ACT III. SCENE I. A Field near Frogmore. Enter Sir HUGH EVANS and SIMPLE. Eva. I pray you now, good master Slender's servingman, and friend Simple by your name, which way have looked for master Caius, that calls himself Doctor of Physic? you Sim. Marry, sir, the petty-ward, the park-ward, every way; old Windsor way, and every way but the town way. Eva. I most fehemently desire you, you will also look that way. Sim. I will, sir. [Retiring. Eva. Pless my soul! how full of cholers I am, and trempling of mind!-I shall be glad, if he have deceived me.-How melancholies I am!-I will knog his urinals about his knave's costard, when I have good opportunities for the 'ork:-pless my soul! To shallow rivers', to whose falls [Sings. • Marry, sir, the PETTY-WARD,] Spelt "pittie-ward" in the old folios: the quartos are silent on the point, and we must suppose that Slender refers to some place not now known, but then known as the Petty. Possibly the little park was then known as the Petty. In Cambridge is a part of the town called Petty-cury, and in Westminster we have Petty France. 7 To shallow rivers,] This is a quotation from a poem unquestionably by Marlowe, printed imperfectly in "The Passionate Pilgrim," 1599, and there assigned to Shakespeare. The quotation, as it stands in the play and as it is given in "The Passionate Pilgrim," may be compared by reference to Vol. viii. p. 576. A more complete version of the poem is contained in Percy's "Reliques," vol. i. p. 237, edit. 1812. Mercy on me! I have a great dispositions to cry. Melodious birds sing madrigals;- To shallow Sim. [Coming forward.] Yonder he is coming, this way, sir Hugh. Eva. He's welcome. To shallow rivers, to whose falls Heaven prosper Sim. No weapons, sir. There comes my master, master Shallow, and another gentleman, from Frogmore, over the stile, this way. Eva. Pray you, give me my gown; or else keep it in your arms. Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, and SLENDER. Shal. How now, master parson! Good-morrow, good sir Hugh. Keep a gamester from the dice, and a good student from his book, and it is wonderful. Slen. Ah, sweet Anne Page! Page. Save you, good sir Hugh. Eva. Pless you from his mercy sake, all of you! Shal. What! the sword and the word? do you study them both, master parson? Page. And youthful still, in your doublet and hose, this raw rheumatic day? Eva. There is reasons and causes for it. Page. We are come to you to do a good office, master parson. When as I sat in Pabylon,-] This line, as Malone observed, is an alteration of one in the old version of Psalm exxxvii. "When we did sit in Babylon." In the quartos a line is given from the ballad of "The goodly and constant Wyfe Susanna;" viz. "There dwelt a man in Babylon ;" which is printed at length in Percy's “ Reliques,” vol. i. p. 224, edit. 1812. Perhaps the actor was allowed some license as to what he would sing. 66 Eva. Fery well: what is it? Page. Yonder is a most reverend gentleman, who, belike having received wrong by some person, is at most odds with his own gravity and patience that ever you saw. Shal. I have lived fourscore years, and upward, I never heard a man of his place, gravity, and learning, so wide of his own respect. Eva. What is he? Page. I think you know him; master doctor Caius, the renowned French physician. Eva. Got's will, and his passion of my heart! I had as lief you would tell me of a mess of porridge. Page. Why? Eva. He has no more knowledge in Hibbocrates and Galen, and he is a knave besides; a cowardly knave, as you would desires to be acquainted withal. Page. I warrant you, he's the man should fight with him. Slen. O, sweet Anne Page! Shal. It appears so, by his weapons.-Keep them asunder:-here comes doctor Caius. Enter Host, CAIUS, and RUGBY. Page. Nay, good master parson, keep in your weapon. Shal. So do you, good master doctor. Host. Disarm them, and let them question: 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? Eva. Pray you, use your patience: in good time. Caius. By gar, you are de coward, de Jack dog, John ape. Eva. Pray you, let us not be laughing-stogs to other men's humours; I desire you in friendship, and I will one way or other make you amends.-I will knog your urinals about your knave's cogscomb for missing your meetings and appointments". Caius. Diable!-Jack Rugby,-mine Host de Jarretière, have I not stay for him, to kill him? have I not, at de place I did appoint? Era. As I am a Christians soul, now, look you, this is the place appointed. I'll be judgement by mine Host of the Garter. Host. Peace, I say! Gallia and Guallia, French and Welch'; soul-curer and body-curer. Caius. Ay, dat is very good: excellent. Host. Peace, I say! hear mine Host of the Garter. Am I politic? am I subtle? am I a Machiavel? Shall I lose my doctor? no; he gives me the potions, and the motions. Shall I lose my parson? my priest? my sir Hugh? no; he gives me the proverbs and the noverbs. Give me thy hand, terrestrial; so2:-Give me thy hand, celestial; so.-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 sack be the issue.-Come, lay their swords to pawn.— Follow me, lad of peace; follow, follow, follow. Shal. Trust me, a mad host.-Follow, gentlemen, follow. Slen. O, sweet Anne Page! [Exeunt SHALLOW, SLENDER, PAGE, and Host. Caius. Ha! do I perceive dat? have you make-a de sot of us? ha, ha! - for missing your meetings and appointments.] These words are from the quartos, and by what follows it seems that they are necessary to the sense: Caius, thus charged, appeals to bystanders, if he had not come to the place appointed. 1 Peace, I say! Gallia, and Guallia, French and Welch ;] In the folios it stands “Gallia and Gaule;” but as the host puts “French” before “Welch,” it seems probable that the true reading is what we have given, "Gallia and Guallia." Mr. Halliwell's MS. confirms this emendation, by having "Gallia and Wallia," which was, in fact, Sir T. Hanmer's conjectural emendation. 2 Give me thy hand, terrestrial; so :-] These words are also wanting in the folios, but the antithesis seems required, and was doubtless written by the poet. Eva. This is well; he has made us his vlouting-stog. -I desire you, that we may be friends, and let us knog our prains together to be revenge on this same scall, scurvy, cogging companion, the Host of the Gar ter. Caius. By gar, vit all my heart. He promise to bring me vere is Anne Page: by gar, he deceive me too. Eva. Well, I will smite his noddles.-Pray you, follow. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Street in Windsor. Enter Mistress PAGE and ROBIN. 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 master's heels? Rob. I had rather, forsooth, go before you like a man, than follow him like a dwarf. Mrs. Page. O! you are a flattering boy: now, I see, you'll be a courtier. Enter FORD. Ford. Well met, mistress Page. Whither go you? Mrs. Page. Truly, sir, to see your wife: is she at home? Ford. Ay; and as idle as she may hang together, for want of company. I think, if your husbands were dead, you two would marry. Mrs. Page. Be sure of that,-two other husbands. Ford. Where had you this pretty weather-cock? Mrs. Page. I cannot tell what the dickens his name |