We’ll leave a proof by that which we will do, Wives may be merry, and yet honest, too.
We do not act that often jest and laugh,
‘Tis old but true: “Still swine eats all the draff.” (88-91)
The word merry here means that the wives like to jest and laugh. They make many foolish remarks, including talk about sexual matters. However, their words are just jokes, just playful innocence. They may joke about sex, but they do not act. They are virtuous despite their words. The proverb (in line 91) about “still swine” refers to quiet pigs. The quiet pigs eat all of the slop (food for the animals). The quiet ones are the most active. The proverb suggests that those that seem quiet and innocent are, in fact, the guiltiest. Noisy women, on the other, are actually quite innocent.
Master Ford then enters the house, and this time – as his wife predicted – he checks the buck- basket quite thoroughly. Page, Caius, Evans, and Shallow are with Ford; and the companions think that Ford has once again become foolish and crazy out of jealousy.
Ford is convinced, however, that the fat knight is in his house; and he starts to search the premises. Falstaff, in his disguise as the witch of Brentford, comes down the stairs. Although Ford is fooled by the disguise, his hatred of the fat woman and his already heightened sense of anger cause him to beat the fat woman soundly with a cudgel (a bat or stick).