Ford. Pray you go, Mr. Page. Eva. I pray you now, remembrance to-morrow on the loufy knave, mine hoft. > Caius. Dat is good, by gar, with all my heart. Eva. A laufy knave, to have his gibes, and his mockeries. Fent.I SCENE changes to Page's House. Enter Fenton and Miftrefs Ann Page. See, I cannot get thy father's love; [Exeunt. Therefore no more turn me to him, fweet Nan. Ann. Alas! how then? Fent. Why, thou must be thyfelf. He doth object, I am too great of birth ; And that my ftate being gall'd with my expence, Befides thefe, other bars he lays before me, And tells me, 'tis a thing impoffible I fhould love thee, but as a property. Fent. No, heav'n fo fpeed me in my time to come! That now I aim at. Ann. Gentle Mr. Fenton, Yet feek my father's love: ftill seek it, Sir; Cannot attain it, why then-hark you hither. [Fenton and Mrs. Ann go apart. (10) If opportunity and humbleft fuit] Dr. Thirlby imagines, that our Author with more propriety wrote; If importunity and humbleft fuit I have not veutur'd to di urb the text, becaufe, tho' an equal exactnefs be not maintain'd in the expreffion, it may mean, "If the frequent opportunitie you find of folliciting my father, and your cutlets to him, cannot get him over to your party, &c. 61 Enter Enter Shallow, Slender, and Miftrefs Quickly. Shal. Break their talk, Mistress Quickly; my kinfman fhall fpeak for himself. Slen. I'll make a fhaft or a bolt on't; 'd'slid, 'tis but' venturing. Shal. Be not difmay'd. Slen. No, fhe fhall not difmay me: I care not for that, but that I am affeard. Quick. Hark ye, Mr. Slender, would speak a word with you. Ann. I come to him.-This is my father's choice. O, what a world of vile ill-favour'd faults Look handfome in three hundred pounds a year ! Quic. And how does good master Fenton? pray you, a word with you. Shal. She's coming; to her, coz. O boy, thou hadst a father! Slen. I had a father, Mrs. Ann; my uncle can tell you good jefts of him. Pray you, uncle, tell Mrs. Ann the jeft, how my father ftole two geefe out of a pen, good uncle. Shal. Miftrefs Ann, my coufin loves you. Slen. Ay, that I do, as well as I love any woman in Gloucefter fhire. Shal. He will maintain you like a gentlewoman. Slen. Ay, that I will; come cut and long-tail, under the degree of a fquire. Shal. He will make you a hundred and fifty pounds jointure. Ann. Good mafter Shallow, let him woo for himfelf. Shal. Marry, I thank you for it; I thank you for that. Good comfort; fhe calls you, coz: I'll leave you. Ann. Now, mafter Slender. Slen. Now, good mistress Ann. Ann. What is your will? Slen. My will od's-heart-lings, that's a pretty jeft, N 3 indeed, indeed, I ne'er made my will yet, I thank heav'n; I am not fuch a fickly creature, I give heav'n praise. Ann. I mean, Mr. Slender, what would you with me? Slen. Truly, for my own part, I would little or nothing with you; your father and my uncle have made motions; if it be my luck, fo; if not, happy man be his dole! they can tell you how things go, better than I can; you may ask your father; here he comes. Enter Page, and Mistress Page. Page. Now, mafter Slender : love him, daughter Ann. -Why how now? what does mafter Fenton here? You wrong me, Sir, thus ftill to haunt my houfe : I told you, Sir, my daughter is difpofed of. Fent. Nay, mafter Page, be not impatient. Mrs. Page. Good mafter Fenton, come not to my child. Page. She is no match for you. Fent. Sir, will you hear me? Page. No, good mafter Fenton. Come, mafter Shallow; come, fon Slender, in. Knowing my mind, you wrong me, mafter Fenton. [Exeunt Page, Shallow, and Slender. Quic. Speak to miftrefs Page. Fent. Good miftrefs Page, for that I love your daughter In fuch a righteous fashion as I do, Perforce, against all checks, rebukes, and manners, I must advance the colours of my love, And not retire. Let me have your good will. Ann. Good mother, do not marry me to yon fool. Mrs. Page. I mean it not, I feek you a better huf band. Quic. That's my mafter, mafter Doctor Ann. Alas, I had rather be fet quick i'th' earth, And bowl'd to death with turneps. Mrs. Page. Come, trouble not yourfelf, good mafter Fenton. I will not be your friend nor enemy: My daughter will I question how she loves you, And And as I find her, fo am I affected. 