Page. And did he send you both these letters at an instant?

Mrs. Page. Within a quarter of an hour.
Ford. Pardon me, wife. Henceforth do what thou wilt;
I rather will suspect the sun with cold1
Than thee with wantonness: now doth thy honour stand,
In him that was of late an heretic,

As firm as faith.

Page.

'T is well, 't is well; no more.
Be not as extreme in submission
As in offence;2

But let our plot go forward: let our wives
Yet once again, to make us public sport,
Appoint a meeting with this old fat fellow;
Where we may take him, and disgrace him för it.
Ford. There is no better way than that they spoke of.
Page. How? to send him word they 'll meet him in
the park at midnight? Fie, fie! he 'll never come.
Eva. You say, he has been thrown in the rivers, and
has been grievously peaten, as an old 'oman: methinks,
there should be terrors in him, that he should not come;
methinks, his flesh is punished, he shall have no desires.
Page. So think I too.

Mrs. Ford. Devise but how you 'll use him when he
comes,

And let us two devise to bring him thither.

Mrs. Page. That likewise have we thought upon, and thus:

Nan Page my daughter, and my little son,

And three or four more of their growth, we 'll dress
Like urchins, ouphes, and fairies, green and white,
With rounds of waxen tapers on their heads,
And rattles in their hands. Upon a sudden,
As Falstaff, she, and I, are newly met,
Let them from forth a sawpit rush at once
With some diffused? song: upon their sight,
We two in great amazedness will fly:
Then let them all encircle him about,
And, fairy-like, to-pinch 10 the unclean knight;
And ask him, why, that hour of fairy revel,
In their so sacred paths he dares to tread,
In shape profane.
Mrs. Ford. And till he tell the truth,
Let the supposed fairies pinch him sound, 11
And burn him with their tapers.
The truth being known,
We'll all present ourselves, dis-horn the spirit, 19
And mock him home to Windsor.
Ford.

Mrs. Page.

The children must
Be practised well to this, or they 'll ne'er do 't.
Eva. I will teach the children their behaviours; I will
be like a jack-an-apes also, to burn the knight with my

Mrs. Page. There is an old tale goes, that Herne the taber.
hunter,

Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest,
Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight,
Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns;
And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle;
And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner:

You have heard of such a spirit; and well you know,
The superstitious idle-headed eld
Received, and did deliver to our age,

This tale of Herne the hunter for a truth.

Page. Why, yet there want not many, that do fear
In deep of night to walk by this Herne's oak.
But what of this?

Mrs. Ford. Marry, this is our device;
That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us,
Disguis'd like Herne, with huge horns on his head."
Page. Well, let it not be doubted but he'll come:
And in this shape when you have brought him thither,"
What shall be done with him? what is your plot?

--

Ford. That will be excellent. I'll go buy them vizards. Mrs. Page. My Nan shall be the queen of all the fairies,

Finely attired in a robe of white.

Page. That silk will I go buy;- [aside] and in that
tire 13

Shall Master Slender steal my Nan away,
And marry her at Eton. Go send to Falstaff straight.
Ford. Nay, I'll to him again in name of Brook;
He 'll tell me all his purpose. Sure, he 'll come.
Mrs. Page. Fear not you that. Go, get us properties,
And tricking 14 for our fairies.

Era. Let us about it: it is admirable pleasures, and fery honest knaveries. [Exeunt PAGE, FORD, and EVANS. Mrs. Page. Go, Mistress Ford,

Send Quickly to Sir John, to know his mind.

[Exit Mrs. FORD.

I'll to the doctor: he hath my good will,
And none but he, to marry with Nan Page.
That Slender, though well landed, is an idiot;

