Page. Come on, sir. Slen. Mistress Anne, yourself shall go first. Anne. Not I, sir; pray you, keep on. Slen. Truly, I will not go first; truly, la, I will not do you that wrong. Anne. I pray you, sir. Slen. I'll rather be unmannerly, than troublesome. You do yourself wrong, indeed, la. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The Same. Enter Sir HUGH EVANS and SIMPLE. Eva. Go your ways, and ask of Doctor Caius' house, 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. Sim. Well, sir. Eva. Nay, it is petter yet.-Give her this letter; for it is a 'oman that altogether's acquaintance with mistress Anne Page: and the letter is, to desire and require her to solicit your master's desires to mistress Anne Page: I pray you, be gone. I will make an end of my dinner: there's pippins and cheese to come. [Exeunt. SCENE III. A Room in the Garter Inn. Enter FALSTAFF, Host, BARDOLPH, NYM, PISTOL, and ROBIN. Fal. Mine host of the Garter! Host. What says my bully-rook? Speak scholarly, and wisely. Fal. Truly, mine host, I must turn away some of my followers. Host. Discard, bully Hercules: cashier; let them wag, trot, trot. Fal. I sit at ten pounds a week. Host. Thou'rt an emperor, Cæsar, Kiesar, and Pheazar‘. I will entertain Bardolph; he shall draw, he shall tap: said I well, bully Hector ? Fal. Do so, good mine host. Host. I have spoke; let him follow.-Let me see thee froth, and lime': I am at a word; follow. [Exit Host. Fal. Bardolph, follow him. A tapster is a good trade: an old cloak makes a new jerkin; a withered servingman, a fresh tapster. Go; adieu. Bard. It is a life that I have desired. I will thrive. [Exit BARDOLPH. Pist. Oh base Gongarian wight! wilt thou the spigot wield 'P. Nym. He was gotten in drink: is not the humour conceited? His mind is not heroic, and there's the humour of it'. Fal. I am glad I am so acquit of this tinder-box: his thefts were too open; his filching was like an unskilful singer, he kept not time. Nym. The good humour is to steal at a minim's rest". Pist. Convey the wise it call. Steal? foh! a fico for the phrase! Cæsar, Kiesar, and PHEAZAR.] We spell "Pheazar" as in the old copies, excepting the 4tos, 1602 and 1619, where it is printed Phesser. It may be, as Malone suggests, from the verb to pheeze (for which see Vol. ii. p. 443, and Vol. iv. p. 523), or perhaps it is some proper name corrupted. We do not meet with it in other authors of the time. 5- let me see thee froth, and LIME:] In the 4tos. it stands "lime," in the folios liue: we know from Shakespeare himself that "lime" was fraudulently put into sack, as Steevens asserts," to make it sparkle in the glass.” Oh base GONGARIAN wight! wilt thou the spigot wield?] This is the reading of the 4tos, 1602 and 1619, and there can be little doubt that it is right, if Steevens quotes a line from "an old bombast play" (of which he had omitted to note the title) correctly : "Oh base Gongarian! wilt thou the distaff wield?" The folios however have Hungarian, which would answer the purpose as well, but for the quotation by Steevens. 7 His mind is not heroic, and there's the humour of it.] These characteristic words are from the 4tos, and are worthy of being imported. - at a MINIM'S REST.] "Minim" and "rest " are both terms in music: it is "minute's rest" in the old copies, but amended to "minim's rest" in the corr. fo.. 1632, a reading which has been proposed in modern times by Johnson's friend, Langton. There is no doubt of its fitness. • CONVEY the wise it call.] 66 " Convey was a less objectionable term than steal, but meaning the same thing. See Vol. iii. pp. 291. 548. 660, and Vol. iv. p. 172. "Fico" is Pistol's "fig of Spain," in "Henry V.," Vol. iv. p. 589, and "the fig of everlasting obloquy" of Martino in "The Widow:" see Dyce's Beaumont and Fletcher, iv. p. 368. Fal. Well, sirs, I am almost out at heels. Pist. Why then, let kibes ensue. Fal. There is no remedy; I must coney-catch, I must shift. Pist. Young ravens must have food. Fal. Which of you know Ford of this town? Pist. I ken the wight: he is of substance good. Fal. My honest lads, I will tell you what I am about. Fal. No quips now, Pistol: indeed, I am in the waist two yards about; but I am now about no waste; I am about thrift. Briefly, I do mean to make love to Ford's wife: I spy entertainment in her; she discourses, she carves, she gives the leer of invitation: I can construe the action of her familiar style; and the hardest voice of her behaviour, to be Englished rightly, is, "I am sir John Falstaff's." Pist. He hath studied her will', and translated her well, out of honesty into English. Nym. The anchor is deep: will that humour pass? Fal. Now, the report goes, she has all the rule of her husband's purse; he hath legions of angels. Pist. As many devils entertain, and "To her, boy," say I. Nym. The humour rises; 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 most judicious ciliads': sometimes 1 she discourses, she CARVES,] We make no change here, although craves is substituted for "carves " in the corr. fo. 1632, because various authorities show that "carves," in the sense of making some amorous signal, may be right. The Rev. Mr. Dyce ("Few Notes," p. 18) and the Rev. Mr. Hunter ("New Illustrations," i. p. 215) both adduce quotations, but they have missed the most apposite, pointed out by Dr. Rimbault in his edition of Sir Thomas Overbury's Works, 8vo, 1856, p. 50: “Her lightness gets her to swim at top of the table, where her wry little finger bewrays carving." (Character of "A Very Woman, in her next part.") We need add no other instances of the use of the word in this way; but it cannot be disputed that the misprint of "carve" for crate would be easy, and has often been committed, and that crave would well suit the poet's meaning in this place. * He hath studied her WILL,] So the folios: the 4tos. read well, but without the repetition: the reading “translated her well" is from the corr. fo. 1632, and can hardly be doubted. 