Fal. Do so, good mine host.

Host. I have spoke; let him follow: Let me see thee froth, and lime : I am at a word; follow.

[Exit. Fal. Bardolph, follow him; a tapster is a good trade : An old cloak makes a new jerkin; a withered servingman, a fresh tapster: Go; adieu.

Bard. It is a life that I have desired: I will thrive.[Ex. Pist. O base Gongarian wight! wilt thou the spigot wield ?s

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

Fal. I am glad I am so acquit of this tinder-box; his thefts were too open his filching was like an unskilful singer, he kept not time.

Nym. The good humour is, to steal at a minute's rest. Pist. Convey, the wise it call: Steal! foh; a fico for the phrase!

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

Pist. Why then, let kibes ensue.

Fal. There is no remedy; I must coney-catch; I must shift.

Pist. Young ravens must have food.

Fal. Which of you know Ford of this town?

Pist. I ken the wight; he is of substance good.

Fal. My honest lads, I will tell you what I am about. Pist. Two yards, and more.

Fal. No quips now, Pistol; indeed, I am in the waist two yards about but I am now about no waste; I am about thrift. Briefly, I do mean to make love to Ford's wife; I spy entertainment in her; she discourses, she carves, she gives the leer of invitation: I can construe the action of her familiar style; and the hardest voice of her behaviour, to be English'd rightly, is, I am sir John Falstaff's.

Pist. He hath studied her well, and translated her well; out of honesty into English.

Nym. The anchor is deep: Will that humour pass? Fal. Now, the report goes, she has all the rule of her husband's purse; she hath legions of angels.

[4] Frothing beer, and liming sack, were tricks practised in the times of Shakespeare. The first was done by putting soap into the bottom of the tankard when they drew the beer; the other, by mixing lime with the sack (i. e. sherry) to make it sparkle in the glass. STEEVENS.

[5] This is a parody on a line in one of the old bombast plays.

STEEV.

Pist. As many devils entertain; and, To her, boy, say I. Nym. The humour rises; 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 most judicious eyliads : sometimes the beam of her view gilded my foot, some times my portly belly.

Pist. Then did the sun on dung-hill shine.

Nym. I thank thee for that humour."

to

Fal. O, she did so course o'er my exteriors with such a greedy intention, that the appetite of her eye did seem to scorch me up like a burning glass -Here's another letter to her she bears the purse too; she is a region in Guiana, all gold and bounty. I will be 'cheater them both, and they shall be exchequers to me; they shall 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 mistress Ford:-we will thrive, lads, we will thrive.

Past. Shall I sir Pandarus of Troy become,

And by my side wear steel? then, Lucifer take all!

Nym. I will run no base 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 these golden shores. [To ROB. -Rogues, hence, avaunt! vanish like hail-stones, go; Trudge, plod, away, o' the hoof; seek shelter, pack! Falstaff will learn the humour of this age.

French thrift, you rogues; myself, and skirted page. [Exeunt FALSTAFF and ROBIN.

[6] What distinguishes the language of Nym, from that of the other attendants on Falstaff, is the constant repetition of this phrase. In the time of Shakespeare such an affectation seems to have been sufficient to mark a character. STEEVENS.

[7] If the tradition be true, (as I doubt not but it is,) of this play being wrote at queen Elizabeth's command, this passage, perhaps, may furnish a probable conjecture that it could not appear till after the year 1598. The mention of Guiana, then Bo lately discovered to the English, was a very happy compliment to Sir Walter Raleigh, who did not begin his expedition for South America till 1595, and returned from it in 1596, with an advantageous account of the great wealth of Guiana. Such an address of the poet was likely, I imagine, to have a proper impression on the people, when the intelligence of such a golden country was fresh in their minds, and gave them expectations of immense gain. THEOBALD.

[8] The same joke is intended bere, as in The Second Part of Henry the Fourth. Act II: I will bar no bonest man my house, nor no cheater"-By which is meant Escheator, an officer in the chequer, in no good repute with the common people. WARBURTON.

Pist. Let vultures gripe thy guts! for gourd, and ful

lam holds,'

And high and low beguiles the rich and poor:

Tester I'll have in pouch, when thou shalt lack,
Base Phrygian Turk!

Nym. I have operations in my head, which be humours of revenge.

Pist. Wilt thou revenge?

Nym. By welkin, and her star!

Pist. With wit, or steel?

Nym. With both the humours, I:

I will discuss the humour of this love to Page.
Pist. And I to Ford shall eke unfold,

How Falstaff, varlet vile,

His dove will prove, his gold will hold,

And his soft couch defile.

Nym. My humour shall not cool: I will incense Page to deal with poison; I will possess him with yellowness,* for the revolt of mien is dangerous that is my true

humour.

Pist. Thou art the Mars of malcontents: I second thee; troop on.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt.

A Room in Dr. CAIUS' house. Enter Mrs. QUICKLY, SIMPLE, and RUGBY.

Quic. What; John Rugby!-I pray thee, go to the casement, and see if you can see my master, master Doctor Caius, coming: if he do, i'faith, and find any body in the house, here will be an old abusing of God's patience, and the king's English.

Rug. I'll go watch.

