Know, then, I here forget all former griefs,
Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
Plead a new state in thy unrival'd merit.
To which I thus subscribe : Sir Valentine,
Thou art a gentleman, and well derived ;
Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserved her.
Val. I thank your grace ; the gift hath made me happy.
I now beseech you, for your daughter's sake,
To grant one boon that I shall ask of you. 1 50
Duke. I grant it, for thine own, whate'er it be.
Val. These banish'd men that I have kept withal
Are men endued with worthy qualities :
Forgive them what they have committed here,
And let them be recall'd from their exile :
They are reformed, civil, full of good.
And fit for great employment, worthy lord.
Duke. Thou hast prevail'd ; I pardon them and thee :
Dispose of them as thou know'st their deserts.
Come, let us go: we will include all jars 160
OF VERONA Act V. Sc. iv.
With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity.
Fal. And, as we walk along, I dare be bold
With our discourse to make your Grace to smile.
What think you of this page, my lord ?
Duke. I think the boy hath grace in him ; he blushes.
Vol. I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy.
Duke. What mean you by that saying }
Val. Please you, I '11 tell you as we pass along.
That you will wonder what hath fortuned.
Come, Proteus ; 'tis your penance but to hear 170
The story of your loves discovered :
That done, our day of marriage shall be yours ;
One feast, one house, one mutual happiness. \Exeunt.
M
TWO GENTLEMEN
Glossary.
Account of, appreciates ; II. i. 6i.
Advice, " more advice," /.<?. " further
knowledge;" II. iv. 207; con-
sideration ; III. i. 73.
Agood, in good earnest ; IV. iv. 170.
Aim, conjecture ; III. i. 28.
Aimed at, guessed; III. i. 45.
Ale, ale-house (with perhaps an
allusion to church-ale, or rural
festival) ; II. v. 61.
Alli/chollii , corrupted from " melan-
choly " ; IV. ii. 27.
Apparent, manifest; III. i. 116.
Applaud, approve; I. iii. 48.
Appru-ved, proved by experience ;
V. iv. 43.
Auburn, flaxen; IV. iv. 194.
Aivful, filled with reverence lor
authority ; IV. i. 46.
Bare, mere,
From the draw-
ing of the
Funeral of
Abbot Islip,
in Westmin-
ster Abbey,
i522(C/.'Ve-
tusta Monu-
menta').
(with a quibble on
the other sense
of naked) ; III. i.
272.
Base, in the game of
" prisoner's base"
" to bid the base "
was to challenge
to a contest of
speed; I. ii. 97.
Beadsman, one who
prays on behalf of
another: I. i. 18.
Befortune, betide ; IV.
iii. 41.
Beholding, beholden :
IV. iv. 178.
BeslireiL', evil befal ;
I. i. 126.
Bestoiv, deport (one's
self); III. i. 87.
Boots, "to give one the boots" =
" to make a laughing-stock of
one," with a quibbling allusion
to the torture known as "the
boots ; " I. i. 27.
From Millaeus's Praxis criminis persequendi
(Paris, 1 541).
Boots, profits, avails ; I. i. 28.
Bottom, to wind thread ; III. ii.
53-
Break, broach a matter; III. 1.
59-
Broken, fallen out; II. v. 19.
Broker, matchmaker, go-between ;
1. ii. 41.
OF VERONA
Glossary
Burden, undersong, (with a quibble
on the ordinary sense of the
word) ; I. ii. 85.
Canker, canker-worm ; I. i. 43.
Ca;f-/o§-(Launce's blunder for " cata-
logue ") ; III. i. 273.
Censure, pass judgment ; I. ii. 19.
Character'd, written ; II. vii. 4.
Circumstance, circumstantial deduc-
tion ; I. i. 36 ; I. i. 84 ; the posi-
tion in which one has placed
one's self, conduct ; I. i. 37 ;
detail, particulars, III. ii. 36.
Cite, incite ; II. iv. 85.
Close, union ; V. iv. 117.
