3925,

1842-
2
V.3

1444-4

THE

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

B

VOL. III.

WILLIAM PAGE, a boy, son to Mr. Page.

Sir HUGH EVANS, a Welsh parson.

Dr. CAIUS, a French physician.

Host of the Garter Inn.

WINDSOR.

THE first edition of this play was published in 1602, under the following title: A most pleasaunt and excellent conceited Comedy of Syr John Falstaffe, and the Merry Wives of Windsor. Entermixed with sundrie variable and pleasing humors of Sr Hugh the Welch Knight, Justice Shallow, and his wise Cousin M. Slender. With the swaggering vaine of Ancient Pistoll and Corporall Nym. By William Shakespeare. As it hath bene divers times acted by the Right Honourable my Lord Chamberlaines Servants; Both before her Majestie and else where. London: Printed by T. C. for Arthur Johnson,' &c. &c. 1602. The same copy was reprinted in 1619. The comedy as it now stands first appeared in the folio of 1623; and the play in that edition contains very nearly twice the number of lines that the quarto contains. The succession of scenes is the same in both copies, except in one instance; but the speeches of the

several characters are greatly elaborated in the amended copy, and several of the characters not only heightened, but new distinctive features given to them. For example, the Slender of the present comedy-one of the most perfect of the minor characters of Shakspere—is a very inferior conception in the first copy. Our Slender has been worked up out of the first rough sketch, with touches at once delicate and powerful. Again, the Justice Shallow of the quarto is an amusing person-but he is not the present Shallow; we have not even the repetitions which identify him with the Shallow of Henry IV.' We point out these matters here, for the purpose of showing that, although the quarto of 1602 was most probably piratically published when the play had been re-modelled, and was reprinted without alteration in 1619 (the amended copy then remaining unpublished), the copy of that first edition must not be considered as an imperfect transcript of the complete play. The differences between the two copies are produced by the alterations of the author working upon his first sketch. The extent of these changes and elaborations can only be satisfactorily perceived by comparing the two copies, scene by scene. We have given a few examples in our foot-notes; and we here subjoin the scene at Herne's Oak, which has no doubt been completely re-written :

QUARTO OF 1602.

Qui. You fairies that do haunt these shady

groves

Look round about the wood if you can spy
A mortal that doth haunt our sacred round:
If such a one you can espy, give him his due,
And leave not till you pinch him black and
blue.

Give them their charge, Puck, ere they part

away.

Sir Hugh. Come hither, Peane, go to the

country houses,

And when you find a slut that lies asleep,
And all her dishes foul, and room unswept,
With your long nails pinch her till she cry,
And swear to mend her sluttish housewifery.
Fai. I warrant you, I will perform your
will.

Hu. Where's Pead? Go and see where
brokers sleep,

And fox-eyed serjeants, with their mace,
Go lay the proctors in the street,
And pinch the lousy serjeant's face:
Spare none of these when th' are a bed,
But such whose nose looks blue and red.
Quic. Away, begone, his mind fulfil,
And look that none of you stand still.
Some do that thing, some do this,
All do something, none amiss.

Sir Hugh. I smell a man of middle earth.
Fal. God bless me from that Welsh fairy.

FOLIO OF 1623.

Quick. Fairies, black, grey, green, and white,

You moonshine-revellers, and shades of
night,

You orphan-heirs of fixed destiny,
Attend your office and your quality.
Crier Hobgoblin, make the fairy oyes.

Pist. Elves, list your names; silence, you
airy toys.

Cricket, to Windsor chimneys shalt thou leap:

Where fires thou find'st unrak'd, and hearths

unswept,

There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry:
Our radiant queen hates sluts and sluttery.
Fal. They are fairies; he that speaks to

them shall die:

I'll wink and couch: no man their works must eye. [Lies down upon his face. Eva. Where's Pede ?-Go you, and where you find a maid,

That, ere she sleep, has thrice her prayers
said,

Raise up the organs of her fantasy,
Sleep she as sound as careless infancy;
But those as sleep and think not on their

sins,

Pinch them, arms, legs, backs, shoulders, sides, and shins.

Quick. About, about;

Search Windsor-castle, elves, within and out: