the command of Queen Elizabeth, who was so well pleased with that admirable character of Falstaff, in the two parts of “r Henry IV," that she commanded him [Shakespeare] to continue it for one play more, and to show him in love.' A further account states that the playwright was obliged to complete his play in a fortnight. It shows evidence of having been written in haste, while the title-page of the 1602 edition (see Early Editions) lends weight to the statement that it was a special product for the queen. DURATION OF THE ACTION Various Shakespearian editors have devoted many pages to solving the time element in this play, where a confusion of mornings and evenings may be traced to two causes: (1) the haste of its first production, and (2) its compression for stage purposes. The three interviews of Falstaff with Mistress Ford do not read chronologically, and are further confused by the interjection of scenes relating to Anne Page's suitors. It seems evident, without attempt at analysis here, that the action is limited to four days; and by changing three clashing references it can be reduced to three, which was probably the dramatist's intention. The period of action follows the career of Falstaff after he has parted company with Henry IV, and belongs to the early years of that monarch's reign. Its context and local coloring, however, make it coincident with Elizabeth's time. DATE OF COMPOSITION The date of Merry Wives of Windsor' readily falls between 1598 and 1602. The latter date is fixed by the appearance of the play in an imperfect Quarto edi tion. The former date is indicated by the facts (1) that Meres does not mention it in his Palladis Tamia' of the same year—an omission which would hardly have occurred if the play had been known; and (2) 'Merry Wives' follows the two parts of Henry IV,' which were produced about 1597. In the epilogue to the second part of Henry IV' the promise was made that Falstaff should appear in Henry V' (1599). It is plausible, therefore, that Shakespeare wrote Merry Wives' to please the queen in the latter part of 1598, and that, having done so, he lost interest in Falstaff, and contented himself with narrating his death in Henry V.' 6 < Merry Wives' was probably written and produced in 1598. A garbled copy taken from notes was printed in the Quarto of 1602. And the play was evidently revised and improved in 1603, when James I succeeded Elizabeth on the throne; for the later or Folio text refers to the king' where the Quarto refers to the council,' and the Folio alone has a fine passage in the fairy scene alluding to Windsor and the Order of the Garter, which seems to bear special reference to the sitting of the court at Windsor in 1603, when Shakespeare's friend Southampton, as well as Prince Arthur, was made Knight of the Garter. Another bit of internal evidence bears on the traditional enemy of Shakespeare, Sir Thomas Lucy. It is said that the poet caricatured him in Justice Shallow. Lucy died in 1600, and the revised text published after his death introduces a close allusion to him in the opening scene. A coat of arms bearing a dozen white luces' (or fish) is spoken of as belonging to the justice's family, whereas Lucy's own coat bore three luces. EARLY EDITIONS 6 The first printing of Merry Wives of Windsor' was made in a Quarto edition of 1602, which bore the following title-page: • A most pleasaunt and excellent conceited Comedie, of Syr John Falstaffe, and the merrie Wivves of Windsor. Entermixed with sundrie variable and pleasing humors, of Syr Hugh, the Welch Knight, Justice Shallow, and his wise Cousin, M. Slender. With the swaggering vaine of Auncient Pistoll, and Corporal Nym. By William Shakespeare. As it hath bene divers times acted by the right Honorable my lord Chamberlaines servants. Both before her Majestie, and else-where. London Printed by T. C. for Arthur Johnson, and are to be sold at his shop in Powles Church-yard, at the signe of the Flower de Leuse and the Crowne. 1602.' This Quarto was reprinted by the same bookseller in 1619. The First Folio version of the play (1623) places it third in the book, under the division of comedies. Here it is more than double the length of the previous Quarto versions, and supplies the acts and scenes, but does not append the names of the characters, as is the case with the two preceding plays. The Quartos are so brief and imperfect as to lead to the belief that they are pirated versions taken from shorthand notes at a performance, or from an actor's manual. The trustworthy text is that of the First Folio, which is fairly correct, the Quartos giving little aid in supplying emendations. |