ACT IV. SCENE I.  Windsor. A street  Enter MISTRESS PAGE, MISTRESS QUICKLY, and WILLIAM    MRS. PAGE. Is he at Master Ford's already, think'st thou?   QUICKLY. Sure he is by this; or will be presently; but truly     he is very courageous mad about his throwing into the     water. Mistress Ford desires you to come suddenly.   MRS. PAGE. I'll be with her by and by; I'll but bring my     young man here to school. Look where his master comes;     'tis a playing day, I see.                       Enter SIR HUGH EVANS      How now, Sir Hugh, no school to-day?   EVANS. No; Master Slender is let the boys leave to play.   QUICKLY. Blessing of his heart!   MRS. PAGE. Sir Hugh, my husband says my son profits     nothing in the world at his book; I pray you ask him some     questions in his accidence.   EVANS. Come hither, William; hold up your head; come.   MRS. PAGE. Come on, sirrah; hold up your head; answer your     master; be not afraid.   EVANS. William, how many numbers is in nouns?   WILLIAM. Two.   QUICKLY. Truly, I thought there had been one number     more, because they say 'Od's nouns.'   EVANS. Peace your tattlings. What is 'fair,' William?   WILLIAM. Pulcher.   QUICKLY. Polecats! There are fairer things than polecats,     sure.   EVANS. You are a very simplicity oman; I pray you, peace.     What is 'lapis,' William?   WILLIAM. A stone.   EVANS. And what is 'a stone,' William?   WILLIAM. A pebble.   EVANS. No, it is 'lapis'; I pray you remember in your prain.   WILLIAM. Lapis.   EVANS. That is a good William. What is he, William, that     does lend articles?   WILLIAM. Articles are borrowed of the pronoun, and be     thus declined: Singulariter, nominativo; hic, haec, hoc.   EVANS. Nominativo, hig, hag, hog; pray you, mark: genitivo,     hujus. Well, what is your accusative case?   WILLIAM. Accusativo, hinc.   EVANS. I pray you, have your remembrance, child.     Accusativo, hung, hang, hog.   QUICKLY. 'Hang-hog' is Latin for bacon, I warrant you.   EVANS. Leave your prabbles, oman. What is the focative     case, William?   WILLIAM. O-vocativo, O.   EVANS. Remember, William: focative is caret.   QUICKLY. And that's a good root.   EVANS. Oman, forbear.   MRS. PAGE. Peace.   EVANS. What is your genitive case plural, William?   WILLIAM. Genitive case?   EVANS. Ay.   WILLIAM. Genitive: horum, harum, horum.   QUICKLY. Vengeance of Jenny's case; fie on her! Never     name her, child, if she be a whore.   EVANS. For shame, oman.   QUICKLY. YOU do ill to teach the child such words. He     teaches him to hick and to hack, which they'll do fast     enough of themselves; and to call 'horum'; fie upon you!   EVANS. Oman, art thou lunatics? Hast thou no understandings     for thy cases, and the numbers of the genders? Thou     art as foolish Christian creatures as I would desires.   MRS. PAGE. Prithee hold thy peace.   EVANS. Show me now, William, some declensions of your     pronouns.   WILLIAM. Forsooth, I have forgot.   EVANS. It is qui, quae, quod; if you forget your qui's, your     quae's, and your quod's, you must be preeches. Go your     ways and play; go.   MRS. PAGE. He is a better scholar than I thought he was.   EVANS. He is a good sprag memory. Farewell, Mistress Page.   MRS. PAGE. Adieu, good Sir Hugh.                 Exit SIR HUGH     Get you home, boy. Come, we stay too long.            Exeunt     SCENE 2.  FORD'S house  Enter FALSTAFF and MISTRESS FORD    FALSTAFF. Mistress Ford, your sorrow hath eaten up my     sufferance. I see you are obsequious in your love, and I     profess requital to a hair's breadth; not only, Mistress Ford, in     the simple office of love, but in all the accoutrement,     complement, and ceremony of it. But are you sure of your     husband now?   MRS. FORD. He's a-birding, sweet Sir John.   MRS. PAGE.  [Within]  What hoa, gossip Ford, what hoa!   MRS. FORD. Step into th' chamber, Sir John.      Exit FALSTAFF                        Enter MISTRESS PAGE    MRS. PAGE. How now, sweetheart, who's at home besides     yourself?   MRS. FORD. Why, none but mine own people.   MRS. PAGE. Indeed?   MRS. FORD. No, certainly.  [Aside to her]  Speak louder.   MRS. PAGE. Truly, I am so glad you have nobody here.   MRS. FORD. Why?   MRS. PAGE. Why, woman, your husband is in his old lunes     again. He so takes on yonder with my husband; so rails     against all married mankind; so curses an Eve's daughters,     of what complexion soever; and so buffets himself on the     forehead, crying 'Peer-out, peer-out!' that any madness I     ever yet beheld seem'd but tameness, civility, and patience,     to this his distemper he is in now. I am glad the fat knight     is not here.   MRS. FORD. Why, does he talk of him?   