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Page, Why?

Eva. He has no more knowledge in Hibocrates and Ga len, and he is a knave befides; a cowardly knave, as you would defires to be acquainted withal.

Page. I warrant you, he's the man fhould fight with him. Slen. O, fweet Anne Page!

Shal. It appears fo, by his weapons:-Keep them afunder;-here comes doctor Caius.

Enter HOST, CATUS and RUGBY.

Page. Nay, good mafter parfon, keep in your weapon. Shal. So do you, good mafter doctor.

Heft. Difarm them, and let them queftion; let them keep their limbs whole, and hack our English.

Caius. I pray you, let-a me speak a word vit your ear: Verefore vill you not meet a-me?

ape.

Eva. Pray you, ufe your patience: In good time.

Cains. By gar, you are de coward, de Jack dog, John

Eva. Pray you, let us not be laughing ftogs to other men's humours; I defire you in friendship, and I will one way or other make you amends :-I will knog your urinals about your knave's cogs-comb, for miffing your meetings and appointments.

Caius. Diable!-Jack Rugby,-mine Hoft de farterre, have I not stay for him, to kill him? have I not, at the place I did appoint?

Eva. As I am a chriftian's foul, now, look you, this is the place appointed: I'll be judgement by mine host of the Garter,

Hoft. Peace, I fay, Guallia and Gaul, French and Welch ;4 foul curer and body-curer.

Caius. Ay, dat is very good! excellent!

Hoft.

telling us, in The Fift Part of K, Kenry IV. that his age was " fome fifty, or, by'r lady, inclining to thrEE-fcore. RITSON.

4 Sir Thomas Hanmer reads Gallie and Wallia: but it is objected that Wallia is not eally corrupted into Gaul. Poffibly the word was written Guallia. FARMER.

Thus, in K. Henry VI. P. II. Gualtier for Walter. STEZVENS. The quarto, 1602, confirms Dr. Farmer's conjecture. It readsPeace I fay, Gawle and Gawla, French and Welch, &c. Malone.

Hoft. Peace, I fay; hear mine hoft of the Garter. Am I politick? am I fubtle? am I a Machiavel? Shall I lofe my doctor? no; he gives me the potions, and the motions. Shall I lofe my parfon? my príeft? my fir Hugh? no; he gives me the proverbs and the no-verbs.-Give me thy hand, terreftrial; fo-Give me thy hand, celeftial; fo.- Boys of art, I have deceived you both; I have directed you to wrong places: your hearts are mighty, your skins are whole, and let burnt fack be the iffue.-Come, lay their fwords to pawn:-Follow me, lad of peace; follow, follow, follow. Shal. Truft me, a mad hoft :-Follow, gentlemen, follow. Slen. O, fweet Anne Page!

[Exeunt SHALLOW, SLENDER, PAGE, and Hoft. Caius. Ha! do I perceive dat? have you make-a de fot of us ?5 ha, ha!

Eva. This is well; he has made us his vlouting-ftog.I defire you, that we may be friends; and let is knog our prains together, to be revenge on this fame fcall, fcurvy, cogging companion, the hoft of the Garter.

6

Caius. By gar, vit all my heart; he promife to bring me vere is Anne Page: by gar, he deceive me too.

Eva. Well, I will fmite his noddles:-Pray you follow.

SCENE II.

The ftreet in Windfor.

Enter Miftrefs PAGE and ROBIN.

[Exeunt.

Mrs. Page. Nay, keep your way, little gallant; you were wont to be a follower, but now you are a leader: Whether had you rather, lead mine eyes, or eye your mafter's heels?

5 Sot, in French, fignifies a fool. MALONE.
Scall was an old word of reproach, as fcab was afterwards.
Chaucer imprecates on his ferivener :

"Under thy longe lockes mayeft thou have the scalle."

Rob.

JOHNSON. Scall, as Dr. J. interprets it, is a scab breaking out of the hair, and approaching nearly to the leprofy. It is ufed by other writers of Shakfpeare's time. You will find what was to be done by perfons afflicted with it, by looking into Eeviticus, xiii. 30, 31, & feqq. WHALLEY.

Rob. I had rather, forfooth, go before you like a man, than follow him like a dwarf.

Mrs. Page. O, you are a flattering boy; now, I fee, you'll be a courtier.

Enter FORD.

Ford. Well met, miftrefs Page: Whither go you?

Mrs. Page. Truly, fir, to fee your wife: Is the at home? Ford. Ay; and as idle as fhe may hang together, for want of company: I think, if your husbands were dead, you two would marry.

you this

Mrs. Page. Be fure of that,-two other husbands. Ford. Where had pretty weather-cock. Mrs. Page. I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my hufband had him of: What do you call your knight's name, firrah?

Rob. Sir John Falstaff.

Ford. Sir John Falstaff!

Mrs. Page. He, he; I can never hit on's name.-There is fuch a league between my good man and he!-Is your wife at home, indeed?