Clerkly, scholarly ; II. i. 106.
Codpiece, "a part of the male attire,
indelicately conspicuous in the
poet's time; " II. vii. 53.
Coil, fuss, ado ; I. ii. 99.
Commit, sin ; V. iv. 77.
Compass, obtain; IV. ii. 91.
Competitor, confederate; II. vi. 35.
Conceit, Opinion ; III. ii. 17.
Conceiiless, devoid of understanding ;
IV. ii. 95.
Condition, quality ; III. i. 273.
Consort, a company ; IV. i. 64 ; a
company of musicians playing
together; III. ii. 84.
Con-versed, associated ; II. iv. 63.
Creivs, bands ; IV. i. 74.
Curst, shrewish ; III. i. 339.
Z)azz/fj' (trisyllabic) ; II. iv. 210.
Deign, condescend to accept ; I. i.
152.
Descant, "counterpoint, or the add-
ing one or more parts to a
theme, â– which was called ' the
plain song'"; I. ii. 94.
Diet, "takes diet" = "is under a
strict regimen"; II. i. 24.
Dispose, disposal ; II. vii. 86.
Doublet, inner garment of a man,
sometimes w^orn without the
jerkin, with which at times it
was confounded ; II. iv. 20.
Dump, slow, melancholy tune ; III.
ii. 85 (see end of Notes).
Earnest, pledge, token of future be-
stowal (with a quibble on
" earnest" as opposed to "jest ");
III. i. 163.
Else, elsewhere; IV. ii. 124.
Engine, instrument ; III. i. 138.
Entertain, take into service ; II. iv.
104; IV. iv. 68.
Exhibition, allowance ; I. iii. 69.
Extreme (accented on the first syl-
lable) ; II. vii. 22.
Farthingale, hoop petticoat ; II. vii.
51-
Feature, shape, form ; II. iv. 73.
Figure, a turn of rhetoric ; II. i. 146.
Fire (dissyllabic) ; I. ii. 30.
Fond, foolish ; I. i. 52.
For ( = for fear of), I. ii. 136.
For ivhy, because; III. i. 99.
i^or/or« (accented on first syllable);
I. ii. 124
Gossips, sponsors at baptism (used
quibblingly) ; III. i. 269.
Greed, agreed; II. iv. 183.
Griefs, grievances ; V. iv. 142.
Grievances, causes
of grief; IV.
iii. 37.
Hangman (as a
term of re-
proach), ras-
cally ; IV. iv.
60.
Homely, plain,
unrefined ; I.
i. 2.
Hose, " a round
hose " ; II. vii.
55 ; ' to garter
his hose ' ; II.
i. 77.
Hoive'ver, in any
case; I. i. 34.
From a black-letter
ballad formerly in
the Heber collec-
tion.
Glossary
TWO GENTLEMEN
1.
Impeachment, reproach, discredit;
iii. 15.
Impose, injunction ; IV. iii. 8.
Include, conclude; V. iv. 160.
Infnite, infinity ; II. vii. 70.
Inherit, win ; III. ii. 87.
Inli/, inward ; II. vii. 18.
Integrity, sincerity : III. ii. 77.
Interpret, act tile interpreter (to the
figure in a puppet show); 1 1, i, 10 1.
Jade (used quibblingly) ; III. i. 277.
Jerkin, jacket or short coat, usually
worn over the doublet ; II. iv. 19.
Jolt-head, blockhead ; III. i. 290.
Keep, restrain; IV. iv. 11.
Kind, kindred ; II. iii. 2.
Ar«o/j (true-love) ; II, vii. 46.
From a Monument in Ashford Church,
Kent.
Laced, see " mutton."
Learn, teach; II. vi. 13.
Learn d, taught; V. iii. 4.
Lease, "out by lease," i.e. "let to
others, and not under one's own
control"; the point of the line
turns on the equivocal interpreta-
tion of ' ' possessions "in the sense
of "mental endowments;" V.
ii. 29.
