[ 308 ]
Henry V. Nym and Bardolph are both hanged in K. Henry V. yet appear in Tht Merry Wives of Windſor. Fallſtaff is diſgraced in the Second Part of K. Henry IV. and dies in K. Henry V. But in the Merry Wives of Windſor he talks as if he were yet in favour at court; “ If it should come to the ear of the court how I have been transformed, &c.:” and Mr. Page diſcountenances Fenton’s addreſſes to his daughter, becauſe he kept company with the wild Prince and with Pointz. Theſe circumſtances ſeem to favour the ſuppoſition that this play was written between the Firſt and Second Parts of K. Henry IV. But that it was not written then, may be collected from the tradition above mentioned. If it ſhould be placed (as Dr. Johnſon obſerves it ſhould be read) between the Second Part of K. Henry IV and Henry V. it muſt be remembered, that Mrs. Quickly, who is half-bawd half-hoſteſs in K. Henry IV. is,in the Merry Wives of Windſor, Dr. Caius’s houſekeeper, and makes a decent appearance; and in K. Henry V. is Piſtol’s wife, and dies in an hoſpital; a progreſſion that is not very natural. Beſides on Mrs. Quickly’s firſt appearance in the Merry Wives of Windſor, Fallſtaff does not know her, nor does ſhe know Piſtol nor Bardolph. The truth, I believe, is, that it was written after K. Henry V. and after Shakſpeare had killed Falſtaff. In obedience to the royal commands, having revived him, he found it neceſſary at the ſame time to revive all thoſe perſons with whom he was wont to be exhibited; Nym, Piſtol, Bardolph and the Page: and diſpoſed of them as he found it convenient, without a ſtrict regard to their ſituations or cataſtrophes in former plays.
There is reaſon to believe that The Merry Wives of Windsor was reviſed and conſiderably enlarged by the author, after its firſt production. The old edition in 1602, like that of Romeo and Juliet, is apparently a rough draught, and not a mutilated or imperfect copy. At what time the alterations and additions were made, is uncertain. Mr. Warton ſuppoſes them to have been made in 1607. Dr. Farmer concurs with him in that opinion, though he does not think the argument on which it is founded, concluſive. I have not met with any information on this head.
This comedy was not printed in its preſent ſtate, till 1623, when it was publiſhed with the reſt of our author’s plays in folio.