1) cold ist Rowe's Emendation für gold der Fol. Malone citirt passend dazu aus einem Buche, das Sh. bekannt sein musste, Westward for Smelts: 1 answere in the behalfe of one, who is as free from disloyaltie, as is the sunne from darkness or the fire from cold. 2) Geht jetzt nicht zu weit in den Betheuerungen Eurer Ergebenheit, wie Ihr vorher zu weit in Euren Kränkungen ginget. 3) Für tree, das hier collectiv steht, nicht in Bezug auf das vorhergehende an oak, wollte Hanmer trees lesen. 4) to take = mit Seuchen treffen. So in Hamlet (A. 1, Sc. 1) then no planets strike, no fairy takes. 5) eld collectiv alte Leute. So in Lodge's Wounds of Civil War: peevish eld discoursing by a fire. idle-headed faselnd vor Altersschwäche. 6) Diese Zeile, die in der Fol. fehlt, entlehnt Malone aus Q. A., nur dass dort überall der Name des gespenstischen Jägers Horne statt Herne lautet. Theobald hatte aus Q. A. sogar zwei Zeilen entlehnt: We'll send him word to meet us in the field, || Disguis'd like Herne, with huge horns on his head. 7) So interpungirt Dyce diese beiden Verse. Die gewöhnliche Interpunction ist: Well, let it not be doubted but he'll come,|| And in this shape: when you have brought him thither, etc. 8) ouphe Alf, Kobold. 9) diffused wirr durcheinander, unverständlich. 10) to to-pinch zerkneipen. Dieses to, unserm zer- entsprechend, findet sich in vorshakspere'scher Zeit mit vielen Verben verbunden. 11) sound für soundly Rede theilt die Fol. irrthümlich dem Ford zu. 12) d. h. dem als Herne und Gespenst verkleideten Falstaff seine Hörner abnehmen. 13) tire, hinweisend auf das vorhergehende Finely attired in a robe of white, worauf sich auch that silk bezieht, ist Theobald's Emendation für time der Fol. Die Q. A. hat an der entsprechenden Stelle in that mask. 14) properties Theaterrequisiten, hier was für die Feenmaskerade nöthig ist. tricking =

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tüchtig. Diese

Host. What wouldst thou have, boor? what, thickskin?' speak, breathe, discuss; brief, short, quick, snap. Sim. Marry, Sir, I come to speak with Sir John Falstaff from Master Slender.

Host. There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-bed, and truckle-bed: 2 't is painted about with the story of the Prodigal, fresh and new. Go, knock and call: he'll speak like an Anthropophaginian unto thee: knock, I say.

Sim. There's an old woman, a fat woman, gone up into his chamber: I'll be so bold as stay, Sir, till she come down; I come to speak with her, indeed.

Host. Ha! a fat woman? the knight may be robbed: I'll call.--Bully knight! Bully Sir John! speak from thy lungs military: art thou there? it is thine host, thine Ephesian, calls.

Fal. [Above.] How now, mine host!

Host. Here's a Bohemian-Tartar tarries the coming down of thy fat woman. Let her descend, bully, let her descend; my chambers are honourable: fie! privacy? fie! Enter FALSTAFF.

Fal. There was, mine host, an old fat woman even now with me, but she's gone.

Sim. Pray you, Sir, was 't not the wise woman' of Brentford?

Fal. Ay, marry, was it, muscle-shell: what would you with her?

Sim. My master, Sir, Master Slender, sent to her, seeing her go through the streets, to know, Sir, whether one Nym, Sir, that beguiled him of a chain, had the chain,

or no.

Fal. I spake with the old woman about it.
Sim. And what says she, I pray, Sir?

Fal. Marry, she says, that the very same man, that beguiled Master Slender of his chain, cozened him of it. Šim. I would, I could have spoken with the woman herself: I had other things to have spoken with her too, from him.

Fal. What are they? let us know.
Host. Ay, come; quick.

Sim. I may not conceal them, Sir."
Host. Conceal them, or thou diest.

Sim. Why, Sir, they were nothing but about Mistress Anne Page; to know, if it were my master's fortune to have her, or no.

Bard. Out, alas, Sir! cozenage; mere cozenage! Host. Where be my horses? speak well of them, varletto. 13

Bard. Run away with the cozeners; for so soon as I came beyond Eton, they threw me off from behind one of them in a slough of mire; and set spurs, and away, like three German devils, three Doctor Faustuses. 14 Host. They are gone but to meet the duke, villain. Do not say, they be fled: Germans are honest men. Enter Sir HUGH EVANS. Eva. Where is mine host?

Ausstaffirang, Putz. 15) he nachdrücklich für him. So stand A. 3, Sc. 2: There is such a league between my good man and he!

