William Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor

ACT II. SCENE 1. Before PAGE'S house (continued)

MRS. PAGE.
Nay, I know not; it makes me almost ready to
wrangle with mine own honesty. I'll entertain myself like
one that I am not acquainted withal; for, sure, unless he
know some strain in me that I know not myself, he would
never have boarded me in this fury.

MRS. FORD.
'Boarding' call you it? I'll be sure to keep him
above deck.

MRS. PAGE.
So will I; if he come under my hatches, I'll never
to sea again. Let's be revenged on him; let's appoint him a
meeting, give him a show of comfort in his suit, and lead
him on with a fine-baited delay, till he hath pawned his
horses to mine host of the Garter.

MRS. FORD.
Nay, I will consent to act any villainy against
him that may not sully the chariness of our honesty. O,
that my husband saw this letter! It would give eternal food
to his jealousy.

MRS. PAGE.
Why, look where he comes; and my good man
too: he's as far from jealousy as I am from giving him
cause; and that, I hope, is an unmeasurable distance.

MRS. FORD.
You are the happier woman.

MRS. PAGE.
Let's consult together against this greasy knight. Come hither.

[They retire.]

[Enter FORD, PISTOL, and PAGE and NYM.]

FORD.
Well, I hope it be not so.

PISTOL.
Hope is a curtal dog in some affairs:
Sir John affects thy wife.

FORD.
Why, sir, my wife is not young.

PISTOL.
He woos both high and low, both rich and poor,
Both young and old, one with another, Ford;
He loves the gallimaufry. Ford, perpend.

FORD.
Love my wife!

PISTOL.
With liver burning hot: prevent, or go thou,
Like Sir Actaeon he, with Ringwood at thy heels.--
O! odious is the name!