From The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors, ed. Charles Wells Moulton, 8 vols. (London: Moulton Publishing, 1901), 1: 489-91.
HENRY IV., PART I
1596-97
The | History of | Henrie the | Fovrth; | With the batten at Shrewsburie, | betweene the King and Lord | Henry Percy, surnamed | Henrie Hotspur of | the North. | With the humorous conceits of Sir | John Falstalffe. | AT LONDON, | Printed by P. S. for Andrew Wise, dwelling | in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of | the Angell. 1598. -- TITLE PAGE OF FIRST EDITION, 1598.
December 31.-- In Paul's Church-yard I bought the play of "Henry the Fourth," and so went to the new Theatre and saw it acted, but my expectation being too great, it did not please me, as otherwise I believe it would, and my having a book, I believe did spoil it a little. -- PEPYS, SAMUEL, 1660, Diary and Correspondence.
John Fastolfe, Knight. . . . The Stage hath been overbold with his memory, making him a Thrasonical Puff, and emblem of Mock-valour. True it is, Sir John Oldcastle did first bear the brunt of the one, being made the make-sport in all Plays for a Coward. It is easily known out of what purse this black peny came; the Papists railing on him for a Heretick and therefore he must also be a Coward, though indeed he was a man of arms, every inch of him, and as valiant as any in his age. Now as I am glad that Sir John Oldcastle is put out, so I am sorry that Sir John Fastolfe is put in, to relieve his memory in this base service, to be the anvil for every dull wit to strike upon. Nor is our Comedian excusable, by some alteration of his name, writing him Sir John Falstafe (and making him the property of pleasure for King Henry the Fifth, to abuse), seeing the vicinity of sounds intrench on the memory of that worthy Knight, and few do heed the inconsiderable difference in spelling of their name. -- FULLER, THOMAS 1662, The Worthies of England, ed. Nichols, vol. II, p. 131.
As to the Comical part, 'tis certainly our Author's own Invention, and the Character of Sir John Falstaf, is owned by Mr. Dryden, to be the best of Comical Characters: and the Author himself had so good an Opinion of it, that he continued it in no less than four Plays. This part used to be play'd by Mr. Lacy, and never fail'd of universal applause. -- LANGBAINE, GERARD, 1691, An Account of the English Dramatick Poets, p. 456.
I cannot help thinking, there is more of contrivance and care in his execution of this play, than in almost any he has written. It is a more regular drama than his other historical plays, less charged with absurdities, and less involved in confusion.-- MONTAGU, ELIZABETH, 1769, Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespear, p. 101.
He is a man at once young and old, enterprising and fat, a dupe and a wit, harmless and wicked, weak in principle and resolute by constitution, cowardly in appearance and brave in reality, a knave without malice, a liar without deceit, and a knight, a gentleman, and a soldier without either dignity, decency, or honor. This is a character which, though it may be decompounded, could not, I believe have been formed, nor the ingredients of it duly mingled, upon any receipt whatever. It required the hand of Shakspeare himself to give to every particular part a relish of the whole, and of the whole to every particular part -- alike the same incongruous, identical Falstaff, whether to the grave Chief-justice he vainly talks of his youth and offers to caper for a thousand, or cries to Mrs. Doll, "I am old!" "I am old!" although she is seated on his lap, and he is courting her for busses. -- MORGANN, MAURICE, 1777-1825, Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstalff.
It is confessed, by all the world, that there is an uncommon force and versatility in the mirth of Falstaff which is superior to all that dramatic poetry has hitherto invented. -- DAVIES, THOMAS, 1784, Dramatic Miscellanies, vol. I, p. 237.