1) thick-skin=ein Mensch von beschränktem Geist. —Steevens citirt dazu aus Holland's Uebersetzung des Plinius: men also, who are thicke-skinned, be more grosse of sence and understanding. Sh. hat dasselbe Wort in Midsummer-Night's Dream (A. 3, Sc. 2). 2) truckle-bed ist das niedrige Feldbett, das, wenn es gebraucht werden sollte, unter dem grossen Bette (standing-bed) hervorgezogen wurde. —Q. A. hat trundle-bed für truckle-bed. 8) Die Geschichte vom verlornen Sohne, auf eine Wandtapete gemalt, wird auch in K. Henry IV. Second Part (A. 2, Sc. 1) erwähnt: for thy walls, a pretty slight drollery, or the story of the Prodigal, is worth a thousand of these bedhangings. 4) Anthropophaginian, ein von dem Wirthe selbst gebildetes Wort aus dem einfachen Anthropophagi, das in Othello (A. 1, Sc. 3) sich findet. 5) Ephesian, wie es scheint, scherzhafte Bezeichnung eines lustigen Cumpans. Sh. hat das Wort in K. Henry IV. Second Part (A. 2, Sc. 2), wo der Page auf die Frage des Prinzen nach Falstaff's Gesellschaft erwiedert Ephesians, my lord, of the old church. 6) Bohemian-Tartar, eine vom Wirthe gebildete Zusammensetzung Zigeuner-Vagabund, um damit scherzhaft den Simple zu bezeichnen. 7) wise woman Wahrsagerin, kluge Frau. 8) muscle-shell nennt Falstaff den Simple, nach Johnson's Erklärung, weil derselbe mit offenem Munde dasteht. 9) Simple sagt irrthümlich conceal für reveal, and der Wirth gebraucht scherzhaft das Wort dann auch in Simple's Sinne. - Simple's Worte legt die Fol. dem Falstaff bei, was Rowe zuerst verbesserte. 10) So die Fol., deren Lesart D y ce ganz richtig erklärt: Ay, Sir; like the boldest. - Die meisten Hgg. lesen dafür Ay, Sir Tike; who more bold? weil Q. A. hat I tike, who more bolde. 11) Du weisst so gut zu antworten und zu rathen, wie ein Gelehrter. 12) to pay doppelsinnig =bezahlen, und=abstrafen, prügeln. - Falstaff spielt auf die Schläge an, die er in dem Costüm der alten Frau in Ford's Hause empfing. 13) Der Wirth in seiner Sucht, Fremdwörter und seltsame Ausdrücke zu gebrauchen, macht tarletto aus dem englischen varlet. 14) Sh.'s Publicum kannte aus dem Theater und aus populären Mährchenbüchern die Sage von dem deutschen Doctor Faust, der mit dem Dämon Mephistopheles durch die Luft davon fuhr.

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Enter Doctor CAIUS.

Caius. Vere is mine host de Jartiere?

Host. Here, master doctor, in perplexity, and doubtful dilemma.

Caius. I cannot tell vat is dat; but it is tell-a me, dat you make grand preparation for a duke de Jarmany: by my trot, dere is no duke, dat de court is know to come. I tell you for good vill: adieu. [Exit. Host. Hue and cry, villain! go.. Assist me, knight; I am undone. Fly, run, hue and cry, villain! I am undone! [Exeunt Host and BARDOLPH. Fal. I would all the world might be cozened, for I have been cozened, and beaten too. If it should come to the ear of the court how I have been transformed, and how my transformation hath been washed and cudgelled, they would melt me out of my fat, drop by drop, and liquor fishermen's boots with me: I warrant, they would whip me with their fine wits, till I were as crest-fallen as a dried pear. I never prospered since I forswore myself at primero. Well, if my wind were but long enough to say my prayers, I would repent.

18

19

Enter Mistress QUICKLY.

Now, whence come you?

Quick. From the two parties, forsooth. Fal. The devil take one party, and his dam the other, and so they shall be both bestowed. I have suffered more for their sakes, more than the villanous inconstancy of man's disposition is able to bear.

Quick. And have not they suffered? Yes, I warrant; speciously 20 one of them: Mistress Ford, good heart, is beaten black and blue, that you cannot see a white spot

about her.

Fal. What tell'st thou me of black and blue? I was

beaten myself into all the colours of the rainbow; and I was like to be apprehended for the witch of Brentford: but that my admirable dexterity of wit, my counterfeiting the action of an old woman, deliver'd me, 21 the knave constable had set me i' the stocks, i' the common stocks, for a witch.

