of his _Person_ is the Picture of Jollity,
Mirth, and Good-nature, and banishes at once all other Ideas from your
Breast; He is happy himself, and makes you happy.--If you examine him
further, he has no Fierceness, Reserve, Malice or Peevishness lurking
in his Heart; His Intentions are all pointed at innocent Riot and
Merriment; Nor has the Knight any inveterate Design, except against
_Sack_, and that too he _loves_.--If, besides this, he desires to
pass for a Man of _Activity_ and _Valour_, you can easily excuse so
harmless a _Foible_, which yields you the highest Pleasure in its
constant _Detection_.

If you put all these together, it is impossible to _hate_ honest
_Jack Falstaff_; If you observe them again, it is impossible to avoid
_loving_ him; He is the gay, the witty, the frolicksome, happy, and
fat _Jack Falstaff_, the most delightful _Swaggerer_ in all Nature.--
You must _love_ him for your _own_ sake,--At the same time you cannot
but _love_ him for _his own_ Talents; And when you have _enjoy'd_
them, you cannot but _love_ him in _Gratitude_;--He has nothing to
disgust you, and every thing to give you Joy;--His _Sense_ and his
_Foibles_ are equally directed to advance your Pleasure; And it is
impossible to be tired or unhappy in his Company.

This _jovial_ and _gay_ Humour, without any thing _envious_,
_malicious_, _mischievous_, or _despicable_, and continually
_quicken'd_ and adorn'd with _Wit_, yields that peculiar Delight,
without any _Alloy_, which we all feel and acknowledge in _Falstaff's_
Company.--_Ben Johnson_ has _Humour_ in his _Characters_, drawn with
the most masterly Skill and Judgment; In Accuracy, Depth, Propriety,
and Truth, he has no _Superior_ or _Equal_ amongst _Ancients_ or
_Moderns_; But the _Characters_ he exhibits are of _satirical_, and
_deceitful_, or of a _peevish_ or _despicable_ Species; as _Volpone_,
_Subtle_, _Morose_, and _Abel Drugger_; In all of which there is
something very justly to be _hated_ or _despised_; And you feel
the same Sentiments of _Dislike_ for every other _Character_ of
_Johnson_'s; so that after you have been _gratify'd_ with their
_Detention_ and _Punishment_, you are quite tired and disgusted with
their Company:--Whereas _Shakespear_, besides the peculiar _Gaiety_ in
the _Humour_ of _Falstaff_, has guarded him from disgusting you with
his _forward Advances_, by giving him _Rank_ and _Quality_; from being
_despicable_ by his real good _Sense_ and excellent