Prescanned Shakespeare.com
presented by Acoustic Learning
A room in FORD'S house.
[Enter PAGE, FORD, MISTRESS PAGE, MISTRESS FORD, and SIR HUGH EVANS]
SIR HUGH EVANS
'Tis one of the best discretions of a woman as ever I did look upon.
PAGE
And did he send you both these letters at an instant?
MISTRESS PAGE
Within a quarter of an hour.
FORD
,
, , ,
,
Pardon | me (wife)| henceforth | do what | thou
wilt:
,
, , ,
,
I rath|er will | suspect | the sun | with gold,
, ,
2 , 2 ,
,
Than thee | with want|onness: now | doth thy
hon|or stand
, ,
, , ,
(In him | that was | of late | a her|etic)
,
,
As firm | as faith.
PAGE
, ,
,
'Tis well,| 'tis well,| no more:
, 2
, 2 ,
, 2 ,
Be not | as extreme | in submis|sion, as | in
offense,
, , , ,
,
But let | our plot | go for|ward: let | our wives
, ,
, ,
,
Yet once | again |(to make | us pub|lic sport)
,
, 2 ,
, ,
Appoint | a mee|ting with this / old fat |
fellow,
,
, ,
, x
Where we | may take | him, and | disgrace | him
for it.
FORD
2 , ,
, ,
,
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.
SIR HUGH EVANS
You say he has been thrown in the rivers: and has been grievously peaten, as
an old woman: methinks there should be terrors in him, that he should not
come: methinks his flesh is punished, he shall have no desires.
PAGE
So think I too.
MISTRESS FORD
,
, , ,
,
Devise | but how | you'll use | him when | he
comes,
x
, ,
, ,
And let us | two de|vise to | bring him |
thither.
MISTRESS PAGE
, 2
, ,
,
,
There is an | old^tale | goes, that | Herne the
| hunter
,
2 , ,
, ,
(Sometime a | keeper | here in | Windsor | forest)
, , , .
T T T
Doth^all | the wint|er-time,| at still midnight
,
, , ,
, ___
Walk^round | about | an oak,| with great | ragged
| horns,
, ,
, ,
, o
And there | he blasts | the tree,| and takes |
the cat|tle, (hex with prev?)
. T
T T T T .
T ,
And makes milch-kine | yield blood, and shakes | a chain
2 , ,
, ,
,
In a most | hide|ous and | dreadful | manner.
2
, , x ,
,
You have heard | of such | a spirit,| and well |
you know
, ,
, , ,
The sup|ersti|tious id|le-head|ed eld
, ,
, ,
,
Received,| and did | deliv|er to | our age
,
, , ,
,
This tale | of Herne | the hunt|er, for | a
truth.
PAGE
, ,
, ,
,
Why yet | there want | not^man|y that | do fear
,
, ,
, ,
In deep | of night | to walk | by this / Herne's
oak:
, ,
But what | of this?
MISTRESS FORD
, 2 ,
,
Marry | this is our | device,
,
T .
T T ,
,
That Fal|staff at that oak | shall meet | with
us.
PAGE
,
, , ,
,
Well, let | it not | be doubt|ed but | he'll
come,
, ,
, 2 ,
,
And in | this shape,| when you have | brought him
| thither,
,
, , ,
,
What shall | be done | with him?| What^is | your
plot?
MISTRESS PAGE
T T T
2 , ,
,
That likewise | have we thought | upon:| and
thus:
, ,
, ,
,
Nan^Page |(my daught|er) and | my lit|tle son,
, ,
, ,
,
And three | or four | more of | their growth,|
we'll dress
, , , ,
,
Like urch|ins, ouphes,| and fair|ies, green | and
white,
,
, , , ,
With rounds | of wax|en tap|ers on | their heads,
,
, , ,
x
And rat|tles in | their hands;| upon | a sudden,
. T T T
, ,
,
As Falstaff, she,| and I,| are new|ly met,
, ,
, ,
,
Let them | from forth | a saw|pit rush | at once
, ,
, , ,
With some | diffus|ed song:| upon | their sight
, ,
, , ,
We* two,| in great | amaz|edness | will fly:
, ,
, ,
,
Then let | them all | encir|cle him | about,
,
, ,
. T T T
And fai|ry-like | to pinch | the unclean knight;
, ,
, ,
x
And ask | him why | that hour | of fai|ry revel,
, , ,
, ,
In their / so sac|red paths,| he dares | to tread
, ,
In shape | profane.
MISTRESS FORD
, ,
,
And till | he tell | the truth,
,
, , ,
,
Let the | suppos|ed fair|ies pinch | him, sound,
, ,
, 2
And burn | him with | their tap|ers.
MISTRESS PAGE
, 2 ,
The truth | being known,
,
, , ,
x
We'll all | present | ourselves;| dis-horn | the
spirit,
, ,
, 2
And mock | him home | to Wind|sor.
FORD
,
,
The child|ren must
, ,
, ,
x
Be pract|ised well | to this,| or they'll / nere
do it.
SIR HUGH EVANS
I will teach the children their behaviors: and I will be like a jackanapes
also, to burn the knight with my taber.
FORD
That will be excellent,
I'll go and buy them vizards.
MISTRESS 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,| and in | that time
,
, ,
, ,
Shall mast|er Slend|er steal | my Nan | away,
, 3 3 ,
, 2 ,
,
And mar|ry her at E|ton: Go,| send^to Fal|staff*
straight.
FORD
, ,
, , ,
Nay, I'll | to him | again | in name | of Brook,
,
, , ,
,
He'll tell | me all | his pur|pose: sure | he'll
come.
MISTRESS PAGE
, ,
, ,
,
Fear* not | you that:| Go get | us prop|erties
,
, ,
And trick|ing for | our fair|ies.
SIR HUGH EVANS
, 2 x
Let | us about it,
It is admirable pleasures, and fery
honest knaveries.
[Exeunt PAGE, FORD, and SIR HUGH EVANS]
MISTRESS PAGE
, ,
Go* mist|ress Ford, \\
, ,
, , ,
Send^quick|ly to / Sir John,| to know | his mind:
,
, , ,
,
I'll to | the doc|tor, he | hath my | good* will,
, ,
, , ,
And none | but he | to mar|ry with / Nan Page:
,
, ,
3 3 , ,
That Slend|er (though | well^land|ed) is an
id|iot:
,
, , , ,
And he,| my hus|band best | of all | affects:
,
, , ,
,
The doc|tor is / well-mon|eyed, and | his friends
, 2
T T T
, , o
Potent at | court: he, none | but he | shall have
| her,
,
, , 2
, ,
o
Though twen|ty thous|and worth|ier come | to
crave | her. (hex with prev)
[Exit]