...Seven years later Nicholas Rowe varied the tale: 'She was so well pleas'd with that admirable Character of Falstaff, in the two parts of Henry the Fourth,...continue it for one play more, and to shew him in love. '14 Whether or not there is any truth in these legends, they have not done Shakespeare's reputation...

...two parts of Henry the Fourth that she commanded him to continue it for one play more, and to show him in love. This is said to be the occasion of his writing The Merry Wires of Windsor. Traditional anecdotes such as these, arising one cannot tell whence, and first recorded...

...[Elizabeth] was so well pleased with that admirable character of Falstaff in the two parts of flenry the Fourth that she commanded him to continue it for one play more, and to show him in love. This is said to be the occasion of his writing The Merry Wives of Windsor. Traditional...

...Shakespeare, adds an appealing circumstantial detail: She was so well pleas'd with that admirable Character of Falstaff, in the two Parts of Henry the Fourth,...be the Occasion of his Writing The Merry Wives of Windsor.25 Finally, just a year later, the publisher's hack Gildon (doubtfully immortalized by Pope...

...fourteen days; he adds the information that the Queen 'was so well pleased with that admirable character of Falstaff, in the two parts of Henry the Fourth,...him to continue it for one play more, and to shew 1 John Dennis, The Cmninil Gallant i1702i, A2. In the prologue he repeats that 'Shakespeare's Play...

...gracious Marks of her Favour . . . She was so well pleas'd with that admirable Character of Falstoff, in the two Parts of Henry the Fourth, that she commanded...continue it for one Play more, and to shew him in Love. TTiis is said to be the Occasion of his writing The Merry Wives of Windsor. This tradition of a royal...

...first biographer, Rowe, writing in 1709, Elizabeth: was so well pleased with that admirable character of Falstaff , in the two parts of Henry the Fourth,...commanded him to continue it for one play more, and to show him in love. This is said to be the occasion of his writing The Merry Wives of Windsor.7 Two other...

...two parts of Henry the Fourth, that she commanded him to continue it for one play more, and to show him in love. This is said to be the occasion of his writing The Merry Wives of Windsor.1 Two other writers of the eighteenth century's first decade, John Dennis8 and Charles Gildon9...

...century after the play's first production, the queen "was so well pleased with that admirable character of Falstaff in the two parts of Henry the Fourth that she commanded [Shakespeare] to continue it for one play more, and to show him in love." 3 More recently, and with...

...gracious Marks of her Favour . . . She was so well pleas'd with that admirable Character ofFalstaff, in the two Parts of Henry the Fourth, that she commanded...be the Occasion of his Writing The Merry Wives of Windsor.55 Over the centuries many enthusiastic playgoers have shared the desire of Queen Elizabeth...