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named Hog, who had been condemned to death, prayed for mercy on the score of kindred. Ay but," replied the judge, “you and I cannot be of kindred unless you are hanged; for Hog is not Bacon till it be well hanged" (Bacon's Apophthegms).

IV. ii. 20. old lunes'; the Folios and third Quarto read 'lines; the first and second Quartos vaine'; the correction is Theobald's; the same error occurs in Troilus and Cressida, II. iii. 139.

IV. ii. 97. the witch of Brentford'; an actual personage of the sixteenth century. A tract is extant entitled "Jyl of Breyntford's Testament," whence it appears that the witch kept a tavern at Brentford; in Dekker & Webster's Westward Ho the following allusion is found:-"I doubt that old hag Gillian of Brainford has bewitched me."

IV. ii. 185. ‘rag, so F1 F.; F, F. ‘hag,' adopted by Camb. Ed. IV. iv. 43. That Falstaff at that oak shall meet with us.' After this line the following words from the Quartos have been added in many editions:

66 'We'll send him word to meet us in the field,

Disguised like Horne with huge horns on his head."

IV. iv. 58. to pinch' probably the correct reading should be 'to-pinch,' where 'to' is the intensitive prefix so common in old English, though it is possible to explain it as the ordinary infinitive prefix, omitted in the case of the former verb in the sentence. IV. iv. 84. Send quickly to Sir John.' Theobald ingeniously suggested "Quickly " for "quickly."

IV. v. 78. ' cozen-germans' the first Quarto reads:

"For there is three sorts of cosen garmombles,

Is cosen all the Host of Maidenhead and Readings," where 'garmombles' is very possibly a perversion of Mömpelgard; Count Frederick of Mömpelgard visited Windsor in 1592; free post-horses were granted him by a passport of Lord Howard. The Count became a "Duke of Jamany" (Wirtemberg) in 1593; considerable interest must have been taken in the Duke about 1598. A letter to the Queen, dated August 14, 1598, is extant, in which the following passage occurs:—“I have heard with extreme regret that some of my enemies endeavour to calumniate me and prejudice your majesty against me. I have given them no occasion for this. I hope that when your majesty has discovered this report to be false, you will have greater reason to continue your affection towards me, and give neither faith nor

credit to such vipers." In the year 1602 appeared "An Account of the Duke's Bathing Excursion to the far-famed Kingdom of England" (vide Rye's England as seen by Foreigners).

V. v. 26. bribed buck,' so the Folios; Theobald, bribe bauk," adopted by Camb. Ed.: a bribed buck' was a buck cut up into portions (Old French bribes portions of meat to be given away').

V. v. 42. ' orphan heirs.' Theobald suggested "ouphen" (elvish) for " orphan," and he has been followed by many editors, but the change is unnecessary. Cp. "unfather'd heirs," II.

Henry IV., IV. iv. 122.

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V. v. 45, 47. toyes': Ff. Camb. Ed., toys, evidently to be read "toyës," rhyming with oyes" in the previous line; similarly unswept" should probably be "unswep," suggesting rhyme with "leap."

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V. v. 94-96. Cp. Song of the Fairies in Lyly's Endymion.

V. v. III. these fair yokes'; the first Folio reads "yoakes," the second okes." "Yokes" must refer to the resemblance of the buck's horns to a yoke; a sort of sense can be got out of 'oaks,' the antlers resembling the branches of oaks, but the first Folio reading seems preferable.

Explanatory Notes.

The Explanatory Notes in this edition have been specially selected and adapted, with emendations after the latest and best authorities, from the most eminent Shakespearian scholars and commentators, including Johnson, Malone, Steevens, Singer, Dyce, Hudson, White, Furness, Dowden, and others. This method, here introduced for the first time, provides the best annotation of Shakespeare ever embraced in a single edition.

ACT FIRST.
Scene I.

13. three hundred years:-Shallow here identifies himself with "all his successors gone before him"; an aristocratic way of speaking once common in England. Washington Allston was once the guest of an English nobleman who, though Shallow in nothing else, said he came over with William the Conqueror. We are indebted to Verplanck for this anecdote.

