in the
possession of the reader: The defence follows.--

Fals. "_I would be sorry, my lord, but it should be thus: I never knew yet
but that rebuke and check were the reward of valour. Do you think me a
swallow, an arrow, or a bullet? Have I in my poor and old motion the
expedition of thought? I speeded hither within the very extremest inch of
possibility. I have foundered ninescore and odd posts_ (deserting by
degrees his serious tone, for _one_ of more address and advantage), _and
here, travel-tainted as I am, have I in my pure and immaculate valour
taken Sir John Coleville of the dale, a most furious Knight and valorous
enemy._"

_Falstaff_'s answer then is that he used all possible expedition to join
the army; the not doing of which, with an implication of Cowardice as the
cause, is the utmost extent of the charge against him; and to take off
this implication he refers to the evidence of a fact present and
manifest,--the surrender of _Coleville_; in whose hearing he speaks, and to
whom therefore he is supposed to appeal. Nothing then remains but that we
should inquire if _Falstaff_'s answer was really founded in truth; "_I
speeded hither_" says he, "_within the extremest inch of possibility_": If
it be so, he is justified: But I am afraid, for we must not conceal any
thing, that _Falstaff_ was really detained too long by his debaucheries in
London; at least, if we take the Chief Justice's words very strictly.

"Ch. Just. _How now, Sir John? What are you brawling here? Doth this
become your __PLACE__, your __TIME__, your __BUSINESS__? You should have
been well on your way to York._"

Here then seems to be a delay worthy perhaps of rebuke; and if we could
suppose _Lancaster_ to mean nothing more by _tardy tricks_ than idleness
and debauch, I should not possibly think myself much concerned to
vindicate _Falstaff_ from the charge; but the words imply, to my
apprehension, a designed and deliberate avoidance of danger. Yet to the
contrary of this we are furnished with very full and complete evidence.
_Falstaff_, the moment he quits London, discovers the utmost eagerness and
impatience to join the army; he gives up his gluttony, his mirth, and his
ease. We see him take up in his passage some recruits at _Shallow_'s
house; and tho' he has pecuniary views upon _Shallow_, no inducement stops
him; he takes no refreshment, he cannot _tarry dinner_, he hurries off;
"_I will not_," says he to the Justices, "_use many words wit