverse, thy
listance, thy montant. Is he dead, my Ethiopian ?
he dead, my Francisco ? ha, bully ! What says my
^sculapius ? my Galen ? my heart of elder ? ha ! is
le dead, bully stale ? is he dead ? 30
Caius. By gar, he is de coward Jack priest of de
rorld ; he is not show his face.
68 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act ii
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.
Shallow. 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 profes-
sions. — Is it not true, Master Page ? 41
Page. Master Shallow, you have yourself been a
great fighter, though now a man of peace.
Shallow. 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 Page.
Page. 'T is true. Master Shallow. 50
Shallow. 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 showed yourself
a wise physician, and Sir Hugh hath shown himself a
wise and patient churchman. You must go with me,
master doctor.
Host. Pardon, guest-justice. — A word, Mounseur
Mock-water.
Caius. Mock-vater ! vat is dat ?
Host. Mock-water, in our English tongue, is
valour, bully. 61
}cene liij Merry Wives of Windsor 69
Caius. By gar, den, I have as mush mock-vater as
fde Englishman. — Scurvy jack-dog priest ! by gar,
me vill cut his ears.
Host. He will clapper-claw thee tightly, bully.
Caius. Clapper-de-claw ! vat is dat ?
Host. That is, he will make thee amends.
Caius. By gar, me do look he shall clapper-de-claw
le ; for, by gar, me vill have it.
Host. And I will provoke him to 't, or let him
^ag. n
Caius. Me tank you for dat.
Host. And, moreover, bully, — but first, master
juest, and Master Page, and eke Cavalero Slender,
\o you through the town to Frogmore. \Aside 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?
Shallow. We will do it. 80
Page^ Shallow^ and Slender. Adieu, good master
.doctor. \_Exeunt Page, Shallow, and Slender.
I Caius. By gar, me vill kill de priest, for he speak
for a jack-a-nape to Anne Page.
Host. Let him die. Sheathe 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 farm-house a-feasting, and thou
shalt woo her. Cried game ? said I well ? 89
Caius. By gar, me tank you for dat ; by gar, I love
I
70 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act ii
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 to-
ward Anne Page. Said I well ?
Caius. By gar, 't is good ; veil said.
Host. Let us wag, then.
Caius. Come at my heels. Jack Rugby. [Exeunt.
^WBa:'^>-M^
Mistress Page and Robin (Scene 2)
ACT III
Scene I. A Field near Frogmore
Enter Sir Hugh Evans and Simple
Evans, I pray you now, good Master Slander's
servingman, and friend Simple by your name, which
way have you looked for Master Caius, that calls
himself doctor of physic ?
Simple, Marry, sir, the pitty-ward, the park-ward,
every way ; old Windsor way, and every way but the
town way.
71
72 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iii
Evans. I most fehemently desire you you will also
look that way. 9
Simple. I will, sir. \_Exit
Evans. Pless my soul, how full of cholers I am,
and trempling of mind ! — I shall be glad if he have
deceived me. — How melancholies I am! — I will •
knog his urinals about his knave's costard when I
have good opportunities for the ork. — Pless my soul!
[Sings] To shallow rivers^ to whose falls
Melodious pirds sings madrigals ;
There will we make our peds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies.
To shallow — 20
Mercy on me ! I have a great dispositions to cry. —
[Sings] Melodious pirds sing madrigals —
Whenas I sat in Pabylon —
And a thousand vagrant posies.
To shalloiv —
Re-enter Simple
Simple. Yonder he is coming, this way, Sir Hugh.
Evans. He 's welcome. —
[Sings] To shallow rivers^ to whose falls —
Heaven prosper the right ! — What weapons is he ?
Simple. No weapons, sir. There comes my mas-
ter, Master Shallow, and another gentleman, from
Frogmore, over the stile, this way. 32
Evans. Pray you, give me my gown ; or else keep
it in your arms.
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 73
Enter Page, Shallow, and Slender
Shallow. How now, master parson ! Good mor-
row, good Sir Hugh. Keep a gamester from the
dice, and a good student from his book, and it is
wonderful.
Slender, [Aside'] Ah, sweet Anne Page 1
Page. Save you, good Sir Hugh ! 40
Evans. Pless you from his mercy sake, all of you !
Shallow. 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 !
'i. Evans. There is reasons and causes for it.
Page. We are come to you to do a good office,
master parson.
Evans. Fery well ; what is it ? 49
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.
Shallow. I have lived fourscore years and upward ;
I never heard a man of his place, gravity, and learn-
ing, so wide of his own respect.
Evans. WHat is he ?
Page. I think you know him ; Master Doctor
Caius, the renowned French physician. 59
Evans. Got's will, and his passion of my heart I I
had as lief you would tell me of a mess of porridge.
74 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act ill
Page. Why?
Evans. He has no more knowledge in Hibo-
crates and Galen, — and he is a knave besides, a
cowardly knave as you would desires to be ac-
quainted withal.
Page. I warrant you, he 's the man should fight
with him.
Slender. \^Aside\ O sweet Anne Page 1
Shallow. It appears so by his weapons. — Keep
them asunder. — Here comes Doctor Caius. 71
Enter Host, Caius, and Rugby
Page. Nay, good master parson, keep in your
weapon.
Shallow. 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 with
your ear. Verefore vill you not meet-a me ?
Evans. {Aside to Cains'] Pray you, use your pa-
tience ; in good time. 80
Caius. By gar, you are de coward, de Jack dog,
John ape.
Evans. [Aside to Caius] 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. — [Aloud] 1 will knog your urinals about
your knave's cogscomb for missing your meetings
and fippointments. 88
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 75
Cams. Diable ! Jack Rugby, — mine host de Jar-
teer, — have I not stay for him to kill him ? have I
not, at de place I did appoint ?
Evans. As I am a Christians soul noM^, look you,
this is the place appointed. I '11 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. 97
Host. Peace, I say 1 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, lads of peace ;
follow, follow, follow. ' 109
Shallow. Trust me, a mad host. — Follow, gentle-
men, follow.
Slender, [Aside] O sweet Anne Page 1
[Exeunt Shallow, Slender, Page, and Host,
Caius. Ha, do I perceive dat? have you make-a
de sot of us, ha, ha ?
Evans. This is well ; he has made us his vlout-
ing-stog. — I desire you that we may be friends ;
76 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act ill
and let us knog our prains together to be revenge
on this same scall, scurvy, cogging companion, the
host of the Garter. 119
Caius. By gar, with all my heart. He promise to
bring me vere is Anne Page ; by gar, he deceive me
too.
Evans. Well, I will smite his noddles. — Pray you,
follow. \_Exeunt.
Scene II. A Street
Enter Mistress Page and Robin
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 ?
Robin. 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 '11 be a courtier.
Enter Ford
Eord. Well met, Mistress Page. Whither go you ? 9
Mrs. Page. Truly, sir, to see your wife. Is she at
home ?
Eord. 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.
Eord. Where had you this pretty weathercock ?
Scene II] Merry Wives of Windsor 77
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 ?
Robin. Sir John Falstaff. 20
Ford. Sir John Falstaff !
Mrs. Page. He, he ; I can never hit on 's name.
— 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. {^Exeunt Mrs. Page and Robin.
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 30
twenty mile as easy as a cannon will shoot point-
blank twelve score. He pieces out his wife's incli-
nation, 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 damna-
tion 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 40
for a secure and wilful Actaeon ; 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
7 8 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act ill
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
Shallow^ Page, etc. Well met, Master Ford.
Ford. Trust me, a good knot. I have good cheer
at home, and I pray you all go with me. 50
Shallow. I must excuse myself. Master Ford.
Slender. 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 '11 speak of.
Shallow. We have lingered about a match between
Anne Page and my cousin Slender, and this day we
shall have our answer.
Slender, 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.
Caius. Ah, be-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 ; 't is 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
Scene III] Merry Wives of Windsor 79
the wild prince and Poins ; he is of too high a re-
gion ; 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. — Mas-
ter doctor, you shall go ; — so shall you, Master
Page ; — and you. Sir Hugh. 82
Shallow. 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
knight Falstaff, and drink canary with him. \Exit.
Ford. [Aside] I think I shall drink in pipe-wine
first with him ; I '11 make him dance. — Will you go,
gentles ? 90
All. Have with you to see this monster. [Exeunt.
Scene III. A Room in Ford^s House
Enter Mistress Ford and Mistress Page
Mrs. Ford. What, John ! — What, Robert !
Mrs. Page. Quickly, quickly ! Is the buck-
basket —
8o Merry Wives of Windsor [Act ill
Mrs. Ford, I warrant. — What, Robin, I say I
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. 8
Mrs. Ford. Marry, as I told you before, John and
Robert, be ready here hard by in the brew-house,
and when I suddenly call you, come forth, and with-
out any pause or staggering take this basket on your
shoulders ; that done, trudge with it in all haste and
xarry it among the whitsters in Datchet-mead, and
there empty it in the muddy ditch close by the
Thames side.
Mrs. Page. You will do it ?
Mrs. Ford. I ha' told them over and over ; they
lack no direction. — Be gone, and come when you
are called. \Exeu7it Servants.
Mrs. Page. Here comes little Robin. 21
Enter Robin
Mrs. Ford. How now, my eyas-musket ! what
news with you? i^*''^^- S^-vn^*- ^^i- <<,$tMH^
Robin. My master. Sir Jolin, is come in at your
back-door. Mistress Ford, and requests your com-
pany.
Mrs. Page. You little Jack-a-Lent, have you been
true to us ?
Scene III] Merry Wives of Windsor 81
Robin. Ay, I '11 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 '11 turn me away. 32
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 '11 go hide me.
Mrs. Ford. Do so. — Go tell thy master I am
alone. — \_Exit Robin.'] Mistress Page, remember you
your cue.
Mrs. Page. I warrant thee ; if I do not act it, hiss 39
me. \_Exit
Mrs. Ford. Go to, then. We '11 use this unwhole-
some humidity, this gross watery pumpion ; we '11
teach him to know turtles from jays.
Enter Falstaff
Falstaff. 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!
Mrs. Ford. O sweet Sir John ! 48
Falstaff. Mistress Ford, I cannot cog, I cannot
prate. Mistress Ford. Now shall I sin in my wish :
I would thy husband were dead, — I '11 speak it be-
fore the best lord, — I would make thee my lady.
Mrs. Ford. I your lady. Sir John 1 alas, I should
be a pitiful lady !
Falstaff. Let the court of France show me such
MERRY WIVES — 6
82 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iii
another. I see how thine eye would emulate the
diamond ; thou hast the right arched beauty of the
brow that becomes the ship-tire, the tire-valiant, or
any tire of Venetian admittance. 59
Mrs. Ford. A plain kerchief. Sir John ; my brows
become nothing else, — nor that well neither.
Fahtaff. By the Lord, thou art a traitor to say so.
, -Nj Thou wouldst make an absolute courtier ; and the
;firm fixture of thy foot would give an excellent motion
'to thy gait in a semi-circled farthingale. I see what
thou wert, if Fortune thy foe were not, Nature thy
friend. Come, thou canst not hide it.
Mrs. Ford. Believe me, there 's no such thing in
me. 69
Fahtaff. 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 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
Mistress Page.
Fahtaff. Thou mightst as well say I love to walk
by the Counter-gate, which is as hateful to me as the
reek of a lime-kiln. 81
Mrs. Ford. Well, heaven knows how I love you,
and you shall one day find it.
Fahtaff. Keep in that mind ; I '11 deserve it.
¥
Scene III] Merry Wives of Windsor 83
Mrs. Ford, Nay, I must tell you, so you do ; or
else I could not be in that mind.
Robin. \Within\ Mistress Ford, Mistress Ford I
here 's Mistress Page at the door, sweating and blow-
ing and looking wildly, and would needs speak with
you presently. 90
Fahtaff. She shall not see me ; I will ensconce me
behind the arras.
Mrs. Ford. Pray you, do so ; she 's a very tattling
woman. — \_Falsiaff hides hi??tself.
Re-enter Mistress Page and Robin
What 's the matter ? how now !
Mrs. Page. O Mistress Ford, what have you done?
You 're shamed, you 're overthrown, you 're 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 ! 102
Mrs. Ford. What cause of suspicion ?
Mrs. Page. What cause of suspicion ! — Out upon
you 1 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 gentle-
man that he says is here now in the house by your
consent, to take an ill advantage of his absence.
You are undone. m
84 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iii
Mrs. Ford. 'T is not so, I hope.
Mrs. Page. Pray heaven it be not so, that you have
such a man here ! but 't is most certain your hus-
band'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 ; call all your senses to you, defend your
reputation, or bid farewell to your good life for ever. 120
Mrs. Ford. What shall I do ? There is a gentle-
man 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 had rather ; ' your husband 's here
at hand ; bethink you of some conveyance ; in the
house you cannot hide him. O, how have you de-
ceived me ! Look, here is a basket. If he be of
any reasonable stature, he may creep in here ; and
throw foul linen upon him, as if it were going to
bucking ; or — it is whiting-time — send him by your
two men to Datchet-mead. 133
Mrs. Ford. He 's too big to go in there. What
shall I do ?
Falstaff. [Coming forward] Let me see 't, let me
see 't, O, let me see 't ! I '11 in, I '11 in. Follow your
friend's counsel. I '11 in.
Mrs. Page. What, Sir John Falstaff ! Are these
your letters, knight ? 140
Scene III] Merry Wives of Windsor 85
Fahtaff. I love thee. Help me away. Let me
creep in here. I '11 never —
\Gets 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 !
\Exit 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! S?^,/ry kUU^^mA^ €r*,oA^ ^-k/, 150
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 I whither bear
you this ?
Servants. To the laundress, forsooth.
Mrs. Ford. Why, what have you to do whither
they bear it? You were best meddle with buck-
washing. 158
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 '11 tell you my dream. Here, here, here
86 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act ill
be my keys ; ascend my chambers, search, seek, find
out. I '11 warrant we '11 unkennel the fox. — Let me
stop this way first. — \Lockiiig the dooi-?^ So, now
uncape.
Page. Good Master Ford, be contented ; you
wrong yourself too much. 169
Ford. True, Master Page. — Up, gentlemen, you
shall see sport anon ; follow me, gentlemen. \Exit.
Evans. This is fery fantastical humours and
jealousies.
Caius. By gar, 't is no the fashion of France ; it
is not jealous in France.
Page. Nay, follow him, gentlemen ; see the issue
of his search. \Exeunt Page^ Caius, and Evans.
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. 181
Mrs. Page. What a taking was he in when your
husband asked what 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. 191
Mrs. Page. I will lay a plot to try that, and we will
i
Scene III] Merry Wives of Windsor 87
yet have more tricks with Falstaff ; his dissolute
disease will scarce obey this medicine.
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 will do it ; let him be sent for
to-morrow, eight o'clock, to have amends. 200
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. [Aside to Mrs. Ford'\ Heard you that ?
Mrs. Ford. 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. 210
Ford. Ay, ay ; I must bear it.
Evans. 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 ; there is no bodies.
Page. Fie, fie, Master Ford ! are you not ashamed ?
What spirit, what devil suggests this imagination ? I
would not ha' your distemper in this kind for the
wealth of Windsor Castle.
88 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iii
Ford. 'T is my fault, Master Page ; I suffer for it. 220
Evans. You suffer for a pad conscience : your wife
is as honest a omans as I will desires among five
thousand, and five hundred too.
Caius. By gar, I see 't is an honest woman.
Ford. Well, I promised you a dinner. — Come,
come J 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. 229
Page. Let 's go in, gentlemen ; but, trust me, we '11
mock him. I do invite you to-morrow morning to
my house to breakfast. After, we '11 a-birding to-
gether ; I have a fine hawk for the bush. Shall it
be so?
Ford. Any thing.
Evans, If there is one, I shall make two in the
company.
Caius. If dere be one or two, I shall make-a de
tird.
Ford. Pray you, go, Master Page. 240
Evans. I pray you now, remembrance to-morrow
on the lousy knave, mine host.
Caius. Dat is good ; by gar, with all my heart !
Evans. A lousy knave, to have his gibes and his
mockeries 1 \Exeunt.
Scene ivj Merry Wives of Windsor 89
Scene IV. A Room in Pagers House
Enter Fenton and Anne Page
Fenton. I see I cannot get thy father's love ;
Therefore no more turn me to him, sweet Nan.
Anne. Alas, how then ?
Fenton. Why, thou must be thyself.
He doth object I am too great of birth,
And that, my 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 riots past, my wild societies, —
And tells me 't is a thing impossible
I should love thee but as a property. 10
Anne. May be he tells you true.
Fenton. 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 't is 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 20
Cannot attain it, why, then, — hark you hither I
\_They converse apart.
90 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act in
Enter Shallow, Slender, and Mistress Quickly
Shallow. Break their talk. Mistress Quickly ; my
kinsman shall speak for himself.
Slender. I '11 make a shaft or a bolt on 't. 'Slid,
't is but venturing.
Shallow. Be not dismayed.
Slender. No, she shall not dismay me ; I care not
for that, — but that I am afeard.
Quickly, Hark ye ; Master Slender would speak a
word with you. 30
Anne. I come to him. — \_Aside'] This is my father's
choice.
O, what a world of vile ill-favour'd faults
Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year !
Quickly. And how does good Master Fenton?
Pray you, a word with you.
Shallow. She 's coming ; to her, coz. O boy,
thou hadst a father 1
Slender. 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. 41
Shallow. Mistress Anne, my cousin loves you.
Slender. Ay, that I do ; as well as I love any
woman in Gloucestershire.
Shallow. He will maintain you like a gentlewoman.
Slender. Ay, that I will, come cut and long-tail,
under the degree of a squire. ^^'^^*^^^^^ *^<( <^^'*^<
Scene IV] Merry Wives of Windsor 91
Shallow. He will make you a hundred and fifty
pounds jointure.
Anne. Good Master Shallow, let him woo for
himself. 51
Shallow. Marry, I thank you for it ; I thank you
for that good comfort. — She calls you, coz ; I '11
leave you.
Anne. Now, Master Slender, —
Slender. Now, good Mistress Anne, —
A7ine. What is your will ?
Slender. My will 1 '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. 61
Anne. I mean, Master Slender, what would you
with me ?
Slender. Truly, for mine own part, I would little
or nothing with you. Your father and my uncle
hath 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 comes. 69
P Enter Page and Mistress Page
Page. Now, Master Slender! — Love him, daughter
Anne. —
Why, how now ! what does Master Fenton here ? —
You wrong me, sir, thus still to haunt my house ;
I told you, sir, my daughter is dispos'd of. 73
92 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act ill
Fenton. Nay, Master Page, be not impatient.
Mrs. Page. Good Master Fenton, come not to my
child.
Page. She is no match for you.
Fenton. 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.ci.,,^^^
\Exeiint Page, Shallow, and Fenion.
Quickly. Speak to Mistress Page. 80
Fenton. Good Mistress Page, for that I love youi
daughter
In such a righteous fashion as I do.
Perforce, against all checks, rebukes, and manners,
I must advance the colours of my love.
And not retire ; let me have your good will.
Anne. Good mother, do not marry me to yond fool.
Mrs. Page. I mean it not ; I seek you a better hus-
band.
Quickly. That 's my master, master doctor.
Anne. Alas, I had rather be set quick i' the earth
And bowl'd to death with turnips ! 90
Mrs. Page. Come, trouble not yourself. — Good Mas-
ter Fenton,
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.
Till then farewell, sir. She must needs go in ;
Her father will be angry.
Scene V] Merry Wives of Windsor 93
Fenton. Farewell, gentle mistress. — Farewell, Nan.
\Exeimt Mrs. Page a?id Anne.
Quickly. 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. loi
Fenton. I thank thee; and I pray thee, once to-
night
Give my sweet Nan this ring. There 's for thy pains.
Quickly. Now heaven send thee good fortune ! —
l^Exit Fenton?^ 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 Fenton had her. I will do
what I can for them all three, for so I have promised
and I '11 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 I {Exit.
Scene V. A Room in the Garter Inn
Enter Falstaff and Bardolph
Falstaff. Bardolph, I say, —
Bardolph. Here, sir.
Falstaff. Go fetch me a quart of sack; put a
toast in 't. — \Exit Bardolph^ Have I lived to be
94 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act ill
carried in a basket, like a barrow of butcher's offal,
and to be thrown in the Thames ? Well, if I be
served such another trick, I '11 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 little remorse as they would have drowned a
blind bitch's 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 ab-
hor ; for the water swells a man, and what a thing
should I have been when I had been swelled I I
should have been a mountain of mummy. i8
Re-enter Bardolph with sack
Bardolph. Here 's Mistress Quickly, sir, to speak
with you.
Falstaff. Come, let me pour in some sack to the
Thames water ; for my belly 's as cold as if I had
swallowed snowballs for pills to cool the reins. —
Call her in.
Bardolph. Come in, woman !
Enter Mistress Quickly
Quickly. By your leave ; I cry you mercy. Give
your worship good morrow.
Falstaff. Take away these chalices. Go brew me
a pottle of sack finely. 29
Scene V] Merry Wives of Windsor 95
Ba7'doIph. With eggs, sir ?
Falsiaff. Simple of itself ; I '11 no pullet-sperm in
my brewage. — \^Exit Bardolph.'] How now !
Quickly. Marry, sir, I come to your worship from
Mistress Ford.
Falstaff. Mistress Ford ! I have had ford enough.
I was thrown into the ford ; I have my belly full of
ford.
Quickly. Alas the day ! good heart, that was not
her fault. She does so take on with her men ; they
mistook their erection. 40
Falstaff. So did I mine, to build upon a foolish
woman's promise.
Quickly. 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 '11 make you amends, I warrant
you.
Falstaff. 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. 51
Quickly. I will tell her.
Falstaff. Do so. Between nine and ten, sayest
thou?
Quickly. Eight and nine, sir.
Falstaff. Well, be gone ; I will not miss her.
Quickly. Peace be with you, sir. \Exit.
Falstaff. I marvel I hear not of Master Brook ; he
g6 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iii
sent me word to stay within. I like his money well.
O, here he comes. 60
£:n/er Ford
Ford. Bless you, sir !
Falstaff. Now, Master Brook, you come to know
what hath passed between me and Ford's wife ?
Ford. That, indeed. Sir John, is my business.
Falstaff. Master Brook, I will not lie to you ; I
was at her house the hour she appointed me.
Ford. And sped you, sir ?
Falstaff. Very ill-favouredly. Master Brook.
Ford. How so, sir ? Did she change her deter-
mination ?
Falstaff. No, Master Brook, but the peaking Cor-
nuto her husband, Master Brook, dwelling in a con-
tinual 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 ?
Falstaff. While I was there.
Ford. And did he search for you, and could not
find you ?
Falstaff. You shall hear. As good luck would
have it, comes in one Mistress Page, gives intelli-
gence of Ford's approach ; and, in her invention and
Scene V] Merry Wives of Windsor 97
Ford's wife's distraction, they conveyed me into a
buck-basket.
Ford. A buck-basket ? 88
Falstaff. By the Lord, a buck-basket ! rammed me
in with foul shirts and smocks, socks, foul stockings,
greasy napkins ; that. Master Brook, there was the
rankest compound of villanous smell that ever
offended nostril.
Ford. And how long lay you there ?
Falstaff. 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, 100
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 I for foul clothes. But mark
the sequel. Master Brook: I suffered the pangs of
three several deaths ; first, an intolerable fright, to
be detected with.a jealous rotten bell-wether ; next,
to be compassed, like a good bilbo, in the circum- no
ference of a peck, hilt to point, heel to head ; and
then, to be stopped in, Hke a strong distillation, with
stinking clothes that fretted in their own grease.
Think of that, — a man of my kidney, — think of
MERRY WIVES — 7
98 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iii
that, — that am as subject to 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
Brook. 122
Ford. In good sadness, sir, I am sorry that for
my sake you have suffered all this. My suit then
is desperate ; you '11 undertake her no more ?
Falstaff. Master Brook, I will be thrown into Etna,
as I have been into 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. 'T is past eight already, sir. 131
Falstaff. Is it ? I will then address me to my ap-
pointment. 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
Ford I there 's a hole made in your best coat. Master
Ford. This 't is to be married ! this 't is to have
linen and buck-baskets ! Well, I will proclaim my-
self what I am. I will now take the lecher ; he is at
i
Scene V] Merry Wives of Windsor
99
my house ; he cannot scape me, 't is impossible he
should ; he cannot creep into a halfpenny purse, nor
into a pepper-box; but, lest the devil that guides
him should aid him, I will search impossible places.
Though what I am I cannot avoid, yet to be what I
would not shall not make me tame ; if I have horns
to make one mad, let the proverb go with me, — I '11
be horn-mad. [£xt^.
'Out of my door, you witch!
ACT IV
Scene I. A Street
Enter Mistress Page, Mistress Quickly, and
William
Mrs. Page. Is he at Master Ford's already,
think'st thou?
Quickly. Sure he is by this, or will be presently ;
but, truly, he is very courageous mad about his
lOO
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor loi
throwing into the water. Mistress Ford desires you
to come suddenly.
Mrs. Page. I '11 be with her by and by ; I '11 but
bring my young man here to school. Look, where
his master comes ; 't is a playing-day, I see. —
Enter Sir Hugh Evans
How now, Sir Hugh ! no school to-day ? lo
Evans. No ; Master Slender is let the boys leave
to play.
Quickly. Blessing of his heart !
Mrs. Page. Sir Hugh, my husband says my son
profits nothing in the world at his book. I pray
you, ask him some questions in his accidence.
Evans. Come hither, William. Hold up your
head ; come.
Mrs. Page. Come on, sirrah. Hold up your head ;
answer your master, be not afraid. 20
Evans. William, how many numbers is in nouns ?
William. Two.
Quickly. Truly, I thought there had been one
number more, because they say, 'od 's nouns.
Evans. Peace your tattlings ! — What is * fair, '
William ?
William. Pulcher.
Quickly. Polecats ! there are fairer things than
polecats, sure.
Evans. You are a very simplicity oman ; I pray
you, peace. — What is * lapis,' WiUiam ? 31
I02 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iv
Williajn. A stone.
Evans. And what is * a stone,' William ?
William. A pebble.
Evans. No, it is ' lapis ; ' I pray you, remember
in your prain.
Willia?n. Lapis.
Evans. That is a good William. What is he,
William, that does lend articles ? 39
William. Articles are borrowed of the pronoun,
and be thus declined, Singulariter, nominativo, hie,
haec, hoc.
Evans. Nominativo, hig, hag, hog ; pray you, mark :
genitivo, hujus. Well, what is your accusative case ?
William. Accusativo, hinc.
Evans. I pray you, have your remembrance, child ;
accusativo, hung, hang, hog.
Quickly. Hang-hog is Latin for bacon, I warrant
you. 49
Evans. Leave your prabbles, oman. — What is
the focative case, William?
William. O ! — vocativo, O ! —
Evans. Remember, William ; focative is caret.
Quickly. And that 's a good root.
Evans. Oman, forbear.
Mrs. Page. Peace I
Evans. What is your genitive case plural, William ?
William. Genitive case I
Evans. Ay.
William. Genitive, — horum, harum, horum. 60
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 103
Quickly. Vengeance of Jenny's case ! fie on her I
never name her, child, if she be a whore.
Evans. For shame, oman.
