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And if the stronger liquors more invite ye,
Bardolph is gin, and Pistol aqua vitæ.

But should you call for Falstaff, where to find him,
He's gone
nor left one cup of sack behind him.
Sunk in his elbow-chair, no more he'll roam;
No more with merry wags to Eastcheap come;
He's gone-to jest, and laugh, and give his sack

at home.

(

As for the learned critics, grave and deep,
Tho catch at words, and catching fall asleep;
Who in the storms of passion-hum--and haw!
For such, our master will no liquor draw-
So blindly thoughtful, and so darkly read,
They take Tom Durfey's for the Shakspear's
head.

A vintner once acquir'd both praise and gain,
And sold much perry for the best champaign.
Some rakes this precious stuff did so allure,
They drank whole nights---what's that---when
wine is pure?

Come fill a bumper, Jack-I will, my Lord--"Here's cream!-damn'd fine !- -immense! 66 ---upon my word!"

Sir William, what say you ?- The best, believe

me--

In this--- Eh Jack !---the devil can't deceive me. Thus the wise Critic too, mistakes his wine, Cries out with lifted hands, 'tis great !--- Divine! Then jogs his neighbour as the wonders strike him;

This Shakspear! Shakspear!-Oh there's nothing like him!

In this night's various and enchanted cup,
Some little perry's mixt for filling up.

The five long acts, from which our three are taken,
Stretch'd out to sixteen years, lay by, forsaken.
Lest then this precious liquor run to waste,
'Tis now confin'd and bottled for your taste.
'Tis my chief wish, my joy, my only plan,
To lose no drop of that immortal man!

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TH

BAPTISTA.

NHUS have I, 'gainst my own self-interest,. Repeated all the worst you are to expect From my shrew'd daughter, Catherine; if you'll

venture

Maugre my plain and honest declaration,
You have my free consent; win her, and wed her.
Pet. Signor Baptista, thus it stands with me.
Anthonio, my father, is deceased:

You knew him well, and knowing him, know me,
Left solely heir to all his lands and goods,
Which I have better'd, rather than decreas'd.
And I have thrust myself into the world,
Haply to wive and thrive as best I may :
My business asketh haste, old signior,

And every day I cannot come to woo.

Let specialties be therefore drawn between us, That cov'nants may be kept on either hand.

Bap. Yes, when the special thing is well obtain'd,

My daughter's love, for that is all in all.

Pet. Why, that is nothing; for I tell you, father,

I am as peremptory as she proud-minded;
And where two raging fires meet together,
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.
Tho' little fire grows great with little wind,
Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all;
So I to her, and so she yields to me;
For I am rough, and woo not like a babe.

"Grum. Nay, look you sir, he tells you flatly "what his mind is: Why give him gold enough, "and marry him to a puppet, or an old trot with "ne'er a tooth in her head. Though she have "as many diseases as two and fifty horses; why nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal.. Bap. As I have shew'd you, sir, the coarser side,

66

Now let me tell you, she is young and beauteous,
Brought up as best becomes a gentlewoman;
Her only fault (and that is fault enough)
Is that she is intolerably froward;

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If that you can away with, she is yours.

"Grum. I pray you, sir, let him see her "while the humour lasts. O'my word an' she

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