Falstaff and His Companions

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Crown Prince, in order to divert from himself the jealousy of his suspicious father, he had played a part like Brutus, spending his time idly and among loose companions; and that after he had ascended the throne they were ban ished from his presence. History knows nothing of this; but shows us the Prince in the service of his father, and performing his part as a good soldier, doing his best in slaughter and devas tation, like all the other heroes of his time. He had also as a friend in his youth a person seriously disposed, whose very presence repelled all frivolity. This man was Sir John Oldcastle, who is known to us as having afterwards suffered martyrdom as a follower of the reformed doctrine of Wycliffe. The Prince, after he had become king, fell outwith him on this account; and Sir John was handed over by the Church to suffer the cruelest death of a heretic.