Falstaff

"Poet/novelist Nye mines the motherlode of Henry IV [two Shakespeare plays] and finds if not pure gold at least enough of the baser mettle to put together a raunchy Jack Falstaff, while adding a glint of nobility. Here at 81 the imperfect knight dictates his memoirs to a parade of young scribes whose contributions--from prudery to undue flatulence--he records. ... A grounding in the plays is helpful but not required for this necessarily thinner, but mightily expanded, shadow of Plump Jack." --Kirkus Reviews 1976 (undated online)