The Merry Wives of Windsor Part 32

I. 1. 49. Here again, as in line 40, F2 F3 F4 read 'good,' F1 Q3 'goot,'

but we have not thought it necessary to do more than give a specimen of such variations. Capell, in order to make Dr Caius's broken English consistent with itself, corrects it throughout and subst.i.tutes 'de' for 'the,' 'vill' for 'will,' and so forth. As a general rule, we have silently followed the first Folio.

NOTE III.

I. 1. 114. With regard to this and other pa.s.sages which Pope, Theobald, Malone, &c. have inserted from the early Quartos, our rule has been to introduce, between brackets, such, and such only, as seemed to be absolutely essential to the understanding of the text, taking care to give in the note all those which we have rejected.

The fact that so many omissions can be supplied from such mutilated copies as the early Quartos, indicates that there may be many more omissions for the detection of which we have no clue. The text of the _Merry Wives_ given in F1 was probably printed from a carelessly written copy of the author's MS.

NOTE IV.

I. 3. 95. Perhaps, as in the _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, III. 1. 315, and other pa.s.sages, some of which are mentioned by Sidney Walker in his 'Criticisms,' Vol. II. p. 13 sqq., this vexed pa.s.sage may be emended by supplying a word. We venture to suggest 'the revolt of mine _anger_ is dangerous.' The recurrence of the same letters +anger+ in the word 'dangerous,' might mislead the printer's eye and cause the omission.

NOTE V.

II. 1. 5. In the copy of Johnson's Edition, which belongs to Emmanuel College, there is a MS. note of Dr Farmer's referring to Sonnet CXLVII.

in support of the conjecture 'physician' for 'precisian;' we find there

'My reason, the physician to my love,' &c.

NOTE VI.

II. 1. 194, 196. Here again we have followed the early Quartos in reading 'Brook' instead of 'Broome,' the name given by Ff Q3. That the former was the original name is proved by the jest in II. 2. 136, where the Folios make sheer nonsense.

Mr Halliwell suggests that the following lines, IV. 4. 75, 76,

'Nay I'll to him again in name of Broome; He'll tell me all his purpose: sure he'll come,'

were intended to rhyme and therefore favour the later reading. But in this scene there are no rhyming lines except the couplet at the end.

On the whole, it seems likely that the name was altered in the stage copies at the instance of some person of the name of Brook living at Windsor, who had sufficient acquaintance with the players, or interest with their patrons, to get it done.

NOTE VII.

III. 1. 74. 78. Mr Staunton is unquestionably right in supposing that one part of Evans's speech is spoken aside to his opponent, and the other part aloud. It is impossible else to account for the sudden change of tone. It might have been conjectured that, being a parson, he wished to appear peacefully minded, and therefore made his offers of reconciliation aloud and his menaces in an under tone, but Caius's reply shews that it was the threat which had been made aloud. Evans's valour, it would seem, had already evaporated when he had 'a great dispositions to cry' (III. 1. 20) and, besides, he had just begun to see that he was being made a laughing-stock. As his former speech (74, 75,) is also conciliatory, it was probably spoken so as to be heard by Caius only. He wished to keep up his credit for courage in the eyes of the bystanders.

In the corresponding scene of the first Quartos we have the words 'Hark van urd in your ear,' and the meaning of the text may have been obscured by some omission in the Folio.

NOTE VIII.

IV. 4. 41. No doubt there is an omission here in the Folio, which may be partly supplied from the Quarto. But it is probable that Mrs Ford gave a still fuller explanation of her device and the grounds on which the disguise was recommended to Falstaff, otherwise Page would not have been so confident of his falling into the snare.

NOTE IX.

IV. 5. 49. In the edition of 1778 Steevens reads 'Ay, sir Tike, like'

... but it is clear from Farmer's note that it should be 'Ay, sir Tike,'

... and so it is corrected in the later Editions of Steevens. In the Edition annotated by Fanner, mentioned in note V., we find another conjecture of his: 'Ay, sir, if you like,' ... or it may have been 'Ay, sir, an you like,' for the word preceding 'you' has been cut away by the binder.

NOTE X.

The stage direction of the early Quartos is: _Enter Sir Hugh like a Satyre, and boyes drest like Fayries, Mistresse Quickly, like the Queene of Fayries; they sing a song about him and afterward speake._

The Folio enumerates at the commencement of the scene all who take part in it, including _Anne Page_, _Fairies_, _Quickly_ and _Pistol_, and in this place has merely _Enter Fairies_. Malone introduced _Anne Page as the Fairy Queen_, and at the end, _with waxen tapers on their heads_. He however still a.s.signed the speeches 35-39, 53-74, 82-85, and 88-90 to _Quickly_. Recent Editors have generally given them to _Anne_, on the ground that it is proved by IV. 6. 20 and V. 3. 11, 12, that she was to 'present the Fairy Queen,' and that the character of the speeches is unsuitable to Mrs Quickly. It has been argued, too, that the _Qui._ of the folios, line 35, may be a misprint for _Qu._, i.e. _Queen_. This however is contradicted by the fact that Mrs Quickly plays the Queen in the early Quartos, and that the recurrence of _Qui._, line 88, proves that the printer of the first Folio used either _Qui._ or _Qu._ indifferently as the abbreviation of _Quickly_.

Most likely, in this and other respects the play was altered by its author, but the stage MSS. were not corrected throughout with sufficient care. This will account for the mistake about the colours 'green' and 'white' in the final scene, lines 186, 190, 196.

Or we may suppose Mrs Quickly to have agreed to take Anne's part in order to facilitate her escape with Fenton.

[Transcriber's Note:

The following text is reproduced exactly as printed, "taken _literatim_ from Q1, the edition of 1602". Spelling and punctuation are unchanged. In some sections, initial capital letters do not match the rest of the word: a Roman initial may be used in an italic word, or the reverse. These mismatched letters are shown in {B}races to avoid using mid-word _L_owlines.]

A Pleasant Conceited Comedie,

of _Syr Iohn Falstaffe,_

and the merry Wiues of _Windsor_.

_Enter Iustice _Shallow_, Syr _Hugh_, Maister _Page_, and _Slender_._

_Shal._ Nere talke to me, Ile make a star-chamber matter of it.

The Councell shall know it.

_Page._ Nay good maister _Shallow_ be perswaded by mee.

_Slen._ Nay surely my vncle shall not put it vp so.

_Sir Hu._ Wil you not heare reasons M. _Slenders?_ 5 You should heare reasons.

_Shal._ Tho he be a knight, he shall not thinke to carrie it so away.

M. _Page_ I will not be wronged. For you Syr, I loue you, and for my cousen, He comes to looke vpon your daughter. 10

_Pa._ And heres my hand, and if my daughter Like him so well as I, wee'l quickly haue it a match: In the meane time let me entreate you to soiourne Here a while. And on my life Ile vndertake To make you friends. 15