Preface. the pages," but, in the words of the same critic, "never before did genius ever transmute so base a caput mortuum into ore so precious." Falstaff. Sir John Oldcastle, one of the Prince's wild companions in the old play, appears to have been the original of the character subsequently called Sir John Falstaff. A trace of the old name is still to be found in 1 Henry IV., where the Prince addresses the knight as my old lad of the castle' (I. ii. 47): in 2 Henry IV. (Quarto 1), the prefix Old. is found before one of Falstaff's speeches. The fact that "Falstaff" was substituted for "Oldcastle" throughout the plays perhaps explains the metrical imperfections of such a line as Away, good Ned, Falstaff sweats to death' (II ii. 115). In the final Epilogue the change is still further emphasised (vide Note on the passage, 2 Henry IV.). The tradition, however, remained, and in the Prologue to the play of Sir John Oldcastle (printed in 1600, with Shakespeare's name on the title-page of some copies) direct reference is made to the degradation the Lollard martyr had suffered at the hands of the dramatist : "It is no pampered glutton we present, Since forged invention former times defaced.” As late as 1618, Nathaniel Field, in his Amends for Ladies, referred to "the fat Knight, hight Oldcastle," and not to Falstaff, as he who "truly told what honour was." This single passage, in Mr Halliwell's opinion, would alone render it highly probable that some of the theatres in acting Henry IV. retained the name after the author had altered it to that of Falstaff. (Hence it is inferring too much to argue from the prefix Old.' in a single passage, 2 Henry IV. I. ii. 137, that the Second Part of the play was written previously to the date of entry of the First Part in February 1598.) There is in this case abundance of evidence to confirm the ancient tradition handed down to us by Rowe, that "this part of Falstaff is said to have been written originally under the name of Oldcastle; some of that family being then remaining, the Queen was pleased to command him to alter it." Many Protestant writers protested against the degradation of the famous Lollard. "It is easily known," wrote Fuller in his Worthies of England (ed. 1811, ii. p. 131-2), "out of what purse this black penny came; the Papists railing on him for a heretic, and therefore he must also be a coward, though indeed he was a man of arms, every inch of him, and as valiant as any in his age."* 66 "Now," continued old Fuller, "as I am glad that Sir John Oldcastle is put out, so I am sorry that Sir John Fastolfe is put in... Nor is our comedian excusable by some alteration of his name; .. few do heed the inconsiderable difference in spelling of their name." Falstaff seems indeed to owe something more than his mere name to the famous Sir John Fastolf (c. 13781459), the degradation of whose character comes out so strongly in 1 Henry VI. (III. ii. 104-9; iv. 19-47), “where Fastolf (spelt Falstaff) is portrayed as a contemptible craven in the presence * Cp. Tennyson's Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, with its noble vindication of the martyr's character: "Faint-hearted? tut! faint-stomached! faint as I am, of Joan of Arc's forces; and as publicly stripped of his garter by Talbot." Perhaps Fastolf's reputed sympathy with Lollardism may, as Mr Gairdner suggests, have encouraged Shakespeare to bestow his name on a character bearing the appellation of an acknow. ledged Lollard like Oldcastle. Both characters suffered at the hands of their enemies; but the historical Sir John Fastolf, even as the historical Sir John Oldcastle, found many enthusiasts ready to defend his memory. "To avouch him by many arguments valiant is to maintain that the sun is bright," wrote Fuller in the noteworthy passage already quoted, "though the stage hath been overbold with his memory, making him a thrasonical puff, and emblem of mock valour." 99 # (The Character of Sir John Falstaff, by T. O, Halliwell, 1541; Gairdner and Spedding's Studies, pp. 54-77, "On the Historical Elements in Shakespeare's Falstaff;" vide "Sir John Fastolf" in Dictionary of National Biography, by Sidney Lee, etc.); cp. Preface to The Merry Wives of Windsor. Duration of Action. (I.) The time of 1 Henry IV., as analysed by Mr P. A. Daniel, covers ten 'historic' days, with three extra Falstaffian days, and intervals. Total dramatic time, three months at the outside (Trans. of New Shaks. Soc., 477-79): Day 1. Act. I. i. London. News of the battle of Holmedon, "The magnificent knight, Sir John Fastolf, bequeathed estates to Magdalen College, Oxford, part of which were appropriated to buy liveries for some of the senior scholars; but the benefactions in time yielding no more than a penny a week to the scholars who received the liveries, they were called, by way of contempt, Falstaff's buckram-men" (Warton). [Day la. etc. Interval: a week (?). Hotspur comes to Act I. ii. London. Falstaff, Prince Hal, etc. The robbery at Gadshill planned]. Day 2. Act I. iii. Rebellion of the Percys planned. Interval: some three or four weeks. Day 3. Act II. iii. Hotspur resolves to join the confederates at Bangor. Interval: a week. Hotspur and Wor. cester reach Bangor. Act II. i. ii. iv.; (Act III. ii.)]. [Days 2a, 3a. Day 4. Act III. i. Bangor. Interval: about a fortnight. Day 5. Act III. ii. Prince Hal and his father. Interval: about a week. Day 6. Act III. iii. Prince Hal informs Falstaff of his appointment to a charge of foot for the wars. Interval: a week. Day 7. Act IV. i. Act IV. ii. Day 9. Act IV. iii. Rebel camp near Shrewsbury. Interval. The rebel camp. Act IV. iv. York. Day 10. Act V. i. to v. The battle of Shrewsbury. The historic period represented ranges from the defeat of Mortimer by Glendower, 12th June 1402, to the Battle of Shrewsbury, 21st July 1403. (II.) The time of 2 Henry IV. occupies nine days as represented on the stage, with three extra Falstaffian days, comprising altogether a period of about two months: Day 1. Day 2. Act I. i. Interval. Act I. iii.; Act II. iii. Interval (within which fall Preface. Parts I. and II. of Henry IV. Day 3 (the morrow of Day za): Act III. i. Interval. Day 4. Act III. ii. Interval. Day 5. Act IV. i.-iii. Interval. Day 6. Act IV. iv. v. Day 7. Day 8. Act V. ii, Interval (including Day 3a: Act V. i. iii.). Day 9. Act V. v. The historic period covers from 21st July 1403, to 9th April 1413. |