Quick. Sir, let me speak with you in your chamber; you shall hear how things go, and, I warrant, to your content. Here is a letter will say somewhat. Good hearts! what ado here is to bring you together! Sure, one of you does not serve heaven well, that you are so crossed. Fal. Come up into my chamber.

SCENE VI.

Another Room in the Garter Inn.
Enter FENTON and Host.

[Exeunt.

Host. Master Fenton, talk not to me: my mind is heavy;
I will give over all.

Fent. Yet hear me speak. Assist me in my purpose,
And, as I am a gentleman, I'll give thee
A hundred pound in gold more than your loss.
Host. I will hear you, Master Fenton; and I will, at
the least, keep your counsel.

Fent. From time to time I have acquainted you
With the dear love I bear to fair Anne Page;
Who, mutually, hath answer'd my affection,
So far forth as herself might be her chooser, 1
Even to my wish. I have a letter from her
Of such contents as you will wonder at;
The mirth whereof so larded with my matter,
That neither singly can be manifested,
Without the show of both;2 wherein fat Falstaff
Hath a great scene: the image of the jest
I'll show you here at large. Hark, good mine host:
To-night at Herne's oak, just 'twixt twelve and one,
Must my sweet Nan present the fairy queen;
The purpose why, is here; in which disguise,
While other jests are something rank on foot,
Her father hath commanded her to slip
Away with Slender, and with him at Eton
Immediately to marry: she hath consented.

4

Letzterer ist unter dem German devil verstanden. Vgl. A. 1, Sc. 1, Anm. 23. 15) Evans meint die Gäste, die der Wirth bei sich aufnimmt. 16) Er sagt cousin-germans = leibliche Vettern, für cozening Germans betrügerische Deutsche. Das Wortspiel mit cousin und cozen hat Sh. auch in K. Richard III. (A. 4, Sc. 4). 17) Q. A. fügt noch hinzu and can point wrong places, in deutlicherer Hinweisung auf die Art, wie der Wirth das Duell zwischen Evans und dem Doctor Caius vereitelt hatte. vlouting-stog d. h. flouting-stock Gegenstand oder Zielscheibe des Gespöttes, das Evans A. 3, Sc. 1 im richtigen Sinne gebraucht hatte, sagt er hier = Spötterei. 18) primero = ein Kartenspiel, das auch in K. Henry VIII. (A. 5, Sc. 1) erwähnt wird, und folgendermassen in Greene's Tu Quoque: Primero! Why, I thought thou hadst not been so much gamester as to play at it.—In Minsheu's Dictionary wird es so erklärt: Primero and primavista, two games at cards. Primum et primum visum, that is, first, and first seen, because he that can show such an order of cards, wins the game. 19) to say my prayers fehlt in der Fol., wahrscheinlich als profan von der Theatercensur gestrichen, und ist von Pope aus Q. A. ergänzt. 20) Auch hier hat Q. A. specially. Vgl. A. 3, Sc. 4, Anm. 12. 21) Indem Falstaff in der Gefahr schwebte, als Hexe verhaftet zu werden, machte er so geschickt die Haltung eines harmlosen alten Weibes nach, dass man ihn als unverdächtig frei liess.

1) So weit wenigstens, wie sie selbst ihre Wahl treffen durfte. 2) Der Spass davon, d. h. die beabsichtigte Feenmaskerade, ist so innig mit meiner Angelegenheit, d. h. mit meiner Liebschaft, verknüpft, dass keins von Beiden einzeln zum Vorschein kommen kann, sondern Beides zugleich sich zeigen muss. 3) wherein, das in der Fol. fehlt, ergänzt Malone aus Q. A., wo der Vers lautet Wherein fat Falstaff had a mighty scare. Die zweite Folioausg. vervollständigt den Vers der ersten Fol.: Without the show of both; fat sir John Falstaff. 4) Manche Hgg. fügen hier die Bühnenweisung ein Showing the letter. - Indess lässt sich I'll show you here at large auf die folgende mündliche Auseinandersetzung beziehen. Bei dem folgenden the purpose why, is here deutet Fenton allerdings auf den von Anne Page erhaltenen Brief hin, ohne ihn jedoch dem Wirth zum Lesen