MRS. PAGE. Of none but him; and swears he was carried out,     the last time he search'd for him, in a basket; protests to     my husband he is now here; and hath drawn him and the     rest of their company from their sport, to make another     experiment of his suspicion. But I am glad the knight is not     here; now he shall see his own foolery.   MRS. FORD. How near is he, Mistress Page?   MRS. PAGE. Hard by, at street end; he will be here anon.   MRS. FORD. I am undone: the knight is here.   MRS. PAGE. Why, then, you are utterly sham'd, and he's but     a dead man. What a woman are you! Away with him,     away with him; better shame than murder.   MRS. FORD. Which way should he go? How should I bestow     him? Shall I put him into the basket again?                    Re-enter FALSTAFF    FALSTAFF. No, I'll come no more i' th' basket. May I not go     out ere he come?   MRS. PAGE. Alas, three of Master Ford's brothers watch the     door with pistols, that none shall issue out; otherwise you     might slip away ere he came. But what make you here?   FALSTAFF. What shall I do? I'll creep up into the chimney.   MRS. FORD. There they always use to discharge their     birding-pieces.   MRS. PAGE. Creep into the kiln-hole.   FALSTAFF. Where is it?   MRS. FORD. He will seek there, on my word. Neither press,     coffer, chest, trunk, well, vault, but he hath an abstract for     the remembrance of such places, and goes to them by his     note. There is no hiding you in the house.   FALSTAFF. I'll go out then.   MRS. PAGE. If you go out in your own semblance, you die,     Sir John. Unless you go out disguis'd.   MRS. FORD. How might we disguise him?   MRS. PAGE. Alas the day, I know not! There is no woman's     gown big enough for him; otherwise he might put on a     hat, a muffler, and a kerchief, and so escape.   FALSTAFF. Good hearts, devise something; any extremity     rather than a mischief.   MRS. FORD. My Maid's aunt, the fat woman of Brainford, has     a gown above.   MRS. PAGE. On my word, it will serve him; she's as big as he     is; and there's her thrumm'd hat, and her muffler too. Run     up, Sir John.   MRS. FORD. Go, go, sweet Sir John. Mistress Page and I will     look some linen for your head.   MRS. PAGE. Quick, quick; we'll come dress you straight. Put     on the gown the while.                         Exit FALSTAFF   MRS. FORD. I would my husband would meet him in this     shape; he cannot abide the old woman of Brainford; he     swears she's a witch, forbade her my house, and hath     threat'ned to beat her.   MRS. PAGE. Heaven guide him to thy husband's cudgel; and     the devil guide his cudgel afterwards!   MRS. FORD. But is my husband coming?   MRS. PAGE. Ay, in good sadness is he; and talks of the basket     too, howsoever he hath had intelligence.   MRS. FORD. We'll try that; for I'll appoint my men to carry     the basket again, to meet him at the door with it as they     did last time.   MRS. PAGE. Nay, but he'll be here presently; let's go dress     him like the witch of Brainford.   MRS. FORD. I'll first direct my men what they shall do with     the basket. Go up; I'll bring linen for him straight.   Exit   MRS. PAGE. Hang him, dishonest varlet! we cannot misuse     him enough.     We'll leave a proof, by that which we will do,     Wives may be merry and yet honest too.     We do not act that often jest and laugh;     'Tis old but true: Still swine eats all the draff.      Exit              Re-enter MISTRESS FORD, with two SERVANTS    MRS. FORD. Go, sirs, take the basket again on your shoulders;     your master is hard at door; if he bid you set it down, obey     him; quickly, dispatch.                                 Exit   FIRST SERVANT. Come, come, take it up.   SECOND SERVANT. Pray heaven it be not full of knight again.   FIRST SERVANT. I hope not; I had lief as bear so much lead.      Enter FORD, PAGE, SHALLOW, CAIUS, and SIR HUGH EVANS    FORD. Ay, but if it prove true, Master Page, have you any     way then to unfool me again? Set down the basket, villain!     Somebody call my wife. Youth in a basket! O you panderly     rascals, there's a knot, a ging, a pack, a conspiracy     against me. Now shall the devil be sham'd. What, wife, I     say! Come, come forth; behold what honest clothes you     send forth to bleaching.   PAGE. Why, this passes, Master Ford; you are not to go loose     any longer; you must be pinion'd.   EVANS. Why, this is lunatics. This is mad as a mad dog.   SHALLOW. Indeed, Master Ford, this is not well, indeed.   FORD. So say I too, sir.                       