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rant of woman-hood, and the witnefs of a good confcience, pursue him with any further revenge?

Mrs. Page. The fpirit of wantonnefs is, fure, fear'd out of him; if the devil have him not in fee-fimple, with fine and recovery, he will never, I think, in the way of wafte, attempt us again,

Mrs. Ford. Shall we tell our husbands how we have ferved him?

Mrs. Page. Yes, by all means; if it be but to fcrape the figures out of your husband's brain. If they can find in their hearts the poor unvirtuous fat knight fhall be any farther afflicted, we two will fill be the minifters.

Mrs. Ford. I'll warrant, they'll have him publickly fham'd; and, methinks, there would be no period to the jeft, fhould he not be publickly sham'd.

Mrs. Page. Come to the forge with it, then shape it: I would not have things cool.

SCENE changes to the Garter-Inn.

Bard-SIR

Enter Hoft and Bardolph,

[Exeunte

IR, the German defires to have three of your horfes; the Duke himself will be to-morrow at court, and they are going to meet him.

Hoft. What Duke fhould that be, comes fo fecretly? I hear not of him in the court: let me fpeak with the gentlemen; they speak English?

Bard. Sir, I'll call them to you.

Hoft. They fhall have my horfes, but I'll make them pay, I'll fawce them. They have had my house a week at command; I have turn'd away my other guests; (15) they must compt off; I'll fawce them, come. [Exeunt

(15) they must come off;] This can never be our Poet's, or his Hoft's Meaning: to come off, is, in other Terms, to go fcot-free; But thefe Germans had taken up the Hoft's Houfe, and he was refolved to make them pay for it. We must certainly, therefore, read, they must compt off: i. e. they must pay off the Accompt, or, as we now fay, down with their Pence. Mr. Warburton.

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SCENE changes to Ford's House.

Enter Page, Ford, Mrs. Page, Mrs. Ford, and Evans.

Eva. I
T

IS one of the best difcretions of 'oman, as ever I did look upon.

Page. And did he fend you both these letters at an inftant?

Mrs. Page. Within a quarter of an hour.

Ford. Pardon me, wife. Henceforth do what thou wilt ; I rather will fufpect the fun with cold,

Than thee with wantonnefs; thy honour stands,
In him that was of late an heretick,

As firm as faith.

Page. 'Tis well, 'tis well; no more.

Be not as extreme in fubmiffion, as in offence;
But let our plot go forward: let our wives
Yet once again, to make us publick sport,
Appoint a meeting with this old fat fellow,
Where we may take him, and difgrace him for it.

Ford. There is no better way than that they spoke of. Page. How to fend him word they'll meet him in the park at midnight? fie, fie, he'll never come.

Eva. You fay, he hath been thrown into the river; and has been grievoufly peaten, as an old 'oman; methinks, there fhould be terrors in him, that he fhould not come; methinks, his flesh is punish'd, he shall have no defires.

Page. So think I too.

Mrs. Ford. Devife but how you'll ufe him, when he comes; And let us two devife to bring him thither.

Mrs. Page. There is an old tale goes, that Herne the hunter, Sometime a keeper here in Windfor foreft,

Doth all the winter-time at ftill of midnight
Walk round about an oak, with ragged horns;
And there he blafts the tree, and takes the cattle;

And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a moft hideous and dreadful manner.

You've heard of fuch a fpirit; and well you know,
The fuperftitious 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, (16)
That Falftaff at that oak fhall meet with us.
We'll fend him word to meet us in the field,
Difguis'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 fhall be done with him? what is your plot?

Mrs.Page. That likewife we have thought upon, and thus: Nan Page, (my daughter) and my little fon,

And three or four more of their growth, we'll dress
Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies, green and white,
With rounds of waxen tapers on their heads,
And rattles in their hands; upon a fudden,
As Falstaff, the, and I, are newly met,
Let them from forth a faw-pit ruth at once
With fome diffused fong: upon their fight,
We two, in great amazedness, will fly;
Then let them all encircle him about,
And fairy-like to pinch the unclean knight;
And ask him, why, that hour of fairy revel,
In their fo facred paths he dares to tread
In fhape prophane?

