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 F, was probably printed from a carelessly written copy of the author's MS. NOTE IV. I. 3. 98. Perhaps, as in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, III. 1. 315, and other passages, some of which are mentioned by Sidney Walker in his 'Criticisms,' Vol. II. p. 13 sqq., this vexed passage 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. [Printed by Steevens.] NOTE VI. II. 1. 193, 195. Here again we have followed the early Quartos in reading 'Brook' instead of 'Broome,' the name given by Ff Q. That the former was the original name is proved by the jest in 11. 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 Farmer, 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. v. 5. 34. 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 assigned 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. Collier MS. has 'Enter Fairies with the Queene Anne.' |