Quickly. You do ill to teach the child such words.
— He teaches him to hick and to hack, which they '11
do fast enough of themselves, and to call horum. —
Fie upon you !
Evans. Oman, art thou lunatics ? hast thou no un-
derstandings for thy cases and the numbers of the
genders ? Thou art as foolish Christian creatures as
I would desires. 71
Mrs. Page. Prithee, hold thy peace.
Evans. Show me now, William, some declensions
of your pronouns.
William. Forsooth, I have forgot.
Evans. It is qui, quae, quod ; if you forget your
quies, your quaes, and your quods, you must be
preeches. Go your ways and play ; go.
Mrs. Page. He is a better scholar than I thought
he was. 80
Evans. He is a good sprag memory. Farewell,
Mistress Page.
Mrs. Page. Adieu, good Sir Hugh. — [Exit Sir
Hugh .] Get you home, boy. — Come, we stay too
long. \Exeunt.
I04 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act IV
Scene II. A Room in Ford^s House
Enter Falstaff and Mistress Ford
Falstaff. Mistress Ford, your sorrow hath eaten
up my sufferance. I see you are obsequious in your
love, and I profess requital to a hair's breadth ; not
only. Mistress Ford, in the simple office of love, but
in all the accoutrement, complement, and ceremony
of it. But are you sure of your husband now ?
Mrs. Ford. He 's a-birding, sweet Sir John.
Mrs. Page. \_Within'\ What, ho, gossip Ford 1 what,
ho! 9
Mrs. Ford. Step into the chamber, Sir John.
[Exit Falstaff.
Enter Mistress Page
Mrs. Page. How now, sweetheart ! who 's at home
besides yourself ?
Mrs. Ford. Why, none but mine own people.
Mrs. Page. Indeed !
Mrs. Ford. No, certainly. — [Aside to her] Speak
louder.
Mrs. Page. Truly, I am so glad you have nobody
here.
Mrs. Ford. Why ? 19
Mrs. Page. Why, woman, your husband is in his
old lunes again ; he so takes on yonder with my hus-
band, so rails against all married mankind, so curses
all Eve's daughters, of what complexion soever, and
Scene II] Merry Wives of Windsor 105
so buffets himself on the forehead, crying, ' Peer
out, peer out ! ' that any madness I ever yet beheld
seemed but tameness, civility, and patience, to this
his distemper he is in now. I am glad the fat
knight is not here.
Mrs. Ford. Why, does he talk of him ? 29
Mrs. Page. Of none but him, and swears he was
carried out, the last time he searched for him, in a
basket, — protests to my husband he is now here,
and hath drawn him and the rest of their company
from their sport, to make another experiment of his
suspicion. But I am glad the knight is not here ;
now he shall see his own foolery.
Mrs. Ford. How near is he, Mistress Page ?
Mrs. Page. Hard by, at street end ; he will be
here anon.
Mrs. Ford. I am undone ! The knight is here. 40
Mrs. Page. Why then you are utterly shamed, and
he 's but a dead man. What a woman are you ! —
Away with him, away with him ! better shame than
murther.
Mrs. Ford. Which way should he go ? how should
I bestow him ? Shall I put him into the basket
again ?
Re-enter Falstaff
Falstaff. No, I '11 come no more i' the basket.
May I not go out ere he come ? 49
Mrs. Page. Alas, three of Master Ford's brothers
watch the door with pistols, that none shall issue
io6 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iv
out; otherwise you might slip away ere he came.
But what make you here ?
Falstaff. What shall I do? — I '11 creep up into
the chimney.
Mrs. Ford. There they always use to discharge
their birding-pieces. Creep into the kiln-hole.
Falstaff. Where is it ? 58
Mrs. Ford. He will seek there, on my word.
Neither press, coffer, chest, trunk, well, vault, but
he hath an abstract for the remembrance of such
places, and goes to them by his note ; there is no
hiding you in the house.
Falstaff. I '11 go out then.
Mrs. Page. If you go out in your own semblance,
you die. Sir John. Unless you go out disguised —
Mrs. Ford. How might we disguise him ?
Mrs. Page. Alas the day, I know not ! There is
no woman's gown big enough for him ; otherwise he
might put on a hat, a muffler, and a kerchief, and so
escape. 71
Falstaff. Good hearts, devise something ; any ex-
tremity rather than a mischief.
Mrs. Ford. My maid's aunt, the fat woman of
Brentford, has a gown above.
Mrs. Page. On my Avord, it will serve him, she 's
as big as he is ; and there 's her thrummed hat and
muffler too. — Run up, Sir John.
Mrs. Ford. Go, go, sweet Sir John ; Mistress Page
and I will look some linen for your head. 80
Scene II] Merry Wives of Windsor 107
Mrs. Page. Quick, quick ! we '11 come dress you
straight ; put on the gown the while. {Exit Falstaff,
Mrs. Ford. I would my husband would meet him
in this shape ! he cannot abide the old woman of
Brentford ; he swears she 's a witch, forbade her my
house, and hath threatened to beat her.
Mrs. Page. Heaven guide him to thy husband's
cudgel, and the devil guide his cudgel afterwards !
Mrs. Ford. But is my husband coming ? 89
Mrs. Page. Ay, in good sadness, is he, and talks
of the basket too, howsoever he hath had intelli-
gence.
Mrs. Ford. We '11 try that ; for I '11 appoint my
men to carry the basket again, to meet him at the
door with it, as they did last time.
Mrs. Page. Nay, but he '11 be here presently; let 's
go dress him like the witch of Brentford. 97
Mrs. Ford. I '11 first direct my men what they
shall do with the basket. Go up ; I '11 bring linen
for him straight. {Exit.
Mrs. Page. Hang him, dishonest varlet 1 we can-
not misuse him enough.
We '11 leave a proof, by that which we will do,
Wives may be merry, and yet honest too.
We do not act that often jest and laugh ;
' T is old, but true, still swine eat all the draff. \_Exit.
Re-enter Mistress Ford with two Servants
^rs. Ford. Go, sirs, take the basket again on
io8 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act IV
your shoulders. Your master is hard at door ; if he
bid you set it down, obey him. Quickly, dispatch.
\_Exit.
1 Servant. Come, come, take it up. no
2 Servant. Pray heaven it be not full of knight
again.
I Servant. I hope not ; I had as lief bear so much
lead.
Enter Ford, Page, Shallow, Caius, and Sir Hugh
Evans
Ford. Ay, but if it prove true. Master Page, have
you any way then to unfool me again ? — Set down
the basket, villains ! — Somebody call my wife. —
Youth in a basket ! — O you panderly rascals !
there 's a knot, a ging, a pack, a conspiracy against
me ; now shall the devil be shamed. — What, wife,
I say ! Come, come forth ! Behold what honest
clothes you send forth to bleaching ! 122
Page. Why, this passes ! Master Ford, you are not
to go loose any longer ; you must be pinioned.
Evans. Why, this is lunatics ! this is mad as a
mad dog!
Shallow. Indeed, Master Ford, this is not well,
indeed.
Ford. So say I too, sir. —
Re-enter Mistress Ford
Come hither, Mistress Ford, — Mistress Ford, the
honest woman, the modest wife, the virtuous crea-
Scene II] Merry Wives of Windsor 109
ture, that hath the jealous fool to her husband ! — I
suspect without cause, mistress, do I ? 133
Mrs. Ford. Heaven be my witness you do, if you
suspect me in any dishonesty.
Ford. Well said, brazen-face ! hold it out. —
Come forth, sirrah ! [Pulling clothes out of the basket.
Page. This passes !
Mrs. Ford. Are you not ashamed ? let the clothes
alone. 140
Fo7'd. I shall find you anon.
Evans. 'T is unreasonable ! Will you take up
your wife's clothes ? Come away.
Ford. Empty the basket, I say !
Mrs. Ford. Why, man, why ?
Ford. Master Page, as I am a man, there was one
conveyed out of my house yesterday in this basket ;
why may not he be there again ? In my house I am
sure he is ; my intelligence is true, my jealousy is
reasonable. — Pluck me out all the linen. 150
Mrs. Ford. If you find a man there, he shall die a
flea's death.
Page. Here 's no man.
Shallow. By my fidelity, this is not well, Master
Ford ; this wrongs you.
Evans. Master Ford, you must pray, and not fol-
low the imaginations of your own heart; this is
jealousies.
Ford. Well, he 's not here I seek for.
Page. No, nor nowhere else but in your brain. 160
no Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iv
Ford. Help to search my house this one time. If
I find not what I seek, show no colour for my ex-
tremity, let me forever be your table-sport ; let them
say of me, * As jealous as Ford, that searched a hol-
low walnut for his wife's leman.' Satisfy me once
more ; once more search with me.
Mrs. Ford. What, ho, Mistress Page ! come you
and the old woman down; my husband will come
into the chamber.
Ford. Old woman! what old woman 's that? 170
Mrs. Ford. Why, it is my maid's aunt of Brent-
ford.
Ford. A witch, a quean, an old cozening quean 1
Have I not forbid her my house? She comes of
errands, does she ? We are simple men ; we do not
know what 's brought to pass under the profession
of fortune-telling. She works by charms, by spells,
by the figure, and such daubery as this is, beyond our
element ; we know nothing. — Come down, you witch,
you hag, you ; come down, I say I iS
Mrs. Ford. Nay, good, sweet husband ! — Good
gentlemen, let him not strike the old woman.
Re-enter Falstaff in woman's clothes, and Mistress
Page
Mrs. Page. Come, Mother Prat ; come, give me
your hand.
Ford. I '11 prat her. — \_Beating him] Out of my
door, you witch, you hag, you baggage, you polecat,
Scene II] Merry Wives of Windsor i ii
you ronyon ! out, out ! I '11 conjure you, I '11 for-
tune-tell you. \Exit Fa/staff.
Mrs. Page. Are you not ashamed ? I think you
have killed the poor woman. 190
Mrs. Ford. Nay, he will do it. — 'T is a goodly
credit for you.
Ford. Hang her, witch !
Evans, By yea and no, I think the oman is a witch
indeed. I like not when a oman has a great peard ;
I spy a great peard under her muffler.
Ford. Will you follow, gentlemen? I beseech
you, follow ; see but the issue of my jealousy. If I
cry out thus upon no trail, never trust me when I
open again. 200
Page. Let 's obey his humour a little further.
Come, gentlemen.
\Exeunt Ford, P(^S<^i Shallow ^ CaiuSy and Evans.
Mrs. Page. Trust me, he beat him most pitifully.
Mrs. Ford. Nay, by the mass, that he did not ; he
beat him most un pitifully, methought.
Mrs. Page. I '11 have the cudgel hallowed and
hung o'er the altar ; it hath done meritorious service.
Mrs. Ford. What think you ? may we, with the
warrant of womanhood and the witness of a good
conscience, pursue him with any further revenge ? 210
Mrs. Page. The spirit of wantonness is, sure,
scared out of him ; if the devil have him not in fee-
simple, with fine and recovery, he will never, I think,
in the way of waste, attempt us again.
112 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act IV
Mrs. Ford. Shall we tell our husbands how we
have served him ?
Mrs. Page. Yes, by all means ; if it be but to
scrape the figures out of your husband's brains. If
they can find in their hearts the poor unvirtuous fat
knight shall be any further afflicted, we two will still
be the ministers. 221
Mrs. Ford. I '11 warrant they '11 have him publicly
shamed ; and methinks there would be no period to
the jest, should he not be publicly shamed.
Mrs. Page. Come, to the forge with it then ; shape
it. I would not have things cool. \Exeunt.
Scene III. A Room in the Garter Inn
Enter Host and Bardolph
Bardolph. Sir, the Germans desire to have three of
your horses ; the duke himself will be to-morrow at
court, and they are going to meet him.
Host. What duke should that be comes so se-
cretly? I hear not of him in the court. — Let me
speak with the gentlemen ; they speak English ?
Bardolph. Ay, sir ; I '11 call them to you.
Host. They shall have my horses, but I '11 make
them pay ; I '11 sauce them. They have had my
house a week at command ; I have turned away my
other guests. They must come off ; I '11 sauce them.
Come. {^Exeuni
Scene IV] Merry Wives of Windsor 113
Scene IV. A Room in Ford^s House
Enter Page, Ford, Mistress Page, Mistress Ford,
and Sir Hugh Evans
Evans. 'T is one of the pest discretions of a oman
as ever I did look upon.
Page. And did he send you both these letters at
an instant?
Mrs. Page. Within a quarter of an hour.
Ford. Pardon me, wife. Henceforth do what thou
wilt ;
I rather will suspect the sun with cold
Than thee with wantonness. Now doth thy honour
stand,
In him that was of late an heretic,
As firm as faith.
Page. 'T is well, 't is well ; no more : 10
Be not as extreme in submission
As in offence.
But let our plot go forward ; let our wives
Yet once again, to make us public sport.
Appoint a meeting with this old fat fellow,
Where we may take him and disgrace him for it.
Ford. There is no better way than that they spoke
of.
Page. How ? to send him word they '11 meet him
in the park at midnight ? Fie, fie 1 he '11 never come.
Evans. You say he has been thrown in the rivers 20
MERRY WIVES — 8
114 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iv
and has been grievously peaten as an old oman.
Methinks there should be terrors in him that he
should not come ; methinks his flesh is punished, he
shall have no desires. 24
Page. So think I too.
Mrs. Ford. Devise but how you '11 use him when he
comes,
And let us two devise to bring him thither.
Mrs. Page. There is an old tale goes that Heme the
hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest,
Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight, 30
Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns ;
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,
And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner.
You have heard of such a spirit, and well you know
The superstitious idle-headed eld
Receiv'd and did deliver to our age
This tale of Heme the hunter for a truth.
Page. Why, yet there want not many that do fear
In deep of night to walk by this Heme's oak ; 40
But what of this ?
Mrs. Ford. , Marry, this is our device ;
That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us,
Disguis'd like Heme, with huge horns on his head.
Page. Well, let it not be doubted but he '11 come ;
And in this shape when you have brought him thither,
What shall be done with him ? what is your plot ?
Scene IV] Merry Wives of Windsor 115
Mrs. Page. That likewise have we thought upon, and
thus:
Nan Page my daughter, and my little son,
And three or four more of their growth, we '11 dress
Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies, green and white, 5°
Vl^ith rounds of waxen tapers on their heads,
And rattles in their hands. Upon a sudden,
As Falstaff, she, and I, are newly met,
Let them from forth a saw-pit rush at once
With some diffused song ; upon their sight,
We two in great amazedness will fly.
Then let them all encircle him about,
And, fairy-like, to-pinch the unclean knight.
And ask him why, that hour of fairy revel,
In their so sacred paths he dares to tread 60
In shape profane.
Mrs. Ford. And till he tell the truth,
Let the supposed fairies pinch him sound
And burn him with their tapers.
Mrs. Page. The truth being known,
We '11 all present ourselves, dishorn the spirit,
And mock him home to Windsor.
Ford. The children must
Be practis'd well to this or they '11 ne'er do 't.
Evans. I will teach the children their behav-
iours ; and I will be like a jack-a-napes also, to burn
the knight with my taber.
Ford. That will be excellent. I '11 go and buy
them vizards. 71
Ii6 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iv
Mrs. Page. My Nan shall be the queen of all the
fairies,
Finely attired in a robe of white.
Page. That silk will I go buy. — [Aside] And in that
time
Shall Master Slender steal my Nan away
And marry her at Eton. — Go send to Falstaff straight.
Ford. Nay, I '11 to him again in name of Brook.
He '11 tell me all his purpose ; sure, he '11 come.
Mrs. Page. Fear not you that. Go get us properties
And tricking for our fairies. 8o
Evans. Let us about it ; it is admirable pleasures
and fery honest knaveries.
[Exeunt Page, Ford, and Evans.
Mrs. Page. Go, Mistress Ford,
Send quickly to Sir John, to know his mind. —
[Exit Mrs. Ford.
I '11 to the doctor ; he hath my good will,
And none but he, to marry with Nan Page.
That Slender, though well landed, is an idiot ;
And he my husband best of all affects.
The doctor is well money'd, and his friends
Potent at court ; he, none but he, shall have her, 90
Though twenty thousand worthier come to crave her,
[Exit
Scene vj Merry Wives of Windsor 117
Scene V. A Room in the Garter Inn
Enter Host and Simple
Host. What wouldst thou have, boor ? what, thick-
skin ? speak, breathe, discuss ; brief, short, quick,
snap.
Simple. Marry, sir, I come to speak with Sir John
Falstaff from Master Slender.
Host. There 's his chamber, his house, his castle,
his standing-bed and truckle-bed ; 't is painted about
with the story of the Prodigal, fresh and new. Go
knock and call ; he '11 speak like an Anthropopha- \^
ginian unto thee; knock, I say. 10
Simple, There 's an old woman, a fat woman,
gone up into his chamber. I '11 be so bold as stay,
sir, till she come down ; I come to speak with
her, indeed.
Host. Ha ! a fat woman ! the knight may be
robbed ; I '11 call. — Bully knight ! bully Sir John !
speak from thy lungs military ; art thou there ? it is
thine host, thine Ephesian, calls. j^-^S ^-*-^--' r^^''^"
Falstaff. \_Above'\ How now, mine host ! 19
Host. Here 's a Bohemian-Tartar tarries the com-
ing down of thy fat woman. Let her descend, bully,
let her descend ; my chambers are honourable ; fie !
privacy ? fie 1
Enter Falstaff
Falstaff. There was, mine host, an old fat woman
even now with me, but she 's gone.
Il8 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act IV
Simple. Pray you, sir, was 't not the wise woman
of Brentford ?
Falstaff. Ay, rnarry, was it, mussel-shell; what
would you with her ? 29
Simple. My master, sir, Master Slender, sent to
her, seeing her go thorough the streets, to know, sir,
whether one Nym, sir, that beguiled him of a chain,
had the chain or no.
Falstaff. I spake with the old woman about it.
Simple. And what says she, I pray, sir ?
Falstaff. Marry, she says that the very same man
that beguiled Master Slender of his chain cozened
him of it.
Simple. I would I could have spoken with the
woman herself ; I had other things to have spoken
with her too from him. 41
Falstaff. What are they ? let us know.
Host. Ay, come ; quick.
Simple. I may not conceal them, sir.
Host. Conceal them, or thou diest.
Simple. Why, sir, they were nothing but about
Mistress Anne Page ; to know if it were my master's
fortune to have her or no.
Falstaff. 'T is, 't is his fortune.
Simple. What, sir ? 50
Falstaff. To have her, — or no. Go ; say the
woman told me so.
Simple. May I be bold to say so, sir ?
Falstaff. Ay, sir ; like who more bold ?
Scene V] Merry Wives of Windsor 119
Simple. I thank your worship. I shall make my
master glad with these tidings. \^Exit,
Host. Thou art clerkly, thou art clerkly, Sir John.
Was there a wise woman with thee ?
Falstaff. Ay, that there was, mine host ; one that
hath taught me more wit than ever I learned before
in my life, — and I paid nothing for it, neither, but
was paid for my learning. 63
Enter Bardolph
Bardolph, Out, alas, sir! cozenage, mere cozen-
age!
Host. Where be my horses ? speak well of them,
varletto.
Bardolph. Run away with the cozeners ; for so
soon as I came beyond Eton, they threw me off from
behind one of them, in a slough of mire, and set spurs
and away, like three German devils, three Doctor
Faustuses. 71
Host. They are gone but to meet the duke,
villain. Do not say they be fled ; Germans are
honest men.
Enter Sir Hugh Evans
Evans. Where is mine host ?
Host. What is the matter, sir ?
Evans. Have a care of your entertainments ;
there is a friend of mine come to town, tells me
there is three cozen-germans that has cozened all the
hosts of Readins, of Maidenhead, of Colebrook, of
I20 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iv
horses and money. I tell you for good will, look
you ; you are wise and full of gibes and vlouting-
stogs, and 't is not convenient you should be coz-
ened. Fare you well. [Exi^.
Enter Doctor Caius
Caius. Vere is mine host de Jarteer ?
Host. Here, master doctor, in perplexity and
doubtful dilemma. 87
Caius. I cannot tell vat is dat, but it is tell-a me
dat you make grand preparation for a duke de Jam-
any ; by my trot, dere is no duke dat the court is
know to come. I tell you for good vill ; adieu. \^Exit.
Host. Hue and cry, villain, go ! — Assist me,
knight. I am undone ! — Fly, run, hue and cry,
villain ! I am undone ! [Exeunt Host and Bardolph.
Falstaff. I would all the world might be cozened ;
for I have been cozened and beaten too. If it should
come to the ear of the court, how I have been trans-
formed and how my transformation hath been washed
and cudgelled, they would melt me out of my fat
drop by drop and liquor fishermen's boots with me.
I warrant they would whip me with their fine wits till
I were as crest-fallen as a dried pear. I never pros-
pered since I foreswore myself at primero. Well, if
my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I
would repent. — 105
Enter Mistress Quickly
Now, whence come you ?
Scene VI] Merry Wives of Windsor 121
Quickly. From the two parties, forsooth.
Falstaff. The devil take one party and his dam the
other ! and so they shall be both bestowed. I have
suffered more for their sakes, more than the villan-
ous inconstancy of man's disposition is able to bear.
Quickly. And have not they suffered ? Yes, I war-
rant ; speciously one of them. Mistress Ford, good
heart, is beaten black and blue, that you cannot see
a white spot about her. 115
Falstaff. What tellest thou me of black and blue ?
I was beaten myself into all the colours of the rain-
bow, and I was like to be apprehended for the witch
of Brentford ; but that my admirable dexterity of
wit, my counterfeiting the action of an old woman,
delivered me, the knave constable had set me i' the
stocks, i' the common stocks, for a witch. 122
Quickly. Sir, let me speak with you in your cham-
ber ; you shall hear how things go, and, I warrant,
to your content. Here is a letter will say somewhat.
Good hearts, what ado here is to bring you together !
Sure, one of you does not serve heaven well, that
you are so crossed.
Falstaff. Come up into my chamber. \_Exeunt.
\
^^Jlost Master Fenton, talk not to me ; my mind is
neavy : I will give over all.
Scene VI. Another Room in the Garter Inn
Enter Fenton and Host
122 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act iv
Fenton, Yet hear me speak. Assist me in my pur-
pose,
And, as I am a gentleman, I '11 give thee
A hundred pound in gold more than your loss.
Host. I will hear you. Master Fenton ; and I will
at the least keep your counsel.
Fenton. From time to time I have acquainted you
With the dear love I bear to fair Anne Page,
Who mutually hath answer'd my affection, lo
So far forth as herself might be her chooser,
Even to my wish. I have a letter from her
Of such contents as you will wonder at.
The mirth whereof so larded with my matter
That neither singly can be manifested
Without the show of both. — Fat Falstaff
Hath a great scene ; the image of the jest
I '11 show you here at large. Hark, good mine host.
To-night at Heme's oak, just 'twixt twelve and one.
Must my sweet Nan present the Fairy Queen, — 20
The purpose why is here, — in which disguise.
While other jests are something rank on foot,
Her father hath commanded her to slip
Away with Slender, and with him at Eton
Immediately to marry ; she hath consented.
Now, sir.
Her mother, ever strong against that match
And firm for Doctor Caius, hath appointed
That he shall likewise shuffle her away,
While other sports are tasking of their minds, 30
Scene VI] Merry Wives of Windsor 123
And at the deanery, where a priest attends,
Straight marry her ; to this her mother's plot
She seemingly obedient likewise hath
Made promise to the doctor. — Now, thus it rests :
Her father means she shall be all in white,
And in that habit, when Slender sees his time
To take her by the hand and bid her go,
She shall go with him ; her mother hath intended,
The better to denote her to the doctor, —
For they must all be mask'd and vizarded, — 40
That quaint in green she shall be loose enrob'd,
VV^ith ribands pendent, flaring 'bout her head ;
And when the doctor spies his vantage ripe,
To pinch her by the hand, and, on that token,
The maid hath given consent to go with him.
Host. Which means she to deceive, father or mother ?
Fenton. Both, my good host, to go along with me;
And here it rests, — that you '11 procure the vicar
To stay for me at church 'twixt twelve and one,
And, in the lawful name of marrying, 50
To give our hearts united ceremony.
Host Well, husband your device ; I '11 to the vicar.
Bring you the maid, you shall not lack a priest.
Fenton. So shall I evermore be bound to thee ;
Besides, I '11 make a present recompense. [Exeunt.
Herne's Oak
ACT V
Scene I. A Room in the Garter Inn
Enter Falstaff and Mistress Quickly
Fahtaff. Prithee, no more prattling ; go. I '11
hold. — This is the third time ; I hope good luck lies
in odd numbers. — Away I go. — They say there is
divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance,
or death. — Away!
Quickly. I '11 provide you a chain, and I '11 do
what I can to get you a pair of horns.
1 124
Scene I] Merry Wives of Windsor 125
Falstaff. Away, I say ; time wears. Hold up your
head, and mince. — \Exit Mrs. Quickly.
Enter Ford
How now, Master Brook ! Master Brook, the matter
will be known to-night, or never. Be you in the
Park about midnight, at Heme's oak, and you shall
see wonders. 13
Ford. Went you not to her yesterday, sir, as you
told me you had appointed ?
Falstaff. I went to her. Master Brook, as you see,
like a poor old man ; but I came from her. Master
Brook, like a poor old woman. That same knave
Ford, her husband, hath the finest mad devil of
jealousy in him, Master Brook, that ever governed
frenzy. I will tell you. He beat me grievously in
the shape of a woman ; for in the shape of man, |
Master Brook, I fear not Goliah with a weaver's I
beam, because I know also life is a shuttle. I am in
haste, go along with me ; I '11 tell you all. Master
Brook. Since I plucked geese, played truant, and
whipped top, I knew not what 't was to be beaten till
lately. Follow me ; I '11 tell you strange things of this
knave Ford, on whom to-night I will be revenged,
and I will deliver his wife into your hand. — Follow. 30
Strange things in hand, Master Brook ! Follow.
\Exeunt.
126 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act v
Scene II. Windsor Park
Enter Page, Shallow, and Slender
Page. Come, come ; we '11 couch i' the castle-ditch
till we see the light of our fairies. — Remember, son
Slender, my daughter.
Slender. 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.
Shallow. That 's good too ; but what needs either
your ' mum ' or her ' budget ? ' the white will deci-
pher her well enough. — It hath struck ten o'clock. lo
Page. The night is dark; light and spirits will
become it well. Heaven prosper our sport ! No
man means evil but the devil, and we shall know
him by his horns. Let 's away ; follow me. \_Exeunt,
Scene III. A Street leading to the Park
Enter Mistress Page, Mistress Ford, and Doctor
Caius
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 dispatch it
quickly. Go before into the Park ; we two must go
together.
Caius. I know vat I have to do. Adieu.
Scene IV] Merry Wives of Windsor 127
Mrs. Page. Fare you well, sir. — \Exit Caii/s.]
My husband will not rejoice so much at the abuse of
Falstaff as he will chafe at the doctor's marrying my
daughter. But 't is no matter ; better a little chiding
than a great deal of heart-break. n
Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now and her troop of
fairies, and the Welsh devil Hugh ?
M7's. Page. They are all couched in a pit hard by
Heme's oak, with obscured lights, which, at the very
instant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at
once display to the night
Mrs. Ford. That cannot choose but amaze him.
