Brentford —
“The fat woman of,”
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, iv. 2.
63
;
“the witch of Brentford,”
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, iv. 2.
85.
In the corresponding scene of the quarto she is called“Gillian of Brainford;” who appears to have been a real personage, and whose
name was well known in our author's time. A black-letter tract, entitled Iyl of breyntfords testament. Newly com-
piled, n. d. 4to, was written by Robert, and printed by
William, Copland. The“Iyl” who figures in that
coarse tract“kept an inne of ryght good lodgyng;” but no mention is made of her having dealt in witchcraft. Yet one of the
characters in Dekker and Webster's Westward Ho says,
“I doubt that old hag, Gillian
of Brainford, has bewitched me.”
Webster's Works, p.
238, ed. Dyce, 1857.