Ant.
I am dumb.
Bass.
Were you the doctor, and I knew you not?
Gra.
Were you the clerk that is to make me cuckold?
Ner.
Ay, but the clerk that never means to do it,
Unless he live until he be a man.
Bass.
Sweet doctor, you shall be my bedfellow—
When I am absent, then lie with my wife.
Ant.
Sweet lady, you have given me life and living,
For here I read for certain that my ships
Are safely come to road.
Por.
How now, Lorenzo?
My clerk hath some good comforts too for you.
Ner.
Ay, and I’ll give them him without a fee.
There do I give to you and Jessica,
From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift,
After his death, of all he dies possess’d of.
Lor.
Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way
Of starved people.
Por.
It is almost morning,
And yet I am sure you are not satisfied
Of these events at full. Let us go in,
And charge us there upon inter’gatories,
And we will answer all things faithfully.
Gra.
Let it be so. The first inter’gatory
That my Nerissa shall be sworn on is,
Whether till the next night she had rather stay,
Or go to bed now, being two hours to day.
But were the day come, I should wish it dark
Till I were couching with the doctor’s clerk.
Well, while I live I’ll fear no other thing
So sore, as keeping safe Nerissa’s ring.
Exeunt.
¶
William Shakespeare
THE MERRY WIVES
OF WINDSOR
( 1597, revised 1600–1601 )
“Bad” Quarto, 1602; First Folio, 1623.
windsor
¶
Act I
Act II
Act III
Sc. I Sc. II Sc. III Sc. IV Sc. V
Act IV
Sc. I Sc. II Sc. III Sc. IV Sc. V Sc. VI
Act V
Sc. I Sc. II Sc. III Sc. IV Sc. V
[Dramatis Personae
Sir John Falstaff
Fenton, a gentleman
Robert Shallow, a country justice
Abraham Slender, cousin to Shallow
Francis Ford,
George Page, gentlemen of Windsor
William Page, a boy, son to Page
Sir Hugh Evans, a Welsh parson
Doctor Caius, a French physician
Host of the Garter Inn
Bardolph,
Pistol,
Nym, followers of Falstaff
Robin, page to Falstaff
Peter Simple, servant to Slender
John Rugby, servant to Doctor Caius
–––––
Mistress Alice Ford
Mistress Margaret Page
Mistress Anne Page, her daughter
Mistress Quickly, servant to Doctor Caius
–––––
Servants to Page, Ford, etc.
Scene: Windsor, and the neighborhood]
ACT I
Scene I
Enter Justice Shallow, Slender, Sir Hugh Evans.
Shal. Sir Hugh, persuade me not; I will make a Star Chamber matter of it. If he were twenty Sir John Falstaffs, he shall not abuse Robert Shallow, esquire.
Slen. In the county of Gloucester, Justice of Peace and Coram.
Shal. Ay, cousin Slender, and Custa-lorum.
Slen. Ay, and Rato-lorum too; and a gentleman born, Master Parson, who writes himself Armigero, in any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation, Armigero.
Shal. Ay, that I do, and