M7's. Page. If he be not amazed, he will be
mocked ; if he be amazed, he will every way be
mocked. 21
Mrs. Foi'd. We '11 betray him finely.
Mrs. Page. Against such lewdsters and their lechery
Those that betray them do no treachery.
Mrs. Ford. The hour draws on. To the oak, to the
oak 1 \Exeunt.
Scene IV. Windsor Park
Enter Sir Hugh Evans disguised^ with others as Fairies
Evans. 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.
128 Merry Wives, of Windsor [Act V
Scene V. Another Part of the Park
Enter Falstaff disguised as Heme
Falstaff. The Windsor bell hath struck twelve ;
the minute draws on. Now, the hot-blooded gods
assist me ! Remember, Jove, thou wast a bull for
thy Europa; love set on thy horns. O powerful
love ! that, in some respects, makes a beast a man,
in some other a man a beast. You were also, Jupi-
ter, a swan for the love of Leda. O omnipotent ,
love ! how near the god drew to the complexion of a |
goose ! A fault done first in the form of a beast. O
Jove, a beastly fault ! And then another fault in the lo
semblance of a fowl ; think on 't, Jove, a foul fault !
— When gods have hot backs, what shall poor men
do ? For me, I am here a Windsor stag ; and the
fattest, I think, i' the forest. Send me a cool rut-
time, Jove ! — Who comes here ? my doe ?
Enter Mistress Ford and Mistress Page
Mrs. Ford. Sir John ! art thou there, my deer ?
my male deer ?
Falstaff. My doe with the black scut ! — Let the
sky rain potatoes ; let it thunder to the tune of
' Green Sleeves,' hail kissing-comfits and snow erin-
goes ; let there come a tempest of provocation, I
will shelter me here.
Mrs. Ford. Mistress Page is come with me, sweet-
heart.
Scene vj Merry Wives of Windsor 129
Fahtaff. Divide me like a bribed buck, each a
haunch ; I will keep my sides to myself, my shoulders
for the fellow of this walk, and my horns I bequeath
your husbands. Am I a woodman, ha ? Speak I hke
Heme the hunter? — Why, now is Cupid a child of
conscience ; he makes restitution. As I am a true
spirit, welcome I \Noise within.
Mrs. Page. Alas, what noise ? 32
Mrs. Ford. Heaven forgive our sins !
Falstaff. What should this be ?
Mrs. Ford. ) . , r^r ^
Mrs. Page, j ^^^^' ^^^^ ' ^^^'^ '''''' ''^'
Falstaff. I think the devil will not have me
damned, lest the oil that 's in me should set hell on
fire ; he would never else cross me thus.
Enter Sir Hugh Evans, as a Satyr; another person^ as
Hobgoblin ; Anne Page, as the Fairy Queen attended
by her Brother and others as Fairies^ with tapers
Anne. Fairies, black, grey, green, and white.
You moonshine revellers, and shades of night, 40
You orphan heirs of fixed destiny.
Attend your office and your quality. —
Crier Hobgoblin, make the fairy oyes.
Hobgoblin. Elves, list your names ; silence, you airy
toys ! —
Cricket, to Windsor chimneys shalt thou leap.
Where fires thou find'st unrak'd and hearths unswept,
MERRY WIVES — 9
ijo Merry Wives of Windsor [Act v
There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry ;
Our radiant queen hates sluts and sluttery.
Falstaff. They are fairies ; he that speaks to them
shall die.
I '11 wink and couch. No man their works must eye.
\^Lies down upon his face.
Evans. Where 's Bede? — Go you, and where you
find a maid 51
That, ere she sleep, has thrice her prayers said,
Raise up the organs of her fantasy.
Sleep she as sound as careless infancy ;
But those as sleep and think not on their sins.
Pinch them, arms, legs, backs, shoulders, sides, and
shins.
Anne. About, about !
Search Windsor Castle, elves, within and out.
Strew good luck, ouphes, on every room.
That it may stand till the perpetual doom, 60
In state as wholesome as in state 't is fit, ■
Worthy the owner, and the owner it.
The several chairs of order look you scour
With juice of balm and every precious flower ;
Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest.
With loyal blazon, evermore be blest 1
And nightly, meadow-fairies, look you sing.
Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring.
The expressure that it bears, green let it be,
More fertile-fresh than all the field to see ;
And '■ Honi soit qui mal y pense ' write
Scene V] Merry Wives of Windsor 131
In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and white,
Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,
Buckled below fair knighthood's bending knee.
Fairies use flowers for their charactery.
Away ! disperse ! but till 't is one o'clock,
Our dance of custom round about the oak
Of Heme the hunter, let us not forget.
Evans. Pray you, lock hand in hand ; yourselves in
order set ;
And twenty glow-worms shall our lanterns Jpe, 80
To guide our measure round about the tree. —
But, stay ! I smell a man of middle-earth.
Falstaff. Heavens defend me from that Welsh
fairy, lest he transform me to a piece of cheese !
Hobgoblin. Vile worm, thou wast o'erlook'd even in
thy birth.
Anne. With trial-fire touch me his finger-end.
If he be chaste, the flame will back descend
And turn him to no pain ; but if he start.
It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.
^'. Hobgoblin. A trial, come 1
Evans. Come, will this wood take fire ?
{They burn him with their tapers.
Falstaff. Oh, oh, oh ! 91
Anne. Corrupt, corrupt, and tainted in desire 1 —
About him, fairies, sing a scornful rhyme ;
And, as you trip, still pinch him to your time.
132 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act v
Song
Fie on sinful fantasy /
Fie on lust and luxury !
Lust is but a bloody fire ^
Kindled with unchaste desire^
Fed i7i hearty whose flames aspire
As thoughts do blow them, higher and higher. 100
Pinch him, fairies, mutually ;
Pinch hi^nfor his villany ;
Pinch him, and burn him, and turn him about.
Till candles and starlight and moonshine be out.
[Durifig this song they pinch Falstaff. Doc-
tor Caius comes one way and steals away
a fait J in green ; Slender another way and
takes off a faiiy in white ; and Fenton
comes and steals away Anne Page, A
noise of hunting is heard within. All the
Fairies run away. Falstaff pulls off his
buck^s head, and rises.
Enter Page, Ford, Mistress Page, and Mistress
Ford
Page. Nay, do not fly ; I think we have watch 'd you
now.
Will none but Heme the hunter serve your turn ?
Mrs. Page. I pray you, come, hold up the jest no
higher. —
Now, good Sir John, how like you Windsor wives ? —
1
Scene V] Merry Wives of Windsor 133
See you these, husband ? do not these fair yokes
Become the forest better than the town ? no
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 enjoyed nothing of Ford's but his buck-
basket, his cudgel, and twenty pounds of money,
which must be paid to Master Brook ; his horses are
arrested 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. 120
Falstaff. I do begin to perceive that I am made
an ass.
Ford. Ay, and an ox too; both the proofs are
extant.
Falstaff. And these are not fairies ? I was three
or four times in the thought they were not fairies ;
and yet the guiltiness of my mind, the sudden sur-
prise of my powers, drove the grossness of the fop-
pery into a received belief, in despite of the teeth of
all rhyme and reason, that they were fairies. See
now how wit may be made a Jack-a-Lent, when 't is
upon ill employment ! 132
Evans. Sir John Falstaff, serve Got, and leave
your desires, and fairies will not pinse you.
Ford. Well said, fairy Hugh.
Evans. And leave your jealousies too, I pray
you.
134 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act v
Ford. I will never mistrust my wife again, till thou
art able to woo her in good English. 139
Falstaff. Have I laid my brain in the sun and
dried it, that it wants matter to prevent so gross
o'erreaching as this ? Am I ridden with a Welsh
goat too ? shall I have a coxcomb of frize ? 'T is
time I were choked with a piece of toasted cheese.
Evans. Seese is not good to give putter; your
pelly is all putter.
Falstaff. Seese and putter ! have I lived to stand
at the taunt of one that makes fritters of English ?
This is enough to be the decay of lust and late-
walking through the realm. 150
Mrs. Page. Why, Sir John, do you think, though
we would have thrust virtue out of our hearts by the
head and shoulders and have given ourselves with-
out scruple to hell, that ever the devil could have
made you our delight ?
Ford. What, a hodge-pudding ? a bag of flax ?
Mrs. Page. A puffed man ?
Page. Old, cold, withered, and of intolerable entrails
Ford. And one that is as slanderous as Satan ?
Page. And as poor as Job ? 160
Ford. And as wicked as his wife ?
Evans. And given to fornications, and to taverns
and sack and wine and metheglins, and to drink-
ings and swearings and starings, pribbles and
prabbles ?
Falstaff. Well, I am your theme ; you have the
Scene V] Merry Wives of Windsor 135
start of me. I am dejected ; I am not able to answer
the Welsh flannel. Ignorance itself is a plummet
o'er me ; use me as you will. 169
Ford. Marry, sir, we '11 bring you to Windsor, to
one Master Brook, that you have cozened of money,
to whom you should have been a pander ; over and
above that you have suffered, I think to repay that
money will be a biting affliction.
Page. Yet be cheerful, knight ; thou shalt eat a
posset to-night at my house, where I will desire thee
to laugh at my wife, that now laughs at thee. Tell
her Master Slender hath married her daughter.
Mrs. Page. [Aside'] Doctors doubt that ; if Anne
Page be my daughter, she is, by this. Doctor Caius'
wife. 181
Fnfer Slender
Slender. Whoa, ho ! ho, father Page 1
Page. Son, how now ! how now, son ! have you
dispatched ?
Slender, Dispatched ! I '11 make the best in
Gloucestershire know on 't ; would I were hanged,
la, else !
Page. Of what, son ?
Slender. I came yonder at Eton to marry Mistress
Anne Page, and she 's a great lubberly boy. If it had
not been i' the church, I would have swinged him, or
he should have swinged me. If I did not think it
had been Anne Page, would I might never stir 1 —
and 't is a postmaster's boy. 194
136 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act v
Page. Upon my life, then, you took the wrong.
Slender. What need you tell me that ? I think so,
when I took a boy for a girl. If I had been mar-
ried to him, for all he was in woman's apparel, I
would not have had him. igg
Page. Why, this is your own folly. Did not I tell
you how you should know my daughter by her gar-
ments ?
Slender. I went to her in white, and cried ' mum,'
and she cried 'budget,' as Anne and I had ap-
pointed ; and yet it was not Anne, but a postmas-
ter's boy.
Mrs. Page, Good George, be not angry ; I knew
of your purpose, turned my daughter into green,
and, indeed, she is now with the doctor at the dean-
ery, and there married. 210
Enter Caius
Caius. Vere is Mistress Page? By gar, I am
cozened ! I ha' married un garcon, a boy ; un pay-
san, by gar, a boy I it is not Anne Page ; by gar, I
am cozened !
Mrs. Page. Why, did you take her in green ?
Caius. Ay, by gar, and 't is a boy ; by gar, I '11
raise all Windsor ! \Exii.
Ford. This is strange. Who hath got the right
Anne ?
Page. My heart misgives me. Here comes Mas-
ter Fenton. — a
Scene V] Merry Wives of Windsor 137
Enter Fenton and Anne Page
How now, Master Fenton !
Anne. Pardon, good father ! — good my mother,
pardon !
Page. Now, mistress, how chance you went not
with Master Slender ?
Mrs. Page. Why went you not with master doctor,
maid ?
Fenton. You do amaze her ; hear the truth of it.
You would have married her most shamefully,
Where there was no proportion held in love.
The truth is, she and I, long since contracted, 230
Are now so sure that nothing can dissolve us.
The offence is holy that she hath committed ;
And this deceit loses the name of craft.
Of disobedience, or unduteous title.
Since therein she doth evitate and shun
A thousand irreligious cursed hours
Which forced marriage would have brought upon her.
Ford. Stand not amaz'd ; here is no remedy.
In love the heavens themselves do guide the state ;
Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate.
Fahtaff. I am glad, though you have ta'en a
special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath
glanced. 243
Page. Well, what remedy? — Fenton, heaven give
thee joy 1
What cannot be eschew'd must be embrac'd.
138 Merry Wives of Windsor [Act v
Falstaff. When night-dogs run, all sorts of deer
are chas'd.
Mrs. Page. Well, I will muse no further. — Master
Fenton,
Heaven give you many, many merry days ! —
Good husband, let us every one go home
And laugh this sport o'er by a country fire, —
Sir John and all.
Ford. Let it be so. — Sir John,
To Master Brook you yet shall hold your word ;
For he to-night shall lie with Mistress Ford.
[Exeunt
NOTES
\ ..-' ■^, . ■;.^i''(X
Datchet Mead
NOTES
Introduction
The Metre of the Play. — It should be understood at the
outset that 7netre, or the mechanism of verse, is something alto-
gether distinct from the music of verse. The one is matter of rule,
the other of taste and feeling. Music is not an absolute necessity
of verse ; the metrical form is a necessity, being that which con-
stitutes the verse.
The plays of Shakespeare (with the exception of rhymed pas-
sages, and of occasional songs and interludes) are all in unrhymed
or blank verse ; and the normal form of this blank verse is illus-
trated by iii. 4. i of the present play : " I see I cannot get thy
father's love."
This line, it will be seen, consists of ten syllables, with the even
syllables (2d, 4th, 6th, 8th, and loth) accented, the odd syllables
(ist, 3d, etc.) being unaccented. Theoretically, it is made up of
fivey^^/of two syllables each, with the accent on the second sylla-
ble. Such a foot is called an iambus (plural, iambuses^ or the Latin
iambi) f and the form of verse is called iambic.
141
142 Notes
This fundamental law of Shakespeare's verse is subject to certain
modifications, the most important of which are as follows : —
1. After the tenth syllable an unaccented syllable (or even two
such syllables) may be added, forming what is sometimes called a
female line; as in iii. 4. 15 : "Yet, wooing thee, I found thee of
more value." The rhythm is complete with the first syllable of
value, the second being an extra eleventh syllable.
2. The accent in any part of the verse may be shifted from an
even to an odd syllable; as in iii. 4. 21 : "Cannot attain it, why
then, — hark you hither!" and 79: "Knowing my mind, you
wrong me, Master Fenton." In both lines (female lines) the
accent is shifted from the second to the first syllable. This
change occurs very rarely in the tenth syllable, and seldom in the
fourth ; and it is not allowable in two successive accented syllables.
3. An extra unaccented syllable may occur in any part of the
line ; as in iii. 4. 5, 13, and 87. In 5 the second syllable of being
is superfluous; in 13 the last syllable of albeit; and in 87 the
word a.
4. Any unaccented syllable, occurring in an even place immedi-
ately before or after an even syllable which is properly accented, is
reckoned as accented for the purposes of the verse ; as, for instance,
in iii. 4. 9 and 10. In 9 the last syllable of impossible, and in 10
that oi property, are metrically equivalent to accented syllables.
5. In many instances in Shakespeare words must be lengthened
in order to fill out the rhythm : —
(a) In a large class of words in which e or i is followed by an-
other vowel, the e or i is made a separate syllable ; as ocean, opin-
ion, soldier, patience, partial, marriage, etc. For instance, in this
play, iii. 4. 74 ("Nay, Master Page, be not impatient") appears to
have only nine syllables, but impatient is a quadrisyllable ; and
the same is true of submission in iv. 4. 1 1 : "Be not as extreme in
submission." This lengthening occurs most frequently at the end
of the line.
(^) Many monosyllables ending in r, re^ rs, res, preceded by a
Notes 143
long vowel or diphthong, are often made dissyllables ; z.% fare (see
on iii. 4. <)"]), fear, dear, fire, hair, hour, more, your, etc. If
the word is repeated in a verse it is often both monosyllable and
dissyllable; as in/. C. iii. i. 172 : "As fire drives out fire, so pity,
pity," where the first fire is a dissyllable.
{c) Words containing / or r, preceded by another consonant,
are often pronounced as if a vowel came between or after the con-
sonants ; as in T. of S. ii. I. 158 : " While she did call me rascal
fiddler" [fiddl(e)er] ; All's Well, iii. 5. 43 : "If you will tarry,
holy pilgrim" [pilg(e)rim] ; C. of E. v. i. 360: "These are the
parents of these children " (childeren, the original form of the
word) ; W. T. iv. 4. 76 : "Grace and remembrance [rememb(e)-
rance] be to you both ! " etc.
{d) Monosyllabic exclamations {ay, O, yea, nay, hail, etc.) and
monosyllables otherwise emphasized are similarly lengthened ;
also certain longer words ; as safety (trisyllable) in Ham. i. 3. 21 ;
business (trisyllable, as originally pronounced) in J. C. iv. i. 22:
" To groan and sweat under the business " (so in several other
passages); and other words mentioned in the notes to the plays
in which they occur.
6. Words are also contracted for metrical reasons, like plurals
and possessives ending in a sibilant, as balance, horse (for horses
and horse's^, princess, sejise, marriage (plural and possessive),
etc. So with many adjectives in the superlative (like coldest,
sternest, kijtd'st, secrefst, etc.), and certain other words.
7. The accent of words is also varied in many instances for met-
rical reasons. Thus we find both revenue and revenue in the first
scene of the M. N. D. (line 6 and 158), extreme (see on iv. 4. Ii)
and extreme, cdntrary and contrdry, pursue and pursue, etc.
These instances of variable accent must not be confounded with
those in which words were uniformly accented differently in the
time of Shakespeare; like aspect, impSrtune, sepulchre (verb),
per sever (never persevere^, perseverance, rheumatic, etc.
8. Alexandrines, or verses of twelve syllables, with six accents,
144 Notes
occur here and there in the plays. They must not be confounded
with female lines with two extra syllables (see on i above) or with
other lines in which two extra unaccented syllables may occur.
9. Incomplete verses, of one or more syllables, are scattered
through the plays. See iii. 4. 11, 76, 90, 96, etc.
10. Doggerel measure is used in the very earliest comedies
(Z. Z. Z. and C. of E. in particular) in the mouths of comic char-
acters, but nowhere else in those plays, and never anywhere in
plays written after 1598. There is none in the present play.
11. Rhyme occurs frequently in the early plays, but diminishes
with comparative regularity from that period until the latest.
Thus, in Z. Z. Z. there are about 1 100 rhyming verses (about one-
third of the whole number), in M. N. D. about 900, in Rich. II.
and R. and J. about 500 each, while in Cor. and A. and C. there
are only about 40 each, in Temp, only two, and in W. T. none
at all, except in the chorus introducing act iv. Songs, interludes,
and other matter not in ten-syllable measure are not included in
this enumeration. In the present play (which is mostly in prose),
out of about 275 ten-syllable verses, only sixty-five are in rhyme.
Alternate rhymes are found only in the plays written before 1599
or 1600. In M. of V. there are only four lines at the end of iii. 2.
In Much Ado and A. Y. L. we also find a few lines, but none at
all in subsequent plays.
Rhymed couplets^ or " rhyme-tags," are often found at the end of
scenes ; as in 3 of the 23 scenes of the present play. In Ham.
14 out of 20 scenes, and in Macb. 21 out of 28, have such " tags ; "
but in the latest plays they are not so frequent. In Temp., for
instance, there is but one, and in W. T. none.
12. In this edition of Shakespeare, the final -ed of past tenses
and participles in verse is printed -d when the word is to be pro-
nounced in the ordinary way ; as in gaWd (iii. 4. 5) and disposed
(iii. 4. 73). But when the metre requires that the -ed be made
a separate syllable, the e is retained; as in sealed (iii. 4. 16),
where the word is a dissyllable. The only variation from this rule
Notes 145
is in verbs like cry^ die, sue, etc., the -ed of which is very rarely, if
ever, made a separate syllable.
Shakespeare's Use of Verse and Prose in the Plays. —
This is a subject to which the critics have given very little attention,
but it is an interesting study. In this play we find scenes entirely
in verse or in prose, and in which the two are mixed. In general,
we may say that verse is used for what is distinctly poetical, and
prose for what is not poetical. The distinction, however, is not
so clearly marked in the earlier as in the later plays. The second
scene of M. of V., for instance, is in prose, because Portia and
Nerissa are talking about the suitors in a familiar and playful
way ; but in T. G. of V., where Julia and Lucetta are discussing
the suitors of the former in much the same fashion, the scene is in
verse. Dowden, commenting on Rich. II., remarks : " Had Shake-
speare written the play a few years later, we may be certain that
the gardener and his servants (iii. 4) would not have uttered
stately speeches in verse, but would have spoken homely prose,
and that humour would have mingled with the pathos of the scene.
The same remark may be made with reference to the subsequent
scene (v. 5) in which his groom visits the dethroned king in the
Tower." Comic characters and those in low life generally speak
in prose in the later plays, as Dowden intimates, but in the very
earliest ones doggerel verse is much used instead. See on 10
above.
The change from prose to verse is well illustrated in the third
scene of AI. of V. It begins with plain prosaic talk about a busi-
ness matter ; but when Antonio enters, it rises at once to the higher
level of poetry. The sight of Antonio reminds Shylock of his hatred
of the Merchant, and the passion expresses itself in verse, the ver-
nacular tongue of poetry.
The reasons for the choice of prose or verse are not always so
clear as in this instance. We are seldom puzzled to explain the
prose, but not unfrequently we meet with verse where we might
expect prose. As Professor Corson remarks {Introduction to Shake'
MERRY WIVES — lO
146 Notes
speare, 1889), "Shakespeare adopted verse as the general tenor of
his language, and therefore expressed much in verse that is within
the capabilities of prose ; in other words, his verse constantly en-
croaches upon the domain of prose, but his prose can never be said
to encroach upon the domain of verse." If in rare instances we
think we find exceptions to this latter statement, and prose actually
seems to usurp the place of verse, I believe that careful study of the
passage will prove the supposed exception to be apparent rather
than real.
Some Books for Teachers and Students. — A few out of the
many books that might be commended to the teacher and the criti-
cal student are the following: Halliwell-Phillipps's Outlines of the
Life of Shakespeare (7th ed, 1 887) ; Sidney Lee's Life of Shake-
speare (1898; for ordinary students the abridged ed. of 1899 is
preferable) ; Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon (3d ed. 1902) ; Lit-
tledale's ed. of Dyce's Glossary (1902) ; Bartlett's Concordance to
Shakespeare (1895) ; Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar (1873) ;
Furness's " New Variorum " ed. of the plays (encyclopaedic and
exhaustive) ; Dowden's Shakspere : His Mind and Art (American
ed. 1881) ; Hudson's Life^ Art, and Characters of Shakespeare
(revised ed. 1882) ; Mrs. Jameson's Characteristics of Women
(several eds. ; some with the title Shakespeare Heroines^ \ Ten
Brink's Five Lectures on Shakespeare (1895); Boas's Shakespeare
and LJis Predecessors (1895); Dyer's Folk-lore of Shakespeare
(American ed. 1884); Gervinus's Shakespeare Co?nmentaries (Bun-
nett's translation, 1875); "Wordsworth's Shakespeare's Knowledge
of the Bible (3d ed. 1880); Elson's Shakespeare in Music (1901);
Rolfe's Life of Shakespeare (1904).
Some of the above books will be useful to all readers who are
interested in special subjects or in general criticism of Shakespeare.
Among those which are better suited to the needs of ordinary
readers and students, the following may be mentioned : Mabie's
William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Man (1900); Dow-
den's Shakspere Primer (1877; small but invaluable); Rolfe's
of 1
Scene I] Notes 147
Shakespeare the Boy (1896 ; treating of the home and school hfe,
the games and sports, the manners, customs, and folk-lore of the
poet's time) ; Guerber's Myths of Greece and Rome (for young stu-
dents who may need information on mythological allusions not
explained in the notes).
H. Snowden Ward's Shakespeare's Town and Times (2d ed.
1902) and John Leyland's Shakespeare Country (2d ed. 1903) are
copiously illustrated books (yet inexpensive) which may be par-
ticularly commended for school libraries.
Abbreviations in the Notes. — The abbreviations of the names
of Shakespeare's plays will be readily understood ; as T. N. for
Twelfth Nighty Cor. for Coriolanus, 3 Hen. VI. for The Third
Part of King Henry the Sixth, etc. P. P. refers to The Passionate
Pilgrim ; V. and A. to Venus and Adonis ; L. C. to Lover'' s Com-
plaint; and Sonn. to the Sonnets.
Other abbreviations that hardly need explanation are Cf. {confer,
compare), Fol. (following). Id. {idem, the same), and Prol. (pro-
logue). The numbers of the Unes in the references (except for the
present play) are those of the " Globe " edition (the cheapest and
best edition of Shakespeare in one compact volume), which is now
generally accepted as the standard for line-numbers in works of ref-
erence (Schmidt's Lexicon, Abbott's Grammar, Dowden's Primer,
the publications of the New Shakspere Society, etc.).
ACT I
Scene I. — i. Sir Hugh. The title Sir was formerly applied to
priests and curates in general. " Dominus, the academical title of *
a bachelor of arts, was usually rendered by Sir in English at the
universities ; therefore, as most clerical persons had taken that first ;
degree, it became usual to style them Sir'''' (Nares). Cf. "Sir
Topas " in T. N. iv. 2. 2, etc. Halliwell-Phillipps quotes the Reg-
ister of Burials at Cheltenham : " 1574, August xxxi, Sir John Evans,
curate of Cheltenham, buried."
148 Notes [Act I
2. A Star-chamber matter. Steevens quotes Jonson, Magnetic
Lady^ iii. 4 : —
" There is a court above, of the Star-chamber,
To punish routs and riots."
See also Sir John Harrington's Epigrams^ 161 8: —
" No marvel men of such a sumptuous dyet
Were brought into the Star-Chamber for a ryot."
6. Coram. This word and armigero (the ablative case of armi-
ger, bearer of arms, or esquire) occur in the form for attestations
which Slender had seen ; wherein his cousin's name would thus
appear : " Coram me Roberto Shallow armigero," etc. Slender also
confuses the word with Quorum (Clarke).
7. Custalorum. Probably a corruption of custos rotulorum^
keeper of the rolls. Ratolorum seems also to have been suggested
by roiulorum. Farmer conjectured that Slender says "and cus-
tos^' and that Shallow adds " Ay, and rotulorum too ; " but the
old reading, with its muddling of the Latin terms, is in keeping
with the characters.
12. That I do ^ etc. Farmer conjectured "we" for // but Shal-
low speaks for " his successors gone before him " as well as himself.
16. Luces. Pikes. The fish figured in the coat-of-arms of the
Lucy family, and there is quite certainly a hit here at Sir Thomas
Lucy of Charlecote, associated with the tradition of the poet's
youthful poaching exploits. Evans takes the word to refer to an-
other animal, which " signifies love," Boswell tells us, " because it
does not desert man in distress, but rather sticks more close to
him in his adversity."
22. The luce is the fresh fish, etc. An inexplicable passage.
Farmer transfers " the salt fish," etc., to Evans, and says : " Shal-
low had said just before that the coat is an old one ; and now that
it is the luce, the fresh fish. No, replies the parson, it cannot be
old and fresh too — the salt fish is an old coat."
24. Quarter. A term in heraldry for combining the arms of
Scene I] Notes , 149
another family with one's own by placing them in one of the four
compartments of the shield. This, as Shallow intimates, was often
done by marriage.