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zu überreichen. 5) other jests, wie weiterhin other sports, sind die Spässe, welche die verkleideten Feen mit Falstaff anstellen wollen, und welche die Aufmerksamkeit der Uebrigen von Anne Page ablenken werden. 6) even strong ist mit and firm zu verbinden: ihre Mutter ist gleichmässig gegen diese Partie eingenommen und fest auf der Seite des Doctor Caius. Manche Hgg. ändern ever für even. Q. A. hat Now her mother still against the match || And firm for Doctor Caius. 7) obedient ist mit to this plot zu verbinden. 8) denote las Steevens für devote (deuote in der Fol.) der früheren Ausgg. 9) Steevens erklärt: fantastically drest in green. Indess geht quaint in adverbialem Sinne wohl auf das Ganze und in green ist mit loose enrob'd zu verbinden: sie soll hübsch oder artig in ein loses grünes Gewand gekleidet werden. 10) Und darauf kommt es noch an. 11) united ceremony ist mit Sh.'scher Licenz des Gebrauchs der Adjectiva und Participia gesagt: unseren Herzen die Form geben, welche sie verbindet. Q. A. hat To give our hearts united matrimony.

1) Ich will festhalten, beharren in meinem Entschlusse und kommen. 2) Vgl. A. 4, Sc. 1, Anm. 2. Der Ausdruck ist sprichwörtlich. 3) divinity = göttliche Fügung. 4) to mince zierlich thun, zierlich gehen. 5) Es wird diese Nacht Etwas aus der Sache werden, oder niemals. 6) Eine Anspielung auf eine Stelle im Buche Hiob (Cap.7,V.6) my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. - Falstaff stellt weaver's beam und weaver's shuttle 7) Falstaff spricht von seinen Jugendjahren, da er in knabenhaftem Muthwillen lebendigen Gänsen die Federn ausrupfte. Auf dieselbe Zeit bezieht sich das Hinter-die-Schule-laufen und das Kreisel-schlagen. 8) Diese Scene sowie die drei folgenden fehlen in der Q. A.

1) daughter, das in der Fol. zufällig ausgelassen ist, ergänzt die zweite Folioausg. von 1632. 2) Vgl. A. 2, . 2, Anm. 24. 3) Ich komme zu Der, die in Weiss gekleidet ist. 4) mum sowohl wie mumbudget, ist still! leise! eine Aufforderung zum Stillschweigen oder Leisereden. 5) Die Lichter, welche die verkleideten Geister tragen, und die Geister selbst werden zu einer so dunkelen Nacht gut passen. 6) Eine Anspielung auf den mit Hörnern als Jäger Herne ausgestatteten Falstaff.

SCENE III.

The Street in Windsor.

Enter Mistress PAGE, Mistress FORD, and Doctor Cajus. Mrs. Page. Master Doctor, my daughter is in green: when you see your time, take her by the hand, away with her to the deanery, and dispatch it quickly. Go before into the park: we two must go together.

Caius. I know vat I have to do. Adieu. Mrs. Page. Fare you well, Sir. [Exit CAIUS.] My husband will not rejoice so much at the abuse of Falstaff, as he will chafe at the doctor's marrying my daughter: but 't is no matter; better a little chiding, than a great deal of heart-break.

Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now, and her troop of fairies? and the Welch devil, Hugh?1

Mrs. Page. They are all couched in a pit hard by Herne's oak, with obscured lights; which, at the very instant of Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at once display to the night.

Mrs. Ford. That cannot choose but amaze him. Mrs. Page. If he be not amazed, he will be mocked; if he be amazed, he will every way be mocked.

Mrs. Ford. We'll betray him finely.

Mrs. Page. Against such lewdsters, and their lechery,
Those that betray them do no treachery.
Mrs. Ford. The hour draws on: to the oak, to the
[Exeunt.

oak!

SCENE IV.
Windsor Park.

Enter Sir HUGH EVANS, and Fairies. Eva. Trib, trib, fairies: come; and remember your parts. Be pold, I pray you; follow me into the pit, and when I give the watch-'ords, do as I pid you. Come, come; trib, trib. [Exeunt.

1) Hugh setzt Capell für Herne der Fol. brevirt. - Der welsche Pfarrer sollte in der Maskerade weshalb er nachher auch fairy Hugh angeredet wird. forth a sawpit rush at once.

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SCENE V.

