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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1879)
NO. 9. OIIAUAOTEH OP KAI.8TAKF. 107 tintl much dcmtuuliug the severest censure and very little worthy of praise. Of his eurly life the piny gives us little. Ho is some fifty yours of ago when wo first meet willi him at an age old enough to begin to think df the serious relations of life and to cast aside the follies of youth. But as he grew in years he grew not in grace. In whatever difliculty lie was thrown, surrounded by the most fatal dangers, yet was he self-possessed his wits lie always kept about him. And herein is where his power lay. Truth he uttered when false, hood would not serve his purpose. No lie was too preposterous for him to coin, and when delected in his falseness would ho turn it to his own advantage at the ex pense of his accusers. As an example of his lying extempore the following will suffice. A band of travellers consisting of four were robbed by Falstafl'and ihree associates. While they were dividing the spoils, the Prince and Poins as they had previously agreed, rushed upon them crying, "Your money! villains I" The four beat A hasty retreat leaving the money behind. At night they all meet in the same castle and Falstafl' up. braids the Prince and Poins for being cowardB, and triumphantly relates how the faithful four had taken a thousand pounds, that very morning. When ques tioned where it was, he draws heavily on his imagination and says; it was taken from us by a hundred a hundred upon poor four of us. At first he was very moderate, stating lie hnd killed two only But as he proceedes he adds, and finishes witli the startling truth(?) that ho had fin. ished eleven. When the Prince gave him the true account of the aflair, how that Falstair himself, with his three accompli, ces, had fled not from a hundred, but from two, only two; listen to FalstaiTs ingen ious mode of flattery, combined with a suf ficient degree of falsehood. By the Lord, I knew ye, as well as he that made ye. Why, hear ye, my masters. Was It for me to kill the heir apparent? 3hould I turn upon the true prince? Why thou knowoat 1 nm ub valiant as Hercules; hut huware Instinct; the lion will not touch thu true prince. Instinct is a groat mat ter; I wax a coward on instinct, I shall think tho moru ofmysulf and tlicu iliirliu: my life; I for it valiant Hon, thou font truo priucu. But, by the Lords, ladx, I am glad you have tho money. In this nuinnei does he clear himself of guilt and cause a smile to creep over the face of his listeners. Considering that a man is to be ad judged a "philosopher, because he is never moved by any sudden change, if under all circumstances he appears to ho himself, and can bear the ups and downs of this life with no apparent agitation, Falstair was truly one. No misfortune, not even the beating he received when taken for the witcli of Brentford or the punishment he received ut midnight in the forest, (lis guised as Heine the hunter, unnerved him Everytning that befel his lot wus as coolly discussed and dismissed from ins mind as the necessity of the case demanded. If there be any redeeming trait in Fal staff's character, it is one only one which I know not whether to call a vice or a vir lue. If a man is sunken into the very depths of degradation, practised vices ami committed sins from his youth up, no matter what God-fearing cr'me lie may be guilty of, if lie possesses that openness lo confess it a certain degree oi honesty to acknowledge it, although there may be no sign of repentance, yet we cannot con demn him as we do those, who try to keep their short comings hidden and hold their head proudly up, ami try to aiVect an air of assummed innocence. Whatever com pany FalstalTkept, his nightly dissipations he was free to confess. Not only to con fess but to exult in his baseness to laugh and be merry to his own shame. If Shaksperc meant to picture FalstatI as a free, easy going profligate, caring nothing for (he nobler cuds of life, and de. siring only to be great among the out casts, tho picture is complete. It presents that phase of life in ito truest and most glaring light. The plays were popular in the days of Elizabeth, and Falslafl' is a