26. Marring. There is an obvious play on marrying; as in
A. W. ii. 3. 315 : "A young man married is a man that 's marr'd."
28. Py'r lady. The folios print " per-lady." They do not make
Evans's " brogue " consistent throughout, and the modern editors
generally have not attempted to do it. Probably, as Capell says
of Fluellen in Hen. V., " the poet thought it sufficient to mark his
diction a little, and in some places only."
33. Compremises. Changed by Pope to "compromises," but the
blunder is probably intentional.
35. The council. That is, " the court of Star-chamber, composed
chiefly of the king's council sitting in Camera stellata, which took
cognizance of atrocious riots" (Blackstone). Cf. 2 above.
39. Vizaments. That is, advisements (= consideration), a com-
mon word then, though not used by S. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 5.
13 : " Tempring the passion with advizement slow," etc.
46. George. The folios have " Thomas " here, but George in ii.
I. 146, 154, and V. 5. 207. The correction is due to Theobald.
47. Mistress Anne Page. Mistress was the title of unmarried
women down to the beginning of the i8th century. A MS. dated
1 716 refers to " Mistress Elizabeth Seignoret, spinster." De Foe
uses the term in this way in The Fortunes of Moll Flanders, 1722.
48. Speaks small. Cf. M. N. D. i. 2. 52: "you may speak as
small as you will," etc.
54. Motion. Move, plan. Cf. 212 below.
55. Fribbles and prabbles. Fribbles is a word of the Welshman's
own coining. Y ox prabbles (= brabbles, quarrels, as in T. N. v. i.
68: "In private brabble," etc.), cf. Fluellen's "prawls and prab-
bles" mHen. V. iv. 8.69.
57. Did her grandsire, tic. The folios give this speech and the
next but one to Slender, but the context clearly favours Capell's
transfer of them to Shallow, and the emendation is generally
150 Notes [Act I
adopted. Verplanck, however, remarks : " though they suit Shal-
low very well, yet it seems a more natural touch of humour to make
Slender, so negatively indifferent to all other matters, struck with
admiration at the legacy."
63. Possibilities. Halliwell-PhilHpps takes this to be = " pos-
sessions." A MS. in Dulwich College (of about the year 1610)
reads : " if we geete the fathers good will first, then may we bolder
spake to the datter, for my possebeletis is abel to manteyne her."
In the present passage, however, the word may refer to what she is
likely to receive from her father.
88. Fallow. Pale yellow ; the only instance of this sense in S.
He uses the adjective ( = untilled) again in Hen. V. v. 2. 44.
89. On Cotsall. That is, on the Cotswold downs in Gloucester-
shire, celebrated for coursing, for which their fine turf fitted them,
and also for other rural sports. The allusion is not in the first
sketch of the play, and is one of the little points indicating that
it was not revised until after the accession of James, in the begin-
ning of whose reign the Cotswold games were revived. Cf.
Rich. II. ii. 3. 9 and 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 23.
92. Fault. Explained by Malone and Schmidt as = misfortune,
bad luck ; as perhaps in iii. 3. 220 below. Schmidt compares Per.
iv. 2. 79.
113. But not kissed your keeper''s daughter ? Some of the critics
suppose this to be a quotation from an old ballad. Sir Walter
Scott, in Kenihvorth, suggests that it was part of the charge made
against S. by Sir Thomas Lucy.
119. In counsel. Kept secret ; with possibly a play on ft?/^;W(?/ =
secrecy. Malone quotes Howel's Proverbial Sentences : " Mum is
counsell, viz. silence."
121. Worts? "The ancient name of all the cabbage kind"
(Steevens). Cf. the modern colewort. Baret, in his Alvearie,
1580, defines worts as "all kind of hearbes that serve for the
potte."
124. Cony-catching. Thieving, cheating. Cf. i. 3. 32 below,
Scene I] Notes 151
and T. of S. v. I. 102: "Take heed lest you be cony-catched in
this business." Robert Greene published a pamphlet exposing the
" Frauds and Tricks of Coney-catchers and Couzeners."
125. They carried me . . . my pockets. This is not found in the
folio, but was suppUed by Malone from the ist quarto. That it
belongs here is evident from 151 below.
128. You Banbury cheese! A hit at the thinness of Slender,
Banbury cheese being proverbially thin. Steevens quotes Jack
Drum's Entertairwient, 1601 : "Put off your cloathes, and you are
like a Banbury cheese — nothing but paring ; " and Heywood,
Epigrams : —
" I never saw Banbury cheese thick enough,
But I have oft seen Essex cheese quick enough."
Camden, in his Britannia, speaks of Banbury as " nunc autem con-
ficiendo caseo notissimum." Holland, in his translation, 1610,
renders this : " Now the fame of this towne is for zeale, cheese, and
cakes." There is a story that Holland wrote "ale" instead of
" zeale," and that Camden, happening to see it as the sheet was
going through the press, and thinking the expression too light,
made the change ; but Camden himself contradicted this and said
that " zeale " was inserted by the compositor or printer.
130. Mephostophilus. The Mephistopheles of the legend of
Faust, to which there is another allusion in iv. 5. 70 below. There
are contemporaneous examples of the use of the word as a term
of abuse.
132. Pauca,pauca! That \s, pauca verba (few words), as in
no above. Cf. Hen. V. ii. i. 83 (Pistol's speech) : "and, pauca ;
there 's enough." Slice is probably a slang verb = cut (either in
the sense of " cut and run," be off, as Clarke explains, or of cutting
with a sword, as others make it) ; but Schmidt takes it to be a
noun, and another hit at the thin Slender.
That 's my humour. The word humour was worn threadbare in
the fashionable talk of the time, as is evident from many allusions
152 Notes [Act I
and satirical hits in contemporary literature. Steevens quotes the
following epigram from Humours Ordinarie, 1607 : —
" Aske Humours what a feather he doth weare,
It is his humour (by the Lord) he '11 sweare ;
Or what he doth with such a horse-taile locke,
Or why upon a whore he spends his stocke, —
He hath a humour doth determine so :
Why in the stop-throte fashion he doth goe,
With scarfe about his necke, hat without band, —
It is his humour. Sweet Sir, understand,
What cause his purse is so extreme distrest
That oftentimes is scarcely penny-blest ;
Only a humour. If you question, why
His tongue is ne'er unfumish'd with a lye, —
It is his humour too he doth protest :
Or why with sergeants he is so opprest,
That like to ghosts they haunt him ev'rie day ;
A rascal humour doth refuse to pay.
Object why bootes and spurres are still in season,
His humour answers, humour is his reason.
If you perceive his wits in wetting shrunke,
It cometh of a humour to be drunke.
When you behold his lookes pale, thin, and poore,
The occasion is, his humour and a whoore :
And every thing that he doth undertake.
It is a veine, for senseless humour's sake."
149. The tevil and his tarn ! We have several allusions to " the
devil's dam " in S. Cf. iv. 5. 108 belov^^.
150. // is affectations. Puttenham, in his Art of English Poesie,
1589, gives it as an example of " pleonasmus," or " too full speech "
— " as if one should say, I heard it with mine eares, and saw it with
mine eyes, as if a man could heare with his heeles, or see with his
nose." Some of the critics have taken the trouble to point out that
it is a Scriptural expression.
154. Great chamber. Hall, saloon. Cf. M, N. D. iii. i. 58:
Scene I] Notes 153
" Leave a casement of the great chamber window, where we play,
open, and the moon may shine in ; " and R. and J. i. 5. 14 : " You
are looked for . . . in the great chamber."
155. Mill-sixpences. Old English coin, first milled, or coined,
in 1 561. The groat was fourpence ; and making seven groats in
sixpences is of course an intentional blunder.
Edward shovel-boards were the broad shillings of Edward VI.,
which were generally used in playing the game of shovel-board or
shove-board. Cf. 2 Hen. I V. ii. 4. 206 : " Quoit him down . . .
like a shove-groat shilling." Nares remarks that the wisdom of
Slender is shown by his paying " two shillings and twopence " for
a smooth or well-worn shilling ; but it is possible that these old
shovel-boards commanded a premium on account of being in demand
for the game. We find allusions to their being carefully kept for
this purpose. An old shovel-board was long preserved at the Falcon
inn at Stratford (I believe it is the one now shown in the house
at New Place), which tradition says was used by S. himself.
157. Yead. An old contraction of Yedward (see I Hen. IV.
i. 2. 149) = Edward.
161. Latten bilbo. Latten was a soft alloy of copper and zinc ;
and bilbo was a name applied to a sword, from Bilboa in Spain, a
place famous for its blades. Cf. iii. 5. no below: "like a good
bilbo." Latten bilbo is a hit at Slender's cowardice, implying that
he was as weak and edgeless as a blade of latten ; with possibly the
added idea that he was as thin as a sword-blade.
162. In thy labras. Literally, in thy lips; an expression like
"in thy teeth," " in thy face," etc. The ist quarto reads here: —
" Pistol. Sir lohn, and Maister mine, I combat craue
Of this same laten bilbo. I do retort the lie
Euen in thy gorge, thy gorge, thy gorge."
Labras is a corruption of labios, the Spanish for lips; perhaps sug-
gested hy pa labras, for which see Much Ado, iii. 5. 18.
165. Be avised. Be advised = listen to reason. Cf. i. 4. 100
below.
154 Notes [Act I
1 66. Marry trap. Johnson says : " When a man was caught in
his own stratagem, I suppose the exclamation of insult was marry,
trap ! " Nares remarks that it is " apparently a kind of proverbial
exclamation, as much as to say, * By Mary, you are caught ! ' . . .
but the phrase wants further illustration." No other instance of it
has been pointed out, and the meaning can be only guessed at.
Marry was originally a mode of swearing by the Virgin Mary, but
this had doubtless come to be forgotten in the time of S.
Nut-hook vfzs "a term of reproach for a catch-pole ^^ (Johnson).
Cf. 2 Hen. IV. v. 4. 8: "Nuthook, nuthook, you lie! " Steevens
makes if you run the nuthook' s hwnour on me = " if you say I am
a thief ; " that is, as a constable might.
172. Scarlet and John. "The names of two of Robin Hood's
men ; but the humour consists in the allusion to Bardolph's red
face'' (Warburton). Cf. the ballad of Robin Hood's Delight:-^
" But I will tell you of Will Scarlet,
Little John and Robin Hood."
177. Fap. A cant term for drunk. Some have attempted to
derive it from the Latin vappa, and have assumed that Slender
recognized it as Latin ; but the origin of the word is uncertain.
That Slender should take Bardolph's fantastic dialect for Latin is a
humorous touch which the dullest of critics ought to appreciate.
178. Conclusions passed the careers. This bit of boozy rhodo-
montade has been " Greek " to the commentators, as it was Latin
to Slender, and they have worried much over the interpretation of
it. Johnson says it "means that the common bounds of good behav-
iour are overpassed," which is very like Bardolph ! To pass the
career, according to Douce, was, like rtmning a career, a techni-
cal term for " galloping a horse violently backwards and forwards,
stopping him suddenly at the end of the career'' Malone and
Schmidt think that Bardolph means to say, " and so in the end he
reeled about like a horse passing a career." Clarke suggests that
the idea is, "and their words ran high, at full gallop." Slender did
Scene I] Notes 155
not understand it ; and Daniel says " it was not meant to be under-
stood by him or anybody else."
197. Book of Songs and Sonnets. "He probably means the
Poems of Lord Surrey and others, which were very popular in the
age of Queen Elizabeth. They were printed in 1567 with this
title : * Songes and Sonnettes, written by the Right Honourable Lord
Henry Howard, late Earle of Surrey, and others.' Slender laments '
that he has not this fashionable book about him, supposing it might j
assist him in paying his addresses to Anne Page " (Malone).
199. The Book of Riddles was another popular book. Reed says
it is enumerated with others in The English Couriier, and Country
Gentlejnan, 1586. Halliwell-Phillipps gives a facsimile of the
title-page of one edition, which reads thus : " The | Booke of |
Meery. | Riddles. | Together with proper Que- | stions, and witty
Prouerbs to | make pleasant pastime, | No lesse vsefull than be-
hoouefull I for any yong man or child, to know if | he bee quick-
witted, or no. I London, | Printed by T. C. for Michael Sparke, \
dwelling in Greene-Arbor, at the | signe of the blue Bible, | 1629."
He quotes many of the riddles, and I copy a few of the shortest as
samples : —
" The li. Riddle. — My lovers will
I am content for to fulfill ;
Within this rime his name is framed ;
Tell me then how he is narried ?
Solution. — His name is William ; for in the first line is will, and in the
beginning of the second line is / am, and then put them both together,
and it maketh William.
The liv. Riddle. — How many calves tailes will reach to the skye? I
Solution. — One, if it be long enough. '
The Ixv. Riddle. — What is that, round as a ball,
Longer than Pauls steeple, weather-cocke, and all ?
Solution. — It is a round bottome of thred when it is unwound.
The Ixvii. Riddle. — What is that, that goeth thorow the wood, and \
toucheth never a twig ? Solution. — It is the blast of a home, or any \
other noyse."
iS6
Notes [Act I
For do/^om = ball of thread, see T. of S. iv. 3. 138. It will be
noted that the book was printed by Thomas Creede, who printed
the 1st quarto of M. IV. See p. 10 above.
203. Michaelmas. As All-hallowmas is almost five weeks after
Michaelmas, Theobald changed this to " Martlemas." He says :
"The simplest creatures (nay, even naturals) generally are very
precise in the knowledge of festivals, and marking how the seasons
run." This is true ; but the blunder here may nevertheless be
intentional.
212. Motiotis. Proposals. Cf. 54 above.
217. Simple though I stand here. A common phrase of the
time, of which many examples might be given ; as from The
Returne from Parnassusy 1606: "I am Stercutio, his father, sir,
simple as I stand here."
228. Parcel of the mouth. That is, part of it ; as in the phrase
"part and parcel." This sense of parcel is common in S. Cf.
2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 159 : " Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow,"
etc. ; Cor. iv. 5. 231 : "A parcel of their feast."
249. Contempt. The folios have " content ; " but Theobald was
probably right in seeing here a blundering use of the familiar prov-
erb. As Steevens points out, we have a similar misuse of contempt
in L. L. L.\. I. 191 : " Sir, the contempts thereof [that is, of the
letter] are as touching me."
251. Fall. Used by Evans iox fault.
267. Attends. Waits for; as in Rich. II. i. 3. 1 16: "Attending
but the signal to begin," etc.
271. Beholding. " Beholden " (Pope's reading, but a word never
used by S.). Cf. M. of V. i. 3. 106, A. Y. L. iv. i. 60, etc.
282. A master of fence. According to an old MS. in the British
Museum, there were three degrees in the "noble science of de-
fence," namely, a master's, a provost's, and a scholar's (Steevens).
A veney (also spelt venew, venue, etc.) was a thrust or hit in fenc-
ing. Cf. L. L. L. v. I. 62: "a quick venue of wit." Here the
dish of stewed prunes was the wager which was to be paid by him
Scene III] Notes 157
who received three hits. Malone quotes Bullokar, English Exposi-
tor, 1616 : " Venie. A touch in the body at playing with weapons ; "
and Florio, Ital. Diet. 1 598 : " Tocco. A touch or feeling. Also a
venie at fence ; a hit." The word came also to mean a bout or
turn at fencing.
291. That 's meat and drink to me. A popular phrase that has
come down to our day. Cf. A. Y. L. \, i, 11 : "It is meat and
drink to me to see a clown."
292. Sackerson. A famous bear exhibited at Paris Garden
(see Hen. VIII. v. 4. 2) in Southwark. Malone quotes an old
epigram : —
" Publius, a student of the common law,
To Paris-garden doth himself withdraw;
Leaving old Ployden, Dyer, and Broke, alone,
To see old Harry Hunkes and Sacarson."
For the bear to get loose was a serious matter. Halliwell-Phillipps
quotes Machyn's Diary for 1554: "The sam day at after-non was '
a bere-beytyn on the Bankesyde, and ther the grette blynd here
broke, losse, and in ronnyng away he chakt a servyngman by the
calff of the lege, and bytt a gret pesse away, . . . that with-in iij
days after he ded."
295. Passed. That is, passed description. Cf. iv. 2. 123 below:
" This passes." See also 7'. and C. i. 2, 182 : " all the rest so
laughed that it passed." Boswell quotes The Maid of the Mill: —
" Come, follow me, you country lasses,
And you shall see such sport as passes."
300. By cock and pie, A petty oath of the time, occurring
again in 2 Hen. IF. \. i. i. Its origin is matter of dispute.
Scene II. — 13. Seese. The folios have " cheese ; " corrected by
Dyce. See on i. i. 28 above. Cf. v. 5. 145 below.
Scene III. — 2. Bully-rook ? A favourite epithet with mine
host, and, as used by him, equivalent to plain bully. It was some-
158 Notes [Act I
times a term of reproach ( = " a hectoring, cheating sharper,"
as an old dictionary, quoted by Douce, defines it), and was often
spelt " bully-rock," as in some of the modern eds. of S.
7. / sit at ten pounds a week. My expenses are ten pounds
a week. Cf. The Man in the MooJie, etc., 1609: " they sit at an
unmerciful rent."
8. Keisar, Another form of Ccesar, added like Pheezar (a word
of the host's own coining, perhaps suggested by pheeze, for which
see T. of S. ind. i. i, and T. and C. ii. 3. 215) for the sake of the
rhyme.
9. Entertain. Take into service ; as in 53 below. Cf. Much
Ado, i. 3. 60 : " entettained for a perfumer," etc.
13. Froth and lime. Frothing beer and lifning sack, or putting
lime in it (see i Hen. IV. ii. 4. 137), were tapster's tricks in the
time of S. The frothing is said to have been done by putting soap
into the bottom of the tankard when the beer was drawn. Cot-
grave's Wits Interpreter says that the trick can be thwarted if the
customer will watch his opportunity and rub the inside of the
tankard with the skin of a red herring.
20. Hungarian. The reading of the folios. The quartos have
" Gongarian." Hungarian was a cant term for " a hungry, starved
fellow." So says Malone, who cites Hall, Satires, iv. 2 : —
" So sharp and meager that who should them see
Would sweare they lately came from Hungary."
Steevens quotes, among other illustrations of the word, Dekker,
News from Hell, 1606: "the lean-jawed Hungarian would not lay
out a penny pot of sack for himself."
22. Conceited. Fanciful, ingenious.
26. At a minimis rest. The folios have " minutes," but the pre-
ceding reference to music favours Langton's conjecture of minim^Sy
which is adopted by many of the editors. Cf. R. and J. ii. 4. 22 :
" rests me his minim rest, one, two, and the third in your bosom."
Scene III] Notes 159
28. Convey. A cant term for steal. Cf. J^ich. II. iv. I. 317,
Cymb. i. i. 63, etc.
A fico for the phrase ! That is, a fig for it. Cf. Hen. V. iii. 6.
60 : " and figo for thy friendship ! " Fico is the Italian, as jigo is
the Spanish, for fig.
31. Kibes. Chaps or sores in the heel. Cf. Temp. ii. i. 276,
Ham. V. I. 153, and Lear, i. 5. 9. For cony-catch, see on i. i. 124
above.
34. Young ravens must have food. A proverb in Ray's col-
lection.
42. Waste. Steevens remarks that the same play upon waste
and waist is found in Heywood's Epigrams, 1562 : —
" Where am I least, husband ? quoth he, in the waist ;
Which Cometh of this, thou art vengeance strait lac'd.
Where am I biggest, wife ? in the waste, quote she,
For all is waste in you, as far as I see."
He might have added that we find it again in FalstafPs own mouth,
in 2 Hen. IV. i. 2. 160 : —
" Chief-justice. Your means are very slender, and your waste is great.
Falstaff. I would it were otherwise ; I would my means were greater,
and my waist slender."
44. Carves. To carve for a person was considered a mark of
favour or affection, as is evident from C. of E. ii. 2. 120, etc. ; but
other allusions to carving in writers of the time show that the word
also meant certain gestures expressing recognition and favour.
Dyce quotes Day's lie of Gulls, 1606: "Her amorous glances are
her accusers ; . . . she carves thee at boord, and cannot sleepe for
dreaming on thee in bedde." White adds, from Overbury, A Very
Woman : " Her lightnesse gets her to swim at the top of the table,
where her wrie little finger bewraies carving ; her neighbours at the
latter end know they are welcome," etc. See also Littleton's Latin-
English Lexicon, 1675 • " -^ carver : chironomus ; " " Chironomus :
one that useth apish motions with his hands ; " " Chironomia : a
i6o Notes [Act I
kind of gesture with the hands, either in dancing, carving of meat,
or pleading." This is probably the meaning of the word here.
46. The hardest voice. The most difficult utterance, or expression.
48. Well . . . ill. The conjecture of the Cambridge editors.
The folios have " will . . . will ; " and the quartos well, omitting
what follows.
50. Anchor. Johnson could not see " what relation the anchor
has to translation ; " but as Malone suggests, Nym probably means
nothing more than that " the scheme for debauching Ford's wife is
deep."
52. Angels. The angel was an English gold coin, worth about
ten shillings. It took its name from having on one side a figure of
Michael piercing the dragon. The device is said to have originated
in Pope Gregory's pun on Angli and Angeli, and it gave rise to
many puns. See C. of E. iv. 3. 41, Much Ado, ii. 3. 35, M. of V.
ii. 7. 56, and 2 Hen. IV. i. 2. 187.
Golden Angel of Queen Elizabeth
53. Entertain. Take into your service. See on 9 above.
57. Writ me. The me is the " ethical dative," so called.
you in ii. i. 221 below.
60. CEillades. Amorous glances ; as in Lear, iv. 5. 25 : —
" She gave strange ceillades and most speaking looks
To noble Edmund."
The spelling of the word in the folios is " illiads."
Scene III] Notes 1 6 1
62. Then did the sun on dunghill shine. Holt White quotes
Lyly, Euphues : " The sun shineth upon the dunghill."
65. Intention. Probably here — intentness, or intensity.
68. Guiana. The only allusion to the country in S. Sir Walter
Raleigh had returned in 1596 from his expedition to South America
and had published glowing accounts of the great wealth of Guiana
in his book entitled " The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewti-
ful Empyre of Guiana, \\ith a relation of the great and golden Citie
of Manoa, which the Spanyards call El Dorado," etc. But long
before this, in 1569, John Hawkins had published the account of
his voyage to " the Parties of Guynea and the West Indies."
69. Cheater. Escheator ; an officer of the exchequer, whose duty
it was to collect forfeitures to the crown. Cheater was the vulgar
corruption of the name. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. ii. 4. iii.
74. Sir Pandarus of Troy. The archetype of pandars and
pimps. Cf. T. and C. i. I. 48, etc.
77. Haviour. Equivalent to behaviour, but not a contraction
of that word.
78. Tightly. " Cleverly, adroitly " (Malone) ; as in ii 3. 65
below. Cf. the adjective in A. and C. iv. 4. 15.
79. Pinnace. A small vessel, chiefly used, according to Rolfs
Diet, of Com7nerce, " as a scout for intelligence, and for landing of
men" (Malone).
83. French thrift, etc. " Falstaff says he shall imitate an economy
then practised in France of making a single page serve in lieu of a
train of attendants " (Clarke).
84. Guts ! Not so offensive a word in olden times as now. Cf.
ii. I. 30 below, Ham. iii. 4. 112, etc.
Gourds were a kind of false dice, probably with a secret cav-
ity in them, and fullams such as had been loaded. High men
and low men were cant terms for high and low numbers on dice
(Malone). Steevens quotes Dekker's Belman of London, where
among the false dice are mentioned " a bale of fullams " and " a
bale of gordes, with as many high-men as low-men for passage."
MERRY WIVES — II
1 62 Notes [Act I
86. Tester. Sixpence. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 296, the only other
instance of the word in S. ; but the verb testern (to give a tester)
occurs in T. G. of V.\.\. 153.
92. To Page. The folio has " to Ford " and " to Page " in the
next line ; corrected by Steevens from the ist quarto. That the
latter is right is evident from ii. i. 108 fol. below.
99. Yellowness is changed by Pope to "jealousies;" but as
Johnson notes, "■yellowness is jealousy." Cf. W. T. ii. 3. 107: "no
yellow in it." The revolt of mine is apparently Nym's " humour "
for my revolt ; but the commentators have changed it in various
ways to make it less fantastical.
Scene IV. — 4. An old abusing. For this colloquial use of old
as a mere intensive, cf. Macb. ii. 3. 2 : " old turning of the key ; "
M. ofV. iv. 2. 15 : " old swearing," etc.
7. Soon at night. " This very night " (Schmidt) ; as in ii. 2.
285, 288 below. Cf. M. for M. i. 4. 88, 2 Hen. IV. v. 5. 96,
etc.
A posset, according to Randle Holme, in his Academy of Armourie,
1688 (quoted by Malone in note on Macb. ii. 2. 6), is "hot milk
poured on ale or sack, having sugar, grated bisket, and eggs, with
other ingredients, boiled in it, which goes all to a curd." This
explains why the posset is often spoken of as eaten ; as in v. 5. 175
below.
8. At the latter end of a sea-coal fire. " That is, when my master
is in bed" (Johnson).
II. Breed-bate. Breeder of dispute or strife. Cf. bate-breeding
in V. and A. 655: "This sour informer, this bate-breeding spy."
See also 2 Hen. IV. ii. 4. 271 : " and breeds no bate with telling
of discreet stories."
13. Peevish. Silly, childish ; the ordinary if not the only mean-
ing in S.
21. Cain-coloured. That is, like the colour of Cain's beard and
hair in the old pictures; yellowish, or, according to some, reddish.
Scene IV] Notes 163
Pope reads " cane-coloured," that is, yellowish like cane, which is
perhaps favoured by the " kane " (twice) in the quarto.
23. Softly-sprighted. Gentle-spirited. Cf. spright — spirit, in
V. and A. 181, R. of L. 121, Macb. iv. I. 127, etc. Spirit is often
a monosyllable in S.; as in M. N. D.\\. i. i. Ham. i. i. 161, etc.
24. As tall a man of his hands. As able-bodied a man. Cf.
W. T. V. 2. 178 : " thou art a tall fellow of thy hands." Tall was
often = stout, sturdy; as in ii. i. 225 and ii. 2. 10 below.
26, A warrener. A keeper of a warren, or enclosure for birds
or beasts, especially rabbits. S. has the word only here, and warren
only in Much ^Ido, ii. i. 322 : " a lodge in a warren."
36. Shent. Rated, scolded; as in T. N, iv. 2. 112: "I am
shent for speaking to you," etc.
40. Doubt. Suspect, fear ; as often. Cf. Ham. i. 2. 256 : " I
doubt some foul play," "etc.
42. And doiun, down, etc. " To deceive her master, she sings
as if at her work " (Sir John Hawkins).
44. Un . boitier vert. The folio has unboyteane vert. Daniel
reads " une boitine verde," taking the box to be a case for instru-
ments, etc., too large for the pocket ; but cf. what Caius says in 53.
49. Horn-mad, Mad as an angry bull ; mostly used of a cuck-
old. See iii. 5. 151 below, and cf. C t?/^. ii. i. 57 : —
^' Dromio of E. Why, mistress, sure my master is horn-mad.
Adriana. Horn-mad, thou villain !
Dromio of E. • I mean not cuckold-mad;
But, sure, he is stark mad."
