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of stew'd prunes; and, by my troth, I cannot abide the fmell of hot meat fince. Why do your dogs bark fo? be there bears i'the town?

Ann. I think there are, Sir; I heard them talk'd of.

Slen. I love the fport well; but I fhall as foon quarrel at it as any man in England. You are afraid, if you fee the bear loofe, are you not?

Ann. Ay, indeed, Sir.

Slen. That's meat and drink to me now: I have feen Sackerfon loofe twenty times; and have taken him by the chain: but, I warrant you, the women have fo cried and fhriek'd at it, 9 that it pass'd: but women, indeed, cannot abide 'em, they are very ill. favour'd rough things.

Re-enter Page.

Page. Come, gentle Mr. Slender, come; we stay for you.

Slen. I'll eat nothing, I thank you, Sir.

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Page. By cock and pye, you shall not choose, Sir: come, come.

Slen. Nay, pray you, lead the way.

Page. Come on, Sir.

Slen. Miftrefs Ann, yourself shall go firft.

Ann. Not I, Sir; pray you, keep on.

Slen. Truly, I will not go firft; truly-la: I will you that wrong.

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Ann. I pray you, Sir.

-Sackerfon-] Seckerfon is likewife the name of a bear in the old comedy of Sir Giles Goofecap. STEEVENS.

9 that it pals'd:-] It pajs'd, or this paffes, was a way of speaking cuftomary heretofore, to fignify the excess, or ex traordinary degree of any thing. The fentence completed would be, This paffes all expreffion, or perhaps, This passes all things. We ftill ufe paffing well, paffing frange. WARBURTON.

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By cock and pye,- -] See a note on A& 5. Sc. 1. Hen. IV.

P. II. STEEVENS.

Slen

Slen. I'll rather be unmannerly, than troublesome : you do yourself wrong, indeed-la.

SCENE II.

Enter Evans and Simple.

[Exeunt,

Eva. Go your ways, and afk of Doctor Caius' houfe, which is the way: and there dwells one mistress Quickly, which is in the manner of his nurse, or his dry nurse, or his cook, or his laundry, his washer, and his wringer.

Simp. Well, Sir.

Eva. Nay, it is petter yet: give her this letter; for it is a 'oman that altogethers acquaintance with mistress Ann Page; and the letter is to defire and require her to folicit your master's defires to mistress Ann Page: I pray you, be gone; I will make an end of my dinner; there's pippins and cheese to come. [Exeunt feverally.

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Changes to the Garter inn.

Enter Falstaff, Hoft, Bardolph, Nym, Pistol, and Robin. Fal. Mine hoft of the garter,

Hoft. What fays my bully Rock? speak schollarly, and wifely.

Fal. Truly, mine hoft, I must turn away fome of my followers.

Hoft. Difcard, bully Hercules; cafhier: let them wag: trot, trot.

Fal. I fit at ten pounds a week.

Hoft. Thour't an emperor, Cæfar, Keifar, and Pheazar. I will entertain Bardoph; he fhall draw, he fhall tap faid I well, bully Hector?

Fal. Do fo, good mine hoft.

Hoft.

Hoft. I have fpoke; let him follow: let me fee thee froth, and lime: I am at a word; follow. [Exit Hoft. Fal. Bardolph, follow him; a tapfter is a good trade: an old cloak makes a new jerkin; a wither'd fervingman, a fresh tapfter. Go, adieu.

Bard. It is a life that I have defir'd: I will thrive. [Exit Bard. Pift. O bafe Hungarian wight! wilt thou the fpigot wield?

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

3 humour of it.

Fal. I am glad I am fo quit of this tinderbox; his thefts were too open: his filching was like an unfkilful finger, he kept not time.

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let me fee thee froth, and live :- -] This paffage has paffed through all the editions without fufpicion of being corrupted; but the reading of the old quartos of 1602 and 1619, Let me fee froth and lime, I take to be the true one. The Host calls for an immediate fpecimen of Bardolph's abilities as a tapfter; and frothing beer and liming fack were tricks practifed in the time of Shakespeare. The firft was done by putting foap into the bottom of the tankard when they drew the beer; the other, by mixing lime with the fack (i. e. fherry) to make it fparkle in the glafs. Froth and live is fenfe, but a little forced; and to make it so we must fuppofe the Hoft could guess by his dexterity in frothing a pot to make it appear fuller than it was, how he would afterwards fucceed in the world. Falstaff him felf complains of limed fack. STEEVENS.

