FAL. Well, thou haft call'd her to a reckoning, many a time and oft. Fuller alludes in his Church Hiftory, 1656, when he fays, "Stage poets have themselves been very bold with, and others very merry at, the memory of Sir John Óldcaftle, whom they have fancied a boon companion, a jovial royster, and a coward to boot." Speed in his Hiftory, which was first published in 1611, alludes both to this"boon companion" of the anonymous K. Henry V. and to the Sir John Oldcastle exhibited in a play of the fame name, which was printed in 1600: "The author of The Three Converfions hath made Oldcaffle a ruffian, a robber, and a rebel, and his authority taken from the flage players." Oldcastle is reprefented as a rebel in the play laft mentioned alone; in the former play as "a ruffian and a robber." Shakspeare probably never intended to ridicule the real Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, in any refpect; but thought proper to make Falstaff, in imitation of his proto-type, the Oldcastle of the old K. Henry V. a mad round knave alfo. From the first appearance of our author's King Henry IV. the old play in which Sir John Oldcastle had been exhibited, (which was printed in 1598,) was probably never performed. Hence, I conceive, it is, that Fuller fays, "Sir John Falftaff has relieved the memory of Sir John Oldcastle, and of late is fubftituted buffoon in his place;" which being misunderstood, probably gave rife to the ftory, that Shak fpeare changed the name of his character. 66 A paffage in his Worthies, folio, 1662, p. 253, fhows his meaning ftill more clearly; and will ferve at the fame time to point out the fource of the mistakes on this fubject. Sir John Faftolfe, knight, was a native of this county [Norfolk]. To avouch him by many arguments valiant, is to maintain that the fun is bright; though, fince, the stage has been over-bold with his memory, making him a Thrafonical puff, and emblem of mock-valour.-True it is, Sir John Oldeaftle did firft bear the brunt of the one, being made the makefport in all plays for a coward. It is eafily known out of what purfe this black penny came. The papifts railing on him for a heretick; and therefore he must be alfo a coward: though indeed he was a man of arms, every inch of him, and as valiant as any of his age. "Now as I am glad that Sir John Oldcastle is put out, fo I am forry that Sir John Faftolfe is put in, to relieve his memory in this bafe fervice; to be the anvil for every dull wit to strike upon. Nor is our comedian excufable by fome alteration of his name, writing him Sir John Falftafe, (and making him the property and P. HEN. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part? FAL. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou haft paid all there. pleasure of King Henry V. to abufe,) feeing the vicinity of founds intrench on the memory of that worthy knight." Here we see the affertion is, not that Sir John Oldcastle did firft bear the brunt in Shakspeare's play, but in all plays, that is, on the ftage in general, before Shakspeare's character had appeared; owing to the malevolence of papifts, of which religion it is plain Fuller fuppofed the writers of thofe plays in which Oldcaftle was exhibited, to have been; nor does he complain of Shakspeare's altering the name of his character from Oldcastle to Falstaff, but of the metathefis of Faftolfe to Falstaff. Yet I have no doubt that the words above cited, " put out" and "put in," and "by fome alteration of his name," that these words alone, mifunderstood, gave rife to the misapprehenfion that has prevailed fince the time of Mr. Rowe, relative to this matter. For what is the plain meaning of Fuller's words?" Sir John Faftolfe was in truth a very brave man, though he is now reprefented on the ftage as a cowardly braggart. Before he was thus ridiculed, Sir John Oldcastle, being hated by the papifts, was exhibited by popish writers, in all plays, as a coward. Since the new character of Falstaff has appeared, Oldcastle has no longer borne the brunt, has no longer been the object of ridicule: but, as on the one hand I am glad that his memory has been relieved,' that the plays in which he was reprefented have been expelled from the fcene, fo on the other, I am forry that fo refpectable a character as Sir John Faftolfe has been brought on it, and fubftituted buffoon in his place;' for however our comick poet [Shakspeare] may have hoped to escape cenfure by altering the name from Faftolfe to Falftaff, he is certainly culpable, fince fome imputation must neceffarily fall on the brave knight of Norfolk from the fimilitude of the founds." Falftaff having thus grown out of, and immediately fucceeding, the other character, (the Oldcastle of the old K. Henry V.) having one or two features in common with him, and being probably reprefented in the fame drefs, and with the fame fictitious belly, as his predeceffor, the two names might have been indifcriminately ufed by Field and others, without any mistake, or intention to deceive. Perhaps, behind the fcenes, in confequence of the circumftances already mentioned, Oldcastle might have been a cant appellation for Falftaff, for a long time. Hence the name might have been prefixed inadvertently, in fome play-houfe copy, to one of the fpeeches in The Second Part of K. Henry IV. P. HEN. Yea, and elsewhere, fo far as my coin would ftretch; and, where it would not, I have ufed my credit. FAL. Yea, and fo ufed it, that, were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent,—But, I pr'ythee, fweet wag, fhall there be gallows ftanding in England when thou art king? and refolution thus fobb'd as it is, with the rufty curb of old father If the verses be examined, in which the name of Falstaff occurs, it will be found, that Oldcastle could not have stood in thofe places. The only answer that can be given to this, is, that Shakspeare newwrote each verfe in which Falstaff's name occurred;—a labour which thofe only who are entirely unacquainted with our author's hiftory and works, can fuppofe him to have undergone.