Sir John Falstaff, disguised as Mother Prat, cudgied and driven at ly. Mr Ford. Merry Wives of Windsor. Act 4th Scene 2nd

th.

FALSTAFF CORRESPONDENCE.

191

constantly occupied in diplomatic schemes for the recovery of his forfeited position. He left no stone unturned in the fruitless endeavour to regain the royal ear. He deluged his courtly acquaintances with unavailing letters on the subject. He intrigued with secretaries, grooms-in-waiting, pages, lacqueys, and even the lords of the bedchamber and equerries. I am afraid he was rapidly becoming a nuisance.

It is to be regretted that the preserved fragments of the Falstaff correspondence, in connection with this most interesting phase of our knight's fortunes, are confined to two specimens.* These, however, consisting of a letter and its answer, it would be difficult to estimate at their adequate value. Their transference to these pages will sufficiently explain the motive for Sir John's visit to Windsor last alluded to.

To the Right (or Wrong) Worshipful Sir Edward Poins, Knight of the Bath and Garter, Comptroller of the Staircases, Groom of the Laundry, &c. &c., dwelling at Windsor Castle, be this delivered.

"NED, and be hanged in thine own garter or drowned in thine own bath, according as thou needest most trussing or washing.

"They told me in London thou hadst grown great at Windsor, and I hastened hither post to witness the marvel with mine own eyes-mistrusting other testimony. Lo, I am convinced! I saw thee this morning strutting on Wykeham's Tower-marshalling the workmen with thy wand of office, and noted that thou hadst become fat. At length, then, I may greet thee as an equal—the more, as it would seem I myself have so dwindled to thy former proportions that thou didst not know me; but when I sought to catch thine eye, twirledst thy chain and soughtest quarrel with a knave who was miscarrying a hod of mortar. Since, then, thou art so puffed up and I so crushed and flattened—what should be the difference between us? If there be any, I pri' thee, lessen it. If at length thou hast grown to outweigh me, slice thyself down and throw me the parings. I but claim to compound a debt. I will cry quits for the wit I have lent thee if thou wilt give me the superabundance of favour and dignity which in truth thou seemest still somewhat too spindle-shanked of spirit to carry with grace. Nay, I will throw thee a good thing into the bargain. Thou lackest humility—a commodity whereof more than I know what to do with hath been of late forced upon me. Thou shalt have it all.

Indite me to dinner at the Castle by ten o'clock to-morrow. Till then I will be tonguetied. If thou failest to send for me and to prove over many a pottle-pot that thou hast still the memory of old times and that thou hast but assumed the guise of a strutting feathered jackdaw as formerly thou didst that of a very owl of wisdom on grounds of policy to be forgiven then will I make it known by the town-crier of Windsor what an ass thou really art and ever will be. "Tis a secret worth hushing and known to none better than thine, forgivingly,

"JOHN FALstaff.

"[In sober earnest, dear Ned, thou mayest serve me near him thou wottest of. I pri' thee forget not old friends and comrades. Thou couldst not know me this morning-for reasons I guess at. But see me and it shall bring thee to no harm. J. F.]

"At the Garter Inn, Friday, 1414. 2. H. V."

In the Strongate Collection,

ANSWER TO THE FOREGOING.

To Sir John Falstafl, Knight, be this delivered.

"SIR EDWARD POINS grieves that his many duties as a humble but diligent servant of King Henry (whom Heaven preserve!) may not permit him to enjoy the pleasure of Sir John Falstaff's company at Windsor Castle, whereof his Most Gracious Majesty hath been pleased to appoint Sir Edward for a time custodian. It is not, however, in Sir Edward's nature to refuse a service to any one. If Sir John Falstaff is anxious for himself or friends to obtain the privilege of viewing the improvements in progress as well as the tapestries and pictures of the palace, Sir Edward will give instructions to the wardens and porters of the building to admit Sir John and friends to the same (within the hours allotted to the admission of the public) with the assurance that Sir John and friends will be treated with right due courtesy. "P.S. It is entreated that no largesse or drink money shall be given to any of the Castle servitors-the same subjecting such servitors to immediate dismissal."

That Sir Edward Poins - always a faithful imitator, to the best of his ability, of King Henry the Fifth-should have thus behaved towards his early friend and patron will surprise no student of human nature. This coolness and ingratitude, however, of a supposed friend had no other effect than to induce Sir John Falstaff during his residence in the neighbourhood to choose his associates exclusively from the middle classes- the lesser landowners, clergy, and even small traders of extra-palatial Windsor. In such unassuming society Sir John passed his time for the most part agreeably enough, and not altogether unprofitably — though with many serious drawbacks to his comfort, dignity, and finances.

On the whole, I confess, I feel no temptation whatever to expatiate upon this portion of my hero's rapidly closing career. The Windsor adventures of Sir John Falstaff, forming as they do the basis of one of the most admirably faithful and picturesque of Shakspeare's historical studies, present, after all, but an exceptional and, in my opinion, most painful episode in the knight's history. They show us the harrowing spectacle of a great man in his decline. Many thoughtless commentators have pronounced the portrait of Sir John Falstaff, as drawn in the "Merry Wives of Windsor," to be wanting in verisimilitude, and have therefore called its authenticity into question. No discerning mind can mistake the likeness. It is the same man whom we have so often seen drawn by the same master-hand under more favourable circumstances but how changed, how fallen! The features are all unmistakeably there; but the expression, bearing, and complexion, how sadly deteriorated! Age, disappointment, and suffering have done their work. Sir John can no longer hold his ground against the most contemptible adversary. The victor is vanquished — the biter bitten. The more than match for the keen-witted Harry Monmouth-the conqueror of Gascoigne and the terror of Poins. - becomes the easy dupe of a couple of practical