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Fal. Say'st thou so, old Jack? go thy ways;-I'll make more of thy old body than I have done.-Will they yet look after thee? Wilt thou, after the expence of so much money, be now a gainer? Good body, I thank thee: let them say, 'tis grossly done, so it be - fairly done, no matter.

Enter Bardolph.

Bard. Sir John, there's one master Brook below would fain speak with you, and be acquainted with you; and hath sent your worship a morning's draught of fack.

Fal. Brook, is his name?

Bard. Ay, Sir.

Fal. Call him in. [Exit Bardolph.] Such Brooks are welcome to me, that o'erflow such liquor. Ah! ha! mistress Ford and mistress Page, have I encompass'd you? 4 go to, via !

Re-enter Bardolph, with Ford disguis'd.

Ford. Bless you, Sir.

Fal. And you, Sir: would you speak with me?
Ford. I make bold, to press with so little prepa-

ration upon you.

Fal. You're welcome; what's your will? give us leave, drawer. [Exit Bardolph.

Ford. Sir, I am a gentleman that have spent much; my name is Brook.

clofe-fights are bulkheads, or any other shelter that the fabrick of a ship affords. JOHNSON.

So in Heywood and Rowley's comedy, called Fortune by Land and Sea" display'd their enfsigns, up with all their feights, "their matches in their cocks," &c.

So in The Chriftian turn'd Turk, 1612-" lace the netting, . and let down the fights, make ready the shot," &c.

4

STEEVENS.

-go to, via!] This cant phrase of exultation is common

in the old plays. So in Blurt Master Conftable:

"Via for fate! Fortune, lo! this is all." STEEVENS. Fal.

Fal. Good master Brook, I defire more acquaintance of you.

Ford. Good Sir John, I sue for yours: 5 not to charge you; for I must let you understand, I think myself in better plight for a lender than you are: the which hath something embolden'd me to this unfeafon'd intrufion; for they say, if money go before, all ways do lie open.

Fal. Money is a good foldier, Sir, and will on. Ford. Troth, and I have a bag of money, here, troubles me: if you will help me to bear it, Sir John, take all, or half, for easing me of the carriage.

Fal. Sir, I know not how I may deferve to be your porter.

Ford. I will tell you, Sir, if you will give me the hearing.

Fal. Speak, good master Brook; I shall be glad to be your fervant.

Ford. Sir, I hear you are a scholar (I will be brief with you); and you have been a man long known to me, though I had never fo good means, as defire, to make myself acquainted with you. I shall discover a thing to you, wherein I must very much lay open mine own imperfection: but, good Sir John, as you have one eye upon my follies, as you hear them unfolded, turn another into the regifter of your own; that I may pass with a reproof the easier, sith you yourself know, how easy it is to be fuch an offender. Fal. Very well, Sir; proceed.

Ford. There is a gentlewoman in this town, her husband's name is Ford.

Fal. Well, Sir.

Ford. I have long lov'd her, and, I protest to you, bestow'd much on her; follow'd her with a doating obfervance; engross'd opportunities to meet her; fee'd

15-not to charge you;-) That is, not with a purpose of putting you to expence, or being burthensome. JOHNSON.

every flight occasion, that could but niggardly give me fight of her; not only bought many presents to give her, but have given largely to many, to know what she would have given: briefly, I have pursued her, as love hath pursu'd me; which hath been on the wing of all occafions. But whatsoever I have merited, either in my mind, or in my means, meed, I am fure, I have received none; unless experience be a jewel; that I have purchas'd at an infinite rate; and that hath taught me to say this :

“ Love like a shadow flies, when substance love purSues'; “Pursuing that that flies, and flying what pursues." Fal. Have you receiv'd no promise of fatisfaction at her hands ?

Ford. Never.

Fal. Have you importun'd her to such a purpose ? Ford. Never.

Fal. Of what quality was your love then?

Ford. Like a fair house, built upon another man's ground; so that I have lost my edifice, by mistaking the place where I erected it.

Fal. To what purpose have you unfolded this to me ?

Ford. When I have told you that, I have told you all. Some say, that though the appear honeft to me, yet in other places the enlargeth her mirth so far, that there is fhrewd conftruction made of her. Now, Sir John, here is the heart of my purpose: you are a gentleman of excellent breeding, admirable discourse, of great admittance, authentick in your place and person, generally allow'd for your many war-like, court-like, and learned preparations.

Fal. O Sir!

Ford. Believe it, for you know it: there is money; spend it, spend it, spend more; fpend all I have; only give me so much of your time in exchange of it, as to lay an amiable fiege to the honesty of this Ford's VOL. I. wife: wife: use your art of wooing, win her to consent to you; if any man may, you may as foon as any.

Fal. Would it apply well to the vehemence of your affection, that I should win what you would enjoy? methinks, you prescribe to yourself very preposteroufly.

Ford. O, understand my drift! she dwells so securely on the excellency of her honour, that the folly of my foul dares not present itself; she is too bright to be look'd againft. Now, could I come to her with any detection in my hand, my defires had 6 instance and argument to commend themselves; I could drive her then from the ward of her purity, her reputation, her marriage vow, and a thousand other her defences, which now are too too strongly embattel'd against me. What say you to't, Sir John?

Fal. Master Brook, I will first make bold with your money; next, give me your hand; and last, as I am a gentleman, you shall, if you will, enjoy Ford's wife. Ford. O good Sir!

Fal. Master Brook, I say you shall.

Ford. Want no money, Sir John, you shall want

none.

Fal. Want no mistress Ford, master Brook, you shall want none. I shall be with her (I may tell you) by her own appointment. Even as you came in to me, her afsistant, or go-between, parted from me: I fay, I shall be with her between ten and eleven; for at that time the jealous rafcally knave, her husband, will be forth. Come you to me at night, you shall know how I speed.

Ford. I am blest in your acquaintance. Do you know Ford, Sir?

Fal. Hang him, poor cuckoldly knave! I know him not: yet I wrong him to call him poor; they say, the jealous wittolly knave hath masses of money; for

* -instance and argument-] Instance is example. JOHNSON.

the

the which his wife seems to me well-favour'd. I will use her as the key of the cuckoldly rogue's coffer; and there's my harvest-home.

Ford. I would you knew Ford, Sir; that you might avoid him, if you faw him.

Fal. Hang him, mechanical salt-butter rogue! I will stare him out of his wits; I will awe him with my cudgel; it shall hang like a meteor o'er the cuckold's horns. Master Brook, thou shall know, I will predominate over the peasant, and thou shalt lye with his wife. Come to me foon at night. Ford's a knave, 7 and I will aggravate his stile; thou, master Brook, shalt know him for knave and cuckold. - Come to me foon 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 fent 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 receive this villainous wrong, but stand under the adoption of abominable terms, and by him that does me the wrong. Terms! names ! Amaimon sounds well; Lucifer, well; Barbason, well; yet they are devils' additions, the names of fiends: but cuckold! wittol! cuckold! 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 Welchman with my cheese, an Irishman with my Aqua vitæ 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

1-and I will aggravate his stile ;-) Stile is a phrase from the herald's office. Falstaff means, that he will add more titles to those be already enjoys. STEEVENS.

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