cate affair to expose the follies of Henry V. before a people proud of his victories, and tender of his fame, at the same time so informed of the extravagancies, and exceffes of his youth, that he could not appear divested of them with any degree of historical probability. Their enormity would have been greatly heightened, if they had appeared in a piece entirely serious, and full of dignity and decorum. How happily therefore was the character of Falftaffe introduced, whofe wit and festivity in fome measure excuse the Prince for admitting him into his familiarity, and fuffering himself to be led by him into fome irregularities. There is hardly a young Hero, full of gaiety and spirit, who, if he had once fallen into the fociety of so pleafant a companion, could have the feverity to discard him, or would not fay, as the prince does,

He could better fpare a better man.

How skilfully does our author follow the tradition of the Prince's having been engaged G 4.

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in a robbery, yet make his part in it a mere frolic to play on the cowardly and braggart temper of Falstaffe! The whole conduct of that incident is very artful: he rejects the proposal of the robbery, and only complies with the playing a trick on the Robbers; and care is taken to inform you, that the money is returned to its owners. There is great propriety likewife in the behaviour of Prince Henry, when he' Tuppofes Falftaffe to lie dead before him: to have expreffed no concern, would have appeared unfeeling; to have lamented fuch a companion too ferioufly, ungraceful: with a fuitable mixture of tenderness and contempt he thus addreffes the body;

What! old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? poor Jack! farewell!

I could have better fpared a better man,

The Prince feems always diverted, rather than feduced by Falstaffe; he despises his Vices while he is entertained by his Humour: and though Falstaffe is for a while a

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ftain upon his character, yet it is of a kind with thofe colours, which are used for a difguife in fport, being of fuch a nature as are eafily washed out, without leaving any bad tincture. And we fee Henry, as foon as he is called, to the high and serious duties of a King, come forth at once with unblemished majefty. The difpofition of the Hero is made to pierce through the idle frolics of the Boy, throughout the whole piece for his reformation is not effected in the last scene of the last act, as is usual in our Comedies, but is prepared from the very beginning of the play. The fcene between the Prince and Francis, is low and ridiculous, and feems one of the greatest indecorums of the piece; at the fame time the attentive Spectator will find the purpose of it is to fhew him, that Henry was studying human nature, in all her variety of tempers and faculties. I am now, says he, acquainted with all humours, (meaning difpofitions) fince the days of good man Adam to the present 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, whilft he kept up the forms his rank prescribed, he waved the ceremonies and decorums of his fituation, and familiarly conversed with all orders of fociety. The jealoufy his father had conceived of him would probably have been increased, if he had affected fuch 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 bufinefs of his hiftorians to determine. But a critic must furely applaud the dexterity of Shakespear for throwing this colour over that part of his conduct; whether he feized on some intimations historians had given of that fort, or, of himself imagined fo refpec

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table 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 seemed 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 stage, is usually 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 must be ill-natured, as well as dull, who does not join in the mirth of this jovial companion, the best calculated, in all refpects, to raise Laughter of any that ever appeared on a stage.

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