The Merry Wives of Windsor eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 98 pages of information about The Merry Wives of Windsor.

The Merry Wives of Windsor eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 98 pages of information about The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Evans. 
Peace your tattlings!  What is ‘fair,’ William?

William. 
Pulcher.

Quickly. 
Polecats!  There are fairer things than polecats, sure.

Evans. 
You are a very simplicity ’oman; I pray you, peace.  What is
‘lapis,’ William?

William. 
A stone.

Evans. 
And what is ‘a stone,’ William?

William. 
A pebble.

Evans. 
No, it is ‘lapis’; I pray you remember in your prain.

William. 
Lapis.

Evans. 
That is a good William.  What is he, William, that does lend articles?

William. 
Articles are borrowed of the pronoun, and be thus declined: 
Singulariter, nominativo; hic, haec, hoc.

Evans. 
Nominativo, hig, hag, hog; pray you, mark:  genitivo, hujus.  Well,
what is your accusative case?

William. 
Accusativo, hinc.

Evans. 
I pray you, have your remembrance, child.  Accusativo, hung, hang, hog.

Quickly. 
‘Hang-hog’ is Latin for bacon, I warrant you.

Evans. 
Leave your prabbles, ’oman.  What is the focative case, William?

William. 
O vocativo, O.

Evans. 
Remember, William:  focative is caret.

Quickly. 
And that’s a good root.

Evans. 
’Oman, forbear.

Mrs. Page. 
Peace.

Evans. 
What is your genitive case plural, William?

William. 
Genitive case?

Evans. 
Ay.

William. 
Genitive:  horum, harum, horum.

Quickly. 
Vengeance of Jenny’s case; fie on her!  Never name her, child, if
she be a whore.

Evans. 
For shame, ’oman.

Quickly.  You do ill to teach the child such words.  He teaches him to hick and to hack, which they’ll do fast enough of themselves; and to call ‘horum;’ fie upon you!

Evans.  ’Oman, art thou lunatics?  Hast thou no understandings for thy cases, and the numbers of the genders?  Thou art as foolish Christian creatures as I would desires.

Mrs. Page. 
Prithee, hold thy peace.

Evans. 
Show me now, William, some declensions of your pronouns.

William. 
Forsooth, I have forgot.

Evans. 
It is qui, quae, quod; if you forget your ‘quis’, your ‘quaes’,
and your ‘quods’, you must be preeches.  Go your ways and play; go.

Mrs. Page. 
He is a better scholar than I thought he was.

Evans. 
He is a good sprag memory.  Farewell, Mistress Page.

Mrs. Page. 
Adieu, good Sir Hugh.

[Exit sir Hugh.]

Get you home, boy.  Come, we stay too long.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
The Merry Wives of Windsor from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.