of 'Brooke'; but Falstaff's pun, "Such Brooks are welcome to me, that overflow with liquor," removes all doubt as to the correct reading, which is actually found in the Quartos. 66 II. i. 224. 'Will you go, min-heers?' The Folios and Quartos, 'An-heires,' retained by Camb. Ed.; Theobald, 'mynheers.' Other suggestions are "on, here"; "on, hearts"; "on, heroes"; cavaleires," etc. In support of change, cp. ‘mine host' in reply. II. ii. 155. ‘O’erflows,' so F1F2; Camb. Ed., ‘o’erflow.' II. iii. 34. Castalion, King-Urinal': Ff. 'castalion-kingVrinall,' retained by Camb. Ed. but the first hyphen is prob. an error for comma-a fairly common mistake in this particular play, cp. nightly-meadow-fairies, V. v. 68, etc. II. iii. 88. 'Cried I aim?' The Folios and Quartos read “cried game "; the ingenious emendation, due to Douce, was first adopted by Dyce. III. i. 17, etc. Sir Hugh oddly confuses Marlowe's famous ditty, 'Come live with me and be my love,' and the old version of the 137th Psalm, 'When we did sit in Babylon.' 6 66 III. i. 95. Gallia and Gaul'; so the Folios; the first and second Quartos read "Gawle and Gawlia;" Farmer's conjecture Guallia and Gaul" was adopted by Malone and other editors. Gallia = Wales. III. ii. 73. he shall not knit a knot in his fortunes' (which are now as it were unravelled). III. iii. 42. Have I caught thee'; probably the reading of the Quarto which omits 'thee' is the more correct; Falstaff quotes from the second song in Sydney's Astrophel and Stella:— "Have I caught my heav'nly jewell, When she wakes is too-too cruell." III. iii. 65, 66. 'Fortune thy foe were not, Nature thy friend,' so F2 F3 F4; foe, were not Nature," F1 Qs: perhaps better, 'foe 66 were not. Nature is thy friend'; so Capell. III. v. 4. The reading of the Quartos is seemingly preferable:"Have I lived to be carried in a basket, and thrown into the Thames like a barrow of butcher's offal." III. v. 9. The rogues slighted me into the river, i.e. "Threw me in contemptuously"; the Quartos read "slided me in." IV. i. 49. Hang-hog is Latin for bacon'; probably suggested by the famous story told of Sir Nicholas Bacon. A prisoner named Hog, who had been condemned to death, prayed for mercy on the score of kindred. "Ay but," replied the judge, “you and I cannot be of kindred unless you are hanged; for Hog is not Bacon till it be well hanged" (Bacon's Apophthegms). 6 IV. ii. 20. old lunes'; the Folios and third Quarto read 'lines ; the first and second Quartos vaine'; the correction is Theobald's; the same error occurs in Troilus and Cressida, II. iii. 139. IV. ii. 97. the witch of Brentford'; an actual personage of the sixteenth century. A tract is extant entitled “Jyl of Breyntford's Testament," whence it appears that the witch kept a tavern at Brentford; in Dekker & Webster's Westward Ho the following allusion is found:-"I doubt that old hag Gillian of Brainford has bewitched me." 3 IV. ii. 185. 'rag, so F1 F2; F, F. 'hag,' adopted by Camb. Ed. IV. iv. 43. 'That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us.' After this line the following words from the Quartos have been added in many editions: "We'll send him word to meet us in the field, Disguised like Horne with huge horns on his head." IV. iv. 58. to pinch' probably the correct reading should be 'to-pinch,' where 'to' is the intensitive prefix so common in old English, though it is possible to explain it as the ordinary infinitive prefix, omitted in the case of the former verb in the sentence. IV. iv. 84. 'Send quickly to Sir John.' Theobald ingeniously suggested "Quickly" for "quickly." IV. v. 78. 'cozen-germans' the first Quarto reads: 'For there is three sorts of cosen garmombles, Is cosen all the Host of Maidenhead and Readings," where 'garmombles' is very possibly a perversion of Mömpelgard; Count Frederick of Mömpelgard visited Windsor in 1592; free post-horses were granted him by a passport of Lord Howard. The Count became a Duke of Jamany (Wirtemberg) in 1593; considerable interest must have been taken in the Duke about 1598. A letter to the Queen, dated August 14, 1598, is extant, in which the following passage occurs:-"I have heard with extreme regret that some of my enemies endeavour to calumniate me and prejudice your majesty against me. I have given them no occasion for this. I hope that when your majesty has discovered this report to be false, you will have greater reason to continue your affection towards me, and give neither faith nor credit to such vipers." In the year 1602 appeared "An Account of the Duke's Bathing Excursion to the far-famed Kingdom of England" (vide Rye's England as seen by Foreigners). V. v. 26. bribed buck,' so the Folios; Theobald, “bribe bauk," adopted by Camb. Ed.: ‘a bribed buck' was a buck cut up into portions (Old French bribes = 'portions of meat to be given away'). V. v. 42. ‘orphan heirs.' Theobald suggested “ouphen” (elvish) for “orphan,” and he has been followed by many editors, but the change is unnecessary. Cp. "unfather'd heirs," II. Henry IV., IV. iv. 122. 