(without any interrogation-point); and Farmer having suggested that the author wrote 66 Ay, sir Tike, who more bold?", that extraordinary reading has been usually adopted.-Mr. Collier has devised a still more extraordinary one, “Ay, sir, tike, who more bold?" which he thus explains, "Falstaff calls Simple, 'sir,' and then corrects himself, in order to give him a derogatory appellation.") P. 221. (96) "Run away with the cozeners," &c. Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector inserts "by" after "with.” P. 222. (87) "but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent.” "The words "to say my prayers" were restored from the early quarto by Mr. Pope. They were probably omitted in the folio on account of the stat. 3 Iac. 1. ch. 21." MALONE. The word "wherein" is from the quarto. (The editor of the second folio, to assist the metre, printed "fat Sir John Falstaffe," &c.) P. 223. (89) The folio has " "Her mother, ever strong," &c. euen strong," &c.,—a decided misprint; which, however, “even strong,'” he says, “is ‘as strong, with a simi(Compare the quarto, “Now her mother still against Steevens tries to defend: lar degree of strength'”! that match," &c.) The folio has "deuote her," &c. (Not in the quarto.) This word, which had been accidentally omitted in the first folio, was supplied by the editor of the second folio. So Theobald.-The folio has "the Welch-deuill Herne ?"-The Ms. Corrector substitutes "the Welch devil, Evans ;" and Mr. Collier observes, "Had 'Hugh' been the word, it seems probable that Mrs. Ford might have paid him the respect of calling him Sir Hugh." But Mr. Collier forgets that afterwards (p. 230) Ford says to Evans, "Well said, fairy Hugh." (This is not in the quarto.) Was altered by Theobald to "a bribe-buck," &c. (i.e. a buck sent for a bribe): but "bribed" may certainly stand,-in the sense of stolen. See Tyrwhitt's Gloss. to Chaucer, sub Briben, where he cites, from Rot. Parl. 22 Edw. IV. n. 30, a mention of persons who "have stolen and bribed signetts [young swans]"; Way's Prompt Parv. p. 50; and a long note in my ed. of Skelton's Works, ii. 256.—(A stolen buck was more likely to be "divided" than one sent as a bribe.) The folio throughout this scene prefixes “Qui.” and “Qu.” to the speeches of the Fairy Queen: but, though in the quarto that part is assigned to Mrs. Quickly, there can be no doubt that in the enlarged play it is represented by Anne Page: "To-night at Herne's oak, just 'twixt twelve and one, Must my sweet Nan present the Fairy Queen," &c. p. 223. "Where is Nan now, and her troop of fairies?" p. 226. In the quarto the stage-direction for the entrance of the fairies is marked thus, "Enter Sir Hugh like a Satyre, and boyes drest like Fayries, mistresse Quickly, like the Queane of Fayries: they sing a song about him, and afterward speake."-The folio has merely "Enter Fairies."-That Mrs. Quickly was not intended by the poet to appear among the fairies in the amended play, is, I think, quite certain. (Mr. Collier, after stating that the Ms. Corrector has restored the part of the Fairy Queen to Anne Page, remarks; "It does not, indeed, appear that Mrs. Quickly took any part at all in the scene, although she most likely in some way lent her assistance, in order that she might be on the stage at the conclusion of the performance.” But all the dramatis persona are not brought together at the close of the play; for instance, neither Shallow nor the Host of the Garter are then on the stage; and why should Mrs. Quickly be present ?)-Since the folio in this scene prefixes "Pist.” to the speeches of" Hobgoblin" (or Puck), I have given in the stage-direction PISTOL, as Hobgoblin:" it seems, however, unlikely in the extreme that - Shakespeare should have meant Pistol to figure here. "It is highly probable (as a modern editor [Capell] has observed), that the performer who had represented Pistol, was afterwards, from necessity, employed among the fairies; and that his name thus crept into the copies." MALONE. 66 The Ms. Corrector gives, for the rhyme, "when thou'st leapt," &c. (I may notice that the quarto, though very different from the folio throughout this scene, has, in a speech assigned to Sir Hugh, "And when you finde a slut that lies a sleepe, P. 228. (96) And all her dishes foule, and roome vnswept," &c.) "Pead?" So the quarto. The folio has " Bede ?"-" It is remarkable that, throughout this metrical business, Sir Hugh appears to drop his Welsh pronunciation, though he resumes it as soon as he speaks in his own character. As Falstaff, however, supposes him to be a Welsh fairy, his peculiarity of utterance must have been preserved on the stage, though it be not distinguished in the printed copies." STEEVENS.-In the last line of the present speech the folio has “Pinch them," &c.: but afterwards (p. 230) it makes Sir Hugh say, "Fairies will not pinse you." The folio has "Emrold-tuffes," &c.; and here Mr. Halliwell retains "tuffs" as being “the old and authentic form." But the folio has in The Winter's Tale, act ii. sc. 1, "the tuft of Pines," and in As you like it, act iii. sc. 5, "the tufft of Oliues." And see the various spelling of the word in the quotations given by Dr. Richardson in his Dict. sub “Tuft.” P. 230. (98) “which must be paid to Master Brook," &c. "We ought rather to read with the old quarto,' which must be paid to master Ford; for as Ford, to mortify Falstaff, addresses him throughout his speech by the name of Brook, the describing himself by the same name creates a confusion. A modern editor [Capell] plausibly enough reads 'which must be paid too, Master Brook;' but the first sketch shows that to is right; for the sentence, as it stands in the quarto, will not admit too." MALONE.-Perhaps the change which Malone recommends would be an improvement: but what could he mean by stating that here "Ford addresses Falstaff by the name of Brook"? Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "unduteous guile," &c. |