Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 9.djvu/438

 360 NOTES AND QUERIES. [i2S.ix.ocr.29.i92i. whole the stage accepted it as it stands and, maugre Pepys, found it well worth playing. To the student the difficulties of the text and construction of the play, and the two famous legends connected with it that of the deer- stealing in Sir Thomas Lucy's park, and that of the play's having been written by the express command of Queen Elizabeth have made ' The Merry Wives of Windsor ' a problem of some solemnity. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch accepts the tradition of the origin of the play despite its being first mentioned only by the aforesaid John Dennis. His main reason is that this story will account for the confusion and inconsistencies with which the play abounds and which are readily under- stood if the work was hurried through in a fortnight. As evidence of haste he makes much of the hope- less attempt to throw a characteristically Eliza- bethan play back to the time of Henry IV. by allusions to " the mad Prince " and the like. He shows that topical allusions were provided and gives a most ingenious and pleasant elucidation of the word " garmombles." He suggests that ' The Merry Wives ' was written up from a play belonging to the repertory of Shakespeare's com- pany called ' The Jealous Comedy,' having a plot probably based on an Italian story. Into this had to be inserted the character of Falstaff which was done by superimposing the knight upon some priggish, long-winded personage whose utter- ances have not all been taken out. On the characters of the play Sir Arthur says many illuminating things, but none more inter- esting than his conjecture as to the identity of the original of Nym. He sets put six reasons which point to Nym's being a caricature of no less a person than Ben Jonson being, in fact, that " purge " which " our fellow Shakespeare " gave him " that made him bewray his credit." The stage war, which was carried on about the time of the production of ' The Merry Wives,' hinged, as Sir Arthur says, upon Jonson's classical theory of the comedy of humours ; Nym, with his " opera- tions " in his head " which be humours of re- venge," recalls Jonson's well-known head troubles, and the name itself is " short " for " Hieronymos," the very name of the Marshal of Spain in 'The Spanish Tragedy ' which Jonson was then, or had recently been, playing in the provinces. The conjecture strikes us as a brilliantly happy one. The Introduction as a whole is a delightful example of the handling of rather tiresome matters in such a way as [to make them delightful. But this is an art of which the writer is a past master, and on which he needs no commendation. The study of the composition of the play and of the state of the text is taken further in Mr. Dover Wilson's essay on the copy for ' The Merry Wives of Windsor.' 1623. MB. GEO. A. STEPHEN, City Librarian of Norwich, writes : " In reply to the letter of MB. EUGENE F. McPiKE, at ante, p. 320, the following extract from The Eastern Daily Press of September 23 gives the required information : " * His experiences on the Western Front led Mr. [Tom D.J Copeman to the resolve to devote his energies, when peace came, to the prevention of war by the furtherance of international good- will. With this in view he found the material close to hand in the Adult Schools, and set to work to organize the Adult School International Correspondence Bureau, which has now reached considerable dimensions, necessitating the em- ployment of a voluntary office staff. Started in and directed from Norwich by Mr. Copeman, its headquarters will probably be removed to London in the near future. Sine 3 its inception he has been in correspondence with nearly every country in Europe, from which over 1,000 applications have been received for correspondence in this country. It was through this International Correspondence Bureau that Mr. Copeman some time since received an invitation to visit Esthonia and help in starting the Adult School movement there. This invitation he accepted and was making preparations for an extended stay in Esthonia when early this month the Society of Friends, of which he is a member, requested Mr. Copeman to go to Russia at once to assist in the administration of the Friends' relief work in the famine-stricken regions.' " The temporary Foreign Secretary is Mr. D. Hotson Palmer, 3, Claremont Road, Norwich, and the English Secretary is Mr. Douglas James, National Adult School Union, 30, Bloomsbury Street, London, W.C.I." JJotice* to Correspondents. EDITOBIAL communications should be addressed to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries ' ' Adver- tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub- lishers " at the Office, Printing House Square, London, E.G. 4 ; corrected proofs to The Editor, ' N. & Q.,' Printing House Square, London, E.C.4. ALL communications intended for insertion in our columns should bear the name and address of the sender not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately. WHEN answering a query, or referring to an article which has already appeared, correspondents are requested to give within parentheses im- mediately after the exact heading the numbers of the series, volume, and page at which the con- tribution in question is to be found. WHEN sending a letter to be forwarded to another contributor correspondents are requested to put in the top left-hand corner of the envelope the number of the page of ' N. & Q.' to which the letter refers. H. WILBEBPOBCE BELL (The Prisoner of Chillon). This was Francois Bonivard, of whom a short account will be found in the ' Encyclo- paedia Britannica.' COBBIGENDA. The correct reference to the account of the man who hoisted Nelson's signal should read C.O. 284/43, May 20, 1852. This refers to The Tasmanian Colonist news- paper, which had copied the account from Chambers's Journal, but the date of which was not given. E. H. FAIRBROTHEB. Ante, p. 310, col. 2, s.v. ' Artemus Ward,' for "John Camden's Introduction to" read John Camden Hotten's Introduction to.