# Result number

Work The work is either a play, poem, or sonnet. The sonnets are treated as single work with 154 parts.

Character Indicates who said the line. If it's a play or sonnet, the character name is "Poet."

Line Shows where the line falls within the work.

The numbering is not keyed to any copyrighted numbering system found in a volume of collected works (Arden, Oxford, etc.) The numbering starts at the beginning of the work, and does not restart for each scene.

Text The line's full text, with keywords highlighted within it, unless highlighting has been disabled by the user.

1

Merry Wives of Windsor
[I, 1]

(stage directions)

1

[Enter SHALLOW, SLENDER, and SIR HUGH EVANS]

2

Merry Wives of Windsor
[I, 1]

Robert Shallow

2

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.

3

Merry Wives of Windsor
[I, 1]

(stage directions)

181

[Exeunt all except SHALLOW, SLENDER, and SIR HUGH EVANS]

4

Merry Wives of Windsor
[I, 1]

Robert Shallow

191

Come, coz; come, coz; we stay for you. A word with
you, coz; marry, this, coz: there is, as 'twere, a
tender, a kind of tender, made afar off by Sir Hugh
here. Do you understand me?

5

Merry Wives of Windsor
[I, 1]

(stage directions)

245

[Exeunt SHALLOW and SIR HUGH EVANS]

6

Merry Wives of Windsor
[I, 2]

(stage directions)

290

[Enter SIR HUGH EVANS and SIMPLE]

7

Merry Wives of Windsor
[I, 4]

Hostess Quickly

477

I beseech you, be not so phlegmatic. Hear the truth
of it: he came of an errand to me from Parson Hugh.

8

Merry Wives of Windsor
[I, 4]

Doctor Caius

488

Sir Hugh send-a you? Rugby, baille me some paper.
Tarry you a little-a while.

9

Merry Wives of Windsor
[I, 4]

Doctor Caius

509

You jack'nape, give-a this letter to Sir Hugh; by
gar, it is a shallenge: I will cut his troat in dee
park; and I will teach a scurvy jack-a-nape priest
to meddle or make. You may be gone; it is not good
you tarry here. By gar, I will cut all his two
stones; by gar, he shall not have a stone to throw
at his dog:

10

Merry Wives of Windsor
[II, 1]

Robert Shallow

757

Sir, there is a fray to be fought between Sir Hugh
the Welsh priest and Caius the French doctor.

11

Merry Wives of Windsor
[II, 2]

Ford

1073

What a damned Epicurean rascal is this! My heart is
ready to crack with impatience. Who says this is
improvident jealousy? my wife hath sent to him; the
hour is fixed; the match is made. Would any man
have thought this? See the hell of having a false
woman! My bed shall be abused, my coffers
ransacked, my reputation gnawn at; and I shall not
only receive this villanous wrong, but stand under
the adoption of abominable terms, and by him that
does me this 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 Welshman with my cheese, an Irishman with my
aqua-vitae 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 effect, they will
break their hearts but they will effect. God be
praised for my jealousy! Eleven o'clock the hour.
I will prevent this, detect my wife, be revenged on
Falstaff, and laugh at Page. I will about it;
better three hours too soon than a minute too late.
Fie, fie, fie! cuckold! cuckold! cuckold!

12

Merry Wives of Windsor
[II, 3]

Rugby

1105

'Tis past the hour, sir, that Sir Hugh promised to meet.

13

Merry Wives of Windsor
[II, 3]

Robert Shallow

1146

It will be found so, Master Page. Master Doctor
Caius, I am come to fetch you home. I am sworn of
the peace: you have showed yourself a wise
physician, and Sir Hugh hath shown himself a wise
and patient churchman. You must go with me, master doctor.

14

Merry Wives of Windsor
[II, 3]

Page

1168

Sir Hugh is there, is he?

15

Merry Wives of Windsor
[III, 1]

(stage directions)

1190

[Enter SIR HUGH EVANS and SIMPLE]

16

Merry Wives of Windsor
[III, 1]

Simple

1219

Yonder he is coming, this way, Sir Hugh.

17

Merry Wives of Windsor
[III, 1]

Robert Shallow

1229

How now, master Parson! Good morrow, good Sir Hugh.
Keep a gamester from the dice, and a good student
from his book, and it is wonderful.

18

Merry Wives of Windsor
[III, 1]

Page

1233

'Save you, good Sir Hugh!

19

Merry Wives of Windsor
[III, 1]

Host

1287

Peace, I say! hear mine host of the Garter. Am I
politic? am I subtle? am I a Machiavel? Shall I
lose my doctor? no; he gives me the potions and the
motions. Shall I lose my parson, my priest, my Sir
Hugh? no; he gives me the proverbs and the
no-verbs. Give me thy hand, terrestrial; so. Give me
thy hand, celestial; so. Boys of art, I have
deceived you both; I have directed you to wrong
places: your hearts are mighty, your skins are
whole, and let burnt sack be the issue. Come, lay
their swords to pawn. Follow me, lads of peace;
follow, follow, follow.

20

Merry Wives of Windsor
[III, 2]

Ford

1338

Has Page any brains? hath he any eyes? hath he any
thinking? Sure, they sleep; he hath no use of them.
Why, this boy will carry a letter twenty mile, as
easy as a cannon will shoot point-blank twelve
score. He pieces out his wife's inclination; he
gives her folly motion and advantage: and now she's
going to my wife, and Falstaff's boy with her. A
man may hear this shower sing in the wind. And
Falstaff's boy with her! Good plots, they are laid;
and our revolted wives share damnation together.
Well; I will take him, then torture my wife, pluck
the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming
Mistress Page, divulge Page himself for a secure and
wilful Actaeon; and to these violent proceedings all
my neighbours shall cry aim.
[Clock heard]
The clock gives me my cue, and my assurance bids me
search: there I shall find Falstaff: I shall be
rather praised for this than mocked; for it is as
positive as the earth is firm that Falstaff is
there: I will go.
[Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, SLENDER, Host,]
SIR HUGH EVANS, DOCTOR CAIUS, and RUGBY]