{"id":"01KG8AYDBR9QJ2PT0V52AXG9W6","cid":"bafkreibrjabr73mhfzvjk4xxa3nio3mbloogqxmta54e5z2zz5omi5xbmy","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreidqiwnp6zgznd3lqpwz5gchiuqdtxlo5o4aa5dw5dfujxmbvifmjy","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"03_merry_wives_of_windsor_1905_page_0021.jpg","height":1778,"key":"pdf-page-1769806443566-c590f4xufxl","label":"03_merry_wives_of_windsor_1905_page_0021.jpg","page_number":21,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":396198,"text":"Introduction 15\nVerplanck (whose admirable criticisms of Shakespeare\nare now unfortunately out of print) remarks : \" Assum-\ning that Shakespeare, either in obedience to the com-\nmand of his political sovereign — a lady somewhat\ntyrannical, and not a little fantastical, and yet a woman\nof genius and of letters, whose suggestions the most\nrepublican poet might be proud to receive — or to\nplease that other many-headed sovereign, the public, to\nwhom the poet owed a still truer allegiance — after\nhaving exhausted the last days of Falstaff in the his-\ntorical dramas, had revived him for a new display of\nhis character, and surrounded him with his former com-\npanions, itis quite incredible that he should have done\nso without some regard to the incidents, adventures,\nand characteristics that he alone had bestowed upon\neach one of them. Had these personages been like the\ncunning slave, the parasite, and the bully, of the Latin\nstage, or like the Scapins and Sganarelles of the old\nFrench comedy (characters common to every dramatic\nauthor), he would not have cared for any such connec-\ntion. But these were the children of his own fancy,\nand they had lived in a world of his own creation ;\nso that, though like Cervantes in similar circumstances\nhe might fall into an occasional forgetful contradiction\nof his own story, it was every way improbable that he\nshould not have had in his mind some plan of congru-\nous invention. Now, he had already made his readers\nand audience familiar with the latter part of Falstaff's\ncareer. When he reproduced him, therefore, it was |","text_extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:54:03.566Z","text_extracted_by":"pdf-processor","text_has_content":true,"text_source":"born_digital","uploaded":true,"width":1084},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG89K4N3KNPAGDJAVRPVWBA4","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KG89JREDR8WY5QQGYR5FZRDY","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AYDCJ6HJ06B2T6J34KR5Z","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AYDCHX2VQ4DHXS24RPXTQ","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:54:03.896Z","ts":"2026-01-30T21:06:27.866Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFFH6ETXGRVD10WPNP3007D6"}}