28, 29. quarter of your coat :-To quarter meant, in heraldic language, to have armorial bearings as an appendage to hereditary arms; as a man, by marrying, may add his wife's titles, if she have any, to his own. Sir Hugh, who must still be talking, mistakes the quartering of heraldry for the cutting of a thing into four parts.

49. To speak small means much the same as what old Lear so touchingly says over his dying Cordelia: "Her voice was ever soft, gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman."

114. But not kissed your keeper's daughter?-Scott in Kenilworth suggests that this was part of the charge made against the Poet by Sir Thomas Lucy.

118 et seq. Council and counsel, just below, are probably a quibble, the one meaning the Star-Chamber, the other being used in the sense of secresy.

204. Michaelmas :-This is probably a blunder on Simple's part for Martlemas, according to Hudson. Theobald substituted Martlemas, "not believing that any blunder was intended."

304. cock and pie:-This phrase occurs in several old plays, and once again in Shakespeare, 2 Henry IV., V. i. 1; but its origin and import have not been satisfactorily explained. The most likely account seems to be, that it was a humorous oath, the Cock and Magpie, having been, it seems, an ancient and favourite alehouse sign. Some think, however, that cock was a corruption of the sacred name, and that pie referred to the table in the Roman service-book showing the service for the day.

Scene III.

9. Keisar is an old form of Cæsar, the general term for an emperor; Kings and Keisars being a common phrase.

Scene IV.

5. Old is here intensive, much the same as huge; a common use of the word in the Poet's time. Thus we have old coil in Much Ado About Nothing.

8. we'll have a posset:-A posset, according to Randle Holme, in his Academy of Armourie, 1688, is "hot milk poured on ale or sack, having sugar, grated bisket, and eggs, with other ingredients, boiled in it, which goes all to a curd."

8, 9. soon at night:-Hudson states that soon at is a phrase occurring repeatedly in Shakespeare; as "soon at five o'clock," and soon at supper-time," where it means about, or something akin to that word.

28. warrener:-The keeper of a warren.

165, 166. the next time we have confidence:-Hudson is of opinion that confidence is a “Quicklyism for conference."

ACT SECOND.

Scene I.

52. These knights will hack:-This is probably a covert reflection upon the prodigal distribution of the honour of knighthood by King James. "These knights will soon become so hackneyed that your honour will not be increased by becoming one."

54. We burn daylight:-A proverbial phrase, derived from burning lamps by daylight: "We waste time."

121. With liver burning hot:-Love, as the ancients understood that passion, was supposed to establish itself in the liver.

122. Like Sir Acteon he:-Actæon, in classical mythology, was a renowned hunter. He offended Artemis (Diana) by concealing himself near a stream in which she was bathing-thus obtaining stolen glimpses of her. The offended goddess transformed Actæon into a stag and his dogs tore him to pieces.

129. Believe it, Page; he speaks sense:-" Pistol," says Hudson, "knew beforehand what Nym was to tell Page; and now, as he infers from their talking so long that Page is incredulous, he speaks this to confirm Nym's tale, and thereby cut short the interview."

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199, 200. Good even and twenty:-According to Staunton, an old popular salutation, meaning twenty good evenings.”

232. with my long sword:—Before the introduction of rapiers the swords in use were of enormous length and sometimes used with both hands. Shallow censures the innovation, and ridicules the terms and use of the rapier.

Scene II.

7. your coach-fellow Nym :-That is, he who draws along with you, who is joined with you.

II, 12. Mistress Bridget lost the handle of her fan:-Fans were costly appendages of female dress in Shakespeare's time. They consisted of ostrich and other feathers, fixed into handles, some of which were made of gold, silver, or ivory of curious workmanship. Thus in Marlowe's Hero and Leander :

"Her painted fan of curled plumes let fall."

19. short knife and a throng!-That is, go and cut purses in a crowd. Purses were then worn hanging at the girdle.

78, 79. nay, which is more, pensioners:-That is, gentlemen of the band of Pensioners. Their dress was remarkably splendid, and therefore likely to attract Mrs. Quickly. Hence Shakespeare, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, has selected the golden-coated cowslips to be pensioners to the Fairy Queen.

150, 151. sent your worship a morning's draught of sack-It seems to have been a common custom in taverns, in Shakespeare's