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Page. Why, yet there want not many, that do fear In deep of night to walk by this Herne's oak: But what of this?

Mrs. Ford. Marry, this is our device; That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us, Disguis'd like Herne, with huge horns on his head. Page. Well, let it not be doubted but he'll come, And in this shape: When you have brought him thither,

What shall be done with him? what is your plot? Mrs. Page. That likewise have we thought upon, and thus:

Nan Page my daughter, and my little son,
And three or four more of their growth, we'll dress
Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies, green and white,
With rounds of waxen tapers on their heads,
And rattles in their hands; upon a sudden,
As Falstaff, she, and I, are newly met,
Let them from forth a saw-pit rush at once
With some diffused? song; upon their sight,
We two in great amazedness will fly :
Then let them all encircle him about,
And, fairy-like, to pinch the unclean knight;
And ask him, why, that hour of fairy revel,
In their so sacred paths he dares to tread,
In shape profane.

Mrs. Ford.

And till he tell the truth, Let the supposed fairies pinch him sound,3

And burn him with their tapers.

Mrs. Page.

The truth being known, We'll all present ourselves; dis-horn the spirit, And mock him home to Windsor.

Ford. The children must Be practised well to this, or they'll ne'er do't. Eva. I will teach the children their behaviours; and I will be like a jack-an-apes also, to burn the knight with my taber.

Ford. That will be excellent. I'll go buy them vizards.

Mrs. Page. My Nan shall be the queen of all the fairies,

Finely attired in a robe of white.

Page. That silk will I go buy ;-and in that time Shall master Slender steal my Nan away, [Aside. And marry her at Eton.- Go, send to Falstaff

straight.

Ford. Nay, I'll to him again in name of Brook: He'll tell me all his purpose: sure he'll come.

thick-skin? speak, breathe, discuss; brief, short, quick, snap.

Sim. Marry, sir, I come to speak with sir John Falstaff from master Slender.

Host. There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-bed, and truckle-bed; 'tis painted about with the story of the prodigal, fresh and new: Go, knock and call; he'll speak like an Anthropophaginians unto thee: Knock, I say.

Sim. There's an old woman, a fat woman, gone up into his chamber ; I'll be so bold as to stay, sir, till she come down: I come to speak with her, indeed.

Host. Ha! a fat woman! the knight may be robbed: I'll call.-Bully knight! Bully sir John! speak from thy lungs military: Art thou there? it is thine host, thine Ephesian, calls.

Fal. [Above.] How now, mine host?

Host. Here's a Bohemian Tartar tarries the coming down of thy fat woman: Let her descend, bully, let her descend: my chambers are honourable: Fie! privacy? fie!

Enter Falstaff.

Fal. There was, mine host, an old fat woman even now with me; but she's gone.

Sim. Pray you, sir, was't not the wise woman of Brentford?

Fal. Ay, marry, was it, muscle-shell; What would you with her?

Sim. My master, sir, my master Slender, sent to her, seeing her go through the streets, to know, sir, whether one Nym, sir, that beguiled him of a chain, had the chain, or no.

Fal. I spake with the old woman about it.
Sim. And what says she, I pray, sir?

Fal. Marry, she says, that the very same man, that beguiled master Šlender of his chain, cozened him of it.

Sim. I would, I could have spoken with the woman herself; I had other things to have spoken with her too, from him.

Fal. What are they? let us know.
Host. Ay, come; quick.
Sim. I may not conceal them, sir.
Fal. Conceal them, or thou diest.

Sim. Why, sir, they were nothing but about

Mrs. Page. Fear not you that: Go, get us pro-mistress Anne Page; to know, if it were my mas

perties,4

And tricking for our fairies.

Eva. Let us about it: It is admirable pleasures,

and fery honest knaveries.

[Exeunt Page, Ford, and Evans.
Mrs. Page. Go, mistress Ford,
Send quickly to sir John, to know his mind.
[Exit Mrs. Ford.
I'll to the doctor; he hath my good will,
And none but he, to marry with Nan Page.
That Slender, though well landed, is an idiot;
And he my husband best of all affects:
The doctor is well money'd, and his friends
Potent at court; he, none but he, shall have her,
Though twenty thousand worthier come to crave
her.

[Exit.

SCENE V-A room in the Garter Inn. Enter
Host and Simple.

