[1] In this lecture and the three that follow it I have mentioned the
authors my obligations to whom I was conscious of in writing or have
discovered since; but other debts must doubtless remain, which from
forgetfulness I am unable to acknowledge.
[2] See on this and other points Swinburne, _A Study of Shakespeare_,
p. 106 ff.
[3] Roetscher, _Shakespeare in seinen hoechsten Charaktergebilden_,
1864.
[4] That from the beginning Shakespeare intended Henry's accession to
be Falstaff's catastrophe is clear from the fact that, when the two
characters first appear, Falstaff is made to betray at once the hopes
with which he looks forward to Henry's reign. See the First Part of
_Henry IV._, Act I., Scene ii.
[5] Cf. Hazlitt, _Characters of Shakespear's Plays_.
[6] See Note at end of lecture.
[7] It is to be regretted, however, that in carrying his guts away so
nimbly he 'roared for mercy'; for I fear we have no ground for
rejecting Henry's statement to that effect, and I do not see my way
to adopt the suggestion (I forget whose it is) that Falstaff spoke
the truth when he swore that he knew Henry and Poins as well as he
that made them.
[8] Panurge too was 'naturally subject to a kind of disease which at
that time they called lack of money'; it was a 'flux in his purse'
(Rabelais, Book II., chapters xvi., xvii.).
[9] I seem to remember that, according to Gervinus, Shakespeare did
disgrace Sir Toby--by marrying him to Maria!