50. Mafoi, etc. Printed thus in the folio : " maifoy, il fait for
ehandoy le man voi a le Court la grand affair es^^
57. Jack Rugby. Alluding to the contemptuous use oi Jack ; as
in 104 below. Cf. i Hen. IV. v. 4. 143 : " if I be not Jack Falstaff,
then am I a Jack," etc.
75. Phlegmatic. Mrs. Quickly is using a word that is too much
for her. She seems to have meant choleric.
85. I'll ne'er put my finger, etc. This was a proverbial phrase
164 Notes [Act II
of the time, and is recorded by Ray, who explains it thus : " meddle
not with a quarrel voluntarily, wherein you need not be concerned."
87. Bailie, The folios have " ballow ; " and Theobald reads
« baillez."
90. Throughly. Used by S. thirteen times, thoroughly not at all.
100. Are you avised 0' that? Are you aware of that? equiva-
lent to " You may well say that." Cf. M. for M, ii. 2. 132 : " Art
avis'd o' that ?" 'See also on i. i. 165 above. It was a common
expression in that day.
122. The good-year I Generally supposed to be a corruption of
goujere, and = " Pox on 't ! " ( T. N. iii. 4. 308) ; but, according to
the New Eng. Diet, this etymology is " inadmissible," and its real
origin is unknown. It came to be used in a slightly imprecatory
way. Cf. Much Ado, i. 3. i, 2 Hen. IV. ii. 4. 64, 191, etc.
1 26. You shall have An fooVs head, etc. A play on Ann. An
and ane were broad pronunciations of one (Halliwell-Phillipps). A
fooVs head of your own was a common expression. Cf. M. N. D,
iii. I. 119: "What do you see? you see an ass-head of your own,
do you?"
132. I trow? Literally, I know or believe; but here " nearly =
I wonder" (Schmidt). Cf. ii. i. 62 below.
150. Detest. Protest, of course. Elbow makes the same blun-
der in M.for M. ii. i. 69, 75.
154. Go to. A common phrase of encouragement (as here and
in ii. I. 7 and iii. 3. 41 below), or reproof (as in Temp. v. i. 297,
etc.). Allicholy (for melancholy^ occurs again in T. G. of V. iv.
2. 27.
160. Confidence. For the blundering use (= conference), cf.
Much Ado, iii. 5. 3 and R. and J. ii. 4. 133.
ACT II
Scene I. — i . Scaped. Not a contraction of escaped, being
often used in prose.
Scene I] Notes 165
5. Physician. The folios have " precisian." Cf. Sonn. 147. 5 :
" My reason, the physician to my love."
9. Sack. "The generic name of Spanish and Canary wines"
(Schmidt). We find " Sherris sack" in 2 Hen. iv. 3. 104.
19. Herod of Jewry. Herod was a common personage in the
old dramatic mysteries, where he generally appeared as a swagger-
ing tyrant. Cf. Ham. iii. 2. 16: "it out-Herods Herod."
21. Unweighed. Inconsiderate. Cf. «ww/^2^/z/«^ (= thoughtless)
in M.for M. iii. 2. 147.
22. Flemish drunkard. The Flemish were notorious for their
intemperance. The only other reference to them in S. is in ii. 2.
304 below.
2^,. Conversation. Behaviour; as in A. and C. ii. 6. 131 :
" Octavia is of a holy, cold, and still conversation," etc. Cf.
Psabjis, xxxvii. 14, 1. 23.
27. Exhibit a bill, etc. Chalmers thought this to be " a sarcasm
on the many bills which were unadvisedly moved in the parliament
which began Nov. 5, 1605, and ended May 26, 1606."
28. Putting down of men. Many of the editors follow Theobald
in the insertion of " fat " before men ; but surely there is no suffi-
cient reason for the emendation. Cf. what Mrs. Page says in 78
below : " I will find you twenty lascivious turtles ere one chaste
man." There is the same merry extravagance here as there.
30. Puddings. Entrails were often termed puddings, and "as
sure as his guts are puddings " is still heard in the North of Eng-
land (Halliwell-Phillipps). For guts, see on i. 3. 84 above.
49. Sir Alice Ford f This was not without actual precedent.
Queen Elizabeth knighted Mary, the lady of Sir Hugh Cholmonde-
ley, "the bold lady of Cheshire." The ceremony took place at
Tilbury in 1588.
50. These knights will hack. This probably means that they will
become hackneyed, or cheap and vulgar, as Blackstone explained it.
Cf. p. 10 above. Some make hack — do mischief. Johnson wanted
to read " we '11 hack," seeing a reference to the punishment of a
1 66 Notes [Act II
recreant knight by hacking off his spurs ; and Clarke thinks that
the meaning may be " Your companion knights would hack you
from them ; and thus you would not improve your degree of rank."
52. We burn daylight. We waste time ; as is evident from the
other instance of the expression in R. and J. i. 4. 43 : —
" Mercutio. Come, we burn daylight, ho !
Romeo. Nay, that 's not so.
Mercutio. I mean, sir, in delay
We waste our lights in vain, like lamps by day."
55. Men's liking. That is, their bodily condition. Cf. i Hen.
IV. iii. 3. 6 : "I '11 repent, while I am in some liking " (that is,
while I have some flesh). See also Job, xxxix. 4 : "Their young
ones are in good liking." In Baret's Alvearie we find, " If one be
in better plight of bodie, or better liking. Si qua habitior paulo,
pugilem esse aiunt. Ter."
60. Hundredth Psalm. The folios have " hundred Psalms."
61. Green Sleeves was a popular song of a very free sort. It is
mentioned again in v. 5. 20 below.
66. Melted him in his o-ivn grease. Steevens quotes Chaucer,
C. T. 6069 : " That in his owen grese I made him frie."
76. Press. " Used ambiguously, for a press to print, and a press
to squeeze" (Johnson).
79. Turtles. That is, turtle-doves ; the emblem of chaste and
faithful love. Cf. iii. 3. 43 below.
84. Honesty. Chastity ; as in 99, ii. 2. 74, 235 below. Cf. the
adjective in i. 4. 139 above, and 163, ii. 2. 223, iv. 2. 104, etc., below.
86. Strain. Natural disposition or tendency. Cf. iii. 3. 188
below : " all of the same strain." There, however, it may be
figuratively = stock, race ; as in /. C. v. i. 59 : " the noblest of
thy strain," etc. In all these we see the common idea of some-
thing native, natural, or innate.
87. Boarded me. Cf. Much Ado, ii. i. 149 : "I would he had
boarded me ; " Ham. ii. 2. 170 : "I '11 board him presently," etc.
Scene I] Notes 167
98. Chariness. Nicety, scrupulousness ; the only instance of
the noun in S.
99. O, that my husband saw this letter ! Steevens conjectured,
" O, if my husband," etc. But, as White remarks, the speech is in
keeping with Mrs. Ford's character (cf. iii. 3. 180 below, for in-
stance), and must be ascribed to "mingled merriment and malice."
105. You are the happier woman. At first glance this seems
inconsistent with what has been said in the last note. On the con-
trary, it is in perfect keeping therewith, and thoroughly feminine
and natural.
109. Curtal. Having a docked tail ; " indicating a dog unfit
for the chase," as having an imperfect scent (Herford). Cf. C. of
E. iii. 2. 151 : "She had transform'd me to a curtal dog; " and
P. P. 273 : " My curtal dog that wont to have play'd," etc.
114. Gallimaufry. Medley, hotchpotch ; used again in W. T.
iv. 4. 335. Steevens says that " Pistol ludicrously uses it for a
woman ; " but it is rather for women in general. Falstaff, he says,
loves the whole medley of them, high and low, rich and poor, etc.
Perpend — consider ; a word used only by Pistol, Polonius, and the
clowns. Cf. A. Y. L. iii. 2. 69, T. N.v. i. 307, Ham. ii. 2. 105, etc.
116. With liver, etc. For the liver as the seat of love, cf. Tetnp.
V. I. 56, Much Ado, iv. i. 233, etc.
117. Actaoti. Cf. iii. 2. 41 below. Pingtvood \s the name of a
dog.
122. Cuckoo-birds do sing. The note of the cuckoo was sup-
posed to prognosticate cuckoldom, from the similarity in sound of
cuckoo and cuckold. Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 908 : —
" The cuckoo then on every tree
Mocks married men," etc.
See also M. N. D. iii. i. 134 and A. W. i. 3. 67.
124. Believe it. Page, etc. Johnson thought this should be given
to Nym ; but Steevens explains the old text thus : " While Pistol
is informing Ford of Falstaff' s design upon his wife, Nym is talking
1 68 Notes [Act II
aside to Page, and giving information of the like plot against him.
When Pistol has finished, he calls out to Nym to come away; but
seeing that he and Page are still in close debate, he goes off alone,
first assuring Page that he may depend on the truth of Nym's story."
139. Drawling, affecting. The words are hyphened in the ist
folio. Affecting — affected ; as in R. and J. ii. 4. 29 : " affecting
fantasticoes." It is not an instance of the active participle used
passively, for it is really affected that is used peculiarly. An affected
person is one who is given to affecting or affectation.
142. A Cataian. A " heathen Chinee ;" from Cataia, or Cathay,
the name given to China by early travellers. Cf. T. N. ii. 3. 80,
where it is similarly used as a term of reproach.
177. Lie at the Garter. That is, lodge or reside there. Cf. ii. 2.
63 below. Lay in this sense occurs rather quaintly in Holinshed,
who says of Edward Balliol after his expulsion from Scotland,
"After this he went and laie a time with the Lady of Gines,
that was his kinswoman."
1 79. Voyage. Cf. Cymb. i. 4. 1 70 : " if you make your voyage
upon her," etc.
191. Cavalero-justice. Cf. ii. 3. 74 below : " Cavalero Slender ; "
and 2 Hen. LV. v. 3. 62 : " all the cavaleros about London." The
spelling in the early eds. is Cavaleiro, Cavalerio, etc. It is, of
course, a corruption of the Spanish caballero, cavalier.
192. Good even and twenty. A free-and-easy salutation = "good
evening, and twenty of 'em ! " Cf. Eliot, Fruits for the French,
1593 '• "Good night and a thousand to every body." See also
T. N. ii. 3. 52 : " sweet-and-twenty." " Good even " is a slip on
Shallow's part, as the time of the scene is evidently in the morn-
ing. Cf. 154 above, it being remembered that the dinner hour in
the time of S. was at noon.
205. Contrary places. That is, different places for meeting, as
the sequel shows.
210. Pottle. A large tankard ; originally a measure of two
quarts. Cf. iii. 5. 29 below.
Scene I] Notes 169
212. Brook. The reading of the quartos; the folios have, as
elsewhere, "Broome." That the former is right is evident from
ii. 2. 151 below.
216. Mynheers. The early eds. have "An-heires" or "An-
hcirs ; " corrected by Theobald. Other emendations are " on,
here," " on, hearts," " on, heroes," " cavaleires," etc. " On, hearts "
is favoured, perhaps, by iii. 2. 86 below.
217. Have with you. I am with you, or I'll go with you; a
common idiom. Cf. 227 and iii. 2. 91 below.
221. You stand on distance, your passes, stoccadoes, etc. In the
time of S. duelling had been reduced to a science, and its laws laid
down with great precision. Cf. R. and J. ii. 4. 20 : " He fights as
you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance, and proportion ; rests
me his minim rest, one, two, and the third in your bosom : the
very butcher of a silk button, a duellist, a duellist ; a gentleman
of the very first house, of the first and second cause," etc. Cf.
Touchstone's ridicule of the causes of quarrel, etc., in A. Y. L. v. 4.
63 fol. The stoccado was a thrust in fencing. It is the same as
the stoccata of R. and J. iii. i. 77, the stock of ii. 3. 26 below, and
the stuck of T. N. iii. 4. 303 and Ham. iv. 7. 162.
224. Made you. The you is doubtless the colloquial expletive
pronoun ; as in i. 3. 57 above. For tall (= stout), see on i. 4. 24.
Johnson remarks here : " Before the introduction of rapiers the
swords in use were of an enormous length, and sometimes raised
with both hands. Shallow, with an old man's vanity, censures the
innovation by which lighter weapons were introduced, tells what
he could once have done with the long sword, and ridicules the
terms and rules of the rapier." The first quarto reads here : —
"I
Have scene the day, with my two hand sword
I would a made you foure tall Fencers
Scipped like Rattes."
229. Stands so firmly on his wife's frailty. Some would change
frailty to " fealty " or " fidelity ; " but Ford uses frailty because
170 Notes [Act II
he has no confidence in Mistress Page's fidelity. The meaning, as
Malone puts it, is " has such perfect confidence in his unchaste
wife."
232. Made there. Did there. Cf. iv. 2. 53 below : " But what
make you here ? " The idiom was a common one, and is played
upon in L. L. L. iv. 3. 190 and Rick. III. i. 3. 164 fol.
Scene II. — 6. Grated upon. Worried, vexed ; as in 2 Hen.
IV. iv. I. 90: "suborn'd to grate on you." For the transitive ^ra/^
in the same sense, see Ham. iii. i. 3 and A. and C.\. i. 18.
7. Coach- fellow. Companion ; commonly explained as = "a
horse drawing in the same carriage with another" (Schmidt).
8. Geminy. Couple, pair (Latin gemint) ; used by S. only
here.
11. The handle of her fan. As Steevens notes, fans were then
more costly than now, being made of ostrich feathers, set into
handles of gold, silver, ivory, etc. He quotes, among other refer-
ences to these, Marston, Satires, 1578 : —
" And buy a hoode and silver-handled fan
With fortie pound."
12. / took V upon mine konour. I protested by mine honour.
Qi.K.Jokny i. I. no: —
" And took it on his death
That this my mother's son was none of his."
\^. A skort knife and a throng! That is, for cutting purses in
a crowd. Purses, it will be remembered, were usually hung to the
girdle. Malone quotes Overbury, Characters : "The eye of this
wolf is as quick in his head as a cutpurse in a throng."
17. Pickt-hatch! A cant name for a district of bad repute in
London. Steevens quotes several references to it from Jonson and
other writers of the time. He suggests also a plausible origin for
the term. A hatch (see K. fohn, i. i. 171) was a half-door (that
is, with the lower half arranged to shut, leaving the upper half
open like a window), and this was sometimes protected by picks, ot
Scene II] Notes 171
spikes, to prevent thieves and marauders from " leaping the hatch "
{Lear, iii. 6. 76). Cf. Cupid'' s Whirligig, 1607: "Set some picks
upon your hatch, and, I pray, profess to keep a bawdy-house."
24. Lurch. Explained by Schmidt and others as = "lurk."
The only other instance of the vv^ord in S. is in Cor. ii. 2. 105 : " He
lurch'd all swords of the garland" (that is, robbed them of the
prize). Cotgrave has " Fortraire. To lurch, purloyne ; " and
Coles (Za/. Did.) renders lurch by " subduco, surripio."
25. Cat-a-mountain. The folio has " Cat-a-Mountaine-lookes."
Cf. Temp. iv. i. 262: "Than pard or cat o' mountain" ("Cat o'
Mountaine" in the folio); the only other mention of the beast
in S.
26. Red-lattice phrases. "Ale-house conversation" (Johnson).
Cf. 2 Hen. IV. ii. 2. 86: "through a red lattice." Steevens
quotes The Miseries of Inforc'd Marriage, 1607: " 't is treason
to the red lattice, enemy to the signpost." Malone cites Braith-
waite, Strapado for the Divell, 1615 : " Monsieur Bacchus, master-
gunner of the pottle-pot ordnance, prime founder of red lattices ; "
and Douce adds, from the Blacke Booke, 1604: "watched some-
times ten houres together in an ale-house, ever and anon peeping
forth, and sampling thy nose with the red Lattis."
Bold-beating. If this is not a misprint, it is = browbeating.
Hanmer's "bull-baiting" is a plausible conjecture. The Camb.
editors and many others retain bold-beating.
29. Would thou. The folio reading ; changed in most eds. to
" wouldst thou," but it is not necessary to correct Pistol's language.
48. Well, one Mistress Ford, you say, — . The folio reads
" Well, on ; Mistresse Ford, you say." The emendation is
favoured by the preceding speech.
53. God. The quarto reading ; changed to " Heaven " in the
folio, on account of the statute of 1606 against the abuse of the
name of God in plays, etc.
61. Canaries. Perhaps = quandary, though S. does not use
that word elsewhere.
1 72 Notes [Act 11
63. Lay at Windsor. "That is, resided there" (Malone).
See on ii. i. 177 above.
66. Coach after coach. See p. 10 above.
67. Rushlitig. Rustling. So alligant in the next line = elegant.
77. Pensioners. Gentlemen in the personal service of the sov-
ereign. Cf. M. N. D. ii. I. 10. In both places there is an allusion
\ to Queen Elizabeth's band of military courtiers called pensioners.
They were the handsomest and tallest young men of good family
^ that could be found.
87. Wot. Know ; used only in the present tense and the parti-
ciple wotting, for which see W. T. iii. 2. 77.
90. Frampold. Quarrelsome. The word is a rare one, but
Steevens cites examples of it from Nash, Middleton, and others.
103. Charms. That is, love-charms, or magic influences.
114. Of all loves. For love's sake; as in M. N. D. ii. 2. 154:
"Speak, of all loves! " In 0th. iii. i. 13, the ist quarto has "of
all loves," the folios " for love's sake."
118. Take all, pay all. This was a proverbial expression.
126. Nay-word. Watchword; as in v. 2. 5 below. See also
r. N. ii. 3. 146.
135. Punk. " A vessel of the small craft, employed as a carrier
(and so called) for merchants." There is a play on this sense and
the common one (= harlot).
136. Fights ! A technical term for "cloths hung round the ship
to conceal the men from the enemy" (Johnson). Steevens quotes
The Fair Maid of the West, 1615 : —
" Then now up with your fights, and let your ensigns,
Blest with St. George's cross, play with the winds."
146. And hath sent your worship, etc. As Malone notes, it was
a common custom, in the poet's time, to send presents of wine from
one room to another, either in token of friendship, or (as here)
by way of introduction to acquaintance. Cf. Merry Passages and
Feasts (Harl. MSS. 6395) : " Ben : Johnson was at a taverne, and
Scene II] Notes 173
in comes Bishoppe Corbett (but not so then) into the next roome.
Ben : Johnson calls for a quart of raw wine, gives it to the tapster :
Sirrha, says he, carry this to the gentleman in the next chamber,
and tell him, I saaifice my service to him; the fellow did so, and
in those words : Friend, sayes Dr. Corbett, I thanke him for his
love ; but pr'ythee tell hym from me, hee's mistaken, for jamfices
are allwayes ^«r«V." Corbet evidently preferred " burnt sack "
(cf. ii. I. 211 above and iii. i. 105 below), as "mine host"
seems to have done.
The morning's draught of ale, beer, wine, or spirits was a com-
mon thing in that day, as well as long before and after. It was
not until towards the end of the 17th century that the morning
cup of coffee took its place. Halliwell-Phillipps cites many refer-
ences to it ; as the following from Gratice Ludentes, 1 638 : " A
Welch minister being to preach on a Sunday, certaine merry com-
panions had got him into a celler to drink his mornings draught,
and in the meane time stole his notes out of his pocket. Hee
nothing doubting, went to the church into the pulpit, where hav-
ing ended his prayer, he mist at last his notes, wherefore hee saide ;
My good neighbours, I Iiave lost my sermon, but I will reade you ^
a chaptier in Job shall be worth two of it."
153. Via! An interjection of encouragement or exultation;
from the Italian, and literally = away ! Cf. M. of V. ii. 2. 1 1 :
" via ! says the fiend ; away ! says the fiend," etc. Florio calls it
" an adverb of encouraging much used by commanders, as also by
riders to their horses."
160. Give us leave. A courteous phrase of dismissal. Cf. K.
John, i. 1 . 230 : " James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile ? "
See also R. and J. i. 3. 7, T. G. of V. iii. i. i, etc.
165. Not to charge you. "That is, not with a purpose of put-
ting you to expense, or being burthensome" (Johnson).
168. Unseasoned. Unseasonable; as in 2 Hen. IV.\\\. i. 105:
" unseason'd hours." Daniel takes it to be = " not seasoned, not
prepared or prefaced."
174 Notes [Act II
189. Sith. Since. Cf. Ham. ii. 2. 6, etc.
197. Engrossed opportunities. That is, taken every opportunity.
201. What she would have given. That is, what sort of presents
she would like.
205. Unless experience, etc. The Cambridge ed. reads "a
jewel that I have purchased," as the 4th folio does. The earlier
folios have " a jewel, that," etc.
208. Love like a shadow, etc. As Malone remarks, this has the
air of a quotation, but it has not been proved to be such. Steevens
cites Florio's translation of some Italian verses : —
" They weep to winne, and wonne they cause to die,
Follow men flying, and men following fly ; "
and a sonnet by Queen Elizabeth : —
" My care is like my shaddowe in the sunne,
Follows me fliinge, flies when I pursue it."
Halliwell-Phillipps quotes from a song by Jonson : —
" Follow a shaddow, it still flies you ;
Seeme to flye it, it will pursue :
So court a mistris, shee denyeS you ;
Let her alone, shee will court you.
Say are not women truely, then,
Stil'd but the shaddowes of us men ? "
225. Shrewd. Evil ; the original sense of the word. Cf. A. Y. Z.
V. 4. 179: " endur'd shrewd days and nights," etc.
228. Of great admittance. Admitted to the society of great
persons. Authentic — of acknowledged standing.
229. Allo7ued. Approved. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iv. 2. 54: "I like
them all, and do allow them well."
230. Preparations. Accomplishments.
235. Amiable. Amorous, loving; as in Much Ado, iii. 3. 161:
" this amiable encounter."
247. With any detection in my hand. That is, with any evi-
dence that I had detected her in unchastity.
Scene II] Notes 175
248. Instance. Example. Cf. C. of E. iv. 3. ?>?> : " this present
instance of his rage," etc.
249. Ward, A technical term in fencing for posture of defence.
Cf. Temp. i. 2. 471 : "Come from your ward ; " i Hen. IV. ii. 4.
215 : "my old ward," etc.
251. Other her defences. Cf. Lear, i. 4. 259: "other your new
pranks," etc. For too-too, cf. M. of V. ii. 6. 42 : " too-too light,"
etc. See also quotation in note on iii. 3, 43 below.
274. Wittolly. Equivalent to cuckoldly just above. Cf. 301
below, where wittol- cuckold — " one who knows his wife's false-
hood, and is contented with it " (Malone).
280. Mechanical. Vulgar ; like a mere labourer. Cf. 2 Hen. VI.
i. 3. 196: "Base dunghill villain and mechanical! " See also/. C.
i. I. 3. It may be a question whether salt-butter is = dealing in
salt butter, or a mere huckster (as Schmidt makes it), or = too
poor to indulge in the luxury of fresh butter ; but it is probably
the latter. English people nowadays consider that only unsalted
butter is fit for the table, and wonder that Yankees often find it
insipid.
284. Predominate. An astrological term ; like predominant, for
which see W. T. i. 2. 196, A. IV. i. i. 211, etc.
286. Aggravate his style. Add to his titles (by making him a
cuckold). Style is used in the heraldic sense. Steevens quotes
Heywood, Golden Age, 161 1: "I will create lords of a greater
style."
288. Soon at night. See on i. 4. 8 above.
298. Amaimon and Barbason were devils, as the context shows.
Reginald Scot, Harsnet, and other writers of the time give us as
long lists of these "several devils' names" as Glendower bored
Hotspur with (i Hen. IV. iii. I. 154). Randle Holme, in his
Academy of Armourie (quoted by Steevens), says that " Amaymon
is the chief whose dominion is on the north part of the infernal
gulph," and that *^ Barbatos is like a Sagittarius, and hath 30
legions under him."
176 Notes [Act II
3CX). Additions. Titles. Cf. Macb. i. 3. 106, iii. i. 100, Ham, i.
4. 20, ii. I. 47, etc.
301. W itiol-cuckold. The folios have " WittoU, Cuckold," and
some modern editors follow them. See on 274 above.
305. Aqua-vitcB. Ardent spirits ; here probably = whiskey. Reed
says that Dericke, in The Image of Ireland, 1581, mentions uske-
beaghe (or usquebaugh, the same word as the modern whiskey), and
in a note explains it to mean aqua-vita.
311. Eleven o'clock the hour. " It was necessary for the plot that
he should mistake the hour, and come too late " (Mason).
Scene III. — 24. Fain. Thrust; a fencing term. Cf. Much
Ado, V. I. 84, 2 Hen. IV. ii. i. 17, etc. Traverse elsewhere is =
march ; and here it may mean " baffle by shifting place." Schmidt
thinks it is —foin. Punto (Italian = point), stock (see on ii. i. 221
above), reverse, and montant (Italian montanto, for which see Much
Ado, i. I. 30) were all technicalities of the fencing-school.
29. Heart of elder ? " In contradistinction to * heart of oak,'
elder-wood having nothing but soft pith at heart" (Clarke).
30. Bully stale. The word stale = urine ; as in A. and C. i. 4.
62 : " the stale of horses." This, like Urinal just below, is a hit
at the practice of examining the patient's water then in vogue. Cf.
2 Hen. IV. i. 2. I : " What says the doctor to my water ? "
33. Castilian. The folios have " Castalion," and the quartos
" Castallian." It may be, as Farmer suggests, " a slur upon the
Spaniards, who were held in great contempt after the business of
the Armada." There is perhaps also " an allusion to his profession,
as a viditex- caster '^ (Malone). To cast the water was the technical
term for inspecting it. Cf. Macb. v. 3. 50 : —
" If thou couldst, doctor, cast
The water of my land, find her disease," etc.
40. The hair. The grain, the nature. Cf. i Hen. IV. iv. I.
61: —
Scene I] Notes 177
" The quality and hair of our attempt
Brooks no division."
44. Bodykins. A form of swearing by God's body, or the sacra-
mental bread. Cf. Ham. ii. 2. 554 : " God's bodykins, man, much
better ! " Cf. also ^od^s heartlings in iii. 4. 58 below, ^od^s nouns in
iv. I. 24, etc.
46. Make one. That is, one of the combatants.
55. Churchman. Ecclesiastic ; as in T. N. iii. i. 4, Rich. III.
iii. 7. 48, etc.
60. Mock-water. Perhaps another hit at the urinary diagnosis.
89. Cried game ? A doubtful passage which has been variously
emended. " Cried I aim ? " (see on iii. 2. 42) is the most plausible
of these conjectures, and is adopted by several editors. Dr. Ingleby
(^Shakes. Hermeneutics, ^p. 75) remarks: "There can hardly be a
doubt that under the words Cried game, if authentic, there lurks
an allusion of the time which has now to be hunted out. If cried
game? be either Is ii cried game P or Cried I game P we apprehend
the allusion is not far to seek. In hare-hunting a person was em-
ployed and paid to find the hare, ' muzing on her meaze,' or, as we
say, in her form. He was called the hare-finder. When he had
found her, he first cried Soho ! to betray the fact to the pursuers ;
he then proceeded to put her up, and 'give her courser's law.'
What, then, can Cried I game ? mean but Did I cry game ? Did I
cry Soho ? In the play before us the pursuit was after Mistress
Anne Page. She was the hare, and the Host undertook to betray
ber whereabouts to Dr. Caius in order that he might urge his love-
suit."