Leave, cease, III. i. 182 ; part with,
IV. iv. 79.
Lets, hinders; III. i. 113.
Liberal, wanton ; III. i. 355.
Lies, lodges; IV. ii. 137.
^^ Light loiie," a popular old tune,
referred to also in Much Ado, III.
iv. 44; I. ii. 83.
Likes, pleases; IV. ii. 55.
Livie, bird-lime; III. ii. 68.
Manage, to wield ; III. i. 247.
Mean, tenor; I. ii. 95.
Means, " to make means," i.e. "to
contrive measures and oppor-
tunities" (to win her); V. iv.
137-
Measure, "within the measure,'
i.e. "within reach"; V. iv.
127.
Merops, Phaethon was reproached,
thougli falsely, with being the
son, not of Apollo, but of
Merops ; III. i. 153.
Minion, a spoiled favourite ; I. ii.
88, 92.
Moneth'smind(hl. "month"; "mon-
eth," archaic form preserved in
phrase " moneth's mind"), ori-
ginally meant the monthly anni-
versary of a person's death ;
hence " remembrance," and
finally "yearning;" I. ii. 137
(cp. Notes).
Mood, rage ; IV. i. 51.
Motion, puppet-show; II. i. 94.
From the MS. of the Roiiiain.e of
Alexander (Bodl. Lib ).
OF VERONA
Glossary
Mouth, "a sweet mouth," i.e. "a
sweet tooth ;" III. i. 323.
Muse, wonder; I. iii. 64.
Mutton, a sheep ; I. i. 98 ; "laced
mutton " seems to have been a
cant term for a loose woman,
but probably used here in the
sense of "a fine piece of wo-
man's flesh," " a finely trimmed
woman " ; I. i. 99.
From the " Herodiade " print by Israel
Van Mechlin (c. 1500).
Nicholas (^Saint^, the patron saint of
scholars ; III. i. 296.
Nick, reckoning (alluding to the
"nicks" or "notches" on a
wooden tally); IV. ii. 75.
On (play upon " on " and -' one "),
II. i. I.
On, of; IV. ii. 72.
One, " one knave," i.e. " a single,
not a double knave" (referring
perhaps to Proteus' falsehood to
both friend and mistress); III. i.
263.
Omitting, neglecting ; II. iv. 65.
Onset, beginning ; III. ii. 94.
O^erloak^d, perused ; I. ii. 50.
O'we, own ; V. ii. 28.
Pageants, dramatic entertainments ;
IV. iv. 164.
Pardon, excuse your absence; III
ii. 98.
Parle, talk ; I. ii. 5.
Passenger, passer-by ; IV. i. I.
Passioning, passionately grieving ;
IV. iv. 172.
Peevish, wayward ; III. i. 68; V. ii,
49;
Perscvers (accented on second
syllable) ; III. ii. 28.
Possessions, interpreted equivocally
in the sense of " mental endow-
ments; " V. ii. 25.
Post, messenger; I. i. 153.
Practising, plotting; IV. i. 48.
Presently, forthwith ; II. iv. 86.
Pretence, design ; III. i. 47.
Pretended, proposed ; II. vi. 37.
PrincipalitTj, an angel of the highest
rank, next to divinity; II. iv.
152.
An Exchequer Tally of the XIV. Cent.
Noddy (quibblingly for " nod-ay "),
simpleton ; I. i. 117.
Print, "in print"=" to the letter,
accurately;" II. i. 166.
Glossary
TWO GENTLEMEN
Proper^ well-shaped ; IV. i. lo.
Publisher, one who brings to light ;
HI. i. 47-
Puling, "liice a beggar at Hallow-
mas " ; it was a custom on All
Saints Day for the poor to go
from parish to parish a-souling,
i.e. "begging and puling for
soul-cakes"; II. i. 25.
Quaintly, cleverly; II. i. 120; III, i,
117.
Quality, profession; IV. i. 58.
Quips, sharp jests ; IV. ii. 12.
