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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SIR JOHN FALSTAFF I PROPOSE this evening to tell you the story of a very singular historical development, how the greatest humorous creation of Shakspeare grew out of something, on the first glance, as remote from it as possible; and by what a curious series of fatalities the popular tradition of a real person, and one noted chiefly for his connexion with a Protestant religious movement, was gradually modified into the witty and unscrupulous knight we all know so well. For it was one of the most famous followers of John Wiclif, Sir John Old- castle, who is the undeniable origin of Sir John Falstaff. The outline of the story connecting the two is familiar to Shakspearian scholars, but it will bear telling over again, and I think you will not grudge my occupying my first ten minutes or so in a brief historical summary, seeing that I shall hope to show you later on how Shakspeare's character bears unmistakably in the grain of it certain ineffaceable marks of its origin. Let me first briefly remind you of what history tells us of the real Sir John Oldcastle. He was born in Edward III.'s reign, probably about the year 1360. Whether of Welsh origin or not, I cannot tell you, but his earlier military services were rendered in Wales and in the adjoining counties of England, and in 1406 we find him High Sheriff of Herefordshire. But in 1409 he made a very important and distinguished marriage. He married (as her fourth husband) the granddaughter and heiress of the wealthy and powerful nobleman Lord Cobham of Cowling Castle, near Rochester; and, after the usual custom, inherited the title as well as the estates of his wife's family, and in the twelfth year of Henry IV.'s reign (1411) was summoned to Parliament by the title, by which he came to be familiarly known, of Lord Cobham....
| ISBN-13 | 9780217008600 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0217008607 |
| Weight | 0.63 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 9.00 x 6.00 x 0.43 In |
| List Price | $19.99 |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Pages | 188 pages |
| Publisher | |
| Published On | 2009-08-01 |
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