Host. What would'st thou have, boor? what,

(1) Elfs, hobgoblins. (2) Wild, discordant. (3) Soundly. (4) Necessaries. (5) Cannibal.

ter's fortune to have her, or no.

Fal. "Tis, 'tis his fortune.

Sim. What, sir?

Fal. To have her, or no: Go; say, the woman

told me so.

Sim. May I be so bold to say so, sir? Fal. Ay, sir Tike; who more bold? Sim. I thank your worship: I shall make my master glad with these tidings. [Exit Simple. Host. Thou art clerkly, thou art clerkly, sir John: Was there a wise woman with thee?

Fal. Ay, that there was, mine host; one that hath taught me more wit than ever I learned before in my life and I paid nothing for it neither, but was paid for my learning.

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Scene VI.

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

Enter Fenton and Host.

as I came beyond Eton, they threw me off, from SCENE VI.—Another Room in the Garter Inn.
behind one of them, in a slough of mire; and set
spurs, and away, like three German devils, three
Doctor Faustuses.

Host. They are gone but to meet the duke, villain: do not say, they be fled; Germans are honest

men.

Enter Sir Hugh Evans.

Eca. Where is mine host?
Host. What is the matter, sir?

Eva. Have a care of your entertainments: there is a friend of mine come to town, tells me, there is three cousin Germans, that has cozened all the hosts of Readings, of Maidenhead, of Colebrook, of horses and money. I tell you for a good-will, look you: you are wise, and full of gibes and vlouting-stogs; and 'tis not convenient you should [Exit. be cozened: Fare you well.

Enter Doctor Caius.

Caius. Vere is mine Host de Jarterre?

Host. Here, master doctor, in perplexity, and

doubtful dilemma.

vil

Catus. I cannot tell vat is dat : but it is tell-a me, dat you make grand preparation for a duke de Jarmany: by my trot, dere is no duke, dat the court is know to come; I tell you for good vill [Exit. adieu. Host. Hue and cry, villain, go:-assist me, knight; I am undone :-fly, run, hue and cry, lain! I am undone! [Exeunt Host and Bardolph. Fal. I would, all the world might be cozened; for I have been cozen'd and beaten too. If it should come to the ear of the court, how I have been transformed, and how my transformation hath been washed and cudgelled, they would melt me out of my fat, drop by drop, and liquor fishermen's boots with me; I warrant, they would whip me with their fine wits, till I were as crest-fallen as a dried never prospered since I forswore myself at Primero. Well, if my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent.—

pear.

Enter Mrs. Quickly.

Now! whence come you?

Quick. From the two parties, forsooth.
Fal. The devil take one party, and his dam the
other, and so they shall be both bestowed! I have
suffered more for their sakes, more, than the vil-
lanous inconstancy of man's disposition is able to
bear.

Quick. And have not they suffered? Yes, I
warrant; speciously one of them; mistress Ford,
good heart, is beaten black and blue, that you can-
not see a white spot about her.

Fal. What tell'st thou me of black and blue?
was beaten myself into all the colours of the rain-
bow, and I was like to be apprehended for the
witch of Brentford; but that my admirable dex-
terity of wit, my counterfeiting the action of an old
woman, deliver'd me, the knave constable had set
me i' the stocks, i' the common stocks, for a witch.

Quick. Sir, let me speak with you in your
chamber: you shall hear how things go; and, I
warrant, to your content. Here is a letter will
say somewhat. Good hearts, what ado here is to
bring you together! Sure, one of you does not
serve heaven well, that you are so crossed.
[Exeunt.
Fal. Come up into my chamber.

(1) A game at cards.

Host. Master Fenton, talk not to me; my mind
Fent. Yet hear me speak: Assist me in my
is heavy, I will give over all.
purpose,

And, as I am a gentleman, I'll give thee
A hundred pounds in gold, more than your loss.
Host. I will hear you, master Fenton; and [
will, at the least, keep your counsel.

