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  • Title: The Merry Wives of Windsor (Quarto 1, 1602)

  • Copyright Internet Shakespeare Editions. This text may be freely used for educational, non-proift purposes; for all other uses contact the Coordinating Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Not Peer Reviewed

    The Merry Wives of Windsor (Quarto 1, 1602)

    the merry wives of windsor.
    2122.1Ford. Well wife, heere take my hand, vpon my
    soule I loue thee dearer then I do my life, and ioy I
    hnue so true and constant wife, my iealousie shall
    neuer more offend thee.
    2122.5Mi. For. Sir I am glad, & that which I haue done,
    Was nothing else but mirth and modestie.
    Pa. I misteris Ford, Falstaffe hath all the griefe,
    And in this knauerie my wife was the chiefe.
    Mi. Pa. No knauery husband, it was honest mirth.
    2122.10Hu. Indeed it was good pastimes & merriments.
    Mis. For. But sweete heart shall wee leaue olde
    Falstaffe so?
    Mis. Pa. O by no meanes, send to him againe.
    Pa. I do not thinke heele come being so much
    2122.15deceiued.
    For. Let me alone, Ile to him once againe like
    Brooke, and know his mind whether heele come
    or not.
    Pa. There must be some plot laide, or heele not(come.
    Mis. Pa. Let vs alone for that. Heare my deuice.
    2150Oft haue you heard since Horne the hunter dyed,
    2150.1That women to affright their litle children,
    Ses that he walkes in shape of a great stagge.
    Now for that Falstaffe hath bene so deceiued,
    As that he dares not venture to the house,
    2150.5Weele send him word to meet vs in the field,
    Disguised like Horne, with huge horns on his head,
    The houre shalbe iust betweene twelue and one,
    And at that time we will meet him both:
    Then would I haue you present there at hand,
    With litle boyes disguised and dressed like Fayries,
    2172.1For to affright fat Falstaffe in the woods.
    F3 And