Re-enter MISTRESS FORD      Come hither, Mistress Ford; Mistress Ford, the honest     woman, the modest wife, the virtuous creature, that hath     the jealous fool to her husband! I suspect without cause,     Mistress, do I?   MRS. FORD. Heaven be my witness, you do, if you suspect     me in any dishonesty.   FORD. Well said, brazen-face; hold it out. Come forth, sirrah.                            [Pulling clothes out of the basket]   PAGE. This passes!   MRS. FORD. Are you not asham'd? Let the clothes alone.   FORD. I shall find you anon.   EVANS. 'Tis unreasonable. Will you take up your wife's     clothes? Come away.   FORD. Empty the basket, I say.   MRS. FORD. Why, man, why?   FORD. Master Page, as I am a man, there was one convey'd     out of my house yesterday in this basket. Why may not     he be there again? In my house I am sure he is; my     intelligence is true; my jealousy is reasonable.     Pluck me out all the linen.   MRS. FORD. If you find a man there, he shall die a flea's     death.   PAGE. Here's no man.   SHALLOW. By my fidelity, this is not well, Master Ford; this     wrongs you.   EVANS. Master Ford, you must pray, and not follow the     imaginations of your own heart; this is jealousies.   FORD. Well, he's not here I seek for.   PAGE. No, nor nowhere else but in your brain.   FORD. Help to search my house this one time. If I find not     what I seek, show no colour for my extremity; let me for     ever be your table sport; let them say of me 'As jealous as     Ford, that search'd a hollow walnut for his wife's leman.'     Satisfy me once more; once more search with me.   MRS. FORD. What, hoa, Mistress Page! Come you and the old     woman down; my husband will come into the chamber.   FORD. Old woman? what old woman's that?   MRS. FORD. Why, it is my maid's aunt of Brainford.   FORD. A witch, a quean, an old cozening quean! Have I not     forbid her my house? She comes of errands, does she? We     are simple men; we do not know what's brought to pass     under the profession of fortune-telling. She works by     charms, by spells, by th' figure, and such daub'ry as this     is, beyond our element. We know nothing. Come down, you     witch, you hag you; come down, I say.   MRS. FORD. Nay, good sweet husband! Good gentlemen, let     him not strike the old woman.     Re-enter FALSTAFF in woman's clothes, and MISTRESS PAGE    MRS. PAGE. Come, Mother Prat; come. give me your hand.   FORD. I'll prat her.  [Beating him]  Out of my door, you     witch, you hag, you. baggage, you polecat, you ronyon!     Out, out! I'll conjure you, I'll fortune-tell you.                                                    Exit FALSTAFF   MRS. PAGE. Are you not asham'd? I think you have kill'd the     poor woman.   MRS. FORD. Nay, he will do it. 'Tis a goodly credit for you.   FORD. Hang her, witch!   EVANS. By yea and no, I think the oman is a witch indeed; I     like not when a oman has a great peard; I spy a great peard     under his muffler.   FORD. Will you follow, gentlemen? I beseech you follow;     see but the issue of my jealousy; if I cry out thus upon no     trail, never trust me when I open again.   PAGE. Let's obey his humour a little further. Come,     gentlemen.            Exeunt all but MRS. FORD and MRS. PAGE   MRS. PAGE. Trust me, he beat him most pitifully.   MRS. FORD. Nay, by th' mass, that he did not; he beat him     most unpitifully methought.   MRS. PAGE. I'll have the cudgel hallow'd and hung o'er the     altar; it hath done meritorious service.   MRS. FORD. What think you? May we, with the warrant of     womanhood and the witness of a good conscience, pursue     him with any further revenge?   MRS. PAGE. The spirit of wantonness is sure scar'd out of     him; if the devil have him not in fee-simple, with fine and     recovery, he will never, I think, in the way of waste,     attempt us again.   MRS. FORD. Shall we tell our husbands how we have serv'd     him?   MRS. PAGE. Yes, by all means; if it be but to scrape the     figures out of your husband's brains. If they can find in their     hearts the poor unvirtuous fat knight shall be any further     afflicted, we two will still be the ministers.   MRS. FORD. I'll warrant they'll have him publicly sham'd;     and methinks there would be no period to the jest, should     he not be publicly sham'd.   MRS. PAGE. Come, to the forge with it then; shape it. I     would not have things cool.                           Exeunt     SCENE 3.  The Garter Inn  Enter HOST and BARDOLPH    BARDOLPH. Sir, the Germans desire to have three of your     horses; the Duke himself will be to-morrow at court, and     they are going to meet him.   HOST. What duke should that be comes so secretly? I hear     not of him in the court. Let me speak with the gentlemen;     they speak English?   