I'll entertain the offered fallacy.

Luc. Dromio, go bid the servants spread for dinner.
Dro. S. O, for my beads! I cross me for a sinner.
This is the fairy land: O, spite of spites!

190

We talk with fairies, goblins, elves, and sprites. 184. drives] draws Singer, ed. 2 (Collier). 186. offer'd] Capell; free'd Ff; favour'd Rowe (ed. 2); proffer'd Singer conj.; forced Grant White. 187, 193, 199. Luc.] Adr. Keightley conj. 188-202. Marked as spurious by Pope. 190. We talk] For here we talk Keightley. fairies, goblins] Editor; goblins Ff; ghosts and goblins Lettsom conj.; none but goblins Dyce (ed. 2). elves] Editor (Lettsom and Cartwright conj.); Owles F 1; ouphs Theobald. sprites] sprights F 1; Elves Sprights Ff 2, 3, 4; elvish sprights Pope; elves and sprights Hudson (Collier); fairy sprites Cartwright conj.

189, 195, 199. This is the fairy
land ...
transformed. . . ass] This
passage certainly goes far to support
the idea that when Shakespeare wrote
it he was already dreaming of the
fairy world of A Midsummer-Night's
Dream, and of Bully Bottom's trans-
formation to an ass; but there can be
little doubt that he obtained his im-
mediate hints from the comedies of
Lyly. See Introduction.

fairies; hence a misbegotten, deformed, or idiot-child, a half-wit, simpleton." Now, inasmuch as Shakespeare is here speaking of the fairy land and uses the form "ouphes only in the two above quoted passages in the Merry Wives of Windsor, whilst he uses "elves at least half-a-dozen times, e.g. in the Midsummer-Night's Dream, Merry Wives of Windsor, and The Tempest, I think the balance of probability inclines in favour of the reading "elves"; and hence that Theobald's reading should not be adopted. "Elves" is also supported by the reading in the second Folio, for what that is worth. It is difficult to see any connection between fairy land (which expression is really the governing factor of the passage) and "owls." The latter were repellent to the fairies: see Midsummer-Night's Dream, II. ii. 5, where Titania says, "Some keep back the clamorous owl." The quotations from the older commentators in support of the reading of the first Folio may be found in the Variorum editions of 1803 and 1821. But notwithstanding their opinions, supported as these are by a considerable parade of learning, I think owls cannot be retained in the text,

190. We talk... sprites] This line as printed in the first Folio is clearly defective. I think the word "fairies" has dropped out before " goblins," chiefly by reason of the occurrence of "fairy" in the preceding line: and if this be so, the only material question is whether we should read ouphes (oufes) or elves instead of owls. Theobald's reading, ouphes, is, in a measure, supported by its occurrence in Merry Wives of Windsor, Iv. iv. 49: "Like urchins, ouphes and fairies, green and white"; and v. v. 61: "Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred room." But ouph (ouf) is a form of auf or oaf, which is only another form of its cognate elf, i.e. fairy. Auf meant, according to the New Eng. Dict., "an elf's child, a goblin child, a changeling left by the

If we obey them not, this will ens They 'll suck our breath, or pinch Luc. Why prat'st thou to thyself, and a Dromio, thou drone, thou snail, th Dro. S. I am transformed, master, am Ant. S. I think thou art, in mind, and Dro. S. Nay, master, both in mind and Ant. S. Thou has thine own form.

N

Dro. S.
Luc. If thou art changed to aught, 'tis
Dro. S. 'Tis true; she rides me, and I

'Tis so, I am an ass; else it could But I should know her as well as Adr. Come, come; no longer will I be To put the finger in the eye and Whilst man and master laughs m Come, sir, to dinner. Dromio, k Husband, I'll dine above with yo And shrive you of a thousand idl

205. lau

192. or] and Theobald. 193. and answer'st 3, 4. 194. Dromio, thou drone, thou snail] The thou snaile Ff1; Dromio, thou Dromio, snaile F Ff; am not I? Theobald. 199. aught] Warbu eye] thy eye Ff 2, 3; my eye Collier. and chiefly on the simple ground that the expressions "This is the fairy land" and "we talk" must imply a conversation with fairies, i.e. beings of human shape; unless it can be imagined that owls assumed the human form, and we have no warrant for this, or that these birds had any agency over mortals.

194. drone] Theobald's reading may almost be styled certissima.

194. sot] fool: in this sense in half a dozen other passages in the plays. 200. grass] Compare 2 Henry VI.

Iv. ii. 75 my palfr siders th sense under the

204. T rision of Taming

"A P Put

ki 208. s

call you tell your

Sirrah, if any ask you for your master,
Say he dines forth, and let no creature enter.
Come, sister. Dromio, play the porter well.
Ant. S. Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell?

Sleeping or waking? mad, or well advised?
Known unto these, and to myself disguised!
I'll say as they say, and perséver so,
And in this mist at all adventures go.

Dro. S. Master, shall I be porter at the gate ?
Adr. Ay; and let none enter, lest I break your pate.
Luc. Come, come, Antipholus; we dine too late.

212-216. Marked as "aside" by Capell.

conj.

210

215

[Exeunt.

218. and] omitted by Collier

It

1. Good. us] Pope, I think, was right in omitting all, as being unnecessary to sense and metre. could only refer to Antipholus of Ephesus and Balthazar, Dromio of Ephesus as a slave not being taken into account. On the other hand, as some defence of the Folio reading, it must be noted that Balthazar on his part uses the very same word in line 95 of this scene: "And let us to the Tiger all to dinner "; but in the latter case Angelo would seem to be included, and hence "all" would be appropriate. It may be suggested that Shakespeare originally wrote