Writing he was most Excellent in. There is certainly a great deal of
Entertainment in his Comical Humours; and tho' they did not then strike
at all Ranks of People, as the Satyr of the present Age has taken the
Liberty to do, yet there is a pleasing and a well-distinguish'd Variety
in those Characters which he thought fit to meddle with. _Falstaff_ is
allow'd by every body to be a Master-piece; the Character is always
well-sustain'd, tho' drawn out into the length of three Plays; and even
the Account of his Death, given by his Old Landlady Mrs. _Quickly_, in
the first Act of _Henry_ V. tho' it be extremely Natural, is yet as
diverting as any Part of his Life. If there be any Fault in the Draught
he has made of this lewd old Fellow, it is, that tho' he has made him a
Thief, Lying, Cowardly, Vain-glorious, and in short every way Vicious,
yet he has given him so much Wit as to make him almost too agreeable;
and I don't know whether some People have not, in remembrance of the
Diversion he had formerly afforded 'em, been sorry to see his Friend
_Hal_ use him so scurvily, when he comes to the Crown in the End of the
Second Part of _Henry_ the Fourth. Amongst other Extravagances, in _The
Merry Wives of_ Windsor, he has made him a Dear-stealer, that he might
at the same time remember his _Warwickshire_ Prosecutor, under the Name
of Justice _Shallow_; he has given him very near the same Coat of Arms
which _Dugdale_, in his Antiquities of that County, describes for a
Family there, and makes the _Welsh_ Parson descant very pleasantly upon
'em. That whole Play is admirable; the Humours are various and well
oppos'd; the main Design, which is to cure _Ford_ his unreasonable
Jealousie, is extremely well conducted. _Falstaff's Billet-doux_, and
Master _Slender_'s

_Ah! Sweet_ Ann Page!

are very good Expressions of Love in their Way. In _Twelfth-Night_ there