The Merry Wives of Windsor The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] · William Shakespeare
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.
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