Another Part of the Park,

Enter FALSTAFF disguised, with a buck's head o Fal. The Windsor bell hath struck twelve; the mir draws on. Now, the hot-blooded gods assist me! — member, Jove, thou wast a bull for thy Europa; love on thy horns. O powerful love! that, in some respe makes a beast a man; in some other, a man a beast. You were also, Jupiter, a swan, for the love of Leda; 0, omnipotent love! how near the god drew to the c plexion of a goose! A fault done first in the forn a beast;'. O Jove, a beastly fault! and then anot fault in the semblance of a fowl: think on 't, Jove foul fault. When gods have hot backs, what sh poor men do? For me, I am here a Windsor stag; the fattest, I think, i' the forest: send me a cool rut-ti Jove, or who can blame me to piss my tallow? F comes here? my doe?

Enter Mistress FORD and Mistress PAGE. Mrs. Ford. Sir John? art thou there, my deer? 5 male deer?

Fal. My doe with the black scut? Let the sky r potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of Green Sleeves hail kissing-comfits, and snow eringoes; let there co a tempest of provocation, I will shelter me here.

8

[Embracing h Mrs. Ford. Mistress Page is come with me, sweethea Fal. Divide me like a bribed buck, 10 each a haunc I will keep my sides to myself, my shoulders for the f low of this walk," and my horns I bequeath your h bands. Am I a woodman?12 ha! Speak I like Herne t hunter? Why, now is Cupid a child of conscience; makes restitution. As I am a true spirit, 13 welcome. [Noise withi

Mrs. Page, Alas! what noise?
Mrs. Ford. Heaven forgive our sins!

Wahrscheinlich stand im Manuscripte der Name mit Ha im Gostüm eines Teufels, Satyrs oder Kobolds erscheine 2) Vgl. A. 4, Sc. 4, wo Frau Page sagt Let them fro

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1) Jupiter, indem er nach einander die Europa und dann die Leda liebte, verging sich zuerst in Gestalt ein Thieres, dann eines Vogels. 2) Wortspiel zwischen fowl und foul. 3) Malone citirt dazu aus Lyly's Eu phues (1580) I think in those days love was well ratified on earth, when lust was so full authorized by th gods in heaven. hot backs ist ein Symptom sinnlicher Erregung. 4) Ray in seiner Collection of Pro verbs hat ein Sprichwort He has piss'd his tallow, das er so erklärt: This is spoken of bucks who grow lea after rutting-time, and may be applied to men. 5) Wortspiel zwischen dear und deer. 6) potatoes = Kar toffeln, werden bei Sh.'s Zeitgenossen häufig als ein Reizmittel zum Liebesgenuss erwähnt. Sh. selbst hat i Troilus and Cressida (A. 5, Sc. 2) the devil Luxury, with his fat rump and potato-finger. Ebens eringoes = Brachdistel, deren Wirkung Drayton in seinem Polyolbion erwähnt: Whose root th' eringo is the reins that doth inflame || So_strongly to perform the Cytherean game. 7) Vgl. A. 2, Sc. 1, Anm. 11 8) kissing-comfits Zuckerplätzchen, die den Mund wohlriechend machen. 9) a tempest of provocation ein Sturm von Reizmitteln zur Liebe, fasst die vorher einzeln angeführten Aphrodisiaka potenzirt zusammen 10) Die Fol. hat brib'd-buck, woraus Theobald bribe-buck, scil. a buck sent for a bribe, machte. Dye stellt die alte Lesart wieder her und fasst bribed in dem veralteten Sinne von to steal. Vielleicht ist bribed abe zerlegt, um als Geschenk für verschiedene Personen zu dienen. 11) walk ist der District des Forstes, den ei einzelner Wärter, hier fellow genannt, zu beaufsichtigen oder zu begehen hat. Diesem kamen die Vorderblätter de erlegten Wildes zu. 12) Spreche und geberde ich mich nicht wie ein wirklicher Waidmann? 18) true spiri sagt Falstaff scherzhaft für true man, da er ein Gespenst, einen Geist darzustellen hat. 14) Die Fol. hat einfach Enter Fairies ohne speciellere Bezeichnung. Ausführlicher ist die Bühnenweisung der Q. A.: Enter Sir Hug like a Satyr, and boys drest like fairies, mistress Quickly like the Queen of Fairies: they sing a song about him, and afterwards speak. -- Dass die Quickly, und nicht Anne Page, die Feenkönigin darstellte, wäre in Widerspruch mit Allem, was vorher ausgemacht war. Der Irrthum ist wahrscheinlich veranlasst durch die Abbre

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