20 baje Hungarian wight, &c.] This is a parody on a line taken from one of the old bombaft plays, beginning,

"O bafe Gongarian, wilt thou the distaff wield?" I had marked the paffage down, but forgot to note the play.

STEEVENS.

3 bumour of it.] This fpeech is partly taken from the corrected copy, and partly from the flight sketch in 1602. I mention it, that those who do not find it in either of the common old editions may not fufpect it to be fpurious. STEEVENS.

Nym.

Nym. The good humour is to fteal 4 at a minute's rest.

Pift. Convey, the wife it call: fteal! foh; a fico for the phrase!

Fal. Well, Sirs, I am almost out at heels.
Pift. Why then, let kibes enfue.

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

Pift. 5 Young ravens must have food.

Fal. Which of you know Ford of this town?
Pift. I ken the wight, he is of fubstance good.
Fal. My honeft lads, I will tell you what I am about.
Pift. Two yards and more.

6

Fal. No quips now, Pistol: indeed, I am in the waift two yards about: but I am now about no wafte; I am about thrift. Briefly, I do mean to make love to Ford's wife: Ifpy entertainment in her; fhe discourses, fhe carves, fhe gives the leer of invitation: I can conftrue the action of her familiar ftile; and the hardest voice of her behaviour, to be English'd rightly, is, I am Sir John Falstaff's.

at a minute's reft.] Our author probably wrote,
- at a minim's reft. LANGTON.

This conjecture feems confirmed by a paffage in Romeo and Juliet, refts his minim, &c. It may however mean, that, like a fkillful harquebuzier, he takes a good aim, though he has refted his piece for a minute only. STEEVENS.

5 Young ravens must have food.] An adage. See Ray's Proverbs. STEEVENS.

6

about no wafte; -] I find the fame play on words in Heywood's Epigrams, 1562: "Where am I leaft, hufband? quoth he, in the waist; "Which cometh of this, thou art vengeance ftrait lac'd. "Where am I biggeft, wife? in the wafte, quoth fhe, "For all is wafte in you, as far as I fee."

And again in The Wedding, a comedy, by Shirley, 1626: "He's a great man indeed;

66

Something given to the waft, for he lives within no "reasonable compass." STEEVENS.

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Pift. He hath ftudy'd her will, and translated her will; out of honesty into English.

Nym. 7 The anchor is deep: will that humour pass? Fal. Now, the report goes, fhe has all the rule of her husband's purfe: fhe hath a legion of angels. Pift. As many devils entertain; and, To her, boy, say I.

Nym. The humour rifes; 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 moft judicious eyliads: fometimes the beam of her view gilded my foot, fometimes my portly belly.

Pift. Then did the fun on dung-hill fhine.
Nym. I thank thee for that humour.

Fal. O, fhe did so course-o'er my exteriors with fuch a greedy intention, that the appetite of her

eye did

7 The anchor is deep: will that humour pass ?] I fee not what relation the anchor has to tranflation. Perheps we may read, the author is deep; or perhaps the line is out of its place, and fhould be inferted lower after Falstaff has faid,

Sail like my pinnace to thofe golden fhores.

It may be obferved, that in the tracts of that time anchor and author could hardly be diftinguished. JOHNSON.

8 As many devils entertain, &c.] The old quarto reads, As many devils attend her, &c. STEEVENS.

9

eyliads] This word is differently spelt in all the copies. I fuppofe we should write oeillades, French. STEEV. that humour.] What diftinguishes the language of Nym from that of the other attendants on Falstaff, is the conftant repetition of this phrafe. In the time of Shakespeare fuch an incident feems to have been fufficient to mark a character. In Sir Giles Goofecap, a play of which I have no earlier edition than that of 1606, the fame peculiarity is mentioned in the hero of the piece.

-his only reafon for every thing is, that we are all "mortal; then hath he another pretty phrase too, and "that is, he will tickle the vanity of every thing.”

STEEVENS.

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