but those words of the quartos correspond to the subse quent "Come forth, sirrah" of the folio. Mr. Halliwell observes that "Youth in a basket' appears to have been a sort of proverbial phrase. It is given as the title of some lines in A Swarm of Sectaries and Schismatiques, 1641 [by Taylor the water-poet]."

103. a ging. The folio has “a gin." Corrected in the second folio.

105. come, come forth! "Is addressed to the 'youth in a basket,' and not to Mrs. Ford," says Mr. Knight, and I once thought he might be right, on account of the "Come forth, sirrah," a little further on. But I now believe that Ford is here addressing his wife. 159. not. Added in quarto 1630.

you

163. you witch, you hag. Here the folio has " Witch, you Ragge," though in the preceding speech of Ford it has "you Witch, you Hagge." Corrected in quarto 1630.

172. his. So the folio. Dyce (after quartos 1602, 1619) has "her."

SCENE III.1. the Germans desire. The folio has "the Germane desires." Here, in quartos 1602, 1619, they are spoken of as "three gentlemen."

7. them. The folio has "him." 66 Corrected," says Malone, "in the third folio;" but "them" is found in quartos 1602, 1619.

9. house. So quartos 1602, 1619. The folio has "houses."

SCENE IV. -7. cold. The folio has "gold."

20. You say he has been thrown in the rivers. On the Ms. Corrector's alteration, "You see, he has been thrown," etc., Mr. Collier remarks, "The fact is, that the other

persons engaged in the scene had said nothing of the kind," etc. But it is evident, from what precedes, that the two ladies have just been telling their husbands and Sir Hugh how they had served Falstaff.

30. ragg'd. Capell reads "jagg'd." 31. tree. So the folio.

"trees."

Hanmer and Dyce have

41. After this line Dyce adds "Disguis'd like Herne, with huge horns on his head,” and says: “Here something is evidently omitted in the folio; and to supply, to a certain degree, that omission, the present line is borrowed from the corresponding scene of quartos 1602, 1619.”

59.

Mrs. Ford. The folio has "Ford."

60. pinch him sound. "That is, soundly, — the adjective used as an adverb. The modern editors read ‘pinch him round.'" STEEVENS.

72. Page. That silk will I go buy. [Aside] And in that time. So the folio. Dyce adopts Theobald's correction, reading "in that tire." Mr. Grant White prints "and in that trim." Here the quartos 1602, 1619, are very different, both in the distribution of the speeches and in the speeches themselves.

SCENE V.-27. My master, sir, Master Slender. The folio has "My master (Sir) my master Slender.” The quartos 1602, 1619, have "Marry sir my maister Slender."

39, 40. Sim. I may not conceal them, sir. Host. Conceal them, or thou diest.

In the folio the first of these speeches is wrongly assigned to "Fal." The facetious Host amuses himself with Simple's blunder in saying "conceal" instead of "reveal."

49. Ay, sir; like who more bold. That is, Ay, sir; like

the boldest. So the folio (and with distinct punctuation,

"I Sir: like," etc. The quartos 1602, 1619, have, by a mistake, "I tike, who more bolde;” and Farmer having suggested that the author wrote "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." 61. Run away with the cozeners. So the folio. Collier's Ms. Corrector adds "by" before "the cozeners," and Dyce so reads. Mr. Halliwell defends the old reading by comparing it with "I am appointed him to murder you," in The Winter's Tale, i. 2. 412, which he explains to mean "I am appointed by him to murder you," - the words really meaning "I am appointed the person who is to murder you."

94, 95. but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent. Malone says: "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."

SCENE VI.

So the folio.

Dyce reads "wherein fat Falstaff hath a great share." He says: "The quartos 1602, 1619, have, in the corresponding passage, Wherein fat Falstaffe had a mightie scare,' — 'scare' being evidently a mistake for share." The editor of the second folio, to assist the metre, printed "both: fat Sir John Falstaffe." Walker, instead of "wherein," reads "therein " (Crit. Exam. iii. 14).

27. Her mother, even strong. The folio reading. Dyce reads "ever strong." Steevens defends "even strong," explaining it to mean "as strong, with a similar degree of strength." The quartos 1602, 1619, read "Now her mother still against that match."

39. denote. The folio has "deuote."

50.

marrying. Walker (Crit. Exam. iii. 15) suggests "marriage" for "marrying.”

ACT V.

SCENE II. -3. daughter. This word, which had been accidentally omitted in the first folio, was supplied by the second folio.

SCENE III. -12. the Welsh devil Hugh? So Capell. The folio has "the Welch-deuill Herne?" Theobald (and Thirlby) substituted "the Welch devil, Evans;" and so Collier's Ms. Corrector.

SCENE V. 22. a bribe buck. This is Theobald's reading, meaning a buck sent as a bribe, or distributed as bribes; and Walker (Crit. Exam. ii. 67) approves. The early editions all have "brib'd,” which Capell and Dyce retain. Capell explains it (in his Glossary) "a beg'd buck, i.e. beg'd by the keepers; from the French word briber, to beg." Dyce says: "Bribed has been understood here in the sense of stolen; on which meaning of the word 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. According to Mr. Singer, a

bribed buck' is a buck cut up to be given away in portions (from the old French, bribes)."

35. Quick. So the folio, which throughout this scene prefixes "Qui." and "Qu." to the speeches of the Fairy Queen. Dyce has "Anne," and says: "Though in the quartos 1602, 1619, that part is assigned to Mrs. Quickly (the same actor having performed both Mrs. Quickly and the Fairy Queen), there can be no doubt that in the enlarged play (however the prefixes 'Qui.' and 'Qu.' crept in) 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.' (iv. 6. 19, 20)

'Where is Nan now and her troop of fairies?' (v. 3. 11) In the quartos 1602, 1619, 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 Queene 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 personæ 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? The folio in this scene prefixes Pist.' to the speeches of Hobgoblin