-A paffage in the Epilogue to The Second Part of K. Henry IV. rightly underflood, appears to me ftrongly to confirm what has been now fuggefted. See the note there. MALONE. 5 And is not a buff jerkin a moft fweet robe of durance?] To understand the propriety of the Prince's anfwer, it must be remarked that the fheriff's officers were formerly clad in buff. So that when Falstaff asks, whether his hoftefs is not a fweet wench, the Prince asks in return whether it will not be a fweet thing to go to prifon by running in debt to this fweet wench. JOHNSON. The following paffage from the old play of Ram-Alley, may ferve to confirm Dr. Johnson's obfervation: "Look, I have certain goblins in buff jerkins, Again, in The Comedy of Errors, A&t iv: [Enter Serjeants. "A devil in an everlafting garment hath him, Durance, however, might alfo have fignified fome lasting kind of ftuff, fuch as we call at prefent, everlasting. So, in Weftward Hoe, by Decker and Webster, 1607: "Where did'st thou buy this buff? Let me not live but I will give thee a good fuit of durance. Wilt thou take my bond?" &c. Again, in The Devil's Charter, 1607: "Varlet of velvet, my moccado villain, old heart of durance, my ftrip'd canvas fhoulders, and my perpetuana pander." Again, in The Three Ladies of London, 1584: "As the taylor that out of feven yards, ftole one and a half of durance." STEEVENS. 1 antick the law? Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief. P. HEN. No; thou fhalt. FAL. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge.+ P. HEN. Thou judgeft falfe already; I mean, thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves, and fo become a rare hangman. FAL. Well, Hal, well; and in fome fort it jumps with my humour, as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you. P. HEN. For obtaining of fuits?" FAL. Yea, for obtaining of fuits: whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy as a gib cat," or a lugg'd bear. 4 I'll be a brave judge.] This thought, like many others, is taken from the old play of Henry V: "Hen. V. Ned, fo foon as I am king, the first thing I will do fhall be to put my lord chief juftice out of office; and thou shalt be my lord chief juftice of England. "Ned. Shall I be lord chief justice? By gogs wounds, I'll be the braveft lord chief justice that ever was in England." STEEVENS. 5 For obtaining of fuits?] Suit, fpoken of one that attends at court, means a petition; ufed with respect to the hangman, means the clothes of the offender. JOHNSON. So, in an ancient Medley, bl. 1: "The broker hath gay cloaths to fell "Which from the hangman's budgett fell." STEEVENS. See Vol. IV. p. 325, n. 5. The fame quibble occurs in Hoffman's Tragedy, 1631: " A poor maiden, mistress, has a fuit to you; and 'tis a good fuit,—very good apparel." MALONE. 6 —a gib cat,] A gib cat means, I know not why, an old cat. JOHNSON. A gib cat is the common term in Northamptonshire, and all adjacent counties, to exprefs a he cat. PERCY. "As melancholy as a gib'd cat" is a proverb enumerated among others in Ray's Collection. In A Match at Midnight, 1633, P. HEN. Or an old lion; or a lover's lute." FAL. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.R P. HEN. What fay'ft thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch? * is the following paffage: "They fwell like a couple of gib'd cats, met both by chance in the dark in an old garret." So, in Bulwer's Artificial Changeling, 1653: "Some in mania or melancholy madnefs have attempted the fame, not without fuccefs, although they have remained fomewhat melancholy like gib'd cats." I believe after all, a gib'd cat is a cat who has been qualified for the feraglio; for all animals fo mutilated, become drowly and melancholy. To glib has certainly that meaning. So, in The Winter's Tale, Act II. fc. i: "And I had rather glib myself than they "Should not produce fair iffue." In Sidney's Arcadia, however, the fame quality in a cat is mentioned, without any reference to the confequences of caftration: "The hare, her fleights; the cat, his melancholy." STEEVENS. Sherwood's English Dictionary at the end of Cotgrave's French one, fays: "Gibbe is an old he cat." Aged animals are not fo playful as thofe which are young; and glib'd or gelded ones are duller than others. So we might read: —as melancholy as a gib cat, or a glib'd cat. 7 8 TOLLET. or a lover's lute.] See Vol. IV. P. 472, n. 9. MALONE. ·Lincolnshire bagpipe.] "Lincolnshire bagpipes" is a proverbial faying. Fuller has not attempted to explain it; and Ray only conjectures that the Lincolnshire people may be fonder of this inftrument than others. DouCE. I fufpect that by the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe, is meant the |