Fent. From time to time I have acquainted you
With the dear love I bear to fair Anne Page;
Who, mutually, hath answer'd my affection
(So far forth as herself might be her chooser,)
Even to my wish: I have a letter from her
Of such contents as you will wonder at;
The mirth whereof so larded with my matter,
That neither, singly, can be manifested,
Without the show of both ;-wherein fat Falstaff
Hath a great scene; the image of the jest
[Showing the letter.
I'll show you here at large. Hark, good mine host:
To-night at Herne's oak, just 'twixt twelve and
Must my sweet Nan present the fairy queen;
The purpose why, is here ;2 in which disguise,
While other jests are something rank on foot,
Her father hath commanded her to slip
Away with Slender, and with him at Eton
Immediately to marry: she hath consented:
Now, sir,

one,

Her mother, even strong against that match,
And firm for doctor Caius, hath appointed
That he shall likewise shuffle her away,
While other sports are tasking of their minds,
And at the deanery, where a priest attends,
She, seemingly obedient, likewise hath
Straight marry her: to this her mother's plot
Made promise to the doctor;-Now, thus it rests:
Her father means she shall be all in white;
And in that habit, when Slender sees his time
To take her by the hand, and bid her go,
She shall go with him :-her mother hath intended,

The better to denote her to the doctor,
(For they must all be mask'd and vizarded,)
That, quaints in green, she shall be loose enrob'd,
With ribbands pendant, flaring 'bout her head;
And when the doctor spies his vantage ripe,
To pinch her by the hand, and, on that token,
Host. Which means she to deceive? father or
The maid hath given consent to go with him.
mother?

Fent. Both, my good host, to go along with me:
And here it rests,--that you'll procure the vicar
To stay for me at church, 'twixt twelve and one,
And, in the lawful name of marrying,
To give our hearts united ceremony.

Host. Well, husband your device; I'll to the
vicar;

Fent. So shall I evermore be bound to thee; Bring you the maid, you shall not lack a priest. Besides, I'll make a present recompense. [Exeunt.

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Act V.

hold: This is the third time; I hope, good luck || the very instant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they lies in odd numbers. Away, go; they say, there will at once display to the night. is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death.--Away.

Quick. I'll provide you a chain; and I'll do what I can to get you a pair of horns.

Fal. Away, I say; time wears: hold up your head, and mince. [Exit Mrs. Quickly.

Enter Ford.

How now, master Brook? Master Brook, the mat-
ter will be known to-night, or never.
Be you in

Mrs. Ford. That cannot choose but amaze him. mocked; if he be amazed, he will every way be Mrs. Page. If he be not amazed, he will be mocked.

Mrs. Ford. We'll betray him finely.
Mrs. Page. Against such lewdsters, and their
lechery,

Those that betray them do no treachery.
Mrs. Ford. The hour draws on: To the oak,
to the oak.
[Exeunt.

the Park about midnight, at Herne's oak, and you SCENE IV-Windsor Park. Enter Sir Hugh shall see wonders.

Ford. Went you not to her yesterday, sir, as you told me you had appointed?

Evans, and Fairies.

your parts: be pold, I pray you; follow me into Eva. Trib, trib, fairies; come; and remember the pit; and when I give the watch-'ords, do as I pid you: Come, come; trib, trib. [Exeunt.

Fal. I went to her, master Brook, as you see, like a poor old man: but I came from her, master Brook, like a poor old woman. That same knave, Ford her husband, hath the finest mad devil of jealousy in him, master Brook, that ever governed SCENE V-Another part of the Park. Enter phrensy. I will tell you.-He beat me grievously, in the shape of a woman; for in the shape of Falstaff disguised, with a buck's head on. man, master Brook, I fear not Goliath with a weaFal. The Windsor bell hath struck twelve; the ver's beam; because I know also, life is a shuttle. minute draws on: Now, the hot-blooded gods assist I am in haste; go along with me; I'll tell you all,me-Remember, Jove, thou wast a bull for thy master Brook. Since I plucked geese, played Europa; love set on thy horns.-O powerful love! truant, and whipped top, I knew not what it was that, in some respects, makes a beast a man; in to be beaten, till lately. Follow me: I'll tell you some other, a man a beast.-You were also, Jupiter, strange things of this knave Ford: on whom to-a swan, for the love of Leda;--O, omnipotent night I will be revenged, and I will deliver his love! how near the god drew to the complexion of wife into your hand.-Follow: Strange things in a goose!-A fault done first in the form of a beast; hand, master Brook! follow. [Exeunt. Jove, a beastly fault! and then another fault in the semblance of a fowl; think on't, Jove; a

SCENE II.—Windsor Park. Enter Page, Shal-foul fault. When gods have hot backs, what shall

low, and Slender.

poor men do? For me, I am here a Windsor stag; and the fattest, I think, i' the forest: send me a

Page. Come, come; we'll couch i' the castle-cool rut-time, Jove, or who can blame me to piss ditch, till we see the light of our fairies.--Remem-my tallow? Who comes here? my doe? ber, son Slender, my daughter.

