ABSTRACT
The scene in which Sir John Falstaff plays the part, first, of the King, and then of Prince Henry, is the one that has been the most often quoted. Owen Glendower is a masterly character. It is as bold and original as it is intelligible and thoroughly natural. The characters of Hotspur and Prince Henry are two of the most beautiful and dramatic, both in themselves and from contrast, that ever were drawn. The characters Henry IV and old Northumberland, are kept up equally well. It is curious that William Shakespeare has ridiculed in Justice Shallow, who was in some authority under the king, that disposition to unmeaning tautology. Northumberland fails in his enterprise from an excess of the same quality, and is caught in the web of his own cold, dilatory policy. The true spirit of humanity, the practical wisdom with the seeming fooleries in the whole of the garden-scene, has no parallel anywhere else.