'Till then, farewel, Sir; fhe must needs go in, Her father will be angry. [Exe. Mrs. Page and Ann. Fent. Farewel, gentle miftrefs; farewel, Nan. Quic. This is my doing now. Nay, faid I, will you caft away your child on a fool, and a physician? look on mafter Fenton; this is my doing. Fent. I thank thee; and I pray thee, once to-night. Give my sweet Nan this ring: there's for thy pains. [Exit. Quic. Now heav'n fend thee good fortune! A kind heart he hath, a woman would run through fire and water for fuch a kind heart. But yet, I would my mafter had miftrefs Ann, or I would Mr. Slender had. her; or, in footh, I would Mr. Fenton had her. I will do what I can for them all three, for fo I have promiś’d: and I'll be as good as my word, but fpeciously for Mr. Fenton. Well, I muft of another errand to Sir John Falstaff from my two miftreffes; what a beast am I to flack it? Fal. SCENE, changes to the Garter-Inn. Enter Falstaff and Bardolph. Ardolph, I fay. B4 Bard. Here, Sir. [Exit. Fal. Go fetch me a quart of fack, put a toast in't. [Exit Bard.] Have I liv'd to be carry'd in a basket, like a barrow of butchers offal, and to be thrown into the, Thames? well, if I be ferv'd fuch another trick, I'll have my brains ta'en out and butter'd, and give them to a dog for a new-year's gift. The rogues flighted me into the river, with as little remorfe (20) as they would (20) As they would have drown'd a blind bitch's puppies.] I have ventur'd to transpose the adjective here, against the authority of the printed copies. I know, in horfes, a colt from a blind ftallion lofes. much of the value it might otherwise have; but are puppies ever drown'd the fooner, for coming from a blind bitch? Two other paffages in our Author countenance the tranfpofition I have made. N 4 Launces would have drown'd a bitch's blind puppies, fifteen i' th' litter; and you may know, by my fize, that I have a kind of alacrity in finking: if the bottom were as deep as hell, I fhould down. I had been drown'd, but that the fhore was shelvy and fhallow; a death that I abhor; for the water fwells a man; and what a thing fhould I have been, when I had been fwell'd? I should have been a mountain of mummy. Enter Bardolph. Now, is the fack brew'd? Bard. Here's Mrs. Quickly, Sir, to fpeak with you. Fal. Come, let me pour in fome fack to the Thameswater; for my belly's as cold as if I had fwallow'd fnow-balls, for pills to cool the reins. Call her in. Bard. Come in woman. Enter Miftrefs Quickly. Quic. By your leave: I cry you mercy. Give your worship good morrow. Fal. Take away these challices: go brew me a pottle of fack finely. Bard. With eggs, Sir? Fal. Simple of itfelf: I'll no pullet-fperm in my brewage. How now ? Quic. Marry, Sir, I come to your worship from miftrefs Ford. Fal. Miftrefs Ford? I have had Ford enough; I was thrown into the Ford; I have my belly full of Ford. Quic. Alas the day! good heart, that was not her fault: fhe does fo take on with her men; they miftook their erection. Fal. So did I mine, to build on a foolish woman's promife. Launce, in 2 Gent. of Verona. -One, that I fav'd from drowning, when three or four of his blind brothers and fifters went to it. And, Iago, in Othello: Come, be a man; drown thyself? `drown cats and blind puppies. |