maliciously determined that he shall have no Courage at all. But let us
suppose that his modes of expression, even _in soliloquy_, will admit of
some abatement;--how much shall we abate? Say that he brought off _fifty_
instead of _three_; yet a Modern captain would be apt to look big after an
action with two thirds of his men, as it were, in his belly. Surely
_Shakespeare_ never meant to exhibit this man as a Constitutional coward;
if he did, his means were sadly destructive of his end. We see him, after
he had expended his Rag-o-muffians, with sword and target in the midst of
battle, in perfect possession of himself, and replete with humour and
jocularity. He was, I presume, in some immediate personal danger, in
danger also of a general defeat; too corpulent for flight; and to be led a
prisoner was probably to be led to execution; yet we see him laughing and
easy, offering a bottle of sack to the Prince instead of a pistol,
punning, and telling him, "_there was that which would __SACK__ a
city._"--"_What, is it a time_," says the Prince "_to jest and dally now?_"
No, a sober character would not jest on such an occasion, but a Coward
could not; he would neither have the inclination, or the power. And what
could support _Falstaff_ in such a situation? Not principle; he is not
suspected of the Point of honour; he seems indeed fairly to renounce it.
"_Honour cannot set a leg or an arm; it has no skill in surgery:--What is
it? a word only; meer air. It is insensible to the dead; and detraction
will not let __ it live with the living._" What then but a strong natural
constitutional Courage, which nothing could extinguish or dismay?--In the
following passages the true character of _Falstaff_ as to Courage and
Principle is finely touched, and the different colours at once nicely
blended and distinguished. "_If Percy be alive, I'll __PIERCE__ him. If he
do come in my way, __SO__:--If he do not, if I come in __HIS__ willingly,
let him make a Carbonado of me. I like not such grinning honour as Sir
Walter hath; give me life; which if I can save, __SO__; if not, honour
comes unlook'd for, and there's an end._" One cannot say which prevails
most here, profligacy or courage; they are both tinged alike by the same
humour, and mingled in one common mass; yet when we consider the superior
force of _Percy_, as we must presently also that of _Douglas_, we shall be
apt, I believe, in our secret heart, to forgive him. These passages are
spok