was ftudying human nature, in all her variety of tempers and faculties. I am now, fays he, acquainted with all humours, { meaning dispositions) fince the days of good man Adam to the prefent hour. In the play of Henry V. you are told, that in his youth he had been fedulously observing mankind, and from an apprehenfion, perhaps, how difficult it was to acquire an intimate knowledge of men, whilst he kept up the forms his rank prefcribed, he waved the ceremonies and decorums of his fituation, and familiarly converfed with all orders of fociety. The jealousy his father had conceived of him would probably have been increased, if he had affected such a fort of popularity as would have gained the esteem, as well as love of the multitude. Whether Henry, in the early part of his life, was indulging a humour that inclined him to low and wild company, or endeavouring to acquire a deeper and more extenfive knowledge of human nature, by a general acquaintance with mankind, is the bufi nefs nefs of his hiftorians to determine. But a critic must surely applaud the dexterity of Shakefpear for throwing this colour over that part of his conduct; whether he seized on fome intimations historians had given of that fort, or, of himself imagined fo refpectable a motive for the Prince's deviations from the dignity of his birth. This piece must have delighted the people at the time it was written, as the Follies of their favourite character were fo managed, that they rather feemed foils to fet off its Virtues, than ftains which obfcured them. Whether we confider the character of Falstaffe as adapted to encourage and excufe the extravagancies of the Prince, or by itself, we must certainly admire it, and own it to be perfectly original. The profeffed Wit, either in life or on the ftage, is ufually fevere and fatirical. But Mirth is the fource of Falstaffe's Wit." He seems rather to invite you to partake of his merriment, than to attend to his jeft; a man a man must be ill-natured; as well as dull, who does not join in the mirth of this jovial companion, the best calculated in all respects, to raise Laughter of any, that ever appeared on a ftage, 2. He joins the fineffe of Wit to the drollery of Humour, Humour is a kind of grotesque Wit, shaped and coloured by the difpofition of the perfon in whom it refides, or by the subject to which it is applied. It is ofteneft found in odd and irregular minds: but this peculiar turn diftorts wit, and though it gives it a burlesque air, which, excites momentary mirth, renders it lefs juft, and confequently less agreeable to our judgments. Gluttony, corpulency, and cowardice, are the peculiarities of Falstaffe's compofition; they render him ridiculous without folly, throw an air of jest and festivity about him, and make his manners suit with his fentiments, without giving to his understanding any particular bias. As the contempt attendant on these vices and defects is the best antidote against any infec tion that might be caught in his fociety, fo it was very skilful to make him as ridiculous as witty, and as contemptible as entertaining. The admirable speech upon honour would have been both indecent and dangerous from any other person. We must allow his wit is every where just, his humour genuine, his character perfectly original, and sustained through every scene, in every play, in which it appears. As Falstaffe, whom the author certainly intended to be perfectly witty, is lefs addicted to quibble and play on words, than any of his comic characters, I think we may fairly conclude, our author was fenfible that it was but a falfe kind of wit, which he practifed from the hard neceffity of the times: for in that age, the Profeffor quibbled in his chair, the Judge quibbled on the bench, the Prelate quibbled in the pulpit, the Statesman quibbled at the council-board; nay, even Majefty quibbled on the Throne. |