Page. It could not be judg'd, sir. Slen. You'll not confess, you'll not confess. Shal. That he will not; - 't is your fault, 't is your fault.-Tis a good dog. Page. A cur, sir. Shal. Sir, he's a good dog, and a fair dog; can there be more said? he is good, and fair. Is Sir John Falstaff here? Page. Sir, he is within; and I would I could do 100 a good office between you. Eva. It is spoke as a christians ought to speak. Shal. He hath wrong'd me, Master Page. Page. Sir, he doth in some sort confess it. Shal. If it be confessed, it is not redressed is not that so, Master Page? He hath wrong'd me; indeed, he hath; - at a word, he hath; believe me: Robert Shallow, Esquire, saith, he is wronged. Page. Here comes Sir John. Enter Sir JOHN Falstaff, BarDOLPH, NYм, and PISTOL. Falstaff. Now, Master Shallow, you'll complain 110 of me to the King! Shal. Knight, you have beaten my men, kill'd my deer, and broke open my lodge. Fal. But not kiss'd your keeper's daughter? Fal. I will answer it straight:-I have done all this. That is now answer'd. -- 95 fault. Gifford has shown (Massinger, Vol. II. p. 98) that "fault" was used in the sense of "misfortune." 114 But not kiss'd your keeper's daughter. This denial of having added insult to injury has much the air of an allusion to an actual occurrence, and adds somewhat to the evidence in favour of the supposition that Shallow is a revengeful satire on Sir Thomas Lucy who died in 1600. Hence it is probable the play is earlier. Shal. The Council shall know this. Fal. "Twere better for you, if it were known in counsel: you'll be laugh'd at. Eva. Pauca verba, Sir John; goot worts. Fal. Good worts? good cabbage! - Slender, I broke your head; what matter have you against me? Slen. Marry, sir, I have matter in my head against you, and against your coney-catching rascals, Bardolph, Nym, and Pistol. They carried me to the tavern, and made me drunk, and afterwards pick'd my pocket. Bardolph. You Banbury cheese! Slen. Ay, it is no matter. Pistol. How now, Mephostophilus ? Slen. Ay, it is no matter. Nym. Slice, I say! pauca, pauca: slice! that's my humour. Slen. Where's Simple, my man?- can you tell, cousin? Eva. Peace! I pray you. Now let us understand: there is three umpires in this matter, as I understand; that is Master Page, fidelicet, Master Page; and there is myself, fidelicet, myself; and the three party is, lastly and finally, mine Host of the Garter. 119 known in counsel, i. e. kept secret. (R) 121 Pauca verba, few words. goot worts. The folio has good worts, and frequently corrects what we must suppose to have been originally consistent in the Welshman's English. 125 coney-catching. Cheats and sharpers were, in cant phrase, called 66 coney-catchers." [Cf. I. iii. 34.] 120 130 126 They carried me ・ ・ ・ pocket. From the quarto. Falstaff's subsequent question to Pistol about picking Slender's purse makes it necessary. (w) 127 Banbury cheese. This cheese was proverbially poor and thin. (w) [Cf. Supplementary Notes I. i. 131.] 129 Mephostophilus, a familiar spirit in the old story of Dr. Faustus. Marlowe had made the name popular. [Cf. IV. v. 69.] Page. We three, to hear it, and end it between 140 them. Eva. Ferry goot: I will make a prief of it in my note-book; and we will afterwards 'ork upon the cause, with as great discreetly as we can. Eva. The tevil and his tam! what phrase is this? "He hears with ear?" Why, it is affectations. Fal. Pistol, did you pick Master Slender's purse? Slen. Ay, by these gloves, did he, (or I would I might never come in mine own great chamber again, 150 else) of seven groats in mill-sixpences, and two Edward shovel-boards, that cost me two shilling and two pence a-piece of Yead Miller, by these gloves. Fal. Is this true, Pistol? Eva. No; it is false, if it is a pick-purse. Pist. Ha, thou mountain-foreigner! - Sir John and master mine, I combat challenge of this latten bilbo : Word of denial in thy labras here; Word of denial: froth and scum, thou liest. Slen. By these gloves, then 't was he. Nym. Be avis'd, sir, and pass good humours. I will say, "marry trap," with you, if you run the 151 groats, fourpence. Note Slender's blunder. mill-sixpences, first milled in 1561. Edward shovel-boards, old shillings of Edward VI. used in playing the game. (R) Shovel-board is played with light weights shoved along a smooth board. 158 Yead, i. e. Edward. (R) 157 mountain-foreigner, Welshman. (R) 160 |