1826, William Mark Clark: [Regarding the Windsor Falstaff:] "As rosy and as rubicund as ever. … With his powers of entertainment undiminished − as full of wit and waggery as when he marched his ragged regiment of mortal men to fill a pit at the battle of Shrewsbury" (in Roberts 89).
1851, Hartley Coleridge: "But the Falstaff of the Merry Wives is not the Falstaff of Henry the Fourth. It is a big-bellied impostor, assuming his name and style, or at best it is Falstaff in his dotage" (in Roberts 92).
1854, Charles Knight: [Regarding the Windsor Falstaff:] "The sensual and rapacious Falstaff is so steeped in overweening vanity and loose principle, that we rejoice in every turn of his misadventures, but we never hate him. We laugh at his degradation and feel that shame is the severest infliction that is necessary for the correction of his follies" (in Roberts 89-90).
1863, Charles Cowden Clarke: [Regarding the Windsor Falstaff:] "Incomparable Sir John Falstaff! … it would be an absolute indignity to this sunshiny play … to omit mentioning Falstaff. … He, in himself, is all sunshine; for he is capable of dazzling the eyes with his brilliancy, even when they look upon roguery and vice" (in Roberts 90).