93. Adversary. Advocate or accessory. The Host plays upon
the ignorance of Caius (Herford).
ACT III
Scene I. — 5. Pitty-ivard. In the direction of the pitty, prob-
ably a local name in that day, though now lost. Capell reads " city-
MERRY WIVES — 12
1 78 Notes [Act III
ward." Halliwell-Phillipps thinks it means " towards the Petty or
Little Park," as distinguished from the Park.
14. Costard. Properly a kind of apple (whence costermonger,
or costard-monger^ \ then, in cant language, the head, as being
round like an apple. Cf. L. L. L. iii. i. 71, Lear, iv. 6. 247, etc.
16. To shallow rivers, etc. This is from a poem which "William
Jaggard, when he brought out The Passionate Pilgrim in 1599,
included as one of Shakespeare's productions; but in 1600 it was
attributed to its real author, Christopher Marlowe, in the collection
of poems entitled England^ s Helicon. Jaggard was perhaps misled
by the quotation from the poem here. If so, it tends to prove that
the play was written before the publication of The Passionate Pil-
grim (Stokes). The poem is familiar, but some readers may be
glad to see it reprinted here : —
The Passionate Shepherd to his Love
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dale and field,
And all the craggy mountains yield.
There will we sit upon the rocks,
And see the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, by whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
There will I make thee beds of roses.
With a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool.
Which from our pretty lambs we pull :
Fair lined slippers for the cold.
With buckles of the purest gold ;
A belt of straw, and ivy buds.
With coral clasps and amber studs :
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
Scene I] Notes 179
Thy silver dishes for thy meat.
As precious as the gods do eat,
Shall on an ivory table be
Prepar'd each day for thee and me.
The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning ;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.
I" Jaggard's compilation, the poem vi'as accompanied by an answer
signed " Ignoto." Walton, in his Compleat Angler, has inserted
both, describing the first as " that smooth song which was made by
Kit Marlowe," and the other as " an answer to it by Sir Walter
Raleigh in his younger days." I add this also as " old-fashioned
poetry, but choicely good : " —
The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd
If that the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.
But time drives flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold,
And Philomel becometh dumb,
And all complain of cares to come ;
The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields.
A honey tongue, a heart of gall.
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.
Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies,
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.
Thy belt of straw, and ivy buds.
Thy coral clasps and amber studs, —
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.
i8o Notes [Act III
What should we talk of dainties then,
Of better meat than 's fit for men ?
These are but vain ; that 's only good
Which God hath bless'd and sent for food.
But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date and age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.
23. Whenas I sat in Pabylon. This line is from the old version
of the 137th Psalm: —
" When we did sit in Babylon,
The rivers round about,
Then, in remembrance of Sion,
The tears for grief burst out."
For whenas = when, see C. of E. iv. 4. 140, Sonn. 49. 3, etc.
24. Vagram. Cf. Much Ado, iii. 3. 26: "all vagrom men."
Johnson changes the word to " vagrant."
44. Doublet and hose. Equivalent to the modern " coat and
breeches." Cf. A. Y. L. ii. 4. 6, iii. 2. 206, 232, iv. i. 206, etc.
Here in your doublet and hose means only thus dressed, or without
a cloak.
56. So wide of his own respect. " So indifferent to his own repu-
tation."
95. Gallia. Here = Wales (Fr. Galles, ox pays des Galles).
99. Machiavel? For the allusion to the great Italian, cf.
I Hen. VI. V. 4. 74 and 3 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 193.
103. Give me thy hand, terrestrial ; so. These words are from
the quarto ; first inserted in the text by Theobald.
114. Sot. Fool (Fr. sot) ; as elsewhere in S. Cf. Temp. iii. 2.
loi, C. of E. ii. 2. 196, T. N, i. 5. 129, v. i. 202, etc.
115. Vlouting-stog. Flouting-stock, laughing-stock. Cf, iv. 5.
82 below.
118. Scall. Evans's word for ^<r«/a^ (= scabby, scurvy). Cf.
Scene II] Notes l8l
A. and C. v. 2. 21 5 : "scald rhymers," etc. CV»^"«^ = cheating.
Cf. iii. 3. 49, 72 below.
Scene II. — 17. The dickens. The one instance of the expres-
sion in S. It is rare in writers of the time. Heywood, in his
Edw. IV. 1600, has " What, the dickens ! "
32. Twelve score. That is, yards ; as in i Hen. IV. ii. 4. 598
and 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 52. As this is a short distance for a cannon,
it has been suggested that rods may be understood ; but Ford
means to make it a very easy shot, which for the guns of that day
might not be more than 720 feet. At any rate, 5J times that dis-
tance, or nearly a mile, would be too much for a point-blank shot.
40. So-seeming. Referring to modesty; not = "so specious," as
Steevens makes it.
41. Actceon. Here = cuckold ; alluding to the proverbial /^crwj.
Cf. ii. I. 117 and iii. 2. 41.
42. Cry aim. Encourage ; " an expression borrowed from
archery = to encourage the archers by crying out aitn when they
were about to shoot, and then in a general sense to applaud, to
encourage with cheers" (Schmidt). Qi. K. John, ii. i. 196; and
see also on ii. 3. 89 above.
55. Lingered. Been waiting.
67. Speaks holiday. That is, his best, his choicest language.
Warburton thought it to be = " in a high-flown, fustian style ; "
but the host means simply holiday style as distinguished from
everyday style, or that of common people. Cf. i Hen. IV. i. 3.
46: " With many holiday and lady terms; " also "high-day wit"
in M. of V. ii. 9. 98, and " festival terms " in Much Ado, v. 2. 41.
68. *Tis in his buttons. A free-and-easy expression = 't is in
him to do it, he can do it if he will. The late President Garfield
said that he never met a ragged boy without feeling that he owed
him a salute for the possibilities "buttoned up under his coat."
Some of the editors of the last century see an allusion to " a custom
among the country fellows, of trying whether they should succeed
1 82 Notes [Act III
with their mistresses, by carrying the bachelor's butlons (a plant of
the Lychnis kind, whose flowers resemble a coat button in form) in
their pockets." Steevens cites many contemporaneous references
to these bachelor's btittons.
71. Having. Possessions, property. Cf. A. Y. L. iii. 2. 396:
"Your having in beard; " T, A^. iii. 4. 379: "My having is not
much," etc.
He kept company with the wild prince, etc. This has been quoted
as evidence that Henry IV. was written before M. IV.
73. Knit a knot in his fortunes. His fortunes being now some-
what " at loose ends " on account of his loose ways.
88. Pipe-wine. There is a play upon//^^ in its double sense of
a cask and a musical instrument. It is suggested by canary, which
meant a lively dance as well as a kind of wine. Cf. A. W. ii. I.
77: —
" make you dance canary
With spritely fire and motion."
Here Falstaff is to dance to Ford's piping.
Scene IH. — 2. Buck-basket. A basket for carrying clothes to
the bucking (132 below), or washing.
14. Whitsters. Whiteners or bleachers (Fr. blanchisseuses') of
linen. The reader will bear in mind that -ster was originally a
feminine ending, though it retains that force only in spinster.
22. Eyas-musket ! Young sparrow-hawk. Eyas is properly a
nestling hawk (see Ham. ii. 2. 355), and musket (not mentioned
elsewhere by S.) is the young male hawk. Cf Spenser, F. Q.'i. ii.
34: —
" Like Eyas hauke up mounts unto the skies,
His newly-budded pineons to assay ; "
and Hymne of Heavenly Love : " Ere flitting Time could wag his
eyas wings." Izaak Walton, in his enumeration of hawks, men-
tions " the sparhawk and the musket " as the old and young birds
of the same species.
Scene III] Notes 183
27. Jack-a-Lent. A small puppet thrown at during Lent.
Steevens quotes Greeners Tu Quoque : " if a boy, that is throwing
at his Jack o' Lent, chance to hit me on the shins," etc.
42. Pumpion. Pumpkin ; the modern name being a corruption
of the old one. S. mentions it nowhere else.
43. Turtles. Turtle-doves. See on ii. i. 79 above. Jay was a
metaphor for a harlot. Cf. Cymb. iii. 4. 51 : —
" Some jay of Italy,
Whose mother was her painting, hath betray'd him."
Warburton notes that the Italian putta ( = jay) is used in the same
figurative sense.
44. Have I caught thee, etc. The beginning of the second song
in Sidney's Astrophel and Stella is
" Have I caught my heav'nly jewel!,
Teaching sleepe most faire to be ?
Now will I teach her that she
When she wakes, is too-too cruell."
49. Cog. Cheat, dissemble. See on iii. i. 118 above.
57. Beauty. The Variorum of 1821 has "bent," the quarto
reading. Malone quotes A. and C. i. 3. 36 : " Bliss in our brows'
bent."
58. Ship-tire and tire-valiant are forms of the tire, or head-dress,
of the time. Cf. Much Ado, iii. 4. 13. Venetian admittance = ad-
mitted or approved as the fashion in Venice. Cf. T. of S. ii. i. 308,
where Petruchio says he is going to Venice " To buy apparel 'gainst
the wedding-day." Halliwell-Phillipps quotes Merchant Royall,
1607: "if wee weare any thing, it must be pure Venetian, Roman,
or barbarian ; but the fashion of all must be French."
62. Traitor. "That is, to thy own merit" (Steevens). The
reading is that of the quartos ; the folios have " tyrant," and omit
By the Lord. See on ii. 2. 56 above.
63. Absolute. Perfect. Cf. Ham. v. 2. 1 1 1 : " an absolute gen-
tleman," etc.
1 84 Notes [Act in
65. Farthingale. Hooped petticoat. Cf. T. G. of V. ii. 7. 51 :
" What compass will you wear your farthingale ? " In T. of S.
iv. 3. 56, the spelling is fardingale.
66. If Fortune thy foe were not. Evidently an allusion to a
popular old song beginning " Fortune, my foe, why dost thou
frown on me ? " Nature thy friend — Nature being thy friend.
73. A many. Now obsolete, though we say a few and many a.
Cf. M. of V. iii. 5. 73, Rich. III. iii. 7. 184, etc. Tennyson uses
the expression in The Miller'' s Daughter : "They have not shed a
many tears."
75. Buckler sbury. A street in London (on the right of Cheap-
side, as one goes towards the Bank) which in the poet's time was
chiefly inhabited by druggists, who sold all kinds of simples, or
herbs, green as well as dry.
80. The Counter-gate. The Counter (cf. C. of E. iv. 2. 39,
where there may be a play on the word) was the name of two
prisons in London.
92. The arras. The tapestry hangings of the room. Steevens
remarks : " The spaces left between the walls and the wooden
frames on which arras was hung, were not more commodious to
our ancestors than to the authors of their ancient dramatic pieces.
Borachio in Much Ado and Polonius in Hamlet also avail them-
selves of this convenient recess."
loi. To your husband. Cf. T. G. of V. iii. i. 84 : "I have
thee to my tutor," etc.
123. I had rather than a thousand pound. Cf. i. I. 178 above:
" I had rather than forty shillings," etc. Had rather is good old
English of which would rather is merely a " modern improvement."
127. Conveyance. In the general sense of "means of getting
him out of the way" (as in Rich. III. iv. 4. 283), not referring to
the basket, which she sees a moment later.
132. Whiting-time. Bleaching- time. This, as Holt White
notes, was spring, the season when " maidens bleach their summer
smocks " (Z. L. L. v. 2. 916).
Scene III] Notes 185
141. / love thee. Malone adds (from the quarto) " and none
but thee," which he assumes to be spoken to Mrs, Page aside.
148. Co7vl-staff. A pole on which a tub or basket was borne
between two persons. Malone says that in Essex a large tub is
called a cowl^ and Halliwell-Phillipps {Archaic Diet.) gives coul
with that sense. Florio has **Bicollo, a cowle-staffe to carie behind
and before with, as they use in Italy to carie two buckets at
once ; " and Cotgrave defines courge as " stang, palestaffe, or cole-
staffe, carried on the shoulder, and notched (for the hanging of a
pale, &c.) at both ends." Drumble = move sluggishly, " dawdle ; "
still used in the West of England. S. has the word only here.
157. Vou were best meddle. Originally the pronoun was dative :
" it were best for you ; " but it came to be regarded as the
nominative. Cf. A. Y. L. i. I. 154 : "thou wert best look to it,"
etc.
159. Wash myself of the buck. That is, rid myself of the horns
of the cuckold.
161. Of the season. In season; a technical term. Cf.' unsea-
sonable in R. of L. 581.
163. To-night. Last night ; as often. Cf. M. of V. ii. 5. 18 :
" For I did dream of money-bags to-night," etc,
167. Uncape. Probably = " uncouple," which Hanmer sub-
stituted. Warburton explains it as = " unearth," and Steevens as
= " to turn the fox out of the bag." S. uses the word only here.
188. Strain. See on ii. i. 86 above.
195. Foolish carrion. The ist folio has " foolishion Carion ; "
apparently an example of that variety of " duplicative " misprints,
as Dr. Ingleby calls them {Shakes. Hermeneutics, p, 36), in which
the ending of the next word is anticipated in the one we are writ-
ing or putting in type.i
1 Like " excellence sense," for " excellent sense," a misprint in Dr.
Ingleby's S. the Man and the Book, Part II. (p. 31) which, on my point-
ing it out to him, he called " a capital example " of this class of mistakes.
1 86 Notes [Act III
Scene IV. — Mr. P. A. Daniel remarks : " The time of this
scene is singularly elastic. It is prior to, concurrent with, and sub-
sequent to the preceding scene : prior to in the interview between
Fenton and Anne ; concurrent with in the arrival of Shallow and
Slender, who left the company in sc. ii. to come here, while the
rest of the company went on to Ford's house ; subsequent to in the
return home of Page and his wife from the dinner at Ford's house,
with which sc. iii. is supposed to end. And Mrs. Quickly ? In
modern editions Mrs. Quickly arrives on the scene with Shallow
and Slender ; but there is no authority for this or any other of the
entries in this scene in the folio. The scene — and so it is with all
the scenes throughout the play — is merely headed with a list of
the actors who appear in it : the special time at which they enter
is not marked."
8. Societies. Cf. companies in Hen. V. i. I. 55 : " His com-
panies unlettered, rude, and shallow."
10. A property. Ci. J. C. iv. i. 40 ; —
" Do not talk of him
But as a property."
16. Stamps. Coins ; as in Cymb. v. 4. 24 ; " 'Tween man and
man they weigh not every stamp," etc.
20. Opportunity. That is, taking advantage of the opportune
time for appealing to him.
24. / '// make a shaft or a bolt on V. " A proverbial phrase,
signifying * I '11 do it either cleverly or clumsily,' ' hit or miss,' the
shaft being a sharp arrow used by skilful archers, the bolt a blunt
one employed merely to shoot birds with" (Clarke). Qi. fooVs
bolt in A. V. L. v. 4. 67 and Hen. V. iii. 7. 132. See also bird-
bolt in Much Ado, i. i. 42, etc. ^Slid is = God's lid ; an oath of
the same class as I have noted on ii. 3. 44 above.
46. Cotne ctct and long-tail. <' A proverbial expression = * what-
ever kind may come ; ' cut and long-tail referring to dogs and
horses with docked or undocked tails. The characteristic way in
Scene V] Notes 187
which this bumpkin squire interlards his speech with illustrations
borrowed from the stud and the kennel, from country sports and
pursuits, is worth observing" (Clarke).
58. ^Od''s heartlings. See on ii. 3. 44 above.
67. Happy 7nan be his dole! Happiness be his lot! Cf. T. of S.
i. I. 144, I Hen. IV. ii. 2. 81, etc. For dole (literally = dealing,
distribution), cf. 2 Hen. IV. i. 169 : " in the dole of blows ; " and
A. W. ii. 3. 76 : " what dole of honour." The word is still a
familiar one in England for a charitable allowance of provision to
the poor.
74. hfipatient. Metrically a quadrisyllable. Cf. submission in
iv. 4. II.
84. Advance the colours of my love. For the metaphor, cf. R. and
J. V. 3. 96 : ** And death's pale flag is not advanced there."
89. Quick. Alive ; as in Ha7n. v. i. 137 : " 't is for the dead, and
not the quick," etc. See also Acts, x. 42, 2 Timothy, iv. i, Hebrews,
iv. 12, etc.
On the passage, Collins compares Jonson, Barthol. Fair : " Would
I had been set in the ground, all but the head of me, and had my
brains bowled at."
99. A fool and a physician ? Hanmer changes and to " or ; "
but, as Qarke notes, it is just in Mrs. Quickly's blundering way to
couple the two suitors by and instead of or.
102. Once to-night. Some time to-night. *
1 14. Slack. Neglect ; as in Lear, ii. 4. 248 and 0th. iv. 3. 88.
Scene V. — There is a strange confusion of time in this scene,
which Mr. P. A. Daniel states thus : " We find Falstaff calling for
sack to qualify the cold water he had swallowed when slighted into
the river from the buck-basket. One would naturally suppose that
the time of this scene must be the afternoon of the day of that
adventure, and, indeed, it can be but a little later than the time of
the preceding-scene ; but lo ! when Mrs. Quickly enters with the
invitation for * to-morrow, eight o'clock,' she gives his worship good
1 88 Notes [Act III
morrow [= good morning] ; tells him that Ford goes this morning
a-birding, and that Mrs. Ford desires him to come to her once more,
between eight and jiine. As Mrs. Quickly departs, Falstaff re-
marks, * I marvel I hear not of Master Brook ; he sent me word to
stay within : I like his money well. O, here he comes.' And Ford
(as Brook), who was to have visited Falstaff 'soon at night' after
the adventure which ended with the buck-basket, makes his appear-
ance to learn the result of the first interview, and to be told of the
second, which is just about to take place. ' Her husband,' says Fal-
staff, * is this morning gone a-birding : I have received from her
another embassy of meeting ; 'twixt eight and nine is the hour. Mas-
ter Brook.' * ^T is past eight already, sir,' says Ford ; and Falstaff
replies, • Is it ? I will then address me to my appointment,' and so
he goes out, and Ford follows, confident this time of taking him in
his house."
Herford suggests that the scene " has probably been put together
out of two scenes, separated by a night's interval, in the original
version ; " but if S. wrote the play in a fortnight (see p. 12 above)
the confusion here and elsewhere may be due to haste in composi-
tion.
9. Slighted me. "Threw me heedlessly " (Schmidt).
11. A blind bitch'' s puppies. Hanmer made it read "a bitch's
blind puppies ; " but the mistake may be intentional, as being in
keeping with Falstaff's state of mind at the time.
26. Cry you mercy. Beg your pardon ; as in Much Ado, i. 2. 26,
etc. In 0th. v. i. 93 we find " I cry you gentle pardon."
28. Chalices. Cups ; those in which the wine ordered in 3 above
had been served (Clarke).
29. Y ox pottle (see on ii. i. 210) White reads "posset;" but
brew may be used jocosely. Simple of itself SQevas to imply that he
wanted plain sack — unless, perchance, possets were sometimes
made without eggs. All the old recipes that I have seen include
the pullet-sperm. The following, for instance, is quoted by Staun-
ton from A True Gentleman^ s Delight : "To Make a Sack-Posset.
Scene V] Notes 189
— Take Two Quarts of pure good Cream, and a Quarter of a Pound
of the best Almonds. Stamp them in the Cream and boyl, with
Amber and Musk therein. Then take a Pint of Sack in a basin,
and set it on a Chafing-dish, till it be blood-warm ; then take the
Yolks of Twelve Eggs, with Four of their Whites, and beat them
well together ; and so put the Eggs into the Sack. Then stir all
together over the coals, till it is all as thick as you would have it.
If you now take some Amber and Musk, and grind the same quite
small, with sugar, and strew this on the top of your Possit, I prom-
ise you that it shall have a most delicate and pleasant taste." An-
other receipt, given by the same editor, allows " eggs just ten " to a
pint of sack, with the other " ingrediencies."
44. Yearn your heart. Grieve you. Cf. Rich. II. v. 5. 76 : "O,
how it yearn'd my heart," etc. The verb is used intransitively in
the same sense ; as in /. C. ii. 2. 129, Hen. V. ii. 3. 3, etc.
67. Sped you, sir ? Had you good luck ? Were you successful ?
Cf. K.John, iv. 2. 141, Cymb. v. 4. 190, etc.
71. Peaking Cornuto. Sneaking cuckold. For peak, cf. Ham.
ii. 2. 594 : —
" Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause."
Cornuto (used by S. only here) is evidently formed from the Latin
cornu, horn. Halliwell-Phillipps quotes Witts Recreations : " Cor-
nuto is not jealous of his wife ; " and Gallantry h la Mode, 1674 :
" When my cornuto goes from home."
73. Larum. Alarum (but not to be printed as that word con-
tracted), or alarm.
86. Distraction. Changed by Hanmer to " direction ; " but
Falstaff ascribes the trick to Mrs. Page's invention at a time when
Mrs. Ford was in a state of helpless distraction.
91. That. So that ; as often.
108. Several. Separate ; as in v. 5. 63 below. Cf. Temp. iii. I.
42, W. T. i. 2. 438, etc.
190 Notes [Act IV
109. With. By ; as often.
no. Bilbo. Spanish blade. See on i. i. 161 above. It was
said that the best of these blades could be bent so as to bring hilt
and point together without breaking.
1 23. In good sadness. In all seriousness ; as in iv. 2. 90 below.
For sad= serious, see Much Ado, i. i. 185 : "Speak you this with
a sad brow ? " W. T. iv. 4. 316 : " in sad talk," etc.
132. Address me to. Prepare myself for. Cf. Macb. ii. 2. 24,
Ham. i. 2. 216, etc.
151. Horn-mad. See on i. 4. 49 above.
ACT IV
Scene I. — 24. ^Od^s nouns. A petty oath. See on ii. 3. 44
above. Mrs. Quickly confounds '<?^and odd.
45. Hinc. Changed by Halliwell-Phillipps to " hunc ; " but the
next speech seems to imply that William has made a mistake.
There the folios have " hing " for hung, but we are not to suppose
that the pedagogue would blunder in declining a familiar pro-
noun. Perhaps we should point " Hinc, — " It is possible, of
course, that it ought to be " Hunc," the mistake being in his
inability to give the other two forms.
48. Hang-hog is Latin for bacon. Knight remarks: "This joke
is in all probability derived from the traditionary anecdote of Sir
Nicholas Bacon, which is told by Lord Bacon in his Apophthegms :
' Sir Nicholas Bacon being judge of the Northern Circuit, when he
came to pass sentence upon the malefactors, was by one of them
mightily importuned to save his Hfe. When nothing he had said
would avail, he at length desired his mercy on account of kindred.
Prithee, said my lord, how came that in ? Why if it please you,
my lord, your name is Bacon and mine is Hog, and in all ages
Hog and Bacon are so near kindred that they are not to be sepa-
rated. Ay but, replied the judge, you and I cannot be of kindred
Scene II] Notes 191
unless you be hanged; for Hog is not Bacon till it be well
hang'd.' "
65. Hick. The dame evidently takes hie to be a verb, like
hack, but what meaning she ascribes to it is not clear. The only
hick given in the Neiv Eng. Diet, is = hiccup.
78. Preeches. That is, breeched, or flogged. Cf. T. of S. iii. I.
18: "I am no breeching scholar in the schools."
81. Sprag, Sprack ; that is, quick, ready. S. has the word
only here. Coles, in his Latin Diet., has " Sprack, vegetus, vivi-
dus, agilis." Steevens quotes Tony Aston's supplement to the Life
of Colley Gibber: "a little lively sprack man." Sprag is Sir
Hugh's mispronunciation.
Scene II. — i. Your sorrow, etc. My sufferings are dissipated
at the sight of your regret. For sufferance = suffering, cf. Much
Ado, v. I. 38, etc.
2. Obsequious. Zealous, devoted. Cf. M. for M. ii. 4. 28 : " in
obsequious fondness," etc.
21. Lunes. Lunatic freaks, mad fancies. Cf. W. T. ii. 2. 30:
" These dangerous unsafe' lunes i' the king, beshrew them ! " In
the present passage the folios have " lines," as in T. and C. ii. 3.
139 : " His pettish lunes."
24. Peer out, peer out! Henley remarks: " S. here refers to
the practice of children, when they call on a snail to push forth his
horns : —
' Peer out, peer out, peer out of your hole,
Or else I '11 beat you black as coal.' "
46. Bestow him. Put him. Cf. Temp. v. i. 299: "Hence,
and bestow your luggage where you found it," etc.
51. Pistols. Douce and others note the anachronism here.
Cf. I Hen, IV. ii. 4. 380, v. 3. 53, etc.
57. Creep into the kiln-hole. Malone suspected from Mrs.
Ford's next speech that these words belong to Mrs. Page ; but, as
he adds, " that may be a second thought, a correction of her former
192 Notes [Act IV
proposal." Some editors, however, transfer the sentence to Mrs.
Page.
61. Abstract. Memorandum ; the only instance of this sense
inS.
74. The fat woman of Brentford. T^he quarto has " Gillian of
Brainford," who was a notorious character of the middle of the
1 6th century. In revising the play S. chose to make the allusion
less definite. All the early eds. have " Brainford " here and else-
where.
77. Thrumtned hat. That is, a hat made of thrutns, or the ends
of a weaver's warp. Cf. M. N. D. \. i. 2gi: " cut thread and
thrum." See also Elyot, Diet. 1559 : " Bardo cucullus, a thrummed
hatte ; " Florio, 1598 : " Bernasso, a thrumbed hat ; " and Minsheu :
" A thrummed hat, une cappe de biar."
80. Zooh. Look up, look for. Cf. A. Y. L. ii. 5. 34: "to look
you," etc.
102. Misuse him. The ist folio omits him, which the 2d supplies.
105. Do not act, etc. Do not actually do what in jest we may
pretend to do.
106. Still swine, eic. Cf. Yates, Castell of Courtesie, \^^2: "a
proverbe olde in Englande here, the still sowq eats the draffe."
119. Ging. Gang, pack; used by S. only here. Steevens
cites examples of the word from Jonson, New Inn and Alcheftiist,
and from Milton, Smectymnus.
123. Passes. See on i. i. 295 above.
150. Pluck me, etc. For the me, see on i. 3. 57 and ii. i. 224
above.
155. This wrongs you. "This is below your character, un-
worthy of your understanding, injurious to your honour " (Johnson).
162. Show no colour, etc. That is, if I show no reason for the
extreme course I take. I believe that it is closely connected with
what precedes ; but the folio and some modern eds. end the sen-
tence at extremity, making this clause imperative = suggest no
excuse for my conduct.
Scene III] Notes 1 93
165. Leman. Lover, paramour. In the other instances of the
word in S. ( T. N. ii. 3. 26 and 2 Hen. IV. v. 3. 49) it is feminine.
178. Daubery. Imposture, trickery; literally daubing with
false colours. Cf. the use of daub in Rich. III. iii. 5. 29 and Lear^
iv. I. 53. By the figure apparently refers to some form of fortune-
telling in which diagrams were used.
187. Ronyon ! A scabby or mangy woman. The word occurs
again in Macb. i. 3. 6 : " rump-fed ronyon."