If Shakespear's fondness for the ludicrous sometimes led to faults in his tragedies (which was not often the case) he has made us amends by the character of Falstaff. This is perhaps the most substantial comic character that ever was invented. Sir John carries a most portly presence in the mind's eye, and in him, not to speak it profanely, "we behold the fulness of the spirit of wit and humour bodily." We are as well acquainted with his person as his mind, and his jokes come upon us with double force and relish from the quantity of flesh through which they make their way, as he shakes his fat sides with laughter, or "lards the lean earth as he walks along." Other comic characters seem, if we approach and handle them, to resolve themselves into air, "into thin air;" but this is embodied and palpable to the grossest apprehension: it lies "three fingers deep upon the ribs," it plays about the lungs and diaphragm with all the force of animal enjoyment. His body is like a good estate to his mind, from which he receives rents and revenues of profit and pleasure in kind, according to its extent and the richness of the soil. Wit is often a meagre substitute for pleasurable sensation; an effusion of spleen and petty spite at the comforts of others, from feeling none in itself. Falstaff's wit is an emanation of a fine constitution, an exuberance of good-humour and good-nature; an overflowing of his love of laughter and good-fellowship; a giving vent to his heart's ease, and over-contentment with himself and others. -- HAZLITT, WILLIAM, 1817-69, Characters of Shakespear's Plays, p. 133.
As an historical portrait, is not only unlike the original, but misleading and unjust in essential points of character. -- TYLER, JAMES ENDELL, 1838, Henry of Monmouth, vol. I, p. 356.
"Henry IV. Part 1st," may challenge the world to produce another more original and rich in characters: the whole zodiac of theatrical genius has no constellation with so many bright and fixed stars of the first magnitude as are here grouped together. -- CAMPBELL, THOMAS, 1838, ed. Shakspeare's Plays, Moxon ed., Life.
Shakespeare has indeed scarcely written another play of such fulness and diversity in fascinating and sharply delineated characters, bearing at the same time such a native stamp, and interwoven with a subject so national, and so universally interesting -- a play, in fact, of such manifold and powerful force of attraction. -- GERVINUS, G. G., 1849-62, Shakespeare Commentaries, tr. Bunnett, p. 299.
This big pot-bellied fellow, a coward, a jester, a brawler, a drunkard, a lewd rascal, a pothouse poet, is one of Shakspeare's favourites. The reason is, that his manners are those of pure nature, and Shakspeare's mind is congenial with his own. -- TAINE, H. A., 1871, History of English Literature, tr. Van Laun, vol. I, bk. ii, ch. iv, p. 323.
As to Hotspur, who can help liking him? With all his hot-headedness and petulance, his daring and his boasting, his humour with his wife, his scorn of that scented courtier, his lashing himself into a rage with Henry the Fourth, his keenness at a bargain (North-country to a T), his hatred of music, his love of his crop-eared roan. Yet he is passion's slave, the thrall of every temper and whim. Himself and his own glory are really his gods, as at his death he says. What is his native land, what is England's weal, to him? Things to be sacrificed because his temper's crossed. One third to Wales, to England's foe, one third to himself, and but one third to Richard's rightful heir. In one sense, Hotspur is Kate the Shrew, in armour and a man. But how he lives in the play, and starts from the printed page! -- FURNIVALL, FREDERICK JAMES, 1877, ed. The Leopold Shakspere.
He was a great Artist, and, as such, distinguished between the temporary and permanent, between the non-essential and essential, traits of human character. Had his intention in creating Falstaff been solely to caricature a religious sect, Falstaff would have passed away with Puritanism. He still lives, and today is as perfect an impersonation of wit as ever and appeals to our sense of humor as much as he did to that of Shakespeare's contemporaries. He will ever remain the most splendid manifestation of Shakespeare's genius in the realm of Comedy. -- FLEMING, WILLIAM H., 1890, Bankside Shakespeare, vol. XII, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, Introduction, p. 9.
There is no such perfect conception of the selfish sensualist in literature, and the conception is all the more perfect because of the wit that lights up the vice of Falstaff, a cold light without tenderness, for he was not a good fellow, though a merry companion. I am not sure but I should put him beside Hamlet, and on the same level, for the merit of his artistic completeness, and at one time I much preferred him, or at least his humor. -- HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN, 1895, My Literary Passions, p. 72.
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