66 marry trap," with you, if you run the nuthook's humour on me; that is the very note of it. Slen. By this hat, then he in the red face had it; for though I cannot remember what I did when you made me drunk, yet I am not altogether an ass. Fal. What say you, Scarlet and John'? Bard. Why, sir, for my part, I say, the gentleman had drunk himself out of his five sentences. Eva. It is his five senses: fie, what the ignorance is! Bard. And being fap, sir, was, as they say, cashier'd; and so conclusions pass'd the carieres. Slen. Ay, you spake in Latin then too; but 'tis no matter. I'll ne'er be drunk whilst I live again, but in honest, civil, godly company, for this trick: if I be drunk, I'll be drunk with those that have the fear of God, and not with drunken knaves. Eva. So Got 'udge me, that is a virtuous mind. Fal. You hear all these matters denied, gentlemen; you hear it. Enter ANNE PAGE with wine; Mistress FORD and Mistress PAGE following. Page. Nay, daughter, carry the wine in; we'll drink within. [Exit ANNE PAGE. Slen. Oh heaven! this is mistress Anne Page *. Fal. Mistress Ford, by my troth, you are very well met: by your leave, good mistress. [Kissing her. Page. Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome.-Come, we have a hot venison pasty to dinner: come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness. [Exeunt all but SHALLOW, SLENDER, and EVANS. Slen. I had rather than forty shillings, I had my book of songs and sonnets here : 2 : Scarlet and John?] Alluding to Robin Hood's well-known men, and to the red face of Bardolph. 3 And being FAP,] "Fap" is drunk or fuddled. It may have been derived from the Latin, vappa, spiritless wine, although Todd states that it was merely a cant word of the time. "To pass the carieres was a phrase in horsemanship, but its application by Bardolph seems very doubtful. 4 Oh heaven! this is mistress Anne Page.] The corr. fo. 1632 here gives us the manner of some particular actor in the part of Slender, for these words are here added in the margin, “Following, and looking after her." book of songs and sonnets] The reference may be to the "Songs and Enter SIMPLE. 6 How now, Simple! Where have you been? I must wait on myself, must I? You have not the book of riddles about you, have you? Sim. Book of riddles! why, did you not lend it to Alice Shortcake upon Allhallowmas last, a fortnight afore Michaelmas ? Shal. Come, coz; come, coz; we stay for you. A word with you, coz; marry, this, coz: there is, as 'twere, a tender, a kind of tender, made afar off by sir Hugh here. Do you understand me? Slen. Ay, sir, you shall find me reasonable: if it be so, I shall do that that is reason. Shal. Nay, but understand me. Slen. So I do, sir. Eva. Give ear to his motions, master Slender. I will description the matter to you, if you be capacity of it. I pray Slen. Nay, I will do as my cousin Shallow says. you, pardon me; he's a justice of peace in his country, simple though I stand here. Eva. But that is not the question; the question is concerning your marriage. Shal. Ay, there's the point, sir. Eva. Marry, is it, the very point of it; to mistress Anne Page. Slen. Why, if it be so, I will marry her upon any reasonable demands. Eva. But can you affection the 'oman? Let us command to know' that of your mouth, or of your lips; for divers Sonnets" of Lord Surrey, Sir Thomas Wyatt, &c., printed under that title in 1557; but it would seem to be of rather too old a date, and too high a character, for Slender's use, although it was often reprinted on account of its popularity: a more modern collection of love poems would have answered Slender's purpose better. T. Heywood, in his "Fair Maid of the Exchange," 1607, uses Shakespeare's "Venus and Adonis " in the same way: see Vol. vi. p. 480. 6 the book of riddles] This "book of riddles " was, perhaps, what is called in the edition of 1629, "The Booke of Merry Riddles," of which a copy is preserved at Bridgewater-house. See Cat. 1837, p. 256. There must have been many earlier, as there were many later impressions of it (we have a copy dated 1660), because it formed part of the library of Captain Cox, as enumerated by Laneham in his "Letter from Kenilworth," 1575. 