Читать книгу The Complete Works of Shakespeare онлайн

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Hath a great scene; the image of the jest

I’ll show you here at large. Hark, good mine host:

To-night at Herne’s oak, just ’twixt twelve and one,

Must my sweet Nan present the Fairy Queen;

The purpose why, is here; in which disguise,

While other jests are something rank on foot,

Her father hath commanded her to slip

Away with Slender, and with him at Eton

Immediately to marry. She hath consented.

Now, sir,

Her mother (even strong against that match

And firm for Doctor Caius) hath appointed

That he shall likewise shuffle her away,

While other sports are tasking of their minds,

And at the dean’ry, where a priest attends,

Straight marry her. To this her mother’s plot

She (seemingly obedient) likewise hath

Made promise to the doctor. Now, thus it rests:

Her father means she shall be all in white;

And in that habit, when Slender sees his time

To take her by the hand and bid her go,

She shall go with him. Her mother hath intended

(The better to [denote] her to the doctor,

For they must all be mask’d and vizarded)