{"id":"01KG8AYDCDF4MGVFJTNCXGMRZ4","cid":"bafkreiaowbhbhwo6ums5g4qxlfgyrva7ijj4futycpuhym5ek6zvyzwjca","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreic4a42fbw5kshblkjhkimzkhtwsmsd35zenxahwtv5abkdnnv5poi","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"03_merry_wives_of_windsor_1905_page_0017.jpg","height":1778,"key":"pdf-page-1769806443564-kwlrbltyc7g","label":"03_merry_wives_of_windsor_1905_page_0017.jpg","page_number":17,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":390551,"text":"Introduction ii\nsatisfactory evidence that it was based on correct in-\nformation. Itis probable that the revision of the play\nwas made for a court performance at Windsor. \" The\nfairy scene at the close, originally slight, gay, and sa-\ntirical, such as the good folks of Windsor might have\ninvented when inspired by a spirit of frolic-mischief, is\ndiscarded, in order to substitute a higher tone of fairy\npoetry, graceful and delicate, fanciful and grotesque.\nIt seems probable that the author, when his play was\nabout to be reproduced before the court, after some\ncelebration of the Order of the Garter, rejected his\nformer verses, in order to enrich his piece with a scene\nimitating and rivalling the high fanciful elegance of\nthe masques, which had then become popular, and in\nwhich Ben Jonson was then exhibiting an exuberance\nof refined and original and delicate fancy, which could\nnever have been anticipated from the stern satire, the\ncoarse humour, and the learned imitations of his regular\ndrama.\"\nTradition ascribes the origin of the play to Queen\nElizabeth. Rowe, in the life of Shakespeare prefixed\nto his edition, first published in 1709, says that Eliza-\nbeth \"was so well pleased with that admirable charac-\nter of Falstaff in the two parts of Henry IV. that she\ncommanded him to continue it for one play more, and\nto show Falstaff in love.\" The same story had been\ngiven by John Dennis, in 1702 (in the preface to The\nComical Gallant^ a comedy founded on the Merry\nWives\\ with unimportant variations, indicating that he","text_extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:54:03.564Z","text_extracted_by":"pdf-processor","text_has_content":true,"text_source":"born_digital","uploaded":true,"width":1084},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG89K4N3KNPAGDJAVRPVWBA4","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KG89JREDR8WY5QQGYR5FZRDY","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AYDBGMK2PR07HDR7A843S","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AYDBF0S3PVT30VTY09FCW","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:54:03.917Z","ts":"2026-01-30T21:06:07.916Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFFH6ETXGRVD10WPNP3007D6"}}