His Plays are properly to be distinguish'd only into Comedies and Tragedies. Those which are called Histories, and even some of his Comedies, are really Tragedies, with a run or mixture of Comedy amongst 'em. That way of Trage-Comedy was the common Mistake of that Age, and is indeed become so agreeable to the _English_ Tast, that tho' the severer Critiques among us cannot bear it, yet the generality of our Audiences seem to be better pleas'd with it than with an exact Tragedy. _The Merry Wives of_ Windsor, _The Comedy of Errors_, and _The Taming of the Shrew_, are all pure Comedy; the rest, however they are call'd, have something of both Kinds. 'Tis not very easie to determine which way of Writing he was most Excellent in. There is certainly a great deal of Entertainment in his Comical Humours; and tho' they did not then strike at all Ranks of People, as the Satyr of the present Age has taken the Liberty to do, yet there is a pleasing and a well-distinguish'd Variety in those Characters which he thought fit to meddle with. _Falstaff_ is allow'd by every body to be a Master-piece; the Character is always well-sustain'd, tho' drawn out into the length of three Plays; and even the Account of his Death, given by his Old Landlady Mrs. _Quickly_, in the first Act of _Henry_ V. tho' it be extremely Natural, is yet as diverting as any Part of his Life. If there be any Fault in the Draught he has made of this lewd old Fellow, it is, that tho' he has made him a Thief, Lying, Cowardly, Vain-glorious, and in short every way Vicious, yet he has given him so much Wit as to make him almost too agreeable; and I don't know whether some People have not, in remembrance of the Diversion he had formerly afforded 'em, been sorry to see his Friend _Hal_ use him so scurvily, when he comes to the Crown in the End of the Second Part of _Henry_ the Fourth. Amongst other Extravagances, in _The Merry Wives of_ Windsor, he has made him a Dear-stealer, that he might at the same time remember his _Warwickshire_ Prosecutor, under the Name of Justice _Shallow_; he has given him very near the same Coat of Arms which _Dugdale_, in his Antiquities of that County, describes for a Family there, and makes the _Welsh_ Parson descant very pleasantly upon 'em. That whole Play is admirable; the Humours are various and well oppos'd; the main Design, which is to cure _Ford_ his unreasonable Jealousie, is extremely well conducted. _Falstaff's Billet-doux_, and Master _Slender_'s _Ah! Sweet_ Ann Page!