Quote (pronounced "cote"; hence
the quibble); II. iv. 18.
Ravel, become entangled; III. ii.
Reasoning, talking; II. i. 139.
Receive, acknowledge; V. iv.
78.
Reding, caring for ; IV. iii.
40.
Record, sing ; V. iv. 6.
Remorseful, compassionate ; IV. iii.
13-
Repeal, recall ; V. iv. 143.
Resemblith (quadrisyllabic, " resem-
b(e)leth"); I. iii. 84.
Respect, regard, care for; III. i. 89;
V. iv. 20.
Respective, worthy of respect ; IV.
iv. 200.
Road, port, harbour; I. i. 53; II.
iv. 187.
^00/ (of the heart) ; V. iv. 103.
Sad, serious ; I. iii. i.
Servant, a term of gallantry, from a
lady to her admirer; II. i. 99,
io6.
Set, set to music ; interpreted play-
fully by Julia in the sense of " to
estimate " ; I. ii. 81.
Set, seated (used quibblingly) ; II. i.
85.
Several, separate; I. ii. 108.
Shapeless, purposeless ; I. i. 8.
Sheep ( used quibblingly with
" ship," the two words being
pronounced nearly the same) ; I.
'• 73-
From a token issued by William Eye at
the Sheepe, in Rye, 1652.
Shot, a tavern-reckoning (used quib-
blingly) ; II. v. 9.
Silly, helpless ; IV. i. 72.
Sluggardi'zed, made lazy; I. i. 7.
So, so be it well and good ; II. i. 1 29.
Soho; the cry
of hunters
on starting
a hare; III.
i. 1S9.
Sort, select ;
III. ii. 92.
5/if£'</,succeed;
IV. iv. 112.
Squirrel (ap-
plied to a
small dog);
IV. iv. 59. From a seal (XIV. Cent.)
C/ . ' \J^^rrl . discovered in Sussex.
btatue, image ;
IV. iv. 206.
S^i-ai/, be of use to ; II. i. iii.
Still, ever; V. iv. 43.
Still an end, perpetually ; IV. iv. 67.
Stock (used quibblingly"); III. i. 305 ;
306.
Stomach, used quibblingly in sense
of " temper " and of " hunger " ;
(observe also the play upon
"meat" and "maid," pro-
nounced nearly alike); I. ii.
68.
Strange, "she makes it strange" =
"she pretends to be shocked";
I. ii. 102.
OF VERONA
Glossary
Sudden, quick, sharp ; IV. ii. 12.
Suggested, tempted ; III. i. 34.
Siveet-suggesting, SAveetly tempting :
II. vi. 7.
Sivinged, whipped ; II. i. 82.
TMe, tablet ; II. vii. 3.
Tender, compassionate ; IV. iv. 145.
Tender, devLT ; V. iv. 37.
Testerned, presented with a tester, or
sixpence ; I. i. 145
Trenched, carved ; III. ii. 7.
Triumphs, festive pageants ; V. iv.
161.
Turn, prove inconstant ; II. ii. 4.
Unad-vised, inadvertently ; IV. iv.
127.
Up and doivn, altogether, exactly; II.
iii. 32
Vcrij, true; III. ii. 41.
Tester (Shilling) of Henry VIII. ; later the name was g^ven to Sixpences.
From a specimen in the British Museum.
Throughly, thoroughly; I. ii. 115.
Timeless, untimely; III. i. 21.
Tire, head-dress; IV. iv. 190.
To; "to Milan "=" by letters ad-
dressed to Milan"; I. i. 57: in
comparison with; II. iv. 138,
139-
7o/7g-K«. languages ; IV. i. 33.
Weeds, garments; II. vii. 42.
Where, whereas; III. i. 74.
Wink, shut the eyes ; V. ii. 14.
With, by ; II. i. 31.
Without (used quibblingly) ; II. i.
34-38.
Wood, mad ; II. iii. 30 (see
Notes).
TWO GENTLEMEN
Notes.
