know him for a knave and cuckold. Come to me soon at night. [Exit. Ford. What a damn'd Epicurean rascal is this! My heart is ready to crack with impatience. — Who says, this is improvident jealousy? my wife hath sent to him, the hour is fix'd, the match is made. Would any man have thought this?-See the hell of having a false woman! my bed shall be abus'd, my coffers ransack'd, my reputation gnawn at; and I shall not only 300 receive this villainous wrong, but stand under the adoption of abominable terms, and by him that does me this wrong. Terms! names! - Amaimon sounds well; Lucifer, well; Barbason, well; yet they are devils' additions, the names of fiends: but cuckold! wittolcuckold! the Devil himself hath not such a name. Page is an ass, a secure ass; he will trust his wife, he will not be jealous: I will rather trust a Fleming with my butter, Parson Hugh, the Welshman, with my 310 cheese, an Irishman with my aquavitæ bottle, or a thief to walk my ambling gelding, than my wife with herself. Then she plots, then she ruminates, then she devises; and what they think in their hearts they may effect, they will break their hearts but they will effect. Heaven be prais'd for my jealousy! -Eleven o'clock the hour: I will prevent this, detect my wife, be reveng'd on Falstaff, and laugh at Page. I will about it: better three hours too soon, than a minute too late. Fie, fie, fie! Cuckold! cuckold! cuckold!

[Exit. 320

806 wittol-cuckold. "To call a man a cuckold was not an ecclesiastical slander; but wittol was, for it imports a knowledge of and consent to his wife's adultery." Chief Justice Holt. (w)

Enter CAIUS and RUGBY.

Caius. Jack Rugby!
Rug. Sir.

Caius. Vat is de clock, Jack?

Rug. "Tis past the hour, sir, that Sir Hugh prom

is'd to meet.

Caius. By gar, he has save his soul, dat he is no come: he has pray his Pible vell, dat he is no come. By gar, Jack Rugby, he is dead already, if he be

come.

Rug. He is wise, sir; he knew your worship would 10 kill him, if he came.

Caius. By gar, de herring is no dead, so as I vill kill him. Take your rapier, Jack; I vill tell you how I vill kill him.

Rug. Alas, sir! I cannot fence.
Caius. Villainy, take your rapier.
Rug. Forbear; here's company.

Enter Host, SHALLOW, SLENDER, and PAGE.

Host. Bless thee, bully Doctor.

Shal. Save you, Master Doctor Caius.

Page. Now, good Master Doctor.

Slen. Give you good-morrow, sir.

Caius. Vat be all you, one, two, tree, four, come for? Host. To see thee fight, to see thee foin, to see thee traverse, to see thee here, to see thee there; to see thee pass thy punto, thy stock, thy reverse, thy distance, thy montant. Is he dead, my Ethiopian? is he dead,

26 montant, a fencing term, as are those which precede it. (w)

20

20

my Francisco? ha, bully! What says my Esculapius? my Galen? my heart of elder? ha! is he dead, bullystale? is he dead?

Caius. By gar, he is de coward Jack priest of de vorld; he is not show his face.

Host. Thou art a Castilian, King Urinal: Hector of Greece, my boy.

Caius. I pray you, bear vitness zat me have stay six or seven, two, tree hours for him, and he is no

come.

30

Shal. He is the wiser man, Master Doctor. He is a curer of souls, and you a curer of bodies: if you 40 should fight, you go against the hair of your professions. Is it not true, Master Page?

Page. Master Shallow, you have yourself been a great fighter, though now a man of peace.

Shal. Bodykins, Master Page, though I now be old, and of the peace, if I see a sword out, my finger itches to make one. Though we are justices, and doctors, and churchmen, Master Page, we have some salt of our youth in us; we are the sons of women, Master Page. Page. Tis true, Master Shallow.

Shal. It will be found so, Master Page. Master Doctor Caius, I am come to fetch you home. I am sworn of the peace: you have show'd yourself a wise physician, and Sir Hugh hath shown himself a wise and

(R)

28 Francisco, i. e. Frenchman.

29 heart of elder, i. e. of pith; the opposite of "heart of oak." (R)

80 bully-stale, fine horse-doctor. stale is the urine of horses, and in that day the scenting of urine was a chief factor in all medical diagnosis, to which there

50

is further allusion in l. 33 and elsewhere. (R)

38 Castilian. There is here a triple quibble on Castilian (Spanish and therefore unpopular), Castaly (the classic fountain), and "casting the waters," after the medical use of the day. (R)

41 hair, as we should say "grain." (R)

patient churchman. You must go with me, Master Doctor.

Host. Pardon, guest-justice :

Mock-water.

a word, Monsieur

Mock-water! vat is dat?

Caius. Host. Mock-water in our English tongue is valour, bully.

Caius. By gar, zen, I have as much mock-vater as de Englishman. Scurvy Jack-dog priest! by gar, me vill cut his ears.

--

Host. He will clapper-claw thee tightly, bully.

Caius. Clapper-de-claw! vat is dat?

Host. That is, he will make thee amends.

60

Caius. By gar, me do look, he shall clapper-de- 70

claw me; for, by gar, me vill have it.

Host. And I will provoke him to 't, or let him wag. Caius. Me tank-a you for dat.

Host. And moreover, bully

But first, master

guest, and Master Page, and eke Cavalero Slender, go

you through the town to Frogmore.

Page. Sir Hugh is there, is he?

Host.

[Aside to them.

He is there: see what humour he is in, and

I will bring the Doctor about by the fields. Will it do well?

Shal. We will do it. Page, Shal., and Slen. Adieu, good Master Doctor. [Exeunt PAGE, SHALLOW, and SLENDER.

Caius. By gar, me vill kill de priest, for he speak for a jack-an-ape to Anne Page.

Host. Let him die. Sheath thy impatience; throw cold water on thy choler. Go about the fields with me through Frogmore; I will bring thee where Mistress

68 The necessary word is in the quarto, but not in the folio.

80

(w) [Mock-water, see Note to L. 30.]

Anne Page is, at a farm-house a feasting, and thou shalt woo her. Cried game, said I well?

Caius. By gar, me tank-a you vor dat: by gar, 90 I love you; and I shall procure-a you de good guest, de earl, de knight, de lords, de gentlemen, my patients. Host. For the which I will be thy adversary toward Anne Page: said I well?

Caius. By gar, 't is good; vell said.

Host. Let us wag then.

Caius. Come at my heels, Jack Rugby.

[Exeunt.

Аст

ACT

THREE.

SCENE I. A Field near Frogmore.

Enter Sir HUGH EVANS and SIMPLE.

EVANS

VANS. I pray you now, good Master Slender's serving-man, and friend Simple by your name, which way have you look'd for Master Caius, that calls himself Doctor of Physic?

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.

89 Cried game. Douce would have read, Cried I aim? i. e. Have I given you a right direction? But as the folio, and the original quarto, and the quartos of 1619 and 1630 have not only the same words, but have them connected with a hyphen, it

[Retiring. 10

seems that "cried game" is an epithet applied to the Doctor. [See Supplementary Notes.]

5 Petty-ward. It is not known to what locality this phrase, spelled pittie-ward in the original, refers. (w) [Possibly it may be the Little (petty) Park.]