Slen. Ay, forsooth; I have spoke with her, and we have a nay-word,2 how to know one another. I come to her in white, and cry, mum; she cries, budget; and by that we know one another.

Shal. That's good too: But what needs either your mum, or her budget? the white will decipher her well enough.-It hath struck ten o'clock.

Page. The night is dark; light and spirits will become it well. Heaven prosper our sport! No man means evil but the devil, and we shall know him by his horns. Let's away; follow me.

Enter Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page.

Mrs. Ford. Sir John? art thou there, my deer? my male deer?

Fal. My doe with the black scut?-Let the sky rain potatoes, let it thunder to the tune of Green Sleeves, hail kissing-comfits, and snow eringoes; let there come a tempest of provocation, I will shelter me here. Mrs. Ford. Mistress Page is come with me, [Embracing her. sweetheart.

Fal. Divide me like a bribe-buck, each a haunch: I will keep my sides to myself, my shoulders for the fellows of this walk, and my horns I bequeath your husbands. Am I a woodman? ha! Speak Herne the hunter?-Why, now is Cupid a child of like conscience; he makes restitution. As I am a true inspirit, welcome! [Noise within.

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[Exeunt. SCENE III-The Street in Windsor. Enter Mrs. Page, Mrs. Ford, and Dr. Caius. Mrs. Page. Master doctor, my daughter is green when you see your time, take her by the hand, away with her to the deanery, and despatch it quickly: Go before into the park; we two must go together.

Mrs. Page. Alas! what noise?
Mrs. Ford. Heaven forgive our sins!
Fal. What should this be?

Mrs. Ford.

Mrs. Page.

Away, away.

[They run off.

Caius. I know vat I have to do; Adicu. Mrs. Page. Fare you well, sir. [Exit Caius.] My husband will not rejoice so much at the abuse of Falstaff, as he will chafe at the doctor's marry-would never else cross me thus. ing my daughter: but 'tis no matter; better a little chiding, than a great deal of heart-break.

lest the oil that is in me should set hell on fire; he Fal. I think, the devil will not have me damned,

Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now, and her troop of fairies? and the Welsh devil, Hugh?

Mrs. Page. They are all couched in a pit hard by Herne's oak, with obscured lights; which, at

(1) Keep to the time. (2) Watch-word.

Enter Sir Hugh Evans, like a satyr ; Mrs. Quickly
and Pistol; Anne Page, as the Fairy Queen, at-
tended by her brother and others, dressed like
fairies, with waxen tapers on their heads.
Quick. Fairies, black, grey, green, and white,

(3) Keeper of the forest.

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You moon-shine revellers, and shades of night,
You orphan-heirs of fixed destiny,
Attend your office, and your quality.1
Crier Hobgoblin, make the fairy o-yes,

Pist. Elves, list your names; silence, you airy toys.

Cricket, to Windsor chimneys shalt thou leap:

Lust is but a bloody fire,

Kindled with unchaste desire,
Fed in heart; whose flames aspire,

As thoughts do blow them, higher and higher.
Pinch him, fairies, mutually;
Pinch him for his villany;

Pinch him, and burn him, and turn him about,

Where fires thou find'st unrak'd, and hearths un-Till candles, and star-light, and moonshine, be out.

swept,

There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry :2
Our radiant queen hates sluts, and sluttery.

Fal. They are fairies; he, that speaks to them, shall die.

I'll wink and couch: No man their works must eye. [Lies down upon his face. Eva. Where's Pede ?--Go you, and where you find a maid,

That, ere she sleep, has thrice her prayers said,
Raise up the organs of her fantasy,
Sleep she as sound as careless infancy;
But those as sleep, and think not on their sins,
Pinch them, arms, legs, backs, shoulders, sides,
and shins.

