[Act. II. Scene I.

Enter FENTON.

Fent. How now, good woman! how dost thou ? Quick. The better that it pleases your good worship to ask.

Fent. What news? how does pretty Mistress Anne?

Quick. 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. Fent. Shall I do any good, thinkest thou ? shall I not lose my suit?

Quick. Troth, sir, all is in his hands: but notwithstanding, Master Fenton, I'll be sworn on a book, she loves you.-Have not your worship a wart above your eye? Fent. Yes, marry, have I; what of that? Quick. Well, thereby hangs a tale :-good faith,

Fent. Well, I shall see her to-day. Hold, there's money for thee; let me have thy voice in my behalf: if thou see'st her before me, commend

me

Quick. Will 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.

Fent. Well, farewell; I am in great haste now. Quick. Farewell to your worship. [Exit FENTON.] Truly, an honest gentleman: but Anne loves him not; for I know Anne's mind as well as another does.-Out upon't! what have I forgot? [Exit.

67. Detest. Quickly's mistake for 'protest.'

97

SCENE 1.-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 subject for them? Let me see. [Reads.

"Ask me no reason why I love you; for though Love use Reason for his precisian,1 he admits him not for his counsellor. You are not young, no more am I; go to, then, there's sympathy: you are merry, so am I; ha, ha! then there's more sympathy: you love sack, and so do I; would you desire better sympathy? Let it suffice thee, Mistress Page,-at the least, if the love of a soldier can suffice,-that I love thee. I will not say, pity me, 'tis not a soldier-like phrase: but I say, love me. By me,

What a Herod of Jewry is this!-Oh, wicked, wicked world!-one that is well nigh worn to pieces with age, to show himself a young gallant! What an unweighed behaviour hath this Flemish drunkard picked out of my conversation, 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!-Why, I'll exhibit a bill in the parliament for the putting down of men. How shall I be revenged on him? for revenged

I will be.

Enter MISTRESS FORD.

:

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'll ne'er believe that; I have to show to the contrary.

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. Oh, Mistress Page, give me some counsel!

Mrs. Page. What's the matter, woman? Mrs. Ford. Oh, woman, if it were not for one trifling 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 liest !-Sir Alice Ford! These knights will hack; and so, thou shouldst not alter the article of thy gentry.

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 tempest, I trow, threw this whale, with so many tons of oil in his carcase, ashore at Windsor? How shall I be revenged or him? I think, the best way were to entertain him with hope, till his wicked fire have melted him in his own grease. Did you ever hear the like ?

on

Mrs. 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 twinbrother 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. Mrs. Ford. Why, this is the very same; the

2. Flemish drunkard. The proneness of the Flemings to

the vice of drunkenness was notorious.

3. Putting down. A technicality of municipal law; to repress, to subdue.

4. Hack. The term used for degrading from knighthood by chopping off the spurs; therefore the meaning of the passage seems to be, 'You, a woman, pretend to be knighted! Your companion knights would hack you from among them; and thus you would not improve your degree of rank.'

5. We burn daylight. Meaning, we waste time by chatter

6. Liking. Sometimes used for physical condition, personal plight. In " Henry IV.," Falstaff says, "While I am in some liking;" meaning, 'While I am in tolerably good case, or condition."

7. Keep place. Shakespeare twice uses this (here and in "Troilus and Cressida," iii. 3), where now 'keep pace' would be probably used; meaning in the present passage, coincide, harmonise, agree; and in the other, co-exist, subsist in equal rate or degree.

8. "Green sleeves." The name of a popular song, very free in character.

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'll entertain 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. Let's be revenged on him: let's appoint him a meeting; give him a show of comfort in his suit; and lead him on with a fine-baited delay, till he hath pawned his horses to mine host of the Garter.

Mrs. Ford. Nay, I will consent to act any villainy against him, that may not sully the chariness of our honesty. Oh, that my husband11 saw this letter! it would give eternal food to his jealousy. 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 unmeasurable distance.

Mrs. Ford. You are the happier woman. Mrs. Page. Let's consult together against this greasy knight. Come hither. [They retire.

Strain. Propensity, tendency to evil.

10. Chariness. Has been derived from the Saxon ceapiz, careful, cautious, wary; but may it not come from the French chère, dear? 'To be chary of,' 'to keep charily,' is as likely to signify to 'hold dear,' to 'prize,' as 'to be wary of;' and therefare "the chariness of our honesty" would mean 'the dearness in which we hold our honesty,' or the honesty we hold so dear.' 11. Oh, that my husband, &c. 'If' must be understood before "that."

12. Curtail dog. As it was believed that the til assisted dogs in running, so dogs not intended for sporting purposes had their tails cut shorter, and were considered worthless. 'Cur' is probably derived from this word.

13 Gally-mawfry. A hotch-potch, a medley, a heterogeneous collection. The word refers to the "high and low," "rich and poor," "young and old, one with another," that Pistol has been enumerating.

14 Perpend. An affected word for 'think it over,' 'consider it carefully.' Latin, perpendo.

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 'tis true: my name is Nym, and Falstaff loves your wife.-Adieu. I love not the humour of bread and cheese; and there's the humour of it. [Exit. "16 quoth

Adieu.

