en the whole convivial group at table, in full revel,
pictured with that wonderful fidelity and force with which the portraits
of renowned generals and commodores are illustrated on tobacco-boxes,
for the benefit of posterity. Lest, however, there should be any
mistake, the cunning limner had warily inscribed the names of Prince Hal
and Falstaff on the bottom of their chairs.

"On the inside of the cover was an inscription, nearly obliterated,
recording that the box was the gift of Sir Richard Gore, for the use of
the vestry meetings at the Boar's Head Tavern, and that it was 'repaired
and beautified by his successor, Mr. John Packard, 1767.' Such is a
faithful description of this august and venerable relic; and I question
whether the learned Scriblerius contemplated his Roman shield, or the
Knights of the Round Table the long-sought Saint-greal, with more
exultation.

"The great importance attached to this memento of ancient revelry (the
cup) by modern churchwardens at first puzzled me; but there is nothing
sharpens the apprehension so much as antiquarian research; for I
immediately perceived that this could be no other than the identical
'parcel-gilt goblet' on which Falstaff made his loving but faithless vow
to Dame Quickly; and which would, of course, be treasured up with care
among the regalia of her domains, as a testimony of that solemn
contract.

"'Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet, sitting in my
Dolphin chamber, at the round table, by a sea-coal fire, on
Wednesday in Whitsun-week, when the prince broke thy head for
likening his father to a singing-man of Windsor; thou didst swear to
me then, as I was washing thy wound, to marry me, and make me my
lady, thy wife. Canst thou deny it?' (_Henry IV._, part ii.)

" ... For my part, I love to give myself up to the illusions of poetry.
A hero of fiction, that never existed, is just as valuable to me as a
hero of history that existed a thousand years since; and, if I may be
excused such an insensibility to the common ties of human nature, I
would not give up fat Jack for half the great men of ancient
chronicles. What have the heroes of yore done for me or men like me?
They have conquered countries of which I do not enjoy an acre; or they
have gained laurels of which I do not inherit a leaf; or they have
furnished examples of hare-brained prowess, which I have neither the
opportunity nor the inclination to follow. But old Jack F