VII. THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.'

The first sketch of this play appeared in 1602,1 soon after the poet remodelled it into the form in which we now possess it. If Malone's conjecture be correct, that this had been done in 1603, though it was not printed in the new form till 1623, then Shakespeare cannot have made use of the first story in "Westward for Smelts," which did not appear till 1603. We are sorry that we have been unable to procure this book. It might have given us information on the witch of Brentford, of which, it is said, the first story treats.

The English illustrators of Shakespeare assume that he obtained his materials from the following pieces:

1. The Two Lovers of Pisa, in "Tarleton's News out of Purgatory," 1590. This has been reprinted in the edition of Johnson and Steevens, and is evidently taken from the story of The Ring, in Straparola.

2. The first story in "The Fortunate, the Deceived, and the Unfortunate Lovers." Steevens, it is true, had seen no earlier edition of this work than that of 1632, in 4to; but Malone asserts that the stories which it contains had already been published in Shakespeare's time. This story is, as the extract in Malone shows, only an imitation of the story of Giovanni.

1

1 Reprinted by the Shakespeare Society, 1842. At the end of that reprint, I have given a collection of the tales on which this play has been supposed to be founded, including the story from "Westward for Smelts," which gives no information of the kind supposed by M. Simrock.-Ed.

Steevens has already remarked, that stories i., 2, of Giovanni, and iv., 4, in the Notti Piacevoli of Straparola, bear a great resemblance to Shakespeare's comedy. Both, without doubt, treat of the same incident; and, indeed, it seems clear that Straparola, whose novellino appeared for the first time at Venice in 1550, must have borrowed from the Pecorone, which is a much older work.

Our second story' then shows the passage between Shakespeare's representation and that of the other novels; for in this the three women play only one trick with the student, as Shakespeare's merry wives do with Falstaff; whilst in the other stories, and in the English tales derived from them, it is rather the husbands who are bandied about. Filenio also makes propositions of love to all the three ladies, which they confide one to another, and resolve to avenge themselves upon him, just as Falstaff sends the same love-letter to Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, for which they conspire against him.

It would not have been sufficient, however, to give this second story only, inasmuch as Shakespeare borrowed from the two others the relation of Falstaff to Ford, who, in his disguise as Brooke, learns from Falstaff all that has happened to the latter with his wife-a feature of the story which evidently has its origin in the first and third of our stories.2

The history of the minstrel and the dealer in herbs, in the story translated by Dr. Maximilian Habicht, from an oriental MS., (Arabian Nights, Breslau, 1827, xiv., 18) is either the source of Giovanni and Straparola, or the Arabic tale has

1 The author here alludes to the tale of Straparola. The points of resemblance with Shakespeare's plot are neither numerous nor striking, chiefly consisting in the plurality of lovers, and the ladies communicating to each other the addresses of the same gallant.-Ed.

2 Referring here to the tale of Giovanni Fiorentino, and the second story from Straparola.-ED.

been taken from one of our stories. The resemblance of both is striking, only that in the Arabic story the introduction appears to be disfigured; viz., that the herbseller advises the musician to go through the streets of the city, and to give himself out as a singer where he smells the smell of medicinal roots and drinks. The musician follows this counsel, and is taken in and entertained by the wife of the herbdealer himself. The rest is like our story. It is much better in Giovanni, where the Professor gives the Student instruction in the art of love, and the latter meets with the Professor's wife.

Molière also has made use of one of these tales, in his École des Femmes, as well as in his École des Maris, as has often been remarked by Frenchmen. (Vide Eschenburg's translation, Zurich, 1789, 561. Compare, too, Valentine Schmidt's Contributions, 22, who considers Boccaccio's story, iii., 3, as Molière's original.) Therewith agrees also the Bibliothèque Universelle des Romans, Jun. 1777, p. 160. Besides, Lafontaine's Maître en droit is borrowed from our first story, and a comedy of the same substance and title has given great satisfaction on the French stage. (Bib. des Romans, Sept., 1777, p. 99.) In conclusion, we must notice the thirtieth story of Masuccio Salernitano, which comes even nearer to Boccaccio's. Compare Dunlop, ii., 371, who also derives an adventure in Gil Blas from our first story.

In our second tale, the revenge which the Student takes upon the ladies is the common property of almost all the Italian novelists. We meet with it in Giovanni Fiorentino, ii., 2, and in several others.

In the third story, Genobbia makes herself known to Nerino as Raimondo's wife, by a ring which she throws, as Nerino's present, into his drinking vessel. This is the manner in which almost all scenes of recognition are introduced in popular fictions. Compare the story of Amicus and

Amelius, and my translation of "Poor Henry," published at Berlin in 1830.1

1 All criticisms hitherto published on the plot of this play are extremely unsatisfactory, and it is most probable its origin is yet to be found in some still older drama, no doubt a very slight and imperfect work, but still containing the germ of some of the incidents employed by Shakespeare. We are so accustomed to trace the great dramatist to obscure and base originals, it scarcely occurs to us to imagine any of the stories of his dramas were invented by himself. But it is not unlikely that the main part of the “ Merry Wives" is in every respect his own invention; and, should the real source of any portion be discovered, it will be found to be extremely trivial and slight in the suggestions it has furnished. I am, however, almost inclined to believe with Farmer that the translation of Straparola's tale, in "Tarlton's Newes out of Purgatorie," 1590, furnished the idea of Falstaff's love adventures; and in the notes to my reprint of that translation, in the work quoted at p. 76, I have noticed several identities of expression which appear to confirm this opinion.-ED.

VIII. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.

Here it is necessary, for the object we have in view, to divide the play into three separate plots:

1. The prelude and interlude, or the induction.

2. The episode of Bianca and Lucentio.

3. The main action which the title of the piece indicates. All three of these are found in the old piece which Shakespeare is supposed to have worked from. (Compare the Six Old Plays, &c., i., 159.) Probably, however, this play also is of his invention. Those of our readers who cannot admit this, and yet consider the older piece as Shakespeare's original, may apply our remarks to the author of this piece.

1. We have thought it better not to admit into the text the probable original of the Induction, partly because we

1 This opinion will not receive the assent of English readers. The crudity of the original "Taming of a Shrew" sufficiently shows it was not in any respect the work of our great dramatist. An American correspondent in Knight's Shakespeare has pointed out some similarities in this play to passages in the works of Marlowe; and the same argument has been followed by Mr. Hickson in some interesting papers in the "Notes and Queries," with the additional conjecture that Shakespeare's play was an anterior production, and the "Taming of a Shrew" imitated from it, and probably by Marlowe. The space limited to a foot-note prevents me from entering into this question; but Mr. Hickson must excuse my saying that his arguments may be interpreted by some as reasoning in a circle. There appears to me such a wonderful elaboration of the original in Shakespeare's play, that any imitator of it, however clumsy a worker, could have produced a much better play than the old "Taming of a Shrew." Mr. Dyce is confident, from the style, it was not written by Marlowe.-ED.