6

"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 fit, '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 bruis'd my fhin th'other day with playing at fword and dagger with a master of fence, three veneys for a dish of itew'd prunes; and, by my troth, I cannot abide the fmell of hot meat fince. Why do your dogs bark fo? be there bears i'th' town?

Anne. I think, there are, Sir; I heard them talk'd of.

Slen. I love the fport well, but I fhall as foon quarrel at it as any man in England. You are afraid, if you fee the bear loose, are you not?

Anne. Ay, indeed, Sir.

Slen. That's meat and drink to me now; I have feen Sackerfon loose twenty times, and have taken him by the chain; but I warrant you, the women have fo cry'd and fhriek'd at it, that it paft: but women, indeed, cannot abide 'em, they are very ill-favour'd rough things.

Enter Mr. Page.

Page. Come, gentle Mr. Slender, come; we stay for you.

Slen. I'll eat nothing, I thank you, Sir.

Page. By cock and pye, you shall not chufe, Sir;

come; come.

6 I keep but three men and a boy yet, &c.] As great a fool as the poet has made Slender, it appears, by his boatting of his wealth, his breeding, and his courage, that he knew how to win a woman. This is a fine inftance of Shakespear's knowledge

of nature.

Slen.

i

Slen. Nay, pray you, lead the way.
Page. Come on, Sir.

Slen. Mistress Anne, your felf fhall go firft.
Anne. Not I, Sir; pray you, keep on.

Slen. Truly, I will not go firft, truly-la: I will not do you that wrong.

Anne. I pray you, Sir.

Slen. I'll rather be unmannerly, than troublesome; you do your felf wrong,

indeed-la.

SCENE

Re-enter Evans and Simple.

VI.

[Exeunt.

Eva. Go your ways, and ask of Doctor Caius' houfe 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.

Simp. Well, Sir.

Eva. Nay, it is petter yet; give her this letter; for it is a 'oman that altogethers acquaintance with mistress Anne Page; and the letter is to defire and require her to follicit your master's defires to mistress Anne Page: I pray you, be gone; I will make an end of my dinner; there's pippins and cheese to come.

SCENE

[Exeunt feverally.

VII.

Changes to the Garter-Inn.

Enter Falstaff, Hoft, Bardolph, Nym, Pistol and Robin.

INE hoft of the garter,

Fal. M Host. What fays my bully rock? speak

fchollarly, and wifely.

Fal. Truly, mine hoft, I must turn away fome of my followers.

S 3

Hoft.

1

Hoft. Difcard, buily Hercules, cafhier; let them wag; trot, trot.

Fal. I fit at ten pounds a week.

Hoft. Thou'rt an Emperor, Cafar, Keifar and Phea zar. I will entertain Bardolph, he fhall draw, he fhall tap; faid I well, bully Hector?

Fal. Do fo, good mine hoft.

Hoft. I have fpoke, let him follow; let me fee thee froth, and live: I am at a word; follow.

[Exit Hoft. Fal. Bardolph, follow him; a tapfter is a good trade; an old cloak makes a new jerkin; a wither'd fervingman, a fresh tapfter; go, adieu.

Bard. It is a life that I have defir'd: I will thrive.

[Exit Bard. Pift. O bafe Hungarian wight, wilt thou the spigot wield?

Nym. He was gotten in drink, is not the humour conceited? His mind is not heroick, and there's the humour of it.

Fal, I am glad, I am fo quit of this tinderbox his thefts were too open; his filching was like an unskilful finger, he kept not time.

Nym. The good humour is to steal at a minute's

reft.

Pift. Convey, the Wife it call: teal? foh; a fico for the phrafe

Fal. Well, Sirs, I am almost out at heels.

Pift. Why then, let kibes enfue.

Fal. There is no remedy: I must conycatch, I muft fhift.

Pift. Young ravens must have food.

Fal. Which of you know Ford of this town?
Pift. I ken the wight, he is of fubftance good.

7 His mind is not heroick, and there's the bumour of it.] Added from the old Quarto of 1619.

Fal. My honeft lads, I will tell you what I am about.

Pift. Two yards and more.

Fal. No quips now, Piftol: indeed, I am in the wafte two yards about; but I am now about no wafte, I am about thrift. Briefly, I do mean to make love to Ford's wife: I spy entertainment in her; fhe dif courfes, fhe carves, the gives the leer of invitation; I can conftrue the action of her familiar ftile, and the hardest voice of her behaviour, to be english'd right, is, I am Sir John Falstaff's.

Pift. He hath ftudy'd her well, and translated her out of honesty into English.

Nym. The anchor is deep; will that humour pass? Fal. Now, the report goes, fhe has all the rule of her husband's purfe: fhe hath a legion of angels.

Pift. As many devils entertain; and to her, boy, fay I.

Nym. The humour rifes; it is good; humour me the angels.

Fal. I have writ me here a letter to her; and here another to Page's wife, who even now gave me good eyes too, examin'd my parts with moft judicious oeillades; fometimes, the beam of her view guilded my foot; fometimes, my portly belly.

Pift. Then did the fun on dung-hill fhine. [Afide. Nym. I thank thee for that humour.

8 and tranflated her well, out of bonefty into English. ] i. e. into a corrupt language. This is extremely humorous: But I think the word well, coming in here a fecond time, is an intrufion, and fhould be thruft out again, as it burdens the diction and obftructs the easy turn of the thought.

9 As many devils entertain ;—] i. e. Take to your affiftance as many devils as she has angels, and then you may be a match for her.

moft judicious 1LIADS;] Read oeillades, glances.

Mr. Pope.
S 4

Fal

Fal. O fhe did fo courfe o'er my exteriors with fuch a greedy intention, that the appetite of her eye did feem to fcorch me up like a burning-glafs. Here's another letter to her; the bears the purfe too; she is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty. I will be Cheater to them both, and they fhall be Exchequers to me; they fhall 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 miftrefs Ford: we will thrive, lads, we will thrive.

Pift. Shall I Sir Pandarus of Troy become, And by my fide wear steel? then, Lucifer take all! Nym. I will run no bafe humour; here, take the humour-letter, I will keep the haviour of reputation.

Fal. Hold, Sirrah, bear you these letters tightly, Sail like my pinnace to thefe golden fhores. [To Robin. Rogues, hence, avaunt! vanish like hail-ftones, go; Trudge, plod away o'th' hoof, feek shelter, pack! Falstaff will learn the humour of the age, French thrift, you rogues; my self, and skirted page. [Exeunt Falstaff and Boy.

2 I will be Cheater to them both, and they shall be Exchequers to me;] The fame joke is intended here, as in the fecond part of Henry the fourth, Act 2. I will bar no boneft man my houfe, nor no Cheater. By which is meant Efcbeatours, an officer in the exchequer, in no good repute with the common people.

3 Falstaff will learn the humour of the age,

French thrift, you rogues; my felf, and skirted page.] So Beaumont and Fletcher, in The honeft man's fortune.

'tis the comfort, that

Ill fortune has undone me into the fafpion:
For now, in this age, moft men do begin
To keep but one bay, that kept many men.

SCENE