no matter; better, a little chiding, than a great deal of heart-break. Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now, and her troop of fairies, (a) and the Welch devil Evans? Mrs. Page. They are all couch'd in a pit hard by Herne's Oak, with obfcur'd lights; which, at the very inftant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at once difplay to the night. Mrs. Ford. That cannot chufe but amaze him. Mrs. Page. If he be not amaz'd, he will be mock'd; if he be amaz'd, he will every way be mock'd. Mrs. Ford. We'll betray him finely. Mrs. Page. Against fuch lewdfters, and their lechery, Thofe, that betray them, do no treachery. Mrs. Ford. The hour draws on; to the Oak, to 'the Oak. [Exeunt. Enter Evans and Fairies. Eva. Trib, trib, fairies; come, and remember your parts: be pold, I pray you; follow me into the pit; and when I give the watch-'ords, do as I pid you; come, come; trib, trib. [Exeunt. Enter Falftaff, with a Buck's head on. Fal. The Windfor bell hath ftruck twelve, the minute draws on; now, the hot-blooded Gods affift me! Remember, Jove, thou waft a bull for thy Europa; love fet on thy horns. Oh powerful love! that, in fome refpects, makes a beaft à man; in fome other, a man a beaft: You were alfo, Jupiter, a fwan, for the love of Leda: Oh, omnipotent love! how near the God drew to the complexion of a goofe? A fault done firft in the form of a beast,-O Jove, a beaftly fault; [(a) Welch devil Evans? Dr. Thirlby, Vulg. Herne.] and and then another fault in the femblance of a fowl: think on't, Jove, a foul fault. When Gods have hot backs, what fhall poor men do? for me, I am here a Windfor ftag, and the fatteft, I think, i'th' foreft. Send me a cool rut-time, Jove, or who can blame me to pifs my tallow? who comes here? my Doe? Enter Mistress Ford and Miftrefs Page. Mrs. Ford. Sir John? art thou there, my deer? my male-deer? Fal. My doe with the black fcut? let the sky rain potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of Green-Sleeves; hail kiffing-comfits, and fnow eringoes; let there come a tempeft of provocation, I will fhelter me here. Mrs. Ford. Miftrefs Page is come with me, fweet heart. Fal. Divide me like a (a) bribe-buck, each a haunch; I will keep my fides to myself, my shoulders for the fellow of this walk, and my horns I bequeath your husbands. Am I a woodman, ha? Speak I like Herne the hunter? why, now is Cupid a child of conscience, he makes reftitution. As I am a true fpirit, welcome! [Noife within. Mrs. Page. Alas! what noife? [The women run out. Fal. I think the devil will not have me damn'd, left the oil that is in me fhould fet hell on fire; he never would elfe cross me thus. [(a) bribe-buck, Mr. Theobald, Vulg. brib'd buck.] Z 3 SCENE Enter Sir Hugh like a Satyr; Quickly, and others, dreft like Fairies, with Tapers. Quic. Fairies, black, gray, green, and white, Attend your office, and your quality. Eva. Elves, lift your names; filence, you airy toys. Our radiant Queen hates nuts and fluttery. Fal. They're fairies; he, that speaks to them, fhall die. I'll wink and couch; no man their works muft eye. [Lyes down upon his face. Eva. Where's Pede? go you, and where you find a maid, That, ere fhe fleep, hath thrice her prayers faid, 3 Rein up the organs of her fantafie; Sleep the as found as careless infancy; But 2 You ORPHAN-heirs of fixed destiny.] But why Orphan heirs? Deftiny, whom they fucceeded, was yet in being. Doubtless the Poet wrote, You OUPHEN-heirs of fixed deftiny. i. e. you Elves, who minifter, and fucceed in fome of the works of destiny. They are called, in this Play, both before and afterwards, Ouphes; here Ouphen; en being the plural termination of Saxon nouns. For the word is from the Saxon, Alpenne, lamia, dæmones. Or it may be understood to be an adjective, as wooden, woolen, golden, &c. 3 RAISE up the organs of her fantafie;] The fenfe of this fpeech is that fhe, who had performed her religious duties, fhould be fecure against the illufion of fancy; and have her fleep, like that of infancy, undisturbed by difordered dreams. This was then the popular opinion, that evil spirits had a power over the fancy; But those, that fleep, and think not on their fins, Pinch them, arms, legs, backs, fhoulders, fides and fhins. Quick. About, about; Search Windfor castle, elves, within and out. fancy; and, by that means, could inspire wicked dreams into those who, on their going to fleep, had not recommended themfelves to the protection of heaven. So Shakespear makes one, on his lying down, fay, From fairies, and the tempters of the night, Protect us heav'n! As this is the fenfe, let us fee how the common reading expreffes it; Raife up the organs of her fantafie, i. e. inflame her imagination with fenfual ideas; which is just the contrary to what the Poet would have the speaker say. We cannot therefore but conclude he wrote, REIN up the organs of her fantafie, i. e. curb them, that fhe be no more difturbed by irregular imaginations, than children in their fleep. For, he adds immediately, Sleep fhe as found as careless infancy. So in the Tempest, Give not dalliance too much the REIN. And in Meafure for Meafure, I give my fenfual race the REIN. To give the rein, being juft the contrary to rein up. The fame thought he has again in Mackbeth, Mercyful powers! Refrain in me the curfed thoughts that nature 4 In ftate as wholfom.] The Oxford Editor not knowing the meaning of wholfom, has alter'd it to, In fite as wholfom, and fo has made the wifh a moft abfurd one. For the fite or fituation must needs be what it is, till the general destruction. But wholfom here fignifies integer. He wishes the caftle may stand in its prefent ftate of perfection, which the following words plainly fhew -as in ftate 'tis fit. Z 4 • Worthy 5 Worthy the owner, as the owner it. In emrold-tuffs, flow'rs purfled, blue and white, Away, 5 Worthy the owner, AND the owner it.] And cannot be the true reading. The context will not allow its and his court to Queen Elizabeth directs us to another, As the owner it. for, fure he had more address than to content himself with wishing a thing to be, which his complaifance muft fuppofe actually was, namely, the worth of the owner, 6 In emrold-tuffs, flow'rs PURPLE, blue and white, Like fapbire, pearl, AND rich embroidery.] Thefe lines are moft miferably corrupted. In the words, Flowers purple, blue and white, the purple is left uncompared. To remedy this, the Editors, who feem to have been fenfible of the imperfection of the comparison, read, AND rich embroidery; that is, according to them, as the blue and white flowers are compared to faphire and pearl, the purple is compared to rich embroidery. Thus inftead of mending one falfe ftep they have made two, by bringing faphire, pearl and rich embroidery under one predicament. The lines were wrote thus by the Poet, In emrola-tuffs, flow'rs PURFLED, blue and white, i. e. let there be blue and white flow'rs worked on the greenfword, like faphire and pearl in rich embroidery. To purfle is to over-lay with tinfel, gold thread, &c. fo our ancestors called a Certain lace of this kind of work a purfling-lace. 'Tis from the French, pour filer. So Spencer, Lazed the was yelad All in a filken Camus, lilly white, [~PO 83320_upon, quith many, a folded plight. 16 2. 3. 26. The |