Ford. Pardon me, wife. Henceforth do what thou

wilt;

I rather will suspect the sun with cold,
Than thee with wantonness.

Page. 'Tis well; no more;

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'll meet him in the park

At midnight! fie, fie; he will never come.

Eva. You say he has been thrown into the rivers; and hath been grievously peaten as an old 'oman; methinks there should be terrors in him, that he should not

come.

Caius. So tink I too, by gar.

Mrs. Ford. Devise but how you'll use him when he

comes,

And let us two devise to bring him hither.

Mrs. Page. There is an old tale goes, that Herne, the hunter,

Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest,

Doth all the winter time, at still midnight,

Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns;
And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner.

You've heard of such a spirit; and well you know,
The supersitious idle-headed eld

Receiv'd, and did deliver to our age,

This tale of Herne the hunter for a truth.

Page. Why, yet there want not many that do fear
In deep of night to walk by this Herne's oak ;—
But what of this?

Mrs. Ford. Marry, this is our device; That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us, Disguis'd like Herne, with huge horns on his head. Page. Well, let it not be doubted but he'll come, And in this shape? When you have brought him thither, What shall be done with him? what is your plot? Mrs. Page. That likewise have we thought upon. Let us about it..

All. Come, come.

[Exeunt all but MRS. PAGE and ANNE, R.

Anne. Good mother, do not marry me to one I scorn, hate.

Mrs. Page. Come, I will not be your friend or enemy; Fenton will I question how he loves you; and as I find him, so am I affected: meantime, meet me where fairies meet—at Herne, the hunter's tree. Hope, hope the best.

DUET.-MRS. PAGE AND ANNE PAGE.

I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows;
There sleeps the fairy queen some time of night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight.
[Exeunt, L.

END OF ACT IV.

ACT V.

SCENE I.-An Ancient Street in Windsor.-Stage durk.

Enter PAGE, SLENDER, and SHALLOW, L.

Page. Come, come; we'll couch i'the castle-ditch, till we see the light of our fairies.—Remember, son Slender, my daughter.

Slen. Ay, forsooth; I have spoke with her, and we have a nay-word how to know one another. I come to her in white, and cry, mum;" she cries, "budget;"

66

and by that we know one another.

Shal. That's good, too: but what needs either your mum, or her budget? the white will decipher her well enough.

Page. The night is dark; light and spirits will be

1

come it well. No man means evil but the devil, and we shall know him by his horns. Let's away; follow me. Slen. Sweet Anne Page! [Exeunt, R.

Enter MRS. PAGE, MRS. FORD, and CAIUS, L.

Mrs. Page. (c.) 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. Remember, Aune Page is in green.

Caius. I know vat I have to do. Adieu. [Exit, R. Mrs. Page. Fare you well, sir.-My husband will not rejoice so much at the abuse of Falstaff, as he will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter: but 'tis no matter: better a little chiding, than a great deal of heart-break. Now, Mrs. Quickly!

Enter MRS. QUICKLY, L.

Quick. He's coming: the knight is on his way; and, ha! ha! marry! I've provided him with a chain and a pair of horns!

Mrs. Ford. What! he holds it for the third time?

Quick. Ay, and says, “he hopes there is luck in odd numbers."

Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan, now, and her troop of fairies? and the Welch devil, Evans?

Mrs. Page. My daughter and the other fairies are all couch'd in a pit hard by Herne's oak, with obscur'd lights; which, at the very instant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at once display to the night.

Mrs. Ford. That cannot choose but amaze him. Mrs. Page. If he be not amaz'd, he will be mock'd; if he be amaz'd, he will every way be mock'd,

Mrs. Ford. The hour draws on:-To the oak, to the oak! [Exeunt, R.

SCENE II.-Windsor Park.-Stage still dark.

Enter FENTON, L.

Fent. The important hour draws on, and sweet Anne Page is not yet come! My gloomy apprehensions are realized, and she will prove faithless, like the rest of her sex.

SONG.-FENTON.

(An Ancient Ballad, supposed to have been written by Marlow.)

The winter it is past, and the summer's come at last,
And the small birds sing on every tree:

The hearts of these are glad, but mine is very sad,
For my true love has parted from me.

The rose upon the brier, by the water running clear,
May have charms for the linnet or the bee,

Their little loves are blest, and their little hearts at rest,
But my true love is parted from me.

My love is like the sun, that in the sky does run

For ever, so constant and true;

But her's is like the moon that wanders up and down, And every month it is new.

All you that are in love, and cannot it remove,

I pity the pains you endure;

For experience makes me know that your hearts are full

of woe,

A woe that no mortal can cure.

[Exit, R.

Enter EVANS and Fairies, L.-The Fairies lay hold of each others garment, and run after EVANS round the Stage.-Music.-EVANS speaks during the music, while he continues running.

Eva. Trib, trib, fairies; come; and remember your parts: be pold, I pray you; follow me into the pit; and when give the watch-'ords, do as I pid you :Come, come, trib, trib. [Exeunt, R.

SCENE III.-Another part of the Park.-Herne's Oak.-Moonlight.-A Clock strikes Twelve.

Enter FALSTAFF, with a Buck's Head on, clanking a Chain, L. s. E.

Fal. The Windsor bell hath struck twelve; the minute draws on: now, the gods assist me !-Remember, Jove, thou wast a bull for thy Europa; love set on thy horns. For me, I am here a Windsor stag; and the fattest, I think, i'the forest.-Who comes here?

Enter MRS. FORD, L. S. E.

Mrs. Ford. Sir John?-Art thou there, my deer? Fal. Let the sky rain potatoes: let it thunder to the tune of "Green Sleeves;" hail kissing-comforts, and snow eringoes; let there come a tempest of provocation, I will shelter me here.

Mrs. Ford. Mistress Page is come with me, sweetheart.

Enter MRS. PAGE, L. S. E.

Fal. Divide me like a bribe-buck, each a haunch; I will keep my sides to myself, my shoulders to the fellow of this walk, and my horns I bequeath your husbands. Am I a woodman? ha! Speak I like Herne the hunter?-Why, now is Cupid a child of conscience; he makes restitution. Poor Master Ford! Poor Master Page!

Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page. Aye, so say we.

DUET.-MRS. PAGE AND MRS. FORD.

When daisies pied, and violets blue,
And ladies' frocks all silver white,
And cuckoo buds of yellow hue,

Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
Cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, cuckoo-O word of fear,
Unpleasant to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,

And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles wed, and rooks, and daws,

And maidens bleach their summer frocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,

Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
Cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, cuckoo-O word of fear,
Unpleasant to a married ear!

Fal. As I'm a true spirit, welcome both!

[Noise by the Fairies within, L.

Mrs. Page. Alas! what noise?

Mrs. Ford. Heaven forgive us!

3