, but such as Mr. ---- "_Souls made of fire_, and _children of
the sun_." These gentlemen, I am sadly afraid, cannot in honour or
prudence admit of any composition in the very nice article of Courage;
_suspicion_ is _disgrace_, and they cannot stay to parley with dishonour.
The misfortune in cases of this kind is that it is not easy to obtain a
fair and impartial Jury: When we censure others with an eye to our own
applause, we are as seldom sparing of reproach, as inquisitive into
circumstance; and bold is the man who, tenacious of justice, shall venture
to weigh circumstances, or draw lines of distinction between Cowardice and
any apparently similar or neighbour quality: As well may a lady, virgin or
matron, of immaculate honour, presume to pity or palliate the soft failing
of some unguarded friend, and thereby confess, as it were, those
sympathetic feelings which it behoves her to conceal under the most
contemptuous disdain; a disdain, always proportioned, I believe, to a
certain consciousness which we must not explain. I am afraid that poor
_Falstaff_ has suffered not a little, and may yet suffer by this
fastidiousness of temper. But though we may find these classes of men
rather unfavourable to our wishes, the Ladies, one may hope, whose smiles
are most worth our ambition, may be found more propitious; yet they too,
through a generous conformity to the _brave_, are apt to take up the high
tone of honour. Heroism is an idea perfectly conformable to the natural
delicacy and elevation of their minds. Should we be fortunate enough
therefore to redeem _Falstaff_ from the imputations of Cowardice, yet
plain Courage, I am afraid, will not serve the turn: Even their heroes, I
think, must be for the most part in the bloom of youth, or _just where
youth ends, in manhood's freshest prime_; but to be "_Old, cold, and of
intolerable entrails; to be fat and greasy; as poor as Job, and as
slanderous as Satan_";--Take him away, he merits not a fair trial; he is
too offensive to be turned, too odious to be touched. I grant, indeed,
that the subject of our lecture is not without his infirmity; "_He cuts
three inches on the ribs, he was short-winded_," and his breath possibly
not of the sweetest. "_He had the gout_," or something worse, "_which
played the rogue with his great toe._"--But these considerations are not to
the point; we shall conceal, as much as may be, these offences; our
business is with his _heart_ only, which, as we shal