- and my affurance bids me fearch; there I fhall find Falstaff: I fhall be rather prais'd for this, than mock'd; for it is as positive as the earth is firm, that Falftaff is there: I will go.

Enter Page, Shallow, Slender, Hoft, Evans, and Caius.

Shal. Page, &c. Well met mafter Ford.

Ford. Truft me, a good knot: I have good cheer at home; and, I pray you, all go with me.

Shal. I muft excufe myself, master Ford.

Slen. And fo muft I, fir; we have appointed to dine with mistress Anne, and I would not break with her for more money than I'll speak of.

Shal. We have linger'd about a match between Anne Page and my coufin Slender, and this day we shall have

our answer.

Slen. I hope, I have your good will, father Page.

Page. You have, master Slender; I ftand wholly for you-but my wife, mafter doctor, is for you altogether. Caius. Ay, by gar; and de maid is love-a me; my nurfh-a Quickly tell me fo mufh.

Hoft. What fay you to young mafter Fenton ? he capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth, he writes verfes, he speaks holy-day, he fmells April and May: he will carry't, he will carry't; 'tis in his buttons; he will carry't.

d

Page. Not by my confent, I promise you. The gentle

he fpeaks holy-day, he fmells April and May:]-in holiday terms, in a ftile above the common run.

"With many holiday and lady terms

"He queftioned me."

HENRY IV, Part I, A&t I. S. 3. Hot.

"A day in April never came fo fweet."

MERCHANT OF VENICE, A& II, S. 9. Serv.

'tis in bis buttons ;]-from the number of which, arbitrarily deno

minated, boys form a judgment of their future fortune.

man

с

f

man is of no having: he kept company with the wild prince and Poins; he is of too high a region, he knows too much. No, he fhall not knit a knot in his fortunes with the finger of my substance: if he take her, let him take her simply; the wealth I have waits on my consent, and my confent goes not that way.

Ford. I beseech you, heartily, fome of you go home with me to dinner: befides your cheer, you fhall have fport; I will fhew you a monster.-Master doctor, you fhall go;so shall you, master Page;-and you, Sir Hugh.

Shal. Well, fare you well:-we fhall have the freer wooing at mafter Page's..

Caius. Go home, John Rugby; I come anon.

Hoft. Farewell, my hearts: I will to my honeft knight Falstaff, and drink canary with him.

Ford. [Afide.] I think, I shall with him; I'll make him dance.

drink in pipe-wine first Will you go, gentles?

All. Have with you, to see this monster.

[Exeunt.

Enter Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Page, and fervants with a basket.

Mrs. Ford. What John! what, Robert!

Mrs. Page. Quickly, quickly; is the buck-basket

Mrs. Ford. I warrant:

What, Robin, I say.

Mrs. Page. Come, come, come.

Mrs. Ford. Here, fet it down.

Mrs. Page. Give your men the charge; we must be brief.

с

* of no having :]—no estate.

"Of noble having, and of royal hope."

"great prediction

MACBETH, Act I, S. 3. Ban.

f knit a knot in his fortunes]-to stop the further unravelling of them.

drink horn-pipe wine.

P4

Mrs.

Mrs. Ford. Marry, as I told you before, John, and Robert, be ready here hard by in the brew-house; and when I fuddenly call on you, come forth, and (without any pause, or staggering) take this basket on your fhoulders: that done, trudge with it in all hafte, and carry it among the whitsters in Datchet mead, and there empty it in the muddy ditch, close by the Thames fide.

h

- Mrs. Page. You will do it?

Mrs. Ford. I have told them over and over; they lack no direction: Be gone, and come when you are call'd.

Mrs. Page. Here comes little Robin.

Enter Robin.

i

[Exeunt Servants.

Mrs. Ford. How now, my eyas-mufket? what news with you?

Rob. My master fir John is come in at your back-door, mistress Ford; and requests your company.

k

Mrs. Page. You little Jack-a-lent, have you been true to us?

Rob. Ay, I'll be fworn: My mafter knows not of your being here; and hath threaten'd to put me into everlafting liberty, if I tell you of it; for, he fwears, he'll turn

me away.