66 V. v. 45, 47. ́toyes': Ff. Camb. Ed., toys, evidently to be read "toyës," rhyming with oyes" in the previous line; similarly 'unswept " should probably be “unswep,” suggesting rhyme with 'leap." 66 V. v. 94-96. Cp. Song of the Fairies in Lyly's Endymion. V. v. III. 'these fair yokes'; the first Folio reads "yoakes," the second "okes." "Yokes" must refer to the resemblance of the buck's horns to a yoke; a sort of sense can be got out of 'oaks,' the antlers resembling the branches of oaks, but the first Folio reading seems preferable. Explanatory Notes. The Explanatory Notes in this edition have been specially selected and adapted, with emendations after the latest and best authorities, from the most eminent Shakespearian scholars and commentators, including Johnson, Malone, Steevens, Singer, Dyce, Hudson, White, Furness, Dowden, and others. This method, here introduced for the first time, provides the best annotation of Shakespeare ever embraced in a single edition. ACT FIRST. 13. three hundred years:-Shallow here identifies himself with "all his successors gone before him"; an aristocratic way of speaking once common in England. Washington Allston was once the guest of an English nobleman who, though Shallow in nothing else, said he came over with William the Conqueror. We are indebted to Verplanck for this anecdote. 28, 29. quarter of your coat :-To quarter meant, in heraldic language, to have armorial bearings as an appendage to hereditary arms; as a man, by marrying, may add his wife's titles, if she have any, to his own. Sir Hugh, who must still be talking, mistakes the quartering of heraldry for the cutting of a thing into four parts. 49. To speak small means much the same as what old Lear so touchingly says over his dying Cordelia: "Her voice was ever soft, gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman." 114. But not kissed your keeper's daughter?-Scott in Kenilworth suggests that this was part of the charge made against the Poet by Sir Thomas Lucy. 118 et seq. Council and counsel, just below, are probably a quibble, the one meaning the Star-Chamber, the other being used in the sense of secresy. 204. Michaelmas :-This is probably a blunder on Simple's part for Martlemas, according to Hudson. Theobald substituted Martlemas, "not believing that any blunder was intended." Mill-sixpences; "these six pences, coined in 1561 and 1562, were the first milled money in England, used as counters to cast up money"; I. i. 151. Mephostophilus, used by Pistol; the name had been made popular in England by Marlowe's Faustus; I. i. 129. Metheglins, mead, a fermented dish of honey and water; V. v. 162. Mistress, the ordinary title of an unmarried gentlewoman; I. i. 48. Mince, to walk with affected grace; V. i. 9. Montant, a upright blow or thrust in fencing; II. iii. 27. Motions, proposals; I. i. 214. Mountain-foreigner, used by Pistol of Sir Hugh Evans, in the sense of " ultramontane," barbarous; I. i. 157. Muscle-shell, applied by Falstaff to Simple because he stands with his mouth open; IV. v. 28. Nay-word, a watch-word, or rather a twin-word agreed upon by two confederates; II. ii. 129. Nuthook, contemptuous term for a catchpole; I. i. 165. 'Od's heartlings, an oath; God's heartling (a diminutive of "heart"); III. iv. 59. 'Od's nouns, Mistress Quickly's corruption of wounds "; IV. i. 24. "God's Eillades, amorous glances; I. iii. 65. O'erlooked, bewitched; V. v. 86. 'Ork, Sir Hugh's pronunciation of "work"; III. i. 15. Ouphes, elves; IV. iv. 50. Oyes, hear ye! the usual introduction to a proclamation; V. v. 44. Paid, used quibblingly in sense From a tradesman's token (XVII.Cent.). = Passant; as a term of heraldry Passes, goes beyond bounds; Pauca, few (ie. words); I. i. 131; "pauca verba”; I. i. 121. Peaking, sneaking; III. v. 68. Peer out, probably an allusion to the children's old rhyme calling on a snail to push forth its horns; IV. ii. 24. Peevish, foolish; I. iv. 14. Penny, money in general; I. i. 62; (in ordinary sense) II ii. I. |