Quick. About, about;

Search Windsor castle, elves, within and out:
Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room;
That it may stand till the perpetual doom,
In state as wholesome, as in state 'tis fit;
Worthy the owner, and the owner it.
you scour
The several chairs of order look
With juice of balm, and every precious flower:
Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest,
With loyal blazon, evermore be blest!

And nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you sing,
Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring:
The expressure that it bears, green let it be,
More fertile-fresh than all the field to see;
And, Hony soit qui mal y pense, write,
In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and white;
Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,
Buckled below fair knighthood's bending knee :
Fairies use flowers for their charactery.
Away; disperse: But, till 'tis one o'clock,
Our dance of custom, round about the oak
Of Herne the hunter, let us not forget.
Eva. Pray you, lock hand in hand; yourselves
in order set:

And twenty glow-worms shall our lanterns be,
To guide our measure round about the tree.
But, stay; I smell a man of middle earth.

Fal. Heavens defend me from that Welch fairy,
lest he transform me to a piece of cheese!
Pist. Vile worm, thou wast o'er-look'd even in
thy birth.

Quick. With trial-fire touch me his finger end:
If he be chaste, the flame will back descend,
And turn him to no pain; but if he start,
It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.

Pist, A trial, come. Eva.

Come, will this wood take fire?
[They burn him with their tapers.

Fal. Oh, oh, oh!
Quick. Corrupt, corrupt, and tainted in desire!
About him, fairies; sing a scornful rhyme :
And, as you trip, still pinch him to your time.
Eva. It is right; indeed he is full of lecheries and
iniquity.

SONG.

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During this song, the fairies pinch Falstaff. Doc-
tor Caius comes one way, and steals away a fairy
in green; Slender another way, and takes off a
fairy in white; and Fenton comes, and steals
away Mrs. Anne Page. A noise of hunting is
made within. All the fairies run away. Fal-
staff pulls off his buck's head, and rises.

Enter Page, Ford, Mrs. Page, and Mrs. Ford.
They lay hold on him.

Page. Nay, do not fly: I think, we have watch'd
you now;

Will none but Herne the hunter serve your turn?
Mrs. Page. I pray you, come; hold up the jest

no higher;

Now, good sir John, how like you Windsor wives?
See you these, husband? do not these fair yokest
Become the forest better than the town?

Ford. Now, sir, who's a cuckold now ?-Master Brook, Falstafl's a knave, a cuckoldly knave; hera are his horns, master Brook: And, master Brook, he hath enjoyed nothing of Ford's but his buckbasket, his cudgel, and twenty pounds of money; which must be paid to master Brook; his horsea are arrested for it, master Brook.

Mrs. Ford. Sir John, we have had ill luck; we I will never take you for my could never meet. love again, but I will always count you my deer. Fal. do begin to perceive that I am made an

ass.

Ford. Ay, and an ox too; both the proofs are

extant.

Fal. And these are not fairies? I was three or four times in the thought, they were not fairies: and yet the guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my powers, drove the grossness of the foppery into a received belief, in despite of the teeth of all rhyme and reason, that they were fairies. See now, how wit may be made a Jack-a-lent, when 'tis upon ill employment!

Eva. Sir John Falstaff, serve Got, and leave your desires, and fairies will not pinse you. Ford. Well said, fairy Hugh.

Eva. And leave you your jealousies too, I pray

you.

Ford. I will never mistrust my wife again, till thou art able to woo her in good English.

Fal. Have I laid my brain in the sun, and dried it, that it wants matter to prevent so gross o'erreaching as this? Am I ridden with a Welch goat too? Shall I have a coxcomb of frize ?5 'tis time I were choaked with a piece of toasted cheese. Eva. Seese is not good to give putter; your pelly is all putter.

Fal. Seese and putter! Have I lived to stand at the taunt of one that makes fritters of English? This is enough to be the decay of lust and latewalking, through the realm.

Mrs. Page. Why, sir John, do you think, though we would have thrust virtue out of our hearts by

(4) Horns which Falstaff had.

(5) A fool's cap of Welch materials.

the head and shoulders, and have given ourselves [] cozened; ha' married un garçon, a boy; un paiwithout scruple to hell, that ever the devil could|| san, by gar, a boy; it is not Anne Page: by gar, I have made you our delight?