Dramatis Person^.. ' The names of all the actors ' are given at the end of
the play in the Folios ; the form ' Protheus ' is invariably used for ' Proteus, '
'Athonio' for 'Antonio,' and ' Panthion ' for 'Panthino.'
I. i. 19. * On a love-book pray for my success ; ' an allusion to the Roman
Catholic custom of placing the beads on the prayer-book, and of counting
the beads with the prayers. 'The love-book ' is in this case to take
the place of the prayer-book ; some have supposed that Shakespeare is here
referring to Marlowe's ' Hero and Leander,' which, however, though entered
on the Stationers' Registers in 1593, was not printed till 1598, after which
date many references occur to it in contemporary literature ; Shakespeare
directly quotes from it in As you Like It, IV. i. 100.
I. ii. 53, "â– What fool is she;' the first three Folios read 'what 'fool
is she,' indicating the omission of the indefinite article, a not uncommon
Elizabethan idiom,
I. ii. 137. '/ see you have a monetKs mind to them;' Schmidt in
his 'Shakespeare Lexicon' explains the phrase 'month's mind' as 'a
woman's longing,' as though the expression had its origin in the longing for
particular articles of food shown by women, but this interpretation seems to
have no authority. Johnson rightly remarks on this passage : — ' A month's
minJ,in the ritual sense, signifies not desire or inclination, but remembrance;
yet I suppose this is the true original of expression.' The Cambridge ed.
following Fol. reads 'month's mind,' but the metre clearly requires the
contemporary archaic form.
I. iii. 27. ' Shakespeare has been guilty of no mistake in placing the
emperor's court at Milan. Several of the first German Emperors held their
courts there occasionally, it being at that time their immediate property, and
the chief town of their Italian dominions.' — Steevens.
II. i, 37. ' none else -would ; ' i.e. ' no one else would perceive them.'
II. i. 78. '<o put on your hose;' various suggestions have been made for
the emendation of these words: — ' to beyond your nose,' ' to put spectacles
on your nose,' ' to put on your shoes,' ' to button your hose.' It is not
OF VERONA Notes
certain that a rhyming couplet was intended. Probably ' unable to see to
put on one's hose ' was a proverbial expression meaning ' unable to tell
which leg to put into one's hose first,' i.e. ' not to have one's wits about
one.'
II. i. i66. 'for in print I found it.'' Probably these lines are quoted from
some old ballad or play, though their source has not yet been found. One
cannot help thinking that Shakespeare is quoting from some play of
the ' Two Italian Gentleman ' type ; the reprinted extracts contain passages
strongly reminding one of these lines.
II. iii. 30. ' <2 ivood -woman ;^ the Folios read 'a would-woman ; '
Theobald first changed 'would' into 'wood' {i.e. mad); others 'an ould
{i.e. old) woman.'
II. iv. 1 1 6. The Folios give this line to 'Thurio'; if the reading
be right, he must have quitted the stage during the scene, probably
immediately before the entrance of Proteus, after line 99.
II. iv. 130. ' Whose high imperious thoughts have punished me'; Johnson
proposed to read ' those ' for ' whose,' as if the ' imperious thoughts ' are
Valentine's and not ' Love's.'
II. iv. 196. 'Is it mine eye or Valentines praise; ' the Camb. ed., following
the first Folio, reads, ' Is it mine, or Valentine's praise ; ' the later Folios,
' Is it mine then, or Valentineans praise?' Theobald's suggestion, 'mine
eye ' has been generally adopted ; ' if this were unsatisfactory,' the Camb.
editors remark, ' another guess might be hazarded : —
Is it mine unstaid miad or Valentine's praise.'
In the latter case ' Valentine's ' must be read as a dissyllable ; in the
former as a quadrisyllable ; it is not necessary to read, as has been proposed,
'Valentino's ' or ' Valentinus'.' Two other ingenious emendations are note-
worthy: — 'her mien,' 'mine eyne,' ('thine eyne ' occurs as a rhyme in
Midsummer Night's Bream, III. ii. 138).