BARDOLPH. Ay, sir; I'll call them to you.   HOST. They shall have my horses, but I'll make them pay;     I'll sauce them; they have had my house a week at     command; I have turn'd away my other guests. They must     come off; I'll sauce them. Come.                      Exeunt     SCENE 4  FORD'S house  Enter PAGE, FORD, MISTRESS PAGE, MISTRESS FORD, and SIR HUGH EVANS    EVANS. 'Tis one of the best discretions of a oman as ever     did look upon.   PAGE. And did he send you both these letters at an instant?   MRS. PAGE. Within a quarter of an hour.   FORD. Pardon me, wife. Henceforth, do what thou wilt;     I rather will suspect the sun with cold     Than thee with wantonness. Now doth thy honour stand,     In him that was of late an heretic,     As firm as faith.   PAGE. 'Tis well, 'tis well; no more.     Be not as extreme in submission as in offence;     But let our plot go forward. Let our wives     Yet once again, to make us public sport,     Appoint a meeting with this old fat fellow,     Where we may take him and disgrace him for it.   FORD. There is no better way than that they spoke of.   PAGE. How? To send him word they'll meet him in the Park     at midnight? Fie, fie! he'll never come!   EVANS. You say he has been thrown in the rivers; and has     been grievously peaten as an old oman; methinks there     should be terrors in him, that he should not come;     methinks his flesh is punish'd; he shall have no desires.   PAGE. So think I too.   MRS. FORD. Devise but how you'll use him when he comes,     And let us two devise to bring him thither.   MRS. PAGE. There is an old tale goes that Heme the Hunter,     Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest,     Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight,     Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns;     And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle,     And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain     In a most hideous and dreadful manner.     You have heard of such a spirit, and well you know     The superstitious idle-headed eld     Receiv'd, and did deliver to our age,     This tale of Heme the Hunter for a truth.   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 Heme, 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 sawpit 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,     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 practis'd well to this or they'll nev'r do 't.   EVANS. 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.  [Aside]  And in that time     Shall Master Slender steal my Nan away,     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.   MRS. PAGE. Fear not you that. Go get us properties     And tricking for our fairies.   EVANS. 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 5.  The Garter Inn  Enter HOST and SIMPLE    HOST. What wouldst thou have, boor? What, thick-skin?     Speak, breathe, discuss; brief, short, quick, snap.   SIMPLE. 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 can; he'll     speak like an Anthropophaginian unto thee. Knock, I say.   SIMPLE. There's an old woman, a fat woman, gone up into     his chamber; I'll be so bold as stay, sir, till she come down;     I come to speak with her, indeed.   HOST. Ha! a fat woman? The knight may be robb'd. I'll call.     Bully knight! Bully Sir John! Speak from thy lungs     military. Art thou there? It is thine host, thine Ephesian, calls.   FALSTAFF.  [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 honourible. Fie, privacy, fie!                      Enter FALSTAFF    FALSTAFF. There was, mine host, an old fat woman even     now with, me; but she's gone.   SIMPLE. Pray you, sir, was't not the wise woman of     Brainford?   FALSTAFF. Ay, marry was it, mussel-shell. What would you     with her?   SIMPLE. My master, sir, my Master Slender, sent to her,     seeing her go thorough the streets, to know, sir, whether one     Nym, sir, that beguil'd him of a chain, had the chain or no.   FALSTAFF. I spake with the old woman about it.   SIMPLE. And what says she, I pray, sir?   FALSTAFF Marry, she says that the very same man that     beguil'd Master Slender of his chain cozen'd him of it.   SIMPLE. I would I could have spoken with the woman     herself; I had other things to have spoken with her too,     from him.   FALSTAFF. What are they? Let us know.   HOST. Ay, come; quick.   SIMPLE. I may not conceal them, sir.   FALSTAFF. Conceal them, or thou diest.     SIMPLE.. Why, sir, they were nothing but about Mistress     Anne Page: to know if it were my master's fortune to     have her or no.   FALSTAFF. 'Tis, 'tis his fortune.   SIMPLE. What sir?   