ABSTRACT
Was performed, the first Part of Henry the Fourth, written by Shakespeare. The Plays of this Author must never be judged by the strict Rules of Dramatic Poetry, with which it is to be imagined he was not acquainted; and therefore to try him by what he did not know would be trying him by a Kind of ex post facto Law, Regularity of Design being introduced in this Country since the Decease of that great Genius. Mr Hume, in his History of Great Britain,1 has given a pretty just Character of him when he says ‘A striking Peculiarity of Sentiment,
adapted to a singular Character, he frequently hits as it were by Inspiration; but a reasonable Propriety of Thought he cannot for any Time uphold;’ unless the Character of Falstaff be an Exception to this very sensible Writer’s Opinion. For indeed the Character of Sir John no where flags, and he generally upholds a Propriety of Thought if it be considered in regard to the Manners of the Speaker. Bullying, Cowardice, Vaunting, Detection, boasted Activity and bodily Indolence, Profligacy and Pretensions to Decorum, form such a party-coloured Groupe as moves our Laughter irresistibly. His Wit and, on all Occasions, the Pleasantry of his Ideas provoke us to laugh with him, and hinder the Knight’s Character from sinking into Contempt; and we love him, in Spight of his degrading Foibles, for his enlivened Humour and his companionable Qualities.