II. V. I ; III. i. 81 ; V. iv. 129. The Cambridge editors have retained the
reading of the Folios in these lines, ' Padua ' in the first passage, and
'Verona' in the second and third, ' because it is impossible that the words
can be a mere printer's or 'transcriber's error. These inaccuracies are
interesting as showing that Shakespeare had written the whole of the
play before he had finally determined where the scene was to be laid;*
the scene is in each case undoubtedly Milan (perhaps ' Milano,' melri
causa).
III. i. 273. ' Condition; ' SO the first three Folios; the fourth Folio reads
'conditions,' adopted in many editions; 'condition' is generally used by
Shakespeare in the sense of ' temper,' ' quality.'
Notes
TWO GENTLEMEN
III. i 311. ' fVorUon Wheels' 2i proverbial expression well illustrated by
the accompanying drawing : —
III. ii. 77. Malone suggests that
some such line as the following has
heen lost after ' integrity : ' — ' as her
obdurate heart may penetrate,' but the
meaning is perhaps rightly explained
by Steevens : — ' such ardour and sin-
cerity as would be manifested by
practising the directions given in the
four preceding lines.'
IV. i. 36. 'Robin Hooifs fat friar^
i.e. Friar Tuck. This allusion to From Taylor the Water-Poet's tract ' The
World runnes on Wheeles ...
'Robin Hood's friar' by the Italian (1623).
outlaw is somewhat unexpected; in [The cut represents the ' chayn'densared
the later play of As You Like It there ^orld ' (turned upside down) being
^ ' _ drawn to destruction by the flesh
is also an allusion to 'Robin Hood, and the devil.]
but Shakespeare is careful to add ' of
England ' (' they live like the old Robin Hood of England,' I. i. 122).
IV. i, "49. ' An heir, and near allied; ' the Folios read ' niece,' for which
Theobald suggested ' near,' a reading generally accepted ; possibly, but
doubtfully, ' niece ' may after all be correct, being used occasionally by
Elizabethan writers to signify almost
any relationship.
IV. iv. 60. ' Hangman boys ; ' the
Folios read ' hangmans boys ; the
reading in the text was given by
Singer from a MS. note in a copy of
the second Folio in his possession.
IV. iv. 79. The first Folio mis-
prints, ' not leave her token.'
IV. iv. 157.
' But since she did neglect her looilng-glass,
Andthrezv her sun-expclUng mask atvay;^
cf, the accompanying illustration.
V. iv. 2. Probably a better read-
ing than the folio is that generally
adopted, due to Collier's MS.: —
* these shadowy, desert, unfrequented
woods.'
Looking-i^lass and Mask.
From a copperplate by Peter de Lode.
V. iv. 47-50. ' Rend thy faith
OF VERONA
Notes
perjury, to love me. Thou . . . ' The lines seem clear as they stand ; a sug-
gestion by Mr Daniel is perhaps worthy of mention : — ' rain . . . perjury.
To love me Thou,' or ' hail . . . Discandied into perjury. To love me
Thou . . . '
V. iv. 71. A difficult line to scan; Johnson proposed 'O time most
curst ; ' others omit ' most ' or ' O ' ; perhaps we have here an Alexandrine,
' O ' counting as a monosyllabic foot ; the second syllable of ' deepest ' being
an extra syllable before the pause : —
The pri \vate ivou'ndl is de'epesi; || O'-/ tiitte mo'st} accur'stj
Part of* My Lady Carey's Dumpe,' circa 1600 (to illustrate III. ii. 85).