FALSTAFF. To have her, or no. Go; say the woman told me     so.   SIMPLE. May I be bold to say so, sir?   FALSTAFF. Ay, sir, like who more bold?   SIMPLE., 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?   FALSTAFF. Ay, that there was, mine host; one that hath     taught me more wit than ever I learn'd before in my life;     and I paid nothing for it neither, but was paid for my     learning.                      Enter BARDOLPH    BARDOLPH. Out, alas, sir, cozenage, mere cozenage!   HOST. Where be my horses? Speak well of them, varletto.   BARDOLPH. Run away with the cozeners; for so soon as I     came beyond Eton, they threw me off from 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    EVANS. Where is mine host?   HOST. What is the matter, sir?   EVANS. Have a care of your entertainments. There is a friend     of mine come to town tells me there is three     cozen-germans that has cozen'd all the hosts of Readins,     of Maidenhead, of Colebrook, of horses and money. I tell you for     good will, look you; you are wise, and full of gibes and     vlouting-stogs, and 'tis not convenient you should be     cozened. Fare you well.                                 Exit                    Enter DOCTOR CAIUS    CAIUS. Vere is mine host de Jarteer?   HOST. Here, Master Doctor, in perplexity and doubtful     dilemma.   CAIUS. I cannot tell vat is dat; but it is tell-a me dat you     make grand preparation for a Duke de Jamany. By my     trot, dere is no duke that the court is know to come; I     tell you for good will. Adieu.                          Exit   HOST. Hue and cry, villain, go! Assist me, knight; I am     undone. Fly, run, hue and cry, villain; I am undone.                                         Exeunt HOST and BARDOLPH   FALSTAFF. I would all the world might be cozen'd, for I have     been cozen'd and beaten too. If it should come to the car     of the court how I have been transformed, and how my     transformation hath been wash'd and cudgell'd, 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 crestfall'n as a dried pear.     I never prosper'd since I forswore myself at primero. Well,     if my wind were but long enough to say my prayers,     would repent.                  Enter MISTRESS QUICKLY      Now! whence come you?   QUICKLY. From the two parties, forsooth.   FALSTAFF. The devil take one party and his dam the other!     And so they shall be both bestowed. I have suffer'd more     for their sakes, more than the villainous inconstancy of     man's disposition is able to bear.   QUICKLY. And have not they suffer'd? Yes, I warrant;     speciously one of them; Mistress Ford, good heart, is beaten     black and blue, that you cannot see a white spot about her.   FALSTAFF. What tell'st thou me of black and blue? I was     beaten myself into all the colours of the rainbow; and     was like to be apprehended for the witch of Brainford. But     that my admirable dexterity of wit, my counterfeiting the     action of an old woman, deliver'd me, the knave constable     had set me i' th' stocks, i' th' common stocks, for a witch.   QUICKLY. 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 cross'd.   FALSTAFF. Come up into my chamber.                      Exeunt     SCENE 6.  The Garter Inn  Enter FENTON and HOST    HOST. Master Fenton, talk not to me; my mind is heavy; I     will give over all.   FENTON. Yet hear me speak. Assist me in my purpose,     And, as I am a gentleman, I'll give the     A hundred pound in gold more than your loss.   HOST. I will hear you, Master Fenton; and I will, at the least,     keep your counsel.   FENTON. 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. Fat Falstaff     Hath a great scene. The image of the jest     I'll show you here at large. Hark, good mine host:     To-night at Heme's oak, just 'twixt twelve and one,     Must my sweet Nan present the Fairy Queen-     The purpose why is here-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,     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 dean'ry, where a priest attends,     Straight marry her. To this her mother's plot     She seemingly obedient likewise hath     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 quaint in green she shall be loose enrob'd,     With ribands pendent, flaring 'bout her head;     And when the doctor spies his vantage ripe,     To pinch her by the hand, and, on that token,     The maid hath given consent to go with him.   HOST. Which means she to deceive, father or mother?   FENTON. 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.     Bring you the maid, you shall not lack a priest.   FENTON. So shall I evermore be bound to thee;     Besides, I'll make a present recompense.              Exeunt