THE ELIZABETHAN FAIRIES

76 APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS
The children must
Be practised well to this, or they'll ne'er do't 38
would seem to indicate that the fairies, here represented
and mistaken for authentic inhabitants of fairyland, by
Falstaff, were noticeably small, but the adjective, oh
closer examination, would seem to be one more of affec-
tion than of measurement.
It is true that neither the exact age nor the size of
Anne Page or of her little brother is known. Anne
Page, however, was old enough and grown enough to be
of marriageable age, and two, at least, of the children
of her growth and of that of the " little son " were of
such size as to be described as a '' great lubberly boy " as or
3's IV, 4.
39 v, 5.
'I SLEN. I came yonder at Eton to marry mistress Anne Page, and
she's a great lubberly boy: If it had not been i' the church, I would
have swinged him, or he should have swinged me. If I did not think
it had been Anne Page, would I might never stir, and 'tis a post-
master's boy.
PAGE. Upon my life then you took the wrong.
SLEN. What need you tell me that? I think so, when I took a
boy for a girl: If I had been married to him, for all he was in
woman's apparel, I would not have had him.
PAGE. Why, this is your own folly. Did not I tell you, how you
should know my daughter by her garments?
SLEN. I went to her in white, and cry'd, mum, and she cryed
budget, as Anne and I had appointed; and yet it was not Anne, but a
post-master's boy.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CAIUS. Vere is mistress Page? By gar, I am cozened; I ha'
married un garGon, a boy; un paisan, by gar, a boy; it is not Anne
Page: by gar, I am cozened.
MRS. PAGE. Why, did you take her in green?
CAIUS. Ay, be gar, and 'tis a boy: . . . "
Had there been any noticeable discrepancy between the figures of
Anne Page and of her company, there would have been no need for so
much instruction to her various suitors about her disguise.