11)11
ClIAHACTKK OK KAI.STAKK.
VOIj VIU,
iltcis of Florence close upon devil hast thou to do with tho tlmoorday? unless
.'1 hours were cups of sack, nml minutes capons
, exile the gates of the unseen ld c)ocka lho t0 ueof ,mwilll i gcc
But us the gate
the unhappy
world opon before him, und through the
dark portal of Hell and the "milder
shades" of Purgatory he wandered, and
stood in the cleft of the rock with the
sinning and suHering soul of man as none
other ever did. But at the close, the di-
vine smile of Beatrice leads him up the
lighted steeps to the very gates of Heav
en. When he was dead, Florence relented
wholly and begged of Ravenna (he ashes
of the man whom living she had threat
ened literally to make ashes of, if she
could catch him,but Ravenna, cherishing,
the memory of the man she had befr'end.
cd in exile and who had made her soli
tudes immortal by his presence, refused
to give him up. Florence had spurned
him from her bosom and henceforth he
became the adopted child of Ravenna ami
still
"On thy shores, fortress of fallen empire.
Honored sleeps thu Immortal exile."
OIlAllAGTEli OF FALSTAFF.
m
E hare a character Falstall intro
duced in three of Shakspcre's
plays Henry IV in both the tlrsl and
second pari, and in the Merry Wives of
Windsor, where Falstall' is the central fig.
ure. The play of Henry IV is based on
the war of the Roses. In the first part,
surrounded by headstrong, daring, ndven.
turous youths of dissapated habits, Prince
Henry is represented as leading a life of
turbulence and riot.
Among the number whom he hud gath
ered around him, although of maturcr
years, was Falstall'. In one of the inner
rooms of the castle, amid their bottles of
liquor swayed by evil thoughts, we hear
the Prince and FalstafTthus discourso:
Fal.i Now, Hnl, what time of day Is It, lad?
I'. Hen.: Thou art bo fat-witted with drinking
of old sack aud sleeping on benches after
noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that
truly, which thou would'st truly know. Whnt'a
tongue
no reason why thou should'st ho so superfluous to
demand the time of day.
With these worthy remarks, is Falsi till
first introduced to us by tho Prince. Nor
is the tributn paid him Haltering. As lie
is first represented, so is he at all times.
And this seems to me to clearly depict the
character of Falstall'. But let us hear the
Prince give his opinion concerning the
illustrious knight once more. Prince
Henry had received a summons to attend
court on the following day. So Falstall"
suggests that he practise the part he will
play, when he first meets his liither. Fid.
stall' representing King Henry, thus dis,
courses with the Prince:
There Ih a thing, Henry, which thou has often
heard of, and It Is known to many In our land by
the name ot pitch; this pitch, as ancient writers
do report, doth dellle; so doth tho company thou
keenest: and yet there Is a virtuous man
whom 1 have often noted In thy company, but I
know not his name. A goodly portly man I'falth
and a corpulent; of cheerful look, u pleasing
eye and most noble carriage and now I re
member me, his name Is Falstaft"; If that man
should be lewdly given, ho dccelveth me: for.
Harry, I see virtue in his looks.
The Prince here interrupts bv saying:
Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand
for me, and I'll play my father Swearust
thou ungracous boy Thenceforth ne'er look on me.
Thou art violently carried away from grace.
There is a devil haunts thee, in the shape of a fat
old man, a tun of man is thy companion. Why
dost thou converse with that reverend Vice,
that grey Iniquity, that father rufllau, that Vanity
In years? Wherein is he good, but to taste sack
and drink it? wherein neat ami cleanly, but to
carve a capon and eat it? wherein cunning hut in
craft? wherein crafty but in villany? wherein vil
lanoiis but in all things? wherein worthy but In
nothing?
Although the Prince had sunken into
the dephts of iniquity as deep as Falstall,
governed often by the same motives, yet
could he not see the faults of his boon
companion? And expressed in that
loose careless manner when uo one was
near to hear him pronounce hir opinion
we may take this as his true judgement.
In the analysis of such a character, we