4-
z^rtzw -
- !=r
ii=J:
tzjzi:
-»— *
^^m
VJi, ^ i _JB4 ^
^
^
^
s^
drinii^i
- ^-
t3=t:
^U
^
J^JiJ^
^
^w^
m
j9 — -p
^S
5E
±±=t
u^
-■&— ^
=5=3:
:^
^^rmrt^ ^m^'^^
i=i=t
■^ — ' ^^"^ —
-^ B ^
•C^^
t=Â¥-
f
*=T
- jt=i^
^e^^^ MeSe^^
w c t e
Jess
O- »*: 113
^ -"^ ^
t;«*go •<
kh) o . S ° " 2
- -J _-w ..o5 •-
ta r <S S o . >>
•-, O O'O ft) ^
'r
if) . ro ^_ *- u
2* o>-o S
G
° E . . § o
_ j: -o W c
S-c â– : u -a
s| - J
•Sill''
• = f S
T-HE
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
Preface.
The Editions. The earliest known edition of Thi Merry Wives qf
Windsor is a Quarto printed in 1602, with the following title-page: —
"A most pleasaunt and excellent conceited Comedie, of Sir lohn Falstafe
and the merrie Wiues of Windsor. Entermixed with sundrie variable and
pleasing humors of Sir Hugh the Welch Knight, lustice Shalloiu, and his
wise Cousin M. Slender. With the swaggering vaine of Auncient Pistoll,
and Corporall Nym. By William Shakespeare. As it hath bene diuers
times Acted by the right Honorable my Lord Chamberlaines Seruants.
Both before her Maiestie, and elsewhere. London Printed by T. C. for
Arthur lohnson, and are to be sold at his shop in Powles Churchyard, at
the signe of the Flower de Leuse and the Crowne " (reprinted in the
Cambridge Shakespeare and in Hazlitt's Shaiespeare's Library; a facsimile
is included in Dr Furnivall's Shakespeare Quartos, Quaritch). A second
Quarto, a mere reprint of the first, appeared in 1619.
In the first Folio the play occupies pp. 39-60 ; its length there is more
than double that of the Quartos, from which it differs to such an extent
as to give the impression of being a revised and expanded version of a
mere garbled and pirated sketch.
Date of Composition. The first Quarto was entered in the
Stationers' Registers under date i8th Jan. 1602; the play was probably
written after Henry V., i.e. after the middle of the year 1599. In the
epilogue to II. Henry IV. a promise had been given to continue the story
with Sir John in it ; this promise was not kept in Henry V. ; and " The
Merry Wives," according to a well authenticated tradition, was com-
posed by command of the Queen, "who obliged Shakespeare to write
a Play of Sir John Falstaff in Love, and which I am very well assured he
performed in a fortnight : a prodigious thing when all is well contrived,
and carried on without the least confusion" (Gildon, 1710 ; Dennis first
mentions the tradition in 1702 ; cp. title-page of 1602 edition).
Preface MERRY WIVES
The date of the first composition of the play may with certainty be
placed at about 1600 (probably Christmas 1599).*
An old tradition identifies Justice Shallow with Shakespeare's old
enemy, Sir Thomas Lucy (of the deer-poaching story); Lucy died in July
1600, and it is held by some that the poet would not have waited " till
his butt was in the grave before he aimed his shafts at him." At the
same time it is noteworthy that the "dozen white luces" is only
found in the Folio, not in the Quarto editions. The question at
issue, on which scholars are divided, is whether the Quarto represents
a pirated edition of an early sketch of the play, revised and enlarged
in the first Folio version, or whether both versions are to be referred
back to the same original. In support of the former theory it is
alleged that the substitution of "King" in the Folio (I. i. 112) for
" council " of the Quarto, the possible reference to the cheapening of
knighthood (" These knights will hack," II. i. 52), and similar internal
evidence, point to the reign of James I. ; these scholars therefore date the
Folio version about 1605. On the other hand, Mr Daniel (Introduction
to his editions) maintains that " the character of the publishers of the
Quarto, its proved omissions, its recomposed passages (i.e. passages
actually the work not of Shakespeare, but of the note-taker), its retention
of (essential) passages omitted in the Folio, the complication in both
of the time-plot . . . lead almost inevitably to the conclusion that
there was but one original for both Quarto and Folio." He points out