{"id":"01KG8AYDCHX2VQ4DHXS24RPXTQ","cid":"bafkreibc5l7wh6rnmefo6z4df6ys3lc62wdlz243vv5vwfzhec6kawo7om","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreihlsaisigwtzqj45xrnhed2umbv2rwtonei25jwnn6vnomojwm3ae","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"03_merry_wives_of_windsor_1905_page_0022.jpg","height":1778,"key":"pdf-page-1769806443566-birss2nl64f","label":"03_merry_wives_of_windsor_1905_page_0022.jpg","page_number":22,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":381231,"text":"1 6 Merry Wives of Windsor\n(natural\nthat\nhe\nshould\nreturn to\na\nsomewhat\nearlier\nperiod\nof\nhis\nlife,\nespecially\nwhen\nhe\nwas\nto\nrepresent\nhim\nas\na\nlover.\nWho,\nindeed, does\nnot\nassent\nto\nJohn-\nson's remarks\non\nFalstaff's\nappearance\nin\nthis\nchar-\nacter ?\nHe\nsays\n:\n—\n' No task is harder than that of writing to the ideas\nof another. Shakespeare knew what the queen seems\nnot to have known, that by any real passion of tender-\nness, the selfish craft, the careless jollity, and the lazy\ni luxury of Falstaff must have suffered so much abate-\nment that little of his former cast could have remained.\nFalstaff could not love but by ceasing to be Falstaff.\nHe could only counterfeit love. Thus the poet ap-\nproached as near as he could to the work enjoined him ;\nyet having, perhaps, in the former plays completed his\nown ideas, he seems not to have been able to give\nFalstaff all his former power of entertainment.'\nEvery one of Falstaff's acquaintances must feel his\namusement at Windsor dashed with constant vexation\nat seeing the hero of the Boar's Head ' made an ass\nof,' hunted and worried, and at last obliged to veil his\ntriumphant wit even to 'the Welch flannel.' But we\nalso feel that this same pleasant 'villainous misleader\nof youth,' that 'grey iniquity' delighting to 'take his\nease in his own inn,' could not easily have been made\nthe sport and butt even of ladies as sprightly and mali-\ncious as those of Windsor. It is quite clear that in the\ndays of Mrs. Hostess Quickly, he had rid himself of all\npersonal vanity that could lead him into any such self-","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":"01KG8AYDBR9QJ2PT0V52AXG9W6","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AYDCJXP4KRWADWX1Z72AX","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:54:03.921Z","ts":"2026-01-30T21:06:17.067Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFFH6ETXGRVD10WPNP3007D6"}}