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Rh Richard, has "a tongue shall wheedle with the Devil," and he does, in fact, "wheedle with the Devil," to some purpose. His wit, his ingenuity, his rapid invention of expedients, or, in two words, his "intellectual ability," is employed for "inhuman and perfidious purposes," and hence the delight we experience during the representation of those scenes in which his genius is displayed. We freely admit that, as far as the moral is concerned, Shakespeare has the advantage of the author of "Punch and Judy," in both instances: Richard is slain, and Falstaff dismissed with contempt; but to this point we have already adverted in the preceding chapter.

"The desire of gratifying the grosser and lower appetites is the ruling and strongest principle in the mind of Falstaff." Only substitute the name of Punch for that of the