[ i6 ] 



" mifchief he doth, if his weapon be out ; he will foin like 

 » any devil : he will fpare neither man, woman nor child." 

 This paffage might have been as well omitted j it feems to be 

 one of thofe where the poet has lliewn too great a compliance 

 with the vicious manners of the times: but fuppofing it had no 

 indecent allufion, what infight do thefe expreffions give inta 

 his charader ? evidently nothing more than this ; that FalftafF 

 would not much fcruple at Ihedding blood, a property furcly,^ 

 belonging more to a coward than a brave man : and what are , 

 we to think of his attacking the perfon of a woman I In ftiort, 

 one would rather conclude thefe paffages, if ferious, to be an 

 indication of treachery and violence than of true courage. And 

 what was his condud when they attempted to arreft him? It 

 does not appear that he made any adive defence on his own part. 

 He cries out, " Away, varlets— draw, Bardolph— cut me off the 

 « villains head— throw the quean in the kennel." And again, 

 « Keep them off, Bardolph." All this, I fay, looks not only as 

 if he had felt no fufficient refource in himfelf, but as if he 

 committed the main adion to his fcurvy companion ; nor does 

 there appear any thing in the whole fccne that argues the leaft 

 fpirit in him, whether we judge from the fcntiments of Snare 

 and Quickly, or his own condud in the tranfadion. 



On another occafion his wench, Doll Tearfheet, alks him when 

 he will leave fighting, and patch up his old body for heaven ? 

 It was at his return from having routed Piftol. We may judge 

 of this feat from Falftaff's own account of this Piftol. " He's no 

 " fwaggerer, Hoftefs, a tame cheater he-, you may ftrokc him 

 " as gently as a puppy greyhound ; he will not fwagger with a 



" Barbary 



