_Mrs. Montague._ Two chapters in Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu’s _Essay on the
Writings and Genius of Shakespear_ (1769) deal with the first and second
parts of _Henry IV._ She speaks of “the cowardly and braggart temper of
Falstaffe” (p. 103), and says that “gluttony, corpulency, and cowardice
are the peculiarities of Falstaffe’s composition” (p. 107).