always conspicuous was no doubt inherited--was, in fact, a
Scandinavian thirst. The pirates of early English times drank as well
as they fought, and their descendants who invade England--now that the
war of commerce has superseded the war of conquest--still bring the
old thirst with them, as anyone can testify who has enjoyed the
hospitality of the London Scandinavian Club. Then this church was no
doubt a familiar landmark in the family; and when Falstaff stated,
late in life, that if he hadn't forgotten what the inside of a church
was like, he was a peppercorn and a brewer's horse, he was thinking
with some remorse of the family temple.

Of the family between the Conquest and Falstaff's birth we know
nothing, except that, according to Falstaff's statement, he had a
grandfather who left him a seal-ring worth forty marks. From this
statement we might infer that the ring was an heirloom, and
consequently that Falstaff was an eldest son, and the head of his
family. But we must be careful in drawing our inferences, for Prince
Henry frequently told Falstaff that the ring was copper; and on one
occasion, when Falstaff alleged that his pocket had been picked at the
Boar's Head, and this seal-ring and three or four bonds of forty
pounds apiece abstracted, the Prince assessed the total loss at
eight-pence.

After giving careful attention to the evidence, and particularly to
the conduct of Falstaff on the occasion of the alleged robbery, we
come to the conclusion that the ring _was_ copper, and was not an
heirloom. This leaves us without any information about Falstaff's
family prior to his birth. He was born (as he himself informs the Lord
Chief Justice) about three o'clock in the afternoon, with a white head
and something a round belly. Falstaffs corpulence, therefore, as well