that does me this wrong. Terms! names! Amaimon sounds well; Lucifer, well; Barbason, well; yet they are devils' additions, the names of fiends: but cuckold! wittol-cuckold !26 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 Welshman with my cheese, an Irishman with my aqua-vitæ bottle, or a thief to walk my ambling gelding, than my wife with herself: then she plots, then she ruminates, then she devises; and what they think in their hearts they may effect, they will break their hearts but they will effect. Heaven be praised for my jealousy!— 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! cuckold! cuckold! [Exit. SCENE III. - A Field near Windsor. Enter CAIUS and RUGBY. Caius. Jack Rugby, · Rug. Sir? Caius. Vat is de clock, Jack? Rug. 'Tis past the hour, sir, that Sir Hugh promised to meet. Caius. By gar, he has save his soul, dat he is no come; 26 That is, a conscious, patient cuckold; one that knows himself a cuckold, and is contented to be such. So Chief Justice Holt: "To call a man a cuckold was not an ecclesiastical slander; but wittol was; for it imports a knowledge of and consent to his wife's adultery." Wittol is from wittan, to know. See vol. ii., page 73, note 7.- Amaimon and Barbason were ancient names of devils. According to Randle Holme, the former had his dominion in "the north part of the 'infernal gulph'"; while the latter had "thirty legions under him.”— · Additions here is titles. Often so. he has pray his Pible vell, dat he is no come by gar, Jack Rugby, he is dead already, if he be come. Rug. He is wise, sir; he knew your Worship would kill him, if he came. Caius. By gar, de herring is no dead so as I vill kill him. Take your rapier, Jack; I vill tell you how I vill kill him. Rug. Alas, sir, I cannot fence. Caius. Villain, take your rapier. Rug. Forbear; here's company. Enter the Host, SHALLOW, SLENDER, and PAGE. Host. Bless thee, bully doctor! Shal. Save you, Master Doctor Caius ! Page. Now, good master doctor! Slen. Give you good morrow, sir. Caius. Vat be all you, one, two, tree, four, come for? Host. To see thee fight, to see thee foin, to see thee traverse; to see thee here, to see thee there; to see thee pass thy punto, thy stock, thy reverse, thy distance, thy montánt.1 Is he dead, my Ethiopian? is he dead, my Francisco? ha, bully! What says my Esculapius? my Galen? my heart of elder?? ha! is he dead, bully Stale? is he dead? Caius. By gar, he is de coward Jack priest of de varld; he is not show his face. 1 Mine Host here rattles off terms of fencing with characteristic looseness. Punto is a thrust; stock, for stoccado, or stoccata, also a thrust; reverse, probably meant for punto reverso, is a back-handed stroke; distance is the space between two antagonists; montánt or montanto is defined by old Cotgrave "an upright blow or thrust." 2 The jolly publican is poking fun at the Esculapian, knowing that he cannot understand the terms. The joke here seems to be that the elder has a heart of soft pith. - Stale and Urinal refer to the old medical custom of examining a patient's water, when every physician carried with him an urinal for that purpose.- Castilian seems to have been used as a term of reproach after the defeat of the Spanish Armada. 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. Shal. 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 3 of your professions. Is it not true, Master Page? Page. Master Shallow, you have yourself been a great fighter, though now a man of peace. Shal. Bodikins,4 Master Page, though I now be old, and of the peace, if I see a sword out, my finger itches to make one.5 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. 'Tis true, Master Shallow. Master Doctor Shal. It will be found so, Master Page. Caius, I am come to fetch you home. I am sworn of the peace you have show'd yourself a wise physician, and Sir Hugh hath shown himself a wise and patient churchman.6 You must go with me, master doctor. Host. Pardon, guest-justice. - A word, Monsieur Mockwater.7 Caius. Mock-vater! vat is dat? 3 Hair was often used thus for nature, character, grain, or texture. 4 Bodikins, a diminutive of body, is the remains of an old oath, disguised or softened; the whole original form being " By God's body." We have divers like instances in the old drama; such as 'sfoot for "God's foot," 'slight for "God's light," 'sblood for "God's blood," and zounds for "God's wounds." 5" To make one" is old language for "to be one"; of course here one of the fighters. 6 Churchman was used continually for clergyman. 7 It is not quite clear what mine Host means by Mock-water; some cov ert fling no doubt at the doctor's medical practice. Host. Mock-water, in our English tongue, is valour, bully. Caius. By gar, den, I have as mush mock-vater as de 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 me ; for, by gar, me vill have it. Host. And I will provoke him to't, or let him wag. Caius. Me dank you for dat. Host. And, moreover, bully, - But first, master guest, and Master Page, and eke Cavalero Slender, go you through the town to Frogmore. Page. Sir Hugh is there, is he? [Aside to them. Host. He is there: see what humour he is in; and I will bring the doctor about by the fields. Will it do well? Shal. We will do it. Page. Shal. Adieu, good master doctor. Slen. [Exeunt PAGE, SHAL., and SLEN. Caius. By gar, me vill kill de priest; for he speak for a jack-an-ape 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 I aim ?8 said I well? Caius. By gar, me dank you for dat: by gar, I love you; and I shall procure-a you de good guest, de earl, de knight, de lords, de gentlemen, my patients. 8 To cry aim, it seems, was a note of encouragement to archers; an exclamation used by the spectators of a shooting-match. Host. For the which I will be thy adversary toward Anne Page. Said I well? Caius. By gar, 'tis good; vell said. Host. Let us wag, then. Caius. Come at my heels, Jack Rugby, [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. A Field near Frogmore. Enter Sir HUGH EVANS and SIMPLE. Evans. I pray you now, good Master Slender's servingman, and friend Simple by your name, which way have you look'd for Master Caius, that calls himself doctor of physic? Sim. Marry, sir, the Pitty-ward, the Park-ward, every way; old Windsor way, and every way but the town way. Evans. I most fehemently desire you you will also look that way. Sim. I will, 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 goot opportunities for the 'ork. Pless my soul ! sir. [Sings.] To shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals; There will we make our peds of roses, To shallow Mercy on me! I have a great dispositions to cry. — [Retires. |