7 Let us command to know] It is "demand to know" in the corr. fo. 1632, which may be better English, but possibly was not the word used, or misused, by the Welsh parson. philosophers hold, that the lips is parcel of the mouth: therefore, precisely, can you carry your good will to the maid? Shal. Cousin Abraham Slender, can you love her? Slen. I hope, sir, I will do, as it shall become one that would do reason. Eva. Nay, Got's lords and his ladies, you must speak possitable: if you can, carry her your desires towards her. Shal. That you must. Will you, upon good dowry, marry her? Slen. I will do a greater thing than that, upon your request, cousin, in any reason. Shal. Nay, conceive me, conceive me, sweet coz: what I do is to pleasure you, coz. Can you love the maid ? Slen. I will marry her, sir, at your request; but if there be no great love in the beginning, yet heaven may decrease it upon better acquaintance: when we are married, and have more occasion to know one another, I hope, upon familiarity will grow more contempt: but if you say, "marry her," I will marry her; that I am freely dissolved, and dissolutely. Eva. It is a very discretion answer; save, the fault' is in the 'ort dissolutely: the 'ort is, according to our meaning, resolutely. His meaning is good. Shal. Ay, I think my cousin meant well. Slen. Ay, or else I would I might be hanged, la. Re-enter ANNE PAGE. Shal. Here comes fair mistress Anne.-Would I were young, for your sake, mistress Anne! Anne. The dinner is on the table; my father desires your worship's company. Shal. I will wait on him, fair mistress Anne. Eva. Od's plessed will! I will not be absence at the grace. [Exeunt SHALLOW and Sir H. EVANS. Anne. Will't please your worship to come in, sir? Slen. I am not a-hungry, I thank you, forsooth.-Go, sirrah; for all you are my man, go, wait upon my cousin 8 -- will grow more CONTEMPT:] Content' in the folios; but probably an original misprint there, transferred to the later impressions in the same form, but altered to our text in MS. in the corr. fo. 1632. 9- save, the FAULT] Fall in the folios: perhaps fall was printed to indicate the mispronunciation by Evans. VOL. I. N Shallow. [Exit SIMPLE.] A justice of peace sometime 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. Slen. I'faith, I'll eat nothing; I thank you as much as though I did. Anne. I pray you, sir, walk in. Slen. I had rather walk here, I thank you. I bruised my shin the other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence, (three veneys for a dish of stewed prunes1) and, by my troth, I cannot abide the smell of hot meat since. [Dogs bark.] Why do your dogs bark so? be there bears i' the town? Anne. I think, there are, sir; I heard them talked of. Slen. I love the sport well; it as any man in England. bear loose, are you not? Anne. Ay, indeed, sir. but I shall as soon quarrel at You are afraid, if you see the Slen. That's meat and drink to me, now: I have seen Sackerson loose 2 twenty times, and have taken him by the chain; but, I warrant you, the women have so cried and shriek'd at it, that it pass'd: 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. Slen. I'll eat nothing, I thank you, sir. Page. By cock and pye3, you shall not choose, sir. Come, come. 1 Slen. Nay; pray you, lead the way. (three VENEYS for a dish of stewed prunes)] "Veney," venew, or venie, was a fencing term, and signified a hit-when the foil touched, or came to the adversary. See "Love's Labour's Lost," Vol. ii. p. 148. The "stewed prunes" was the wager between Slender and the master of fence with whom he was playing. 2 - have seen SACKERSON loose] The name of a very celebrated bear, often baited, and not unfrequently mentioned by writers of the time: he was the property of Henslowe and Alleyn, then owners of Paris-garden, not far from the Globe Theatre on the Bankside. The words "Dogs bark," above, are from the corr. fo. 1632, and were meant to show that the barking of dogs ought there to be heard behind the scene. 3 By cock and pye,] A not unfrequent exclamation: it is used in "Henry IV., Part II.," Vol. iii. p. 513. Page. Come on, sir. Slen. Mistress Anne, yourself shall go first. Slen. Truly, I will not go first; truly, la, I will not do you that wrong. Anne. I pray you, sir. Slen. I'll rather be unmannerly, than troublesome. You do yourself wrong, indeed, la. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The Same. Enter Sir HUGH EVANS and SIMPLE. Eva. Go your ways, and ask of Doctor Caius' house, which is the way; and there dwells one mistress Quickly, which is in the manner of his nurse, or his dry nurse, or his cook, or his laundry, his washer, and his wringer. Sim. Well, sir. Eva. 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 cheese to come. [Exeunt. SCENE III. A Room in the Garter Inn. Enter FALSTAFF, Host, BARDOLPH, NYM, PISTOL, and ROBIN. Fal. Mine host of the Garter! Host. What says my bully-rook? Speak scholarly, and wisely. Fal. Truly, mine host, I must turn away some of my fol lowers. Host. Discard, bully Hercules: cashier; let them wag, trot, trot. Fal. I sit at ten pounds a week. |