Ford. What, a hodge-pudding? a bag of flax?
Mrs. Page. A puffed man?

Page. Old, cold, withered, and of intolerable entrails.

am cozened.

Mrs. Page. Why, did you take her in green? Caius. Ay, be gar, and 'tis a boy: be gar, I'll raise all Windsor. [Exit Caius.

Ford. This is strange: Who hath got the right

Ford. And one that is as slanderous as Satan? Anne?
Page. And as poor as Job?

Ford. And as wicked as his wife?

Eva. And given to fornications, and to taverns, and sack, and wine, and metheglins, and to drinkings, and swearings, and starings, pribbles and prabbles?

Fal. Well, I am your theme: you have the start of me; I am dejected; I am not able to answer the Welch flannel; ignorance itself is a plummet o'er me: use me as you will.

Ford. Marry, sir, we'll bring you to Windsor, to one master Brook, that you have cozened of money, to whom you should have been a pander: over and above that you have suffered, I think, to repay that money will be a biting affliction. Mrs. Ford. Nay, husband, let that go to make amends:

Forgive that sum, and so we'll all be friends. Ford. Well, here's my hand; all's forgiven at last.

Page. Yet be cheerful, knight: thou shalt eat a posset to-night at my house; where I will desire thee to laugh at my wife, that now laughs at thee: Tell her, master Slender hath married her daughter. Mrs. Page. Doctors doubt that: If Anne Page be my daughter, she is, by this, doctor Caius' wife. [Aside.

Enter Slender.

Slen. Whoo, ho! ho! father Page! Page. Son! how now? how now, son? have you despatched?

Slen. Despatched-I'll make the best in Glocestershire know on't; would I were hanged, la, else. Page. Of what, son?

Slen. I came yonder at Eton to marry mistress Anne Page, and she's a great lubberly boy: If it had not been i' the church, I would have swinged him, or he should have swinged me. If I did not think it had been Anne Page, would I might never stir, and 'tis a post-master's boy.

Page. Upon my life then, you took the wrong. Slen. What need you tell me that? I think so, when I took a boy for a girl: If I had been married to him, for all he was in woman's apparel, I would not have had him.

Page. Why, this is your own folly. Did not I tell you, how you should know my daughter by her garments?

Slen. I went to her in white, and cry'd mum, and she cry'd budget, as Anne and I had appointed; and yet it was not Anne, but a post-master's boy. Eva. Jeshu! Master Slender, cannot you see but marry poys?

Page. O, I'am vexed at heart: What shall I do? Mrs. Page. Good George, be not angry: I knew of your purpose; turned my daughter into green; and, indeed, she is now with the doctor at the deanery, and there married.

Enter Caius.

Caius. Vere is mistress Page? By gar, I am (1) Confound her by your questions. (2) Avoid.

Page. My heart misgives me : Here comes master Fenton.

Enter Fenton and Anne Page.

How now, master Fenton?

Anne. Pardon, good father! good my mother pardon!

Page. Now, mistress? how chance you went not with master Slender?

Mrs. Page. Why went you not with master doctor, maid?

Fent. You do amaze1 her: Hear the truth of it.
You would have married her most shamefully,
Where there was no proportion held in love.
The truth is, she and I, long since contracted,
Are now so sure that nothing can dissolve us.
The offence is holy, that she hath committed:
And this deceit loses the name of craft,
Of disobedience, or unduteous title;
Since therein she doth evitate2 and shun
A thousand irreligious cursed hours,
Which forced marriage would have brought upon

her.

Ford. Stand not amaz'd: here is no remedy :In love, the heavens themselves do guide the state; Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate.

Fal. I am glad, though you have ta'en a special stand to strike at me, that your arrow hath glanced. Page. Well, what remedy? Fenton, heaven What cannot be eschew'd, must be embrac❜d. give thee joy! Fal. When night-dogs run, all sorts of deer are chas'd.

Eva. I will dance and eat plumbs at your wed-
ding.

Mrs. Page. Well, I will muse no further:-
Heaven give you many, many merry days!
Master Fenton,
Good husband, let us every one go home,
And laugh this sport o'er by a country fire;
Sir John and all.

Ford.

Let it be so :-Sir John,
To master Brook you yet shall hold your word;
For he, to-night, shall lie with Mrs. Ford.

[Exeunt.

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