The Merry Wives of Windsor The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] · William Shakespeare
NOTES: V, 5
SCENE V.] SCENE III. Pope. Enter F...] Enter Sir John with a Buck’s head upon him (Q1 Q2). 22: _bribe_] Theobald. _brib’d_ Ff Q3. 32-34: Printed as verse in Ff Q3. 34: Enter ... tapers] See note (X). 35: Quick.] Qui. Ff Q3. 37: _orphan_] _ouphan_ Theobald (Warburton). 41: _shalt thou leap_] _when thou’st leapt_ Collier MS. _having leapt_ Singer. 42: _unswept_] _to sweep_ S. Verges conj. 46: [Lies ... face] Rowe. 47: _Bede_] Ff Q3. _Pede_ Theobald. _Pead_ (Q1 Q2). 51: _as_] _that_ F4. 53: Quick.] Qu. F1 Q3 F2. Qui. F3 F4. 57: _state as_] _site as_ Hanmer. _seat as_ S. Walker conj. 58: _and_] _as_ Theobald (Warburton). 63: _nightly, meadow-fairies,_] Capell. _Nightly-meadow-Fairies_ Ff Q3. 66: _More_] _Mote_ F1 Q3. 68: _emerald tufts_] _Emrold-tuffes_ Ff Q3. _purple_] _purfled_ Warburton. 69: _sapphire, pearl_] Theobald. _saphire-pearle_ Ff Q3. _and_] _in_ Warburton. 75: _Pray you_] om. Pope. 86: [They burn ... tapers.] Rowe. 90: _time_] _time._ Eva. _It is right, indeed, he is full of lecheries and iniquity._ Theobald (from Q1 Q2). 91: _sinful_] _simple_ Pope. 93: _a bloody fire_] _i’ th’ blood a fire_] Hanmer. 95: _heart_] _the heart_ Hanmer. 97: _Mutually_] _mutuall_ Q3. 100: The stage direction which follows was inserted by Theobald from Q1 Q2, with some verbal changes. 101: Enter...] Enter... They lay hold on him. Rowe.
101, 102: Printed as prose in Ff Q3. 105: _these, husband_] _these husband_ F1 Q3. _these husbands_ F2 F3 F4. _these, husbands_ Hanmer. _yokes_] _yoakes_ F1 Q3. _okes_ F2 F3. _oaks_ F4. _oaks_ [Pointing to the horns. Hanmer. _fair yokes_] _fairy jokes_ Jackson conj. 111: _paid to Master Brook_] _paid to M. Foord_ (Q1 Q2). _pay’d too, Master Brook_ Capell. 120: _the sudden_] _with the sudden_ Hanmer. 136: _pelly_] F2 F3 F4. _belly_ F1 Q3. 148: _as slanderous_] _slanderous_ Q3. 152: _sack, and wine_] _sacks, and wines_ Pope. 153: _starings_] F1 Q3. _staring_ F2 F3 F4. 156: _is a plummet o’er me_] _is plummet o’er me_ Q3. _has a plume o’ me_ Johnson conj. _is a planet o’er me_ Farmer conj. 162: After this line Theobald inserts from Q1 Q2: Mrs Ford. _Nay, husband, let that go to make amends; Forgive that sum, and so we’ll all be friends._ Ford. _Well, here’s my hand: all is forgiven at last._ 167, 168: Given to Mrs Ford in Q3. [Aside] Theobald. 169: SCENE VI. Pope. _Whoa_] _What_ Rowe. 177: _i’ the_] _i’t_ F2. 186: _white_] Pope. _green_ Ff Q3. 190, 196: _green_] Pope. _white_ Ff Q3. 190: _into_] _in_ Q3. 193: SCENE VII. Pope. 194: _un garçon_] Capell. _oon garsoon_ F1 Q3. _one garsoon_ F2 F3 F4. _un paysan_] Capell. _oon pesant_ Ff Q3. _boy_] _boe_ F2 F3 F4. 196: _did you_] _did you not_ Rowe. 214: _title_] _guile_ Collier MS. 225: After this line Pope, followed by Theobald, inserts from Q1 Q2: Evans [aside to Fenton] _I will dance and eat plums at your wedding._ 231: _Let it be so. Sir John,_] _Let it be so (Sir John:)_ Ff Q3.
I. 1. 41. Master Page is called ‘George’ in three places, II. 1. 135 and 143, and V. 5. 189, but we have left the text of the Folios uncorrected, as the mistake may have been Shakespeare’s own. It is however possible that a transcriber or printer may have mistaken ‘Geo.’ for ‘Tho.’ In I. 3. 89, 90, on the other hand, we have not hesitated to correct the reading of the Folio, substituting ‘Page’ for ‘Ford,’ and ‘Ford’ for ‘Page,’ because, as the early Quartos have the names right, it seems likely that the blunder was _not_ due to Shakespeare. 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 substitutes ‘de’ for ‘the,’ ‘vill’ for ‘will,’ and so forth. As a general rule, we have silently followed the first Folio. I. 1. 114. With regard to this and other passages 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. I. 3. 95. 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. 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.
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