Mrs. Page. Thou'rt a good boy; this fecrecy of thine fhall be a tailor to thee, and fhall make thee a new doublet and hofe.-I'll go hide me.

Mrs. Ford. Do fo:-Go tell thy mafter, I am alone. Mistress Page, remember you your cue. [Exit Robin. Mrs. Page. I warrant thee; if I do not act it, hifs me. [Exit Mrs. Page.

h whitfters]-whiteners.

i eyas-mufket ?-young hawk, my infant Lilliputian.

k Jack-a-lent,]-puppet thrown at in Lent, like cocks; a character of ridicule in the old myfteries.

Mrs.

Mrs. Ford. Go to then ;-we'll ufe this unwholfome humidity, this grofs watry pumpion;-we'll teach him' to know turtles from jays.

m

Enter Falstaff.

Fal. Have I caught thee, my heavenly jewel? Why, now let me die, for I have liv'd long enough; this is the period of my ambition: O this bleffed hour!

Mrs. Ford. O fweet fir John!

Fal. Miftrefs Ford, I cannot cog, I cannot prate, miftrefs Ford. Now fhall I fin in my wifh: I would thy hufband were dead; I'll speak it before the best lord, I would make thee my lady.

Mrs. Ford. I your lady, fir John! alas, I fhould be a pitiful lady.

Fal. Let the court of France fhew me fuch another; I fee how thine eye would emulate the diamond: Thou haft the right arched bent of the brow, that becomes the " shiptire, the tire-valiant, or any tire of Venetian admittance.

Mrs. Ford. A plain kerchief, fir John: my brows become nothing else; nor that well neither.

Fal. Thou art a P traitor to say fo: thou would'st make an abfolute courtier; and the firm fixture of thy foot would give an excellent motion to thy gait, in a femi-circled farthingale. I fee what thou wert, if fortune thy foe were not; nature is thy friend: Come, thou canst not hide it.

I to know turtles from jays.]—to distinguish modeft women from Arumpets. Some Jay of Italy."

CYMBELINE, A& III, S. 4. Imo. m Have I caught thee, my heavenly jeavel?]—Part of a song of Sidney's.

n

fhip-tire, the tire-valiant, or any tire of Venetian admittance.]-headdreffes of various fashions; the one had an airy or flag-like appearance, the other a bold one, fhewing more of the face-tire volant-or any cap made after the Venetian model.

kerchief,]-head-drefs.

P traitor to thy own merit-a tyrant. fortune thy foe were not ;]-alluding to an old favourite ballad, beginning" Fortune, my foe, why doft thou frown on me?”

Mrs.

Mrs. Ford. Believe me, there's no fuch thing in me. Fal. What made me love thee? let that perfuade thee, there's fomething extraordinary in thee. Come, I cannot cog, and say, thou art this and that, like a many of thefe lifping haw-thorn buds, that come like women in men's apparel, and smell like 'Bucklers-bury in fimple-time; I cannot: but I love thee; none but thee; and thou deservest it.

Mrs. Ford. Do not betray me, fir; I fear, you love miftrefs Page.

Fal. Thou might'ft as well fay, I love to walk by the Counter-gate; which is as hateful to me as the reek of a lime-kiln.

Mrs. Ford. Well, heaven knows how I love you; and you shall one day find it.

Fal. Keep in that mind; I'll deserve it.

Mrs. Ford. Nay, I muft tell you, fo you do; or else I could not be in that mind.

Rob. [Within.] Mistress Ford, miftrefs Ford! here's mistress Page at the door, fweating and blowing, and looking wildly, and would needs speak with you presently.

Fal. She fhall not fee me; I will 'enfconce me behind the arras.

Mrs. Ford. Pray you, do fo; fhe's a very tattling wo[Falstaff hides himself.

man.

Enter Miftrefs Page.

What's the matter? how now?

Mrs. Page. O mistress Ford, what have you done? you're fham'd, you are overthrown, you are undone for ever. Mrs. Ford. What's the matter, good miftrefs Page?

Bucklers-bury]-Once the chief abode of Druggifts, who, in our author's time, fold both green and dry herbs.

3

enfconce]-hide.

Mrs.