The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-09

tD0 name OF Dir JOn0 Old0ASto. why WAS
suoh name adopted for our great buGoon
Why, after having been adopted, was it
changed Why, above all, is 0ldoastle first
presented by the poet as buffoon, and
afterwards proclaimed q martyr These
questions hang on story which untolds
itself in the Beauchamp tower. Sir John
0ldcastle lived when his young friend, Harry
OF Monmouth, was a roguish lad, at Goul-
ing Castle, close by Gad's Hill, on the
great Kent road. Besides being good soldier,
sage councillor, and courteous gentleman,
Oldcsstle was pupil Of Wyolife, a receiver
OF the new light, protector of poor Lollards,
contemner of monks aud friars, a man who
read the Bible on his knees, and took the
word which he found there to be good for his
soul. He was not only friend Of the reign
ing King, but of the graceless prince. He had
fought with equal credit in the French wars
and in the Welsh wars; but his fame was not
confined to the court and camp. Rumor
linked his name with some of the pranls OF
madcap Hal. We know that he lived near
Gad's Hill, that he built q new b9idge at
Rochester, and founded in that city house
for the maintenance of three poor clerks. We
know nothing about him that suggests the
pranks on Gad's Hill and the orgies in East
cheap. A high, swift sort of man; full of
fight, keen of tongue, kind to the poor, i'm
patient with the proud; such was the brave
young knight who welded Joan, last heiress
of the grand old line of Gotham, in
whose right he held Couling Castle; sitting in
the House of Peers as Lord Gotham, name
by which he was not less widely known and
dearly loved than by his own. Poor and
pious people everywhere called him the Good
Lord C0bham.'"
sHAKBsPEARE's CONFESSION.
"What is there in such man to suggest
the idea Of Falstaf-a braggart, a coward,
lecher, thief? Shakespeare was not the first
to put this insult on Sir John. When the
young poet came to London, he found the
play-writers using the name of Oldoastle as
synonymous with braggart, buffoon, and
clown. AS Fuller says, Sir John Oldoastle
was the make-sport in old plays for a coward.
Finding the name current Gust as comic
writer finds Pantaloon-a degradation of one
of the noblest Italian names-on our modern
stage), Shakespeare adopted it in his play.
This false Sir John was the creation of those
monks and friars against whom the true Sir
John had fought his manly fight. Those
friars composed our early plays; those
friars conducted our early dumb shows;
in many of which the first great hereto
ever burned in England was figure. Those
friars would naturally gift their assailants
with the ugliest vices; for how could an
enemy of friars be gallant, young, and pious
In this degraded form the name of Oldcastle
was handed down from fair to fair from inn
on Shakespeare's stage. Now comes a personal
query, the significance Of which will not be
| overlooked by men who wish to learn what
| they can..of Shakespeare's life. Why, after
| giving to the Oldcastle tradition that immor-
tai shape, did Shakespeare change the
name of his bufoon to Falstaff, and
separate himself for ever from the
party of abuse! The point is very curious.
Some motive OF unusual strength must have
come into play before such a course could
have been taken by the poet. 1t is not the
change Of a name, but of a state Of mind.
For Shakespeare is not content with striking
out the name of Oldcastle and writing down
that of Falstaff. He does more-much more
something beyond example in his works.
He makes a confession Of has faith. In his own
person, as poet and rs man, he proclaims from
! the stage-'Oldcastle died a martyrl' That
was a sentiment which Raleigh might have
held, which Cartwright would have expressed.
1t was the thought for which Weever was then
struggling in his Poetical Life of Sir John
Oldcastle' for which James, the friend of
Jonson, if not of Shakespeare, was compiling
his Defence of the Noble knight and Martyr,
Sir John Oldcastle.' The occurrence of such
proclamation suggests that, between the first
| production of Henry the Fourth and the date
of his printed quarto, Shakespeare changed
his way of looking at the old heroes of English
thought. In the year 1900 play was printed
III Will Il1c L1tlo, AHC EHSG ~t
of the True and Honorable History of the
Life of Sir John Oldcastle, the Gooo
Lord Gotham. The title-page bore Shake
speare's name. Sir Joai; QIdcastle is now re.
garded by every one as a play from Other
pens; in fact, it is known to have been writer
" three Of Shakespeare's fellow -playwrights
but many good critics think the poet
NAV have written some of the lines and edited
the work. T%his drama was protess. agains
the wrong which had been done to oldcastI,
on the stage by Shakespeare. The prologue
said:-
1T is no pampered glutton we present,
! Nor aged councillor to youthful sin:
But one whose virtue shone above the rest,
A valiant martyr and a virtuous poet
These lines are thought to be Shakespeare
own. They are in his vein, and they repeal
the declaration which he had already made
'Oldcastle died Martyrl' The man who
wrote that confession in the days of Arch.
bishop Whitgift was Puritan in faith.'