Quic. Go; and we'll have a posset for't soon at night, in faith, at the latter end of a sea-coal fire. [Exit RUG.] An honest, willing, kind fellow, as ever servant shall come in house withal; and, I warrant you, no tell-tale,

[9] This hemistich is a burlesque on a passage in Tamburlaine, or The Scythian Shepherd, of which play a more particular account is given in one of the notes to Henry IV. Part II. Act II. STEEVENS.

[1] Fullam is a cant term for false dice, high and low. Torriano, in his Italian dictionary, interprets Pise by false dice, high and low men, high fullams and low fullams. WARBURTON.

Gourds were probably dice in which a secret cavity had been made; fullams those which had been loaded with a small bit of id. High men and low men, which were likewise cant terms, explain themselves. High numbers on the dire, at hazard, are from five to twelve, inclusive; low, from aces to four. MALONE. [8] Yellowness is jealousy. JOHNSON.

OF WINDSOR.

263

nor no breed-bate: his worst fault is, that he is given to
prayer; he is something peevish that way: but no body
but has his fault ;-but let that pass.
Peter Simple, you

say your name is?"

Sim. Ay, for fault of a better.

Quic. And master Slender's your master?
Sim. Ay, forsooth.

Quic. Does he not wear a great round beard, like a glover's paring-knife?

Sim. No, forsooth: he hath but a little wee face, with a little yellow beard; a Cain-coloured beard.

Quic. A softly-sprighted man, is he not ?

Sim. Ay, forsooth: but he is as tall a man of his hands, as any is between this and his head; he hath fought with

a warrener.

Quic. How say you ?-O, I should remember him; Does he not hold up his head, as it were? and strut in his gait ?

Sim. Yes, indeed, does he.

Quic. Well, heaven send Anne Page no worse fortune!-Tell master parson Evans, I will do what I can for your master: Anne is a good girl, and I wish—Re-enter RUGBY.

Rug. Out, alas! here comes my master.

Quic. We shall all be shent : Run in here, good young man; go into this closet. [Shuts SIMPLE in the closet.] He will not stay long.-What, John Rugby! John, what, John, I say!-Go, John, go, inquire for my master; I doubt, he be not well, that he comes not home :-and down, down, adown-a, &c. [Sings.

Enter Doctor CAIUS. Caius. Vat is you sing? I do not like dese toys: Pray you, go and vetch me in my closet un boitier verd; a box, a green-a box; Do intend vat I speak ? a green-a box.

STEEVENS.

Bate is an obsolete word, signifying strife, contention. Wee, in the northern dialect, siguises very little. Thus, in the Scottish proverb that apologizes for a little woman's marriage with a big man :-" A wee mouse will creep under a mickle cornstack." COLLINS.

Little wee implies something extremely diminutive, and is a very common vulgar idiom in the North. Wee alone, has only the signification of little. Thus Cleve

land: A Yorkshire wee bit, longer than a mile."-The proverb is, a mile and a wee bit i. e. about a league and a half. RITSON.

[5] Cain and Judas, in the tapestries and pictures of old, were represented with yellom beards. THEOBALD.

In an age, when but a small part of the nation could read, ideas were frequently borrowed from representations in painting or tapestry

STEEVENS.

STEEVENS.

Shent, i. e. scolded, roughly treated.
Boitier in French signifies a case of surgeon's instruments. GREY.

Quic. Ay, forsooth, I'll fetch it you. I am glad he went not in himself if he had found the young man, he would have been horn-mad.

[Aside.

Caius. Fe, fe, fe, fe! ma foi, il fait fort chaud. Je m'en vais à la Cour, la grande affaire.

Quic. Is it this, sir?

Caius. Oui; mettre le au mon pocket; Depeche, quickly-Vere is dat knave Rugby?

Quic. What, John Rugby! John!

Rug. Here, sir.

Caius. You are John Rugby, and you are Jack Rug. by: Come, take-a your rapier, and come after my heel to de court.

Rug. 'Tis ready, sir, here in the porch.

Caius. By my trot, I tarry too long:-Od's me! Qu'ay j'oublié? dere is some simples in my closet, dat I vill not for the varld I shall leave behind.

Quic. Ah me! he'll find the young man there, and be mad.

Caius. O diable, diable! vat is in my closet ?-Villaine larron!-Rugby, my rapier.

Quic. Good master, be content.

Caius. Verefore shall I be content-a?

[Pulling SIM. out.

Quic. The young man is an honest man.

Caius. Vat shall de honest man do in my closet? dere is no honest man dat shall come in my closet.

Quic. I beseech you, be not so flegmatic; hear the truth of it: He came of an errand to me from parson Hugh. Caius. Vell.

Sim. Ay, forsooth, to desire her to

Quic. Peace, I pray you.

Caius. Peace-a your tongue :-Speak-a your tale. Sim. To desire this honest gentlewoman, your maid, to speak a good word to mistress Anne Page for my master, in the way of marriage.

Quic. This is all, indeed, la; but I'll ne'er put my finger in the fire, and need not.

Caius. Sir Hugh send-a you ?-Rugby, baillez me some paper-Tarry you a little-a while.

:

[Writes.

Quic. I am glad he is so quiet if he had been thoroughly moved, you should have heard him so loud, and so melancholy;-But notwithstanding, man, I'll do your master what good I can and the very yea and the no is, the French doctor, my master,-I may call him my