(16) Mrs. Ford. Marry, this is our Device,
That Falstaff at that Oak fhall meet with us.

Page. Well, let it not be doubted, but he'll come.

And in this Shape when you have brought him thither,] Thus this Paffage has been tranfmitted down to us, from the Time of the first Edition by the Players: But what was this Shape, in which Falftaff was to be appointed to meet? For the Women have not faid one Word to afcertain it. This makes it more than fufpicious, the Defect in this Point must be owing to fome wife Retrenchment. The two intermediate Lines, which I have reftored from the old Quarto, are abfolutely neceffary, and clear up the matter.

Mrs. Ford.

Mrs. Ford. And 'till he tell the truth,
Let the fuppofed fairies pinch him round,
And burn him with their tapers.

Mrs. Page. The truth being known,
We'll all prefent ourfelves; dif-horn the fpirit,
And mock him home to Windfor.

Ford. The children must

Be practis'd well to this, or they'll ne'er do't.

Eva. I will teach the children their behaviours; and I will be like a jack-an-apes alfo, to burn the knight with my taber.

Ford. This will be excellent. I'll go buy them vizards. Mrs. Page. My Nan fhall be the Queen of all the fairies; Finely attired in a robe of white.

Page. That filk will I go buy, and in that tire Shall Mr. Slender steal my Nan away, [Afide. And marry her at Eaton. Go, fend to Falstaff straight. Ford. Nay, I'll to him again in the name of Brook; he'll tell me all his purpofe. Sure, he'll come.

Mrs. Page. Fear not you that; go get us properties and tricking for our fairies.

Eva. Let us about it, it is admirable pleafures, and ferry honest knaveries. [Exe. Page, Ford and Evans.

Mrs. Page. Go, Mrs. Ford,
Send Quickly to Sir John, to know his mind.

[Exit Mrs. Ford.

I'll to the doctor; he hath my good will,
And none but he, to marry with Nan Page.
That Slender, tho' well landed, is an Ideot;
And he my husband best of all affects:
The doctor is well money'd, and his friends
Potent at court; he, none but he, fhall have her.
Tho' twenty thousand worthier came to crave her.

[Exit.

SCENE

SCENE changes to the Garter-Inn.

Enter Hoft and Simple.

Hoft.HAT would't thou have, boor? what, thick-fkin? fpeak, breathe, difcufs; brief,

nort, quick, fnap.

Simp. Marry, Sir, I come to speak with Sir John Falfaff, from Mr, Slender.

Hoft. There's his chamber, his houfe, his caftle, his ftanding-bed and truckle-bed; 'tis painted about with the ftory of the Prodigal, fresh and new; go, knock and call; he'll fpeak like an anthropophaginian unto thee: knock, I fay.

Simp. There's an old woman, a fat woman gone up into his chamber; I'll be fo bold as ftay, Sir, 'till the come down: I come to speak with her, indeed.

Hoft. Ha! a fat woman? the knight may be robb'd: I'll call. Bully-Knight! Bully-Sir John! fpeak from thy lungs military: art thou there? it is thine Hot, thine Epheftan calls.

?

Falstaff, above.

Fal. How now, mine Hoft ?

Hoft. Here's a Bohemian-Tartar tarries the coming down of thy fat woman; let her defcend, bully, let her defcend; my chambers are honourable. Fie, privacy? fie!

Enter Falstaff.

Fal. There was, mine Hoft, an old fat woman even now with me, but she's gone.

Simp. Pray you, Sir, was't not the wife woman of Brainford?

Fal. Ay, marry was it, muffel-fhell, what would you with her?

Simp. My mafter, Sir, my mafter Slender fent to her, feeing her go thro' the ftreet, to know, Sir, whether one Nym, Sir, that beguil'd him of a chain, had the chain,

or no.

Fal

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