Ford. Indeed, fhe is.

Mrs. Page. By your leave, fir;- I am fick, 'till I fee her.. [Exeunt Mrs. PAGE and ROBIN. Ford. Has Page any brains? hath he any eyes? hath he any thinking? Sure they fleep; he hath no ufe of them. Why, this boy will carry a letter twenty miles, as eafy as a cannon will fhoot point-blank twelve fcore. He pieces-out his wife's inclination; he gives her folly motion, and advantage and now fhe's going to my wife, and Falftaff's boy with her. A man may hear this fhower fing in the wind!and Falftaff's boy with her!-Good plots!-they are laid; and our revolted wives fhare damnation together. Well; I will take him, then torture my wife, pluck the borrowed veil of modefty from the fo feeming miftrefs Page,7 divulge Page himfelf for a fecure and wilful Acteon; and to thefe violent proceedings all my neighbours fhall cry aim.8 [Clock ftrikes.] The

7 Seeming is fpecious. STEEVENS. 8 i. e. fhall encourage.

The phrafe, as I have already obferved, is taken from archery.

STEEVENS.

The clock gives me my cue, and my affurance bids me search; there I fhall find Falstaff: I fhall be rather praised for this, than mocked; for it is as pofitive as the earth is firm, that Falstaff is there: I will go.

Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, SLENDER, Hoft, Sir HUGH EVANS, CAIUS and RUGBY.

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

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

Shal. I must excuse 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 fpeak of.

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

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

Page. You have, mafter 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 nursh-a Quickly tell me fo mush.

Heft. What fay you to young mafter Fenton? he capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth, he writes verfes, he speaks holiday, he fmells April and May: he will carry't, he will carry't; 'tis in his buttons ;4 he will carry't.

Page.

9 They have not linger'd very long. The match was proposed by Sir Hugh but the day before. JOHNSON.

Shallow reprefents the affair as having been long in band, that he may better excufe himself and Slender from accepting Ford's invitation on the day when it was to be concluded. STEEVENS.

2 i. e. in an high-flown, fuftian file. It was called a holy-day ftile, from the old cuftom of acting their farces of the myfteries and moralities, which were turgid and bombaft, on holy-days. So, in Much Ado about Nothing: I cannot woo in feftival terms." And again, in The Merchant of Venice:

"Thou spend't such bigb-day wit in praising him." WARBURTON. I fufpect that Dr. Warburton's fuppofition that this phrafe is derived from the feafon of acting the old mysteries, is but an boliday hypothefis; and have preferved his note only for the fake of the paffages he quotes. Fenton is not reprefented as a talker of bombaft.

He

Page. Not by my confent, I promife you. The gentleman is of no having: 5 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 fubdance; if he take her, let him take her fimply; the wealth I have waits on my confent, and my confent goes not that way.

Ford. Ibefeech you, heartily, fome of you go home with me to dinner befides your cheer, you shall have sport; I will fhow you a monster.Mafter Doctor, you fhall go; -fo fhall you, mafter Page ;-and you, Sir Hugh. Shal. Well, fare you well:- - we fhall have the freer wooing at mafter Page's. [Exeunt SHALLOW and SLENDER. Caius. Go home, John Rugby; I come anon.

[Exit RUGBY. Hoft. Farewell, my hearts: I will to my honeft knight Falstaff, and drink canary with him. [Exit HOST. Ford. [Afide.] I think, I fhall drink in pipe-wine first with him; I'll make him dance. Will you go, gentles? All. Have with you, to fee this monster.

[Exeunt. SCENE

MALONE.

He fpeaks boliday, I believe, means only, his language is more curious and affectedly chufen than that used by ordinary men. So, in King Henry IV. P. I:

STEEVINS.

"With many boliday and lady terms.' To fpeak holiday muft mean to fpeck out of the common road, fuperior to the vulgar; alluding to the better drefs worn on fuch days. RITSON, 3 This was the phraseology of the time; not " he fmells of April," &c. So, in Measure for Measure:-" he would mouth with a beggar of fifty, though the melt brown bread and Garlick." MALONE.

4 Alluding to an ancient custom among the country fellows, of trying whether they should fucceed with their mistreffes, by carrying the bachelor's buttons (a plant of the Lychnis kind, whofe flowers refemble a coat button in form) in their pockets. And they judged of their good or bad fuccefs by their growing, or their not growing there. SMITH.

5 Having the fame as eftate or fortune. JOHNSON.

6 Hoft. Farewell, my bearts: I will to my boneft knight Fastaff, and drink canary with him.

Ford. [Afide.] I think, I shall drink in pipe-rine first with him; I'll make him dance. To drink in pipe-wine is a phrafe which I cannot understand. May we not fuppofe that Shakspeare rather wrote, I think I shall drink HORN-PIPE wine firft with him: I'll make him dance ?

Canary is the name of a dance, as well as of a ruine. Ford lays hold of both fenfes; but for an obvious reafon, makes the dance a born-pipe.

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