3 — with most judicious ŒILIADS :] Spelt illiads in the folio, 1623. The word occurs again in "King Lear," Vol. v. p. 703, where it is spelt eliads in the folio, 1623. An "œiliad" is an eye-glance. the beam of her view gilded my foot', sometimes my portly belly. Pist. Then did the sun on dunghill shine. Nym. I thank thee for that humour. Fal. Oh! she did so course o'er my exteriors, with such a greedy intention, that the appetite of her eye did seem to scorch me up like a burning glass. Here's another letter to her: she bears the purse too; she is a region in Guiana, all gold and beauty'. I will be cheater to them both, and they shall be exchequers to me: they shall be my East and West Indies, and I will trade to them both. Go, bear thou this letter to mistress Page; and thou this to mistress Ford. [Giving letters.] We will thrive, lads, we will thrive. Pist. Shall I sir Pandarus of Troy become, And by my side wear steel? then, Lucifer take all ! Nym. I will run no base humour: here, take the humourletter. I will keep the 'haviour of reputation. Fal. Hold, sirrah, [to ROBIN,] bear you these letters tightly: Sail like my pinnace to these golden shores.— Rogues, hence! avaunt! vanish like hailstones, go; French thrift, you rogues: myself, and skirted page. [Exeunt FALSTAFF and ROBIN. Pist. Let vultures gripe thy guts! for gourd, and fullam holds, And high and low' beguile the rich and poor. her view GILDED my foot,] Guilded of the folio, 1623, is misprinted guided in the folio, 1632, and most fitly amended to "gilded" by the old corrector of that impression. — she is a region in Guiana, all gold and beauty.] "Beauty" of the corr. fo. 1632 is bounty in the folio, 1623: the reports regarding Guiana made it famous for "beauty" as well as 'gold," and Mrs. Page, according to Falstaff, was remarkable for both, whereas “gold and bounty” read somewhat tautologically. In "Coriolanus," Act iii. sc. 1, Vol. iv. p. 656, we have had "bounty" misprinted lenity, and here we have good reason to believe that "beauty" was carelessly misprinted bounty. • I will be CHEATER to them both,] i. e. Escheater. See Vol. iii. p. 462. - - the HUMOUR of THIS age,] The folio has honour and the: few misprints were more frequent than honour for "humour," and vice versa. Falstaff alludes to the fashion or "humour" of being attended by a "skirted page." The 4tos. warrant "the humour of this age;” and honour is amended to "humour" in the corr. fo. 1632. for GOURD, and FULLAM holds, And HIGH and LOW] The cant names of various kinds of false dice, Tester I'll have in pouch, when thou shalt lack, Base Phrygian Turk. Nym. I have operations in my head', which be humours of revenge. Pist. Wilt thou revenge? Nym. By welkin, and her stars'. Pist. With wit, or steel? Nym. With both the humours, I: I will discuss the humour of this love to Page'. Pist. And I to Ford shall eke unfold, How Falstaff, varlet vile, His dove will prove, his gold will hold, And his soft couch defile. Nym. My humour shall not cool: I will incense Page to deal with poison; I will possess him with yellowness, for the revolt of mine' is dangerous: that is my true humour. Pist. Thou art the Mars of malcontents: I second thee; troop on. [Exeunt. " "gourds" (or gords), “fullams," "low" men, and “high” men, being mentioned by many writers of the time. "High men" and "low men explain themselves, and "fullams," it is said, were so called because they were much manufactured at Fulham. Of" gourds or gords, nobody has attempted to give the etymology: the word is not in Richardson, and Todd merely tells us that a gord is an instrument of gaming. The Rev. Mr. Dyce passes it over in his "Beaumont and Fletcher," iii. p. 81. We may just notice that on the next page of the same play, "The Scornful Lady," occurs an odd misprint of "safer" for after: some commentators alter it to sacer, others to swagger, and a third set to rather, when all the while the proper emendation of after (which however Mr. Dyce, by mere accident, has not seen) is on the very surface. ⚫ I have operations IN MY HEAD,] The folio text ends at "operations," and "in my head" is derived from the 4tos. 1 By welkin, and her STARS.] It is "By welkin and her star" in the folios, but there seems no reason why the welkin should only have one star : star is altered to "stars" in the corr. fo. 1632; and it is "By welkin and her fairies” in the 4tos, "starres" (so spelt of old) having been misread fairies, with the aid of the usual confusion between the long s and ƒ. 2- this love to PAGE.] So the 4tos, and so the fact, as afterwards appears. In the folio, 1623, Ford seems to have been accidentally printed for " Page," and in the next line Page for "Ford :" the mistakes are rectified in the corr. fo. 1632, as, indeed, they have been in all modern editions. 3 - for THE revolt of MINE] "The revolt of mine" is my revolt, a very clear sense, without supposing, with Steevens, that mien was intended by "mine." By "revolt of mien," other commentators understand revolt of countenance: Nym is referring to his 'revolt from Falstaff, which now, he adds, "is my true humour." No difficulty would probably ever have arisen, if Nym had said, "for this revolt of mine is dangerous ;" and we are rather surprised that the text is not so changed in the corr. fo. 1632. |