Page. [Aside.] "The humour of it," 'a! here's a fellow frights humour out of his wits.

Ford. [Aside.] I will seek out Falstaff.

Page. [Aside.] I never heard such a drawling, affecting" rogue.

Ford. [Aside.] If I do find it :-well.

Page [Aside.] I will not believe such a Cataian, 18 though the priest o' the town commended him for

a true man,

Ford. [Aside.] 'Twas a good sensible fellow :well.

Page. How now, Meg!

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.

Mrs. Ford. Faith, thou hast some crotchets in thy head now. Will you go, Mistress Page? Mrs. Page. Have with you.-You'll come to dinner, George ?-[Aside to Mrs. FORD.] Look

15. With liver burning hot. The liver was supposed to be the seat of the passions.

16. The humour of it. Nym's coxcombical reiteration of the word "humour " is a specimen of an absurdity prevailing in the time of Shakespeare, which he and other writers of that period have satirised. The general tone of vapouring swagger that characterises the diction of both Nym and Pistol, envelopes it in a fog of obfuscation more droll in the general effect than worth the pains of penetrating to discover its precise meaning-often dark even to the speakers themselves.

17. Affecting. Writers of Shakespeare's time often used the active participle for the passive one; and thus, "affecting" here would stand for 'affected.' But we incline to think it here means 'one affecting a peculiar mode of speech,' 'one given to affectation.'

18. Cataian. Cataia, or Cathay, was a name for China, whose people have the imputation of being dexterous cheats: hence the word "Cataian" is believed to have been used as a term of reproach, indicating a cheat; but from the manner in

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'll fit it.

Enter MISTRESS QUICKLY.

Mrs. Page. You are come to see my daughter Anne ?

Quick. Ay, forsooth; and, I pray, how does good Mistress Anne?

Mrs. Page. Go in with us and see: we have an hour's talk with you.

[Exeunt MISTRESS PAGE, MISTRESS FORD, and MISTRESS QUICKLY.

Page. How now, Master Ford!

Ford. You heard what this knave told me, did you not?

me?

Enter SHALLOW.

Shal. I follow, mine host, I follow.-Good even, and twenty, 20 good Master Page! Master Page, will you go with us? we have sport in hand.

Host. Tell him, cavalero-justice; tell him bully-rook.

Shal. Sir, there is a fray to be fought between Sir Hugh the Welsh priest and Caius the French doctor.

Ford. Good mine host o' the Garter, a word with you.

Host. What sayest thou, my bully-rook?

They go aside. Shal. [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

be.

Ford. Do you think there is truth in them?

Page. Hang 'em, slaves! I do not think the knight would offer it: but these that accuse him in his intent towards our wives are a yoke of his discarded men; very rogues, 19 now they be out of

service.

Ford. Were they his men?
Page. Marry, were they

Ford. 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.

Ford. 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,

Enter HOST,

How now, mine host!

Ford. None, I protest: but I'll give you a pottle 21 of burnt sack to give me recourse to him, and tell 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 on,

hearts ? 22

Shal. Have with you, mine host.

Page. I have heard the Frenchman hath good skill in his rapier.

Shal. Tut, sir! I could have told you more. In these times you stand on distance, your passes, stoccadoes, and I know not what: " 'tis the heart, Master Page; 'tis here, 'tis here. I have seen the time, with my long sword, I would have made you four tall fellows skip like rats.

Host. Here, boys, here, here! shall we wag? Page. Have with you.-I had rather hear them scold than fight. [Exeunt HOST, SHAL., and PAGE. Ford. Though Page be a secure 2 fool, and stands so firmly on his wife's frailty,25 yet I cannot

which Shakespeare has used it again elsewhere ("Twelfth Night," ii. 3), we should rather take it to mean something equivalent to outlandish, far-fetched, extravagant, eccentric.

19. Very rogues. "Very is used to express thorough, veritable. See Note 27, Act iii., "Two Gentlemen of Verona."

20. Good even, and twenty. For a good evening and twenty of them. An old familiar form of salutation.

21. Pottle. From old French, potel. Originally, a measure containing two quarts; but familiarly used for a tankard or pot, from which wine or beer was drunk.

22. Will you go on, hearts? The Folio prints for this, "Will you goe An-heires?' Of which there have been several variations proposed; but, to our thinking, none so probable as

pany at Page's house; and what they made there, 26

Steevens's, the one adopted by us in the text. "Hearts" is a term of address used by mine Host (Act iii., sc. 2), and he calls Caius "heart of elder" (Act ii., sc. 3).

23. Passes, stoccadoes, and I know not what. Shallow has a fleer at these terms of rapier-fencing, while vaunting the feats done with the fashionable weapon of his youth—the long sword, which was often of such length as to require both hands used in raising it.

24. Secure. Used for 'too well assured,' 'over-confident.

25. Frailty. It has been proposed to substitute 'fealty' here. But "frailty" forms an antithesis with "firmly," and is precisely the word that Ford would use, who has no belief in Mistress Page's fidelity.

26. What they made there. A Saxon form of expression,