rtain critics are well founded, the Dramatic successor, tho', having
respect to chronology, the natural _proavus_ of another Sir _John_, who
was no less than a Knight of the most noble order of the Garter, but a
name for ever dishonoured by a frequent exposure in that Drum-and-trumpet
Thing called _The first part of Henry_ VI., written doubtless, or rather
exhibited, long before _Shakespeare_ was born,(43) tho' afterwards
repaired, I think, and furbished up by him with here and there a little
sentiment and diction. This family, if any branch of it remained in
_Shakespeare_'s time, might have been proud of their Dramatic ally, if
indeed they could have any fair pretence to claim as such _him_ whom
_Shakespeare_, perhaps in contempt of Cowardice, wrote _Falstaff_, not
_Fastolfe_, the true Historic name of the Gartered Craven.

In the age of Henry IV. a Family crest and arms were authentic proofs of
gentility; and this proof, among others, _Shakespeare_ has furnished us
with: _Falstaff_ always carried about him, it seems, _a Seal ring of his
Grandfather's, worth_, as he says, _forty marks_: The Prince indeed
affirms, but not seriously I think, that this ring was _copper_. As to the
existence of the _bonds_, which were I suppose the negotiable securities
or paper-money of the time, and which he pretended to have lost, I have
nothing to say; but the ring, I believe, was really gold; tho' probably a
little too much alloyed with baser metal. But this is not the point: The
_arms_ were doubtless genuine; they were borne by his Grandfather, and are
proofs of an antient gentility; a gentility doubtless, in former periods,
connected with wealth and possessions, tho' the gold of the family might
have been transmuting by degrees, and perhaps, in the hands of _Falstaff_,
converted into little better than copper. This observation is made on the
supposition of _Falstaff_'s being considered as the head of the family,
which I think however he ought not to be. It appears rather as if he ought
to be taken in the light of a cadet or younger brother; which the familiar
appellation of _John_, "the only one (as he says) given him by his
brothers and sisters," seems to indicate. Be this as it may, we find he is
able, in spite of dissipation, to keep up a certain _state_ and _dignity_
of appearance; retaining no less than four, if not five, followers or men
servants in his train. He appears also to have had apartments in town,
and, by his invitatio