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Page 21
To compleat the whole,--you have in this Character of _Falstaff_,
not only a free Course of _Humour_, supported and embellish'd with
admirable _Wit_; but this _Humour_ is of a Species the most _jovial_
and _gay_ in all Nature.--Sir _Jobn Falstaff_ possesses Generosity,
Chearfulness, Alacrity, Invention, Frolic and Fancy superior to all
other Men;--The _Figure_ of his _Person_ is the Picture of Jollity,
Mirth, and Good-nature, and banishes at once all other Ideas from your
Breast; He is happy himself, and makes you happy.--If you examine him
further, he has no Fierceness, Reserve, Malice or Peevishness lurking
in his Heart; His Intentions are all pointed at innocent Riot and
Merriment; Nor has the Knight any inveterate Design, except against
_Sack_, and that too he _loves_.--If, besides this, he desires to
pass for a Man of _Activity_ and _Valour_, you can easily excuse so
harmless a _Foible_, which yields you the highest Pleasure in its
constant _Detection_.
If you put all these together, it is impossible to _hate_ honest
_Jack Falstaff_; If you observe them again, it is impossible to avoid
_loving_ him; He is the gay, the witty, the frolicksome, happy, and
fat _Jack Falstaff_, the most delightful _Swaggerer_ in all Nature.--
You must _love_ him for your _own_ sake,--At the same time you cannot
but _love_ him for _his own_ Talents; And when you have _enjoy'd_
them, you cannot but _love_ him in _Gratitude_;--He has nothing to
disgust you, and every thing to give you Joy;--His _Sense_ and his
_Foibles_ are equally directed to advance your Pleasure; And it is
impossible to be tired or unhappy in his Company.
This _jovial_ and _gay_ Humour, without any thing _envious_,
_malicious_, _mischievous_, or _despicable_, and continually
_quicken'd_ and adorn'd with _Wit_, yields that peculiar Delight,
without any _Alloy_, which we all feel and acknowledge in _Falstaff's_
Company.--_Ben Johnson_ has _Humour_ in his _Characters_, drawn with
the most masterly Skill and Judgment; In Accuracy, Depth, Propriety,
and Truth, he has no _Superior_ or _Equal_ amongst _Ancients_ or
_Moderns_; But the _Characters_ he exhibits are of _satirical_, and
_deceitful_, or of a _peevish_ or _despicable_ Species; as _Volpone_,
_Subtle_, _Morose_, and _Abel Drugger_; In all of which there is
something very justly to be _hated_ or _despised_; And you feel
the same Sentiments of _Dislike_ for every other _Character_ of
_Johnson_'s; so that after you have been _gratify'd_ with their
_Detention_ and _Punishment_, you are quite tired and disgusted with
their Company:--Whereas _Shakespear_, besides the peculiar _Gaiety_ in
the _Humour_ of _Falstaff_, has guarded him from disgusting you with
his _forward Advances_, by giving him _Rank_ and _Quality_; from being
_despicable_ by his real good _Sense_ and excellent _Abilities_; from
being _odious_ by his _harmless Plots_ and _Designs_; and from being
_tiresome_ by his inimitable Wit, and his new and incessant _Sallies_
of highest _Fancy_ and _Frolick_.
This discovers the _Secret_ of carrying COMEDY to the highest Pitch of
Delight; Which lies
in drawing the Persons exhibited, with such chearful and amiable
_Oddities_ and _Foibles_, as you would chuse in your own
_Companions_ in _real Life;
--otherwise, tho' you may be diverted at first with the _Novelty_ of a
Character, and with a proper _Detection_ and _Ridicule_ of it, yet its
_Peevishness_, _Meanness_, or _Immorality_, will begin to disgust you
after a little Reflection, and become soon _tiresome_ and _odious_; It
being certain, that
whoever cannot be endured as an _accidental_ Companion in _real
Life_, will never become, for the very same Reasons, a _favorite
comic Character_ in the Theatre.
This _Relish_ for _generous_ and _worthy_ Characters alone, which
we all feel upon the _Theatre_, where no Biass of Envy, Malice, or
personal Resentment draws us aside, seems to be some Evidence of our
_natural_ and _genuin_ Disposition to _Probity_ and _Virtue_; tho' the
Minds of most Persons being early and deeply _tinged_ with vicious
Passions, it is no wonder that _Stains_ have been generally mistaken
for _original Colours_.
It may be added, that _Humour_ is the most exquisite and delightful,
when the _Oddities_ and _Foibles_ introduc'd are not _mischievous_ or
_sneaking_, but _free_, _jocund_, and _liberal_; and such as result
from a generous Flow of Spirits, and a warm universal _Benevolence_.
It is obviously from hence, that the _Character_ of Sir _Roger_ de
_Coverly_ in the _Spectators_ is so extremely agreeable. His _Foibles_
are all derived from some amiable Cause.--If he believes that _one
Englishman_ can conquer _two Frenchmen_, you laugh at his _Foible_,
and are fond of a _Weakness_ in the Knight, which proceeds from his
high Esteem of his _own Country-men_.--If he chuses you should employ
a _Waterman_ or _Porter_ with _one_ Leg, you readily excuse the
Inconvenience he puts you to, for his worthy regard to the Suffering
of a brave _Soldier_.--In short, though he is guilty of continual
Absurdities, and has little Understanding or real Abilities, you
cannot but _love_ and _esteem_ him, for his _Honour_, _Hospitality_,
and universal _Benevolence_.
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