199. Cry out thus upon no trail. "The expression is taken
from the hunters. Trail is the scent left by the passage of the
game ; to cry out is to open or bark^^ (Johnson). Cf. Ham. iv. 5.
109: —
" Hov/ cheerfully on the false trail they cry !
O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs ! "
212. In fee-simple, with fine and recovery. Ritson remarks:
" Our author had been long enough in an attorney's office to learn
ihdX fee-simple is the largest estate, zxi^fine and recovery the strong-
est assurance, known to English law." For fee-simple, cf. A. W.
iv. 3. 312: " Sir, for a quart d'ecu he will sell the fee simple of
his salvation," etc. For fine and recovery, cf. Haiti, v. i . 114:
*' his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries," etc.
213. He will never, I think, etc. "He will not make further
attempts to ruin us, by corrupting our virtue, and destroying our
reputation" (Steevens).
218. Figures. Fancies. Schmidt compares/. C. ii. i. 231 : —
" Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies,
Which busy care draws in the brains of mfen."
223. No period. "No due conclusion" (Clarke). White puts
a period Siher jest, making what follows a question.
Scene III. — i. The Germans. Some of the commentators see
here an allusion to the visit of Count Frederick of Mompelgard
(afterwards Duke of Wiirtemberg and Teck) to Windsor in 1592,
MERRY WIVES — 1 3
194 Notes [Act IV
and to the fact that free post-horses were granted him through
a pass of Lord Howard's. See also on iv. 5. 70 below. -
II. Come off. " Come down with the cash," pay for it. Steevens
and Farmer quote many examples of the expression from Massinger,
Dekker, Heywood, Jonson, and other dramatists of the time. It
occurs also in Chaucer, C. T. 338.
Scene IV. — 7. With cold.. Of coldness. We still say "charge
with coldness," etc.
II. Extreme. S. accents the word on either syllable; on the
first chiefly when preceding the noun. Cf. R. of L. 230, T. G. of
V. ii. 7. 22, L. L. L. V. 2. 750, etc. Submission is a quadrisyllable.
32. Takes. Bewitches. Cf. Ham. i. i. 163: "No fairy takes,
nor witch hath power to harm; " Lear^ iii. 4. 61 : " star -blasting
and taking," etc.
35. Spirit. Monosyllabic; as often. See on i. 4. 23 above.
36. Eld. Here apparently = people of the olden time.
43. Disguised like Heme, etc. This line is not in the folios ;
supplied by Theobald from the ist quarto. He also inserted the
preceding line of the quarto, " We '11 send him word to meet us in
the field ; " but, as Malone notes, this is clearly unnecessary, and
indeed improper, as y?^/^ relates to what goes before in the quarto : —
" Now for that Yalstaffe hath bene so deceiued,
As that he dares not venture to the house,
Weele send him word to meet vs in the field,
Disguised like Home, with huge horns on his head."
The last line is required by in this shape in the next speech.
50. Urchins. Mischievous elves ; probably so called because
they sometimes took the form of urchins, or hedgehogs. Cf. Temp.
i. 2. 326 with Id. ii. 2. 10. Ouphes were a kind of elves ; men-
tioned again in v. 5. 54 below.
55. Diffused. Confused, wild, irregular. Cf. Hen. V. v. 2. 61 :
" diffus'd attire " (where the early eds. have " defused," as in Rich,
III. i. 2. 78 and Lear, i. 4. 2).
Scene V] Notes 1 95
58. To-pinch. The editors generally adopt Tyrwhitt's sugges-
tion that to here is the intensive particle often found prefixed to
verbs in old English, but nearly obsolete in the time of S. Stee-
vens quotes Holland's Pliny : " shee againe to be quit with them,
will all to-pinch and nip both the fox and her cubs." The all is
often thus associated with it, and in some cases the to is to be
joined to the all (= altogether), rather than to the verb. In
Judges^ ix. 53, we find "all to brake," which some make = " all
to-brake," and others = " all-to brake." In the present passage,
it is possible that the to is the ordinary infinitive prefix, used with
the second of two verbs, though omitted with the first.
71. Vizards. Visors, or masks. Cf. vizarded m iv. 6. 40 below.
74. Time. Changes have been made here ; but, time may refer
to the time of the masque with which Falstaff is to be entertained,
and which is the subject of this dialogue.
79. Properties. In the theatrical sense of stage requisites. Cf.
M. N. D. i. 2. 108 : "I will draw a bill of properties such as our
play wants." Tricking = dresses, ornaments.
84. Send quickly, Theobald suggested that this should be
"Send Quickly," and Daniel adopts that reading.
Scene V. — i . Thick-skin ? Cf. M. N. D. iii. 2. 13 : " The shal-
lowest thick-skin of that barren sort."
7. Standing-bed and truckle-bed. The truckle-bed or trundle-bed
(as fifty years ago it was called in New England) was a low bed
which could be put under the standing-bed, or ordinary bedstead.
The master lay in the latter, and the servant in the former. John-
son quotes Hall's Servile Tutor : —
" He lieth in the truckle-bed,
While his young master lieth o'er his head ; "
and Steevens adds The Return from Parnassus : " When I lay in
a trundle-bed under my tutor." The 1st quarto has " trundle bed "
here.
196 Notes [Act IV
Painted about^ etc. The hangings of beds, as of rooms, were
often painted or embroidered with Scripture stories. Cf. i Hen.
IV. iv. 2. 28 : " ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth ; " and
Randolph, Muse's Looking- Glass, iii. i : —
" Then for the painting, I bethink myself
That I have seen in Mother Redcap's hall,
In painted cloth, the story of the Prodigal."
9. Anthropophaginian. Man-eater, cannibal. "The Host en-
larges even his usual style of grandiloquence to astound and over-
awe Simple" (Clarke). "We find Anthropophagi in 0th. i. 3. 144.
18. Ephesian, A cant term of the time = "jolly companion."
It occurs again in 2 Hen. IV. ii. 2. 164. Cf. Corinthian in i Hen.
IV. ii. 4. 13: "a Corinthian, a lad of mettle."
26. Wise woman. Fortune-teller, or witch. Cf. 103 below.
Hey wood's Wise Woman of Hogsden has such a character for its
heroine. Cf. T. N. iii. 4. 1 14 : " Carry his water to the wise woman."
Steevens refers to Judges, v. 29.
28. Mussel-shell. " He calls poor Simple mussel-shell because
he stands with his mouth open" (Johnson).
31. Thorough. Used interchangeably with through, even in
prose. See on throughly, i. 4. 90 above.
44,45. Conceal. Farmer would "correct" this into "reveal."
The Host repeats the blunder for the joke of the thing.
54. Like who more bold. That is, like the boldest. Daniel and
some other editors adopt Farmer's conjecture of "Ay, Sir Tike,
who," etc. Tike (= cur) was often used as a term of contempt ;
as in Hen. F. ii. i. 31 : " Base tike, callest thou me host ? "
57. Clerkly. Scholarly, learned ; the only instance of the word
in S. Cf. clerklike in W. T. i. 2. 392.
61. But was paid, etc. For the play on paid (= punished), cf.
Cymb. V. 4. 166 : " sorry you have paid too much, and sorry that you
are paid too much."
69. Slough. Stokes thinks the word should be printed with a
Scene VI] Notes 197
capital, as including " a local allusion as well as a pun " {Slough is
the name of a town near Windsor) ; but this is doubtful.
70. Doctor Faustuses. Marlowe's play, Doctor Faustus, on the
subject had already made the name familiar.
79. Cozen-germans. The blundering play on cousin-german is
obvious. The ist quarto reads: —
" For there is three sorts of cosen garmombles,
Ij cosen all the Host of Maidenhead & Readings."
The " garmombles " seems to be an intentional inversion of Mb'm-
pelgard. See on iv. 3. i above. This reference to the visit of the
Germans has led some critics to date the first draft of the play in
1592; but, as Dowden remarks, the inference is unwarrantable,
" for such an event would be remembered, and the more so because
of the Duke's subsequent unavailing attempt [in 1595] to obtain
the honour of the Garter."
100. Liquor fishermen'' s boots. Cf. i Hen. IV. ii. i. 94. Halli-
well-Phillipps quotes Walk Knaves Walk, 1659: "They are people
who will not put on a boot which is not as well liquored as them-
selves."
102. As a dried pear. " Pears, when they are dried, become
flat, and lose the erect and oblong form that distinguishes them
from apples" (Steevens).
103. Primero. The fashionable game at cards in the poet's
time. Cf. Hen. VIII. v. I. 7, the only other mention of it in S.
108. His dam. See on i. i. 149 above.
Scene VI. — 14. Larded. Garnished, or mingled. Cf. Ham.
iv. 5. 37 : " Larded with sweet flowers."
20. Present. Represent, play the part of. See M. N. D. iii. i.
62, 69, iii. 2. 14, V. I. 132, etc.
21. Is here. That is, in the letter.
22. While other jests, etc. " While they are hotly pursuing other
merriment of their own" (Steevens).
198
Notes [Act V
41. Quaint. Fine, elegant. Cf. its use of feminine dress in
T. of S. iv. 3. 102 and Much Ado, iii. 4. 22.
52. Husband your device. That is, carry it out. Cf. T, of S.
ind. I. 68 : —
" It will be pastime passing excellent,
If it be husbanded with modesty."
ACT V
Scene I. — i. / V/ hold. I '11 keep the engagement. Palsgrave
has: " I holde it, as we say when we make a bargen,y> le tiensP
3. There 's divinity in odd numbers. Steevens quotes Virgil,
Eel. viii. 75 : " numero deus impare gaudet " (the god delights in
an odd number).
9. Mince. Here = be off, go ; literally = to walk with small
steps or affectedly. Cf. M. of V. iii. 4. 67 : —
" and turn two mincing steps
Into a manly stride."
14. Went you not, etc. Daniel remarks: "The plot, as we have
seen [see on iii. 5. i above] is hopelessly entangled already, but
Ford now puts the finishing touch to it. Referring to the second
meeting, which took place on the morning of the very day on which
he is speaking, he asks Falstaff, 'Went you not, to her yesterday,
sir, as you told me you had appointed ? ' and Falstaff is not sur-
prised, but gives him an account of the cudgelling he had received,
as Mother Prat, on the morning of the day on which the question
is asked."
24. Life is a shuttle. Falstaff has in mind fob, vii. 6.
26. Plucked geese. Pulling the feathers from a live goose was
then a boyish piece of mischief. See my Shakespeare the Boy,
p. 132.
Scene II. — i. Couch. Hide. Cf. Much Ado, iii. i. 30, etc.
5. Nay-word. See on ii. 2. 126 above.
Scene V] Notes 1 99
6. Mum . . . budget. Halliwell-Phillipps quotes, among other
illustrations of the combination, Cotgrave, Fr. Did. : " Avoir le
bee gele, to play mumbudget, to be tongue-tyed, to say never a
word ; " and Ulysses upon Ajax, 1596: " Mum budget, not a word."
Scene III. — 19. Amazed. Bewildered, confused. Cf. v. 5. 227
below. See also iii. 3. 119 above.
23. Lewdsters. Used by S. only here. It would properly be
feminine. See on whitsters, iii. 3. 14 above.
The couplet is really a "tag" (see p. 144 above), though a line
is added.
Scene V. — 18. Scut. Strictly = the tail of a hare or rabbit, but
sometimes applied as here to that of other animals. S. has the
word only here.
20. Green Sleeves. See on ii. i. 61 above.
Kissing-comjits. Sugar-plums used to sweeten the breath. Cf.
W. T. iv. 4. 163: "To mend her kissing with."
Eringoes. The plant known as the " sea-holly ; " popularly sup-
posed to have aphrodisiac properties, as potatoes (the sweet potato)
also were, on their first introduction into England.
25. Bribed buck. Halliwell-Phillipps says that bribed = stolen.
He quotes Palsgrave : " I bribe, I pull, I pyll " ( = pillage, as in
Rich. III. i. 3. 159, etc.). Schmidt explains bribed as = sent as a
bribe or present. Singer says : " A bribed buck was a buck cut up
to be given away in portions. Bribes in old French were portions
or fragments of meat which were given away."
27. The fellozu of this walk. The keeper of this division of the
forest. The shoulders of the deer were a part of his perquisites.
Holinshed (quoted by Steevens) says : " The keeper by a custom
. . . hath the skin, head, umbles, chine, and shoulders."
28. Woodman. A hunter ; often used in a wanton sense. Cf.
M. for M. iv. 3. 170: "he is a better woodman than thou takest
him for."
39. The stage-direction of the folio is simply " Enter Fairies ; "
200 Notes [Act V
but " QuV and " ^m." are prefixed to the speeches of the Fairy
Queen that follow, and " PisV to those of Hobgoblin. From this
it has been assumed by some of the editors that Mistress Quickly
and Pistol are the persons who take these parts. But, as Malone
remarks, they are ill suited to the parts, and are not mentioned in
the arrangements for the masque in iv. 6 above. It is probable
that their names were introduced here by some mistake. The
* Qui'^ may be a slip for Qu. =:: Queen, not Quickly ; and ^^ PuV
may be accounted for, either by supposing, as Capell did, that the
same actor who represented Pistol took also the role of Hobgoblin,
or that, as Mr. Fleay believes (^Literary World, June 19, 1880,
p. 216), *^ Pisty is a mistaken reading of P. or Puc. for Puck.
It may be noted, incidentally, that " /"«<:," and " QuJ^ some-
times occur as prefixes to speeches by Hobgoblin and Titania in
M. N. D. In the quarto the stage-direction has " Enter . . . f;tis-
tresse Quickly, like the Queene of Fayries,"" and the prefix to her
speeches is " QuicP or " QuickC In the revision of the play this
scene was entirely rewritten and much extended ; and the part of
the fairy queen was transferred from Mrs. Quickly to Anne Page,
who in the earlier sketch was to be merely " like a little Fayrie."
White takes the ground that the part assigned to Anne in iv. 6
was transferred to Mrs. Quickly in carrying out the plot of Fenton
and Anne to deceive the old folks. He says : " the determination
of Page and Mrs. Page that their daughter should play the fairy
queen is exactly the reason why she did 7iot play it ; for, as she
assures her lover in her letter, she meant to deceive both, and
she did so. She, Fenton, and Mrs. Quickly arranged that matter
easily ; and she neither wore green or white, nor played the fairy
queen." The Cambridge editors also suggest that Mrs. Quickly
" may have agreed to take Anne's part to facilitate her escape with
Fenton ; " but this seems less probable than that a prefix in the
folio was misprinted.
41. Orphan heirs of fixed destiny. " Beings created orphans by
fate ; in allusion to supposed spontaneous and ex-natural births,
Scene V] Notes 20 1
such as Merlin's, and others of his stamp, holding place in popular
superstition, who were believed to have been born without father "
(Clarke). Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iv. 4. 122: "Unfather'd heirs, and
loathly births of nature." Warburton asks " Why orphan heirs ?
Destiny, to whom they succeeded, was in being." White replies :
"The fairies, however, were not Destiny's heirs or children, but
the inheritors of a fixed destiny. Freed from human vicissitudes
and deprived of human aspirations, a fixed destiny was the estate to
which they were heirs, not the being to whom they succeeded."
Either this explanation or Clarke's (which is perhaps to be pre-
ferred, on account of the parallel passage in 2 Hen. IV.) amply
justifies the retention of the folio reading, which others than
Warburton have questioned.
42. Quality. Profession; as in Hen. V. iii. 6. 146: "What is
thy name ? I know thy quality," etc.
43. Hobgoblin. The Puck of the M. N. D. Cf. that play, ii. i.
40: "Those that Hobgoblin call you or sweet Puck," etc. Oyes —
oyez (hear), the beginning of the crier's proclamation, used at the
opening of courts, etc.
44. Toys ! Trifles. Cf. M. N. D. v. i. 3, A. Y. L. iii. 3. 77,
W. T. iii. 3. 39, etc.
46. Unrak'd. That is, not properly raked up, or put in order
for the night.
47. Bilberry. The whortleberry ; mentioned by S. only here.
48. On the fairy hatred of sluttery, cf. M. N. D.s. I. 396 : —
" I am sent with broom before
To sweep the dust behind the door "
(that is, where the careless maids neglect to sweep). Cf. also
Browne, Brit. Pastorals : —
" where oft the fairy queen
At twilight sat and did command her elves
To pinch those maids that had not swept their shelves ; "
202 Notes [Act V
Herrick, Hesperides : —
"If ye will with Mab finde grace,
Set each platter in its place ;
Rake the fire up and fet
Water in ere sun be set,
Wash your pales and cleanse your dairies ;
Sluts are loathsome to the fairies :
Sweep your house ; who doth not so,
Mab will pinch her by the toe ; "
Bishop Corbet's Farewell to the Fairies : —
" Farewell, rewards and fairies,
Good housewives now may say ;
For now fowle sluts in dairies
Do fare as well as they :
And though they sweepe their hearths no lesse
Than maides were wont to doe,
Yet who of late for cleanlinesse
Findes sixpence in her shooe ? "
and Drayton, Nymphidia : —
" These make our girls their sluttery rue,
By pinching them both black and blue.
And put a penny in their shoe,
The house for cleanly sweeping."
Nash, in his Terrors of the Night, 1594, remarks that "the Robin
Goodfellowes, elfes, fairies, hobgoblins of our latter age, . . . pincht
maids in their sleep that swept not their houses cleane," etc. So
in Robin Goodfellow ; his mad prankes, etc., 1628, we read; "many
mad prankes would they play, as pinching of sluts black and blue,
and misplacing things in ill-ordered houses ; but lovingly would
they use wenches that cleanly were, giving them silver and other
pretty toyes, which they would leave for them, sometimes in their
shooes, other times in their pockets, sometimes in bright basons
and other cleane vessels."
Scene V] Notes 203
In a poem in Poole's English Parnassus, Mab is spoken of as —
" She that pinches country wenches,
If they rub not clean their benches ;
And with sharper nails remembers,
When they rake not up the embers ; "
and in a song in the same volume we find these stanzas : —
" And if the house be foul,
Or platter, dish, or bowl,
Up stairs we nimbly creep.
And find the sluts asleep ;
Then we pinch their arms and thighs,
None escapes, nor none espies.
But if the house be swept.
And from uncleanness kept,
We praise the household maid,
And surely she is paid ;
For we do use before we go
To drop a tester in her shoe."
50. Wink. Shut my eyes; a common meaning in S. See
2 Hen. IV. i. 3. 33, Hen, V. ii. i. 8, iii. 7. 153, v. 2. 327, etc.
53. Raise up the organs of her fantasy. Warburton assumes
that this must mean ** inflame her imagination with sensual ideas,"
and therefore changes Raise to " Rein ; " but, as Steevens says, the
meaning may be " elevate her ideas above sensuality, exalt them to
the noblest contemplation." Malone paraphrases the passage thus :
" Go you, and wherever you find a maid asleep that hath thrice
prayed to the Deity, though, in consequence of her innocence, she
sleep as soundly as an infant, elevate her fancy, and amuse her
tranquil mind with some delightful vision." Clarke also explains
the passage as = " exalt her imagination by pleasant dreams."
Hudson, on the other hand, says that '■^fantasy here stands for
sensual desire, the 'sinful fantasy' reproved afterwards in the
fairies' song ; " and White takes the same ground. I cannot see
Vfhy fantasy should be = sinful fantasy, when it has no such sense
204 Notes [Act V
elsewhere in S. ; nor why the imagination of a maid, and one who
has thrice said her prayers before falling asleep, should be supposed
to play such wicked tricks with her.
63. Chairs of order. The seats of the Knights of the Garter.
64. With juice of balm, etc. It was an old custom to rub tables,
chairs, etc., with aromatic herbs. Pliny says that the Romans did
the same, to drive away evil spirits (Steevens).
65. Several. Separate. See on iii. 5. 108 above. Instalment =
seat of installation.
69. Expressure. Expression, or impression. Cf. T. and C. iii.
3. 204 and T. N. ii. 3. 171.
71. Pense. A dissyllable here, as in French verse.
75. Character)/. Writing; as again in/. C. ii. i. 308: "All
the charactery of my sad brows." In both passages it is accented
on the second syllable. Cf. also character (= handwriting) in
M. for M. iv. 2. 208, Ham. iv. 7. 53, etc.
82. Middle-earth. " Spirits are supposed to inhabit the ethereal
regions, and fairies to dwell underground ; men therefore are in a
middle station " (Johnson). Early English writers often use middle-
earth in this sense.
85. O'erlook'd, Bewitched by the " evil eye." Cf. M. of V. iii.
2. 15 : —
" Beshrew your eyes,
They have o'erlook'd me and divided me."
86. With trial-fire, etc. Steevens cites Beaumont and Fletcher,
Faithful Shepherdess : —
" In this flame his finger thrust,
Which will burn him if he lust ;
But if not, away will turn,
As loth unspotted flesh to burn."
88. Turn him to no pain. Cf. Temp. \. 2. 64: "To think o'
the teen that I have turn'd you to ; " Cor. iii. i. 284 : "The which
shall turwyou to no further harm," etc.
Scene VJ Notes 205
94. After this speech Theobald inserts from the quarto : " Evans.
It is right, indeed, he is full of lecheries and iniquity."
96. Luxury. Lasciviousness ; the only sense in S. Cf. Hen. V.
iii. 5. 6, Rich. III. iii. 5. 80, Ham. i. 5. 83, etc. So luxurious =
lustful ; as in Much Ado, iv. I. 42, etc.
97. A bloody fire. "The fire i' the blood" {Teinp.'w. 1.53).
105. Watch' d you. Caught you by lying in wait for you. Cf.
2 Hen. VI. i. 4. 45 : " Beldam, I think we watch'd you at an
inch " (cf. 58 just below).
107. Hold up the jest. Cf. M. N. D. iii. 2. 239 : " hold the
sweet jest up," etc.
109. These fair yokes. The 1st folio has "yoakes," the 2d
" okes ; " and some modern eds. read " oaks." Yokes, if it be
what S. wrote, may allude to the branching antlers on Falstaflf's
head, which bore some resemblance to the projections on the top
of ox-yokes. Halliwell-Phillipps says that the allusion is " unques-
tionably " to the horns " fastened with a substantial bandage, pass-
ing over the head and tied under the chin." According to the
other reading, the antlers are compared to the branches of oaks.
131. Jack-a-Lent. See on iii. 3. 27 above.
143. A coxcomb of frize. A fool's cap of frize, a woollen fabric
for which Wales was famous. For frize, cf. Olh. ii. i. 127 ; and
for the coxcomb, see Lear, i. 4. 105, 109, 114, etc.
156. Hodge-pudding. Probably a pudding somewhat like a
hodge-podge, or hotch-potch. The word has not been found
elsewhere.
158. Intolerable entrails. Monstrous bowels.
167. Flannel. "The very word is derived from a Welch one,
so that it is almost unnecessary to add that flannel was originally
the manufacture of Wales " (Steevens).
Ignorance itself is a plummet over me. " I am so enfeebled that
ignorance itself weighs me down and oppresses me " (Johnson) ;
" ignorance itself is not so low as I am, by the length of a plummet
line " (Tyrwhitt) ; " ignorance itself points out my deviations from
2o6 Notes [Act V
rectitude " (Henley and White) ; " ignorance itself can sound the
depths of my shallowness in this" (Clarke and Schmidt). Staun-
ton quotes Shirley, Love in a Maze, iv. 2 : "What, art melancholy?
What hath hung plummets on thy nimble soul?" The only other
instances of the wox^ plununet in S. are Temp, iii. 3. loi and v. i.
56, which favour Clarke's explanation, though Tyrwhitt's is on the
whole preferable.
174. Affiiction. After this speech, Theobald inserts the follow-
ing from the quarto : —
" Mrs. Ford, Nay, husband let that go to make amends ;
Forgive that sum, and so we '11 all be friends.
Ford. Well, here 's my hand ; all 's forgiven at last."
176. A posset. See on i. 4. 7 and iii. 5. 29 above. Clarke re-
marks : " There is something especially cordial in the introduction
of this proposal from the good-natured yeoman. Master Page ; it
serves to keep the jest upon Falstaff within the range of comedy-
banter, and to show that he is included in the general reconcilia-
tion which closes the play."
179-181. Daniel plausibly suggests that this may be corrupt
verse, and should read : —
" Doctors doubt that ; if Anne Page be my daughter,
She is by this time Doctor Caius' wife."
192. Swinged. Whipped. Cf. ^./<?>^«, ii. i. 288, etc.
194. Postmaster's boy. Steevens inserts here from the quarto : —
" Evans. Jeshu ! Master Slender, cannot you see but marry boys ?
Page, O, I am vex'd at heart ! What shall I do ? "
227. Amaze. Bewilder, confuse. Cf. K. John, iv. 3. 140 : " I
am amaz'd, methinks, and lose my way," etc.
234. Unduteous title. Title of unduteousness. For title " wile,"
"will," etc., have been substituted; but title simply repeats the
name of the preceding line.
235. Evitate. Avoid ; used by S. only here.
Scene V] Notes 207
242. Stand. The station or hiding-place of a huntsman waiting
for game. Cf. Cytnb. iii. 4. i n : —
" Why hast thou gone so far,
To be unbent when thou hast ta'en thy stand,
The elected deer before thee ? "
See also Id. ii. 3. 75, Z. Z. Z. iv. i. 10, and 3 Hen. VI. iii. i. 3.
Some of the editors appear to suppose that stands were only for the
use of lady hunters, but it is evident from some of these passages
that this is a mistake. In Cy?nb., for instance, Pisanio is addressed,
and in 3 Hen. VI. a Keeper.
246. All sorts of deer are chased. " Young and old, does as well
as bucks. He alludes to Fenton's having just run down Anne Page "
(Malone). "Falstaff here takes a final chuckle over those who
have defeated his pursuit of the dear merry wives, by showing
them that their dear daughter has been caught by the man who
was not their choice, but hers " (Clarke).
Before this line Pope and Theobald insert from the quarto :
^^ Evans \aside to Fenton"]. I will dance and eat plums at your
wedding." Johnson regrets the omission of the following, which
the quarto gives after 243 : —
" Mi. For. Come mistris Page, He be bold with you,
Ti& pitie to part loue that is so true.
Mis. Pa. Ahho that I haue missed in my intent,
Yet / am glad my husbands match was crossed,
Here M. Yenton, take her, and God giue thee ioy.
Sir Hu : Come M, Page, you must needs agree.
F^. I yfaith sir come, you see your wife is wel pleased :
Pa. / cannot tel, and yet my hart's well eased,
And yet it doth me good the Doctor missed.
Come hither Yenton, and come hither daughter,
Go too you might haue staid for my good will,
But since your choise is made of one you loue.
Here take her, Yenton, & both happie proue.
Sir Hu. I wil also dance & eate plums at your weddings."
2o8 Notes [Act V
247. Muse. "Foster my grudge." Schmidt, who thus explains
it, defines the verb as = " to give one's self up to thought, particu-
larly of a painful nature," in T. G. of V. ii. i. 176 and/. C. ii. i.
240. Here it may simply mean " wonder about it, or puzzle myself
over it."
APPENDIX
Comments on Some of the Characters
Charles Cowden-Clarke (whose Shakespeare Characters, pub-
lished in 1863, is out of print and not to be found in many of the
libraries), after referring (see p. 19 above) to the " purely English "
character of the play, remarks : —
"The dramatis persona, too, perfectly harmonize, and are in
strict keeping with the scene. They are redolent of health and
good-humour — that moral and physical sunshine.
" There are the two * Merry Wives ' themselves. "What a picture
we have of buxom, laughing, ripe beauty ! ready for any frolic
'that may not sully the chariness of their honesty.' . . . Then,
there is Page, the very personification of hearty English hospitality.
You feel the tight grasp of his hand, and see the honest sparkle of
his eye, as he leads in the wranglers with, * Come, gentlemen, I
hope we shall drink down all unkindness.* If I were required to
point to the portrait of a genuine, indigenous Englishman, through-
out the whole of the works of Shakespeare, Page would be the
man. Every thought of his heart, every motion of his body, appears
to be the result of pure instinct ; he has nothing exotic or artificial
about him. He possesses strong yeoman sense, an unmistakable
speech, a trusting nature, and a fearless deportment ; and these are
the characteristics of a true Englishman. He is to be gulled — no
man more so ; and he is gulled every day in the year — no proof,
you will say, of his * strong yeoman sense ; ' but an Englishman is
quite as frequently gulled with his eyes open as when they are hood-
winked. He has a conceit in being indifferent to chicanery. He
confides in his own strength when it behooves hira to exert it ; and
then he abates the nuisance. . . .
MERRY WIVES — I4 2O9
2IO Appendix
" Mrs. Page is a sprightly, sensible, quick-witted woman, who
deserves her husband's confidence — and has it — by her faithful,
true-hearted allegiance to him ; who secures and preserves his
love by her cheerful spirits, and blithe good-humour ; and who
seconds her husband in all his hospitable, peace-making schemes ;
for, at the end of the play, she says, ' Let us every one go home,
and laugh this sport o'er by a country fire — Sir John and all.' In
short, they are a perfectly worthy couple — worthy of each other, in
their good temper, good faith, and excellent good sense.
" Slender comes out in this play with extraordinary force. He
and Falstaff are the persons who at once present themselves to the
imagination, when it is referred to. What a speaking portrait we
have of Slender in the conversation between Mrs. Quickly and his
man Simple ! His * little wee face, with a little yellow beard — a
cane-coloured beard.' He is a 'tall fellow, too, of his hands, as
any is, between this and his head.' The humorous, quaint, and
witty old Fuller says : * Your men that are built six stories high have
seldom much in their cockloft.' But Master Slender hath earned
a reputation, at all events, with his serving-man ; he hath * fought
with a warrener.' And he doth not hide his pretensions to valour,
especially from the women, or his station in society. He takes
care that Anne Page shall know he * keeps three men and a boy,
till his mother be dead ; ' and that he lives like a ' poor gentleman
born.' He says this before Anne, not to her.
" It is interesting to note the distinction that Shakespeare has
made in drawing the two fools. Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Master
Slender. The difference between them seems to be that Andrew
is stupid, awkward, and incompetent, and fails in all cases from
lack of ideas to help him in his need : if he had these, his stock of
conceit would carry him through and over anything ; but he is a
coward as w^ell as a fool. Slender possesses not only the deficien-
cies of Aguecheek, but he is bashful, even to sheepishness. This
quality makes him uniformly dependent on one or another for sup-
port, . . . and yet, withal, in little non-essentials of conduct and
Appendix 211
character, he is not so perfect a fool but that he has the tact to dis-
play his accomplishments to win his mistress's favour. . . . Hav-
ing insinuated his rank and * possibilities,' what love-diplomacy can
surpass the patronizing, and the magnanimous indifference with
which he introduces the subject of his courage ? Anne is sent to
entreat him to dinner : —
' Slender. 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 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.
Slender. 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.
Slender. That's meat and drink to me, now. I have seen Sacker-
son loose twenty times, and have taken him by the chain ; but, I warrant
you, the women have so cried and shrieked at it that it passed. But
women, indeed, can't abide 'em; they are very ill-favoured rough
things.'
" Does not this precisely tally with Mrs. Quickly's description of
the man, that he * holds up his head, as it were, and struts in his
gait?' . . .
" That is an excellent touch of worldly prudence on the part of
Anne's father, by the way, brought in to justify his objection to the
addresses of P'enton ; not only for his * riots past and wild societies,'
his being * galled in his expense,' which he ' seeks to heal ' by an
alliance with his daughter: but Page, moreover, being a plain,
unaspiring yeoman, is also unfavourable to Fenton, on account ot
his being 'too great of birth.' This simple, fleeting expression
places the whole character of the father before us in perfect integ-
rity and consistency. ... It also prepares us for Fenton's honest
justification of himself. And here we have one of Shakespeare's
212 Appendix
lessons in wisdom — in the matrimonial contract to avoid everything
in the shape of dupHcity and mental reservation — most especially
before the fulfilment of it. This passage in Fenton's courtship is
the only one which gives him an interest with us as a lover, because
it raises him in our esteem ; and with the confession, it is natural
that Anne should promote his suit. In answer to his report of her
father's objection to him, that * 't is impossible he should love her
but as a property,' like a sensible girl, she candidly replies, ' May be
he tells you true ; ' and he as candidly and fervently rephes : —
' 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 't is the very riches of thyself
That now I aim at.'
The consummation of his good sense and steadiness of character
appears at the close of the play ; and Shakespeare's own matri-
monial morality is displayed, where Fenton succeeds in carrying off
Anne, in the teeth of Page and his wife, who each wanted to force
her into a money-match. Fenton's rebuke is excellent ; and the
father and mother's reconciliation perfectly harmonizes with their
frank and generous dispositions. Fenton says : —
' Hear the truth of it.
You would have married her most shamefully,
Where there was no proportion held in love.
*******
The offence is holy that she hath committed ;
And this deceit loses the name of craft,
Of disobedience, or unduteous title ;
Since therein she doth evitate and shun
A thousand irreligious cursed hours.
Which forced marriage would have brought upon her.'
Appendix 213
" Next in order comes the good-natured but peppery Welsh par-
son, Sir Hugh. . . . The country parish priests in those days were
a different class of men from the present members of the Establish-
ment : nevertheless, some scattered remnants of the old brother-
hood may still be met with in those secluded villages where the
high post and railroads swerve in the distance : men of almost
indiscriminate sociality, taking an inoffensive part in the pastimes
and homely mirth of the parishioners. I knew a gentleman who
well remembered Dr. Young, the eminent author of the Night
Thoughts, in his rectory at Welvi^n, in Hertfordshire. He had
dined at his table on the Sunday, when he and any of his school-
fellows had acquitted themselves creditably during the week at the
grammar school. Among other personal anecdotes, he told me
that he had constantly seen him playing at bowls on the Sunday,
after he had preached the words of peace and goodwill and eter-
nal salvation to his flock. He not only tolerated, but even pro-
moted, that harmless recreation ; at the same time he had a keen
eye and a reproof for all who were truants at the hour of prayer.
" Sir Hugh Evans stands not aloof from the plot to get Anne a
good husband ; and he is master of the band of fairies to pinch
and worry the fat knight in the revelry under Heme's oak. . . .
And he was an actor, too, as well as manager of the revels ; for
Falstaff says while they are tormenting him : * Heavens defend me
from that Welsh fairy ! lest he transform me into a piece of cheese ! '
Even in the noted scene of the duel with Doctor Caius, although
the honest preacher is forced into a ludicrous predicament by the
hoax of mine host of the Garter, yet our kindly feeling for Sir
Hugh remains unimpaired. It is true, he waxeth into a tremendous
Welsh passion : he is full of * melancholies ' and * tremplings of
mind ; ' moreover, not being a professed duellist, his self-possession
is not conspicuous : he sings a scrap of a madrigal and a line of a
psalm, and mixes both. But when the belligerents do meet, and
he finds that they have been fooled by the whole party, he is the
one to preserve their mutual self-respect : * Pray you, let us not be
214 Appendix
laughing-stogs to other men's humours ; I desire you in friendship,
and I will one way or other make you amends. He has made us
his vlouting-stog ; and let us knog our prains together, to be re-
venge on this same scall, scurvy, cogging companion, the host of
the Garter.' And the way in which he revenges himself is — like
a practical teacher of the 'Sermon on the Mount' — to come and
put the host on his guard against trusting the Germans with his
horses. . . .
" Dame Quickly makes herself necessary to all, by reason of her
fussiness, and conspicuous by reason of her folly. . . . She med-
dles in every one's affair : she acts the go-between for Falstaff with
the two merry wives ; she courts Anne Page for her master, under-
taking the same office for Slender. She favours the suit of Fenton ;
and if the Welsh parson had turned an eye of favour upon the yeo-
man's pretty daughter, she would have played the hymeneal Hebe
to him too. Her whole character for mere busy-bodying is com-
prised in that one speech when Fenton gives her the ring for his
* sweet Nan.' After he has gone out, she says : '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 Fenton had her. I will do what I can for
them all three : for so I have promised, and I will be as good as my
word ; but speciously for Master Fenton.' . . . Like a true potterer,
she interferes in every conversation, and elbows herself in wherever
she sees business going on. Sir Hugh cannot even examine the
little boy Page in his Latin exercise but she must put in her com-
ments. . . .
" 7"he Merry Wives of Windsor is all movement and variety from
the first scene to the very last ; and the last ends in a rich piece of
romance. Dr. Johnson is right in his estimate when he says, ' Its
general power, that power by which works of genius shall finally
be tried, is such that perhaps it never yet had reader or spectator
who did not think it too soon at an end.' "
Appendix 215
The Time-Analysis of the Play
As Mr. P. A. Daniel shows in his paper " On the Times or Dura-
tions of the Action of Shakspere's Plays " ( Trans, of New Shaks.
Soc. 1877-79, p. 124 fol.), it is impossible, as the play now stands,
to make out any consistent time-division of it. The chief difficulty
is in the confusion with reference to FalstafTs meetings with Mrs.
Ford, which he states as follows (cf. note on iii. 5. i above) : —
" The first meeting, which ends with the buck-basket, takes place
between ten and eleven on one morning ; the second meeting is
determined for the morrow of the first, and actually follows it ; but
yet the invitation to it and its actual occurrence are fixed by the
play at an earlier hour of the same day as that on which the first
takes place ; and when it has thus got in advance of the first. Ford
refers to the first as being before it. And the confusion does not
end here, for on the very day of the second meeting Ford refers to
that second meeting as having taken place on the * yesterday,' and
thus the third meeting, which is on the night of the day of the
second, is driven forward to the night of the day following it. . . .
"The chief error, then, lies in sc. v. of Act III.; that scene
must, I think, have been formed by the violent junction — I cannot
call it fusion — of two separate scenes representing portions of two
separate days. The first part of the scene — Mrs. Quickly and Fal-
staff — is inseparably connected with the day of Falstaff's first inter-
view with Mrs. Ford ; the second part is as inseparably connected
with the day of the second interview. The first part clearly shows
us Falstaff in the afternoon, just escaped from his ducking in the
Thames ; the second part as clearly shows him in the early morning
about to keep his second appointment with Mrs. Ford. Cut this
actual scene v. into two, ending the first with Mrs. Quickly 's last
speech — ' Peace be with you, sir,' — and the main difficulty van-
ishes, and the only change required in the text of the Folio to make
it agree with the previous scenes is the alteration of two tvords. In
her first speech Mrs. Quickly says, * Give your worship good mor-
21 6 Appendix
row.' For morrow read even. In lines 45-6 she says, * Her hus-
band goes this morning a-birding.' For this morning read e« the
morning or to-morrow ?norning. Not a syllable need be changed
in the Ford part of the scene ; but with this part we might begin
Act IV. The confusion between Falstaff s first and second inter-
views with Mrs. Ford would be thus absolutely cured. To complete
our task and make the text of the play perfectly accordant with its
plot we should further alter one word in Act V. sc. i. Ford there
says, * Went you not to her yesterday, sir ? ' etc. For yesterday
read this morning.''^
Mr. Daniel believes that this error in iii. 5 never existed in the
author's manuscript, but is " the result of some managerial attempt
to compress the two scenes into one for the convenience of the
stage representation ; " and that the words which he proposes to
alter were then introduced into the folio version in order to make
the new scene self-consistent.
Disentangling the 2d and 3d days of the action, as Mr. Daniel
suggests, the " time-analysis " will stand as follows : —
"Day I. Act I. sc. i. to iv.
" 2. Act II. sc. i. to iii.. Act III. sc. i. to iv., and the Quickly
portion of sc. v.
" 3. The Ford portion of Act III. sc. v. to end of the Play."
List of Characters in the Play
The numbers in parentheses indicate the lines the characters
have in each scene.
Falstaff: i. i (19), 3(52); ii. 2(120); iii. 3(40), 5(105); iv.
2(15), 5(44) ; V. 1(28), 5(65). Whole no. 488.
Fenton: 1.4(14); iii. 4(27); iv. 6(48); v. 5(11). Whole no.
100.
Shallow: i. 1(55); ii. 1(20), 3(20); iii. 1(14), 2(7), 4(13);
iv. 2(4) ; v. 2(4). Whole no. 137.
Appendix 217
Slender: i. 1(107); ii. 3(3); iii. 1(3), 2(4), 4(23); v. 2(5),
5(18). Whole no. 163.
Ford: ii. 1(34), 2(115); "i- 2(39), 3(30), 5(29); iv. 2(50),
4(12) ; V. 1(2), 5(28). Whole no. 339.
Page:\.i{2.(;)', ii. 1(29), 3(8) ; iii. 1(16), 2(12), 3(13), 4(8) ;
iv. 2(8), 4(22) ; V. 2(7), 5(25). Whole no. 174.
William Page : iv. 1(13). Whole no. 13.
Evans: i. 1(85), 2(12); iii. 1(57), 3(15); iv. 1(39), 2(11),
4(12), 5(9) ; V. 4(4), 5(21). Whole no. 265.
Caitis: i. 4(44); ii- Z{ZZ)\ iii- i(i3)» 2(3), i{%^ % iv. 5.(6);
V. 3(1). 5(6). Whole no. 114.
Host: i. 3(11); ii. 1(12), 3(35); iii- 1(18), 2(7); iv. 3(9),
5(32), 6(7). Whole no. 131.
Bardolph: i. 1(6), 3(2); ii. 2(5); iii. 5(5); iv. 3(5), 5(6).
Whole no. 29.
Pistol: i. 1(6), 3(28); ii. 1(13), 2(7); v. 5(7). Whole no. 61.
Nytn : i. 1(6), 3(21) ; ii. 1(10). Whole no. 37.
Robin: ii. 2(1) ; iii, 2(3), 3(11). Whole no. 15.
Simple: i. 1(3), 2(1), 4(15) ; iii. 1(8) ; iv. 5(24). Whole no.
51-
Rugby : i. 4(4) ; ii. 3(7). Whole no. II.
\st Servant : iii. 3(1) ; iv. 2(3). Whole no. 4.
2d Servant : iv. 2(2). Whole no. 2.
Mistress Ford : ii.i(45); iii- 3(75) J iv- 2(67), 4(7); v. 3(5)
5(10). Whole no. 209.
Mistress Page: ii. 1(83); iii. 2(18), 3(67), 4(8); iv. 1(17),
2(80), 4(43) ; V. 3(19), 5(26). Whole no. 361.
Anne Page : i. 1(13) ; iii. 4(18) ; v. 5(45). Whole no. 76.
Mistress Quickly : i. 4(103) ; ii. 1(2), 2(81) ; iii. 4(21), 5(16) ;
iv. 1(18), 5(11) ; V. 1(2). Whole no. 254.
'' Air : iii. 2(1). Whole no. i .
In the above enumeration parts of lines are counted as whole
lines, making the total of the play greater than it is. The actual
21 8 Appendix
number of lines in each scene (Globe edition numbering) is as
follows: i. 1(326), 2(13), 3(114), 4(180); ii. 1(248), 2(329),
3(102); iii. 1(129), 2(93), 3(260), 4(ii5)» 5(155); iv. 1(87),
2(240), 3(14), 4(91), 5(132), 6(55) ; V. 1(32), 2(16), 3(25), 4(4),
5(259). Whole no. in the play, 3019.
Falstaff has more lines in the plays than any other character
except Henry V. In addition to the 488 lines in the present play,
Jack has 719 in i Henry IV. and 688 in 2 Henry IV., making 1895
lines in all. Henry, as Prince and King, has 616 lines in i Henry
IV., 308 in 2 Henry IV., and 1063 in Henry V, or 1987 Unes in
all — more than any other character in the plays. Henry IV. has
414 lines, as BoUngbroke, in Richard II., 341 in i Henry IV., and
294 in 2 Henry IV., or 1049 in all. Henry VI. has 179, 314, and
562, respectively, in the three plays in which he figures (I do not
count his Ghost in Richard III.), or 1055 in all. Margaret of
Anjou has the distinction of appearing in four plays, and of having
more lines than any other female character in Shakespeare : 33,
317, and 279, respectively, in the Henry VI. plays, and 218 in
Richard III., or 847 in all. Hamlet has 1569 lines, Richard III.
1 161 (with 24 in 2 Henry VI. and 390 in 3 Henry VI., or 1575 in
all), and lago 11 17. No other character has over 900 lines in any
one play ; and the only other important character figuring in more
than one is Mark Antony, who has 327 lines in /. C. and 829 in
A. and C, or 1156 in all. Many of the minor characters in the
English historical plays appear in more than one play, and some of
them have several hundred lines in the aggregate.
INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES
EXPLAINED
a many, 184
absolute (= perfect), 183
abstract, 192
Actaeon, 167, 181
additions (= titles), 176
address me to, 190
adversary, 177
affecting (= affected), 168
aggravate his style, 175
alhcholy, 164
allowed (= approved), 174
Amaimon, 175
amaze (= bewilder), 199,
206
amiable (= amorous), 174
anchor (figurative), 160
angel (coin), 160
Ann (play upon), 164
Anthropophaginian, 196
aqua-vitae, 176
armigero, 148
arras, 184
attends (= waits for), 156
authentic, 174
avised (= advised), 153, 164
Banbury cheese, 151
Barbason, 175
Bede, 166
beholding (= beholden) ,
156
bestow him, 191
bilberry, 201
bilbo, 153, 190
blind bitch's puppies, 188
bloody fire, 205
boarded me, 166
bodykins, 177
bold-beating, 171
Book of Riddles, 155
Book of Songs and Son-
nets, 155
bottom (= ball of thread) ,
156
breed-bate, 162
bribed buck, 199
buck-basket, 182
Bucklersbury, 184
bully stale, 176
bully-rook, 157
burn daylight^ 166
buttons, 't is m his, 181
by the figure, 193
Cain-coloured, 162
canaries, 171
canary, 182
career, 154
carves, 159
Castilian, 176
Catalan, 168
cat-a-mountain, 171
cavalero-justice, 168
chairs of order, 204
chalices, 188
charactery, 204
charge (= put to expense) ,
charmess, 167
charms (= love-charms) ,
172
cheater (= escheator), 161
churchman, 177
clerkly, 196
coach fellow, 170
cock and pie, by, 157
cogging, 181, 183
colour (metaphor), 1S7,
192
come cut and long-tail,
186
come off, 194
compremises, 149
conceited (= fanciful) , 158
conclusions passed the ca-
reers, 154
confidence (= conference),
164
219
contempt, 156
conversation (= behav-
iour), 165
convey (= steal), 159
conveyance, 184
cony-catching, 150, 159
coram, 148
Corn u to, 189
costard, 178
Cotsall, 150
couch (= hide) , 198
council, 149
counsel (play upon), 150
Counter-gate, 184
cowl-staff, 185
coxcomb of frize, 203
cozen-germans, 197
cried game ? 177
cry aim, 181
cry out (of hounds), 193
cry you mercy, 188
cuckoo-birds, 167
curtal, 167
custalorum, 148
daubery, 193
deer (play upon), 207
detection in my hand, 174
detest (= protest), 164
devil's dam, 152, 197
dickens, the, 181
diffused (= confused), 194
distraction, 189
divinity in odd numbers,
198
Doctor Faustuses, 197
dole, 187
doublet and hose, 180
doubt (= suspect) , 163
drumble, 185
Edward
eld, 194
shovel-boards.
220 Index of Words and Phrases
engrossed opportunities,
174 .
entertain, 158, 160
Ephesian, 196
enngoes, 199
evitate, 206
expressure, 204
extreme (accent), 194
eyas-musket, 182
fall (= fault), 156
fallow (colour), 150
fap, 154
farthingale, 184
fault (= misfortune), 150
fee-simple, 193
fellow of this walk, 199
fico, 159
fights (naval), 172
figures (= fancies), 193
fine and recovery, 193
flannel, 205
Flemish drunkard, 165
foin, 176
foolish carrion, 185
Fortune thy foe, 184
frampold, 172
French thrift, etc., 161
frize, 205
froth and lime, 158
fullams (dice), 161
Gallia (= Wales), 180
gallimaufry, 167
garmombles, 197
geminy, 170
ging, 192
give us leave, 173
go to, 164
good even and twenty,
168
good-year, 164
gourds (dice), 161
grated upon, 170
great chamber, 152
Green Sleeves, 166, 199
groat, 153
Guiana, i6i
guts, 161
hack, 165
had rather, 184
hair (= nature), 176
hang-hog is Latin, etc.,
190
happy man be his dole !
187
hardest voice, 160
have with you, 169
having (= property), 182
haviour, 161
heart of elder, 176
Herod of Jewry, 165
hick (verb), 191
high men (dice), 161
Hobgoblin, 201
hodge-pudding, 205
hold (=keep an engage-
ment), 198
hold up the jest, 205
honesty (= chastity) , 166
horn-mad, 163, 190
humour, 151, 154
Hungarian, 158
husband your device, 198
ignorance a plummet, 205
impatient (metre), 187
in counsel, 150
in good sadness, 199
in his buttons, 't is, 181
instance (= example), 175
intention (=aim), 161
intolerable entrails, 205
Jack, 163
Jack-a-Lent, 183, 205
jay (= harlot), 183
juice of balm, 204
Keisar, 158
kibes, 159
kissing-comfits, 199
knights will hack, 165
knit a knot in his fortunes,
182
labras, 153
larded, 197
larum, 189
latten, 153
leman, 193
lewdsters, 199
lie (= lodge), 168, 172
like who more bold, 196
liking (= bodily condi-
tion), 166
lingered, 181
liming sack, 158
liquor boots, 197
liver (seat of love), 167
look (= look for), 192
low men (dice), 161
luces, 148
lunes, 191
lurch, 171
luxury, 205
Machiavel, 180
made (=did), 170
make a shaft or a bolt of
it, 186
marring (play upon), 149
marry trap, 154
master of fence, 156
me (expletive), 160, 192
meat and drink to me, 157
mechanical (= vulgar), 175
Mephostophilus, 151
Michaelmas, 156
middle-earth, 204
mill-sixpences, 153
mince, 198
minim's rest, at a, 158
Mistress, 149
Mockwater, 177
montant, 176
morning's draught, 173
motion (verb), 149
motions (= proposals),
156
mum budget, 199
muse, 208
muskct(= hawk), 183
mussel-shell, 196
mynheers, 169
nay-word, 172, 198
nut-hook, 154
obsequious, 191
'od's heartlings, 187
'od's nouns, 177, 190
ceillades, 160
o'erlooked, 204
of all loves, 172
of great admittance, 174
of the season, 185
old (intensive), 162
once to-night, 187
open (=bark), 193
opportunity, 186
orphan heirs of destiny,
200
other her defences, 175
ouphes, 194
Index of Words and Phrases 221
paid (play upon), 196
Pandarus, 161
parcel (=part), 156
pass the career, 154
passed, 157, 192
passes (ill fencing) , 169
pauca, pauca, 151
peaking, 189
peer out, peer out ! 191
peevish (= silly), 162
pensioners, 172
period, 193
perpend, 167
ghlegmatic, 163
ickt-hatch, 170
pinnace, 161
pipe-wine, 182
pistols (anachronism),
pitty-ward, 177
plucked geese, 198
posset, 162, 188, 206
possibilities, 150
potatoes (= sweet pota-
toes), 199
pottle, 169, 188
predominate, 175
preeches, 191
preparations, 174
present (= represent), 197
press (play upon), 166
pribbles and prabbles, 149
primero, 197
properties, 195
property, 186
puddings (= entrails), 165
pumpion, 183
punk, 172
punto, 176
putting down of men, 165
py'r lady, 149
quaint, 198
quality (= profession), 201
quarter (in heraldry), 148
quick (= living), 187
raise up the organs of her
fantasy, 203
ratolorum, 148
red-lattice phrases, 171
reverse (in fencing), 176
Ringwood, 167
ronyon, 193
rushling, 172
sack, 165
sack-posset, 189
Sackerson, 157
sad (= serious) , 190
salt-butter (adjective), 175
seal), 180
scaped, 164
Scarlet and John, 154
scut, 199
several (= separate), 189,
204
shent, 163
ship-tire, 183
short knife and a throng,
170
shovel-boards, 153
shrewd (=evil), 174
simple of itself, 188
simple though I stand
here, 156
Sir (priestly title), 147
Sir Alice Ford, 165
sit at ten pounds a week,
sith, 173
slack (= neglect) , 187
slice (verb ?), 151
'slid, 186
slighted, 188
slough, 196
societies, t86
softly-sprighted, 163
soon at night, 162, 175
so-seeming, 181
sot (=fool), 180
speak small, 149
speaks holiday, 181
sped, 189
spirit (monosyllable), 163,
194
sprag, 191
stale (= urine), 176
stamps (= coins), 186
stand (in hunting), 207
standing-bed, 195
Star-chamber matter, 148
stoccado (in fencing), 169
strain (= impulse), 166,
185
style (in heraldry), 175
sufferance, 191
swinged, 206
take all, pay all, 172
takes (= bewitches), 194
tall (= stout) , 163
tall man of his hands, 163
tester, 162
that (= so that), 189
thick-skin, 195
thorough, 196
throughly, 164
thrummed hat, 192
tightly (= adroitly), 161
tike, 196
tire-valiant, 183
to (=for), 184
to-night (=last night),
to-pmch, 19s
too-too, 175
took 't upon mine honour,
170
toys (= trifles) , 201
trail, 193
traitor, 183
traverse, 176
trial-fire, 204
tricking, 195
trow, 164
truckle-bed, 193
turn him to pain, 204
turtles (= doves), 166,
183
twelve score, 181
uncape, 185
unduteous title, 206
unraked, 201
unseasoned, 173
unweighed, 165
urchins (= elves), 194
Urinal, 176
vagram, 180
Venetian admittance, 183
veney, 156
via, 173
vizaments, 149
vizards, 195
vlouting-stog, 180
ward (in fencing), 175
warrener, 163
wash myself of the buck,
185
waste (play upon), 159
watched you, 205
were best, you, 185
whenas, 180
whiting-time, 184
222 Index of Words and Phrases
whitsters, 182
wide of his own respect,
180
wink (=shut the eyes),
203
wise woman (= witch) ,
196
with (=by), 190
with cold (= of coldness),
194
wittol-cuckold, 17s, 176
wittoUy, 175
woodman (= hunter), 199
worts, 150
wot, 172
would (=wouldst), 171
write me, 160
Yead, 153
yearn (= grieve), 189
yellowness, 162
yokes, 205
young ravens must have
food, 159
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