Note 85 — HISTORICAL CHARACTERS.
Reading edition
Malone says, that "In expanding the character of the bastard, Shakspeare seems to have proceeded on the following slight hint in an old play on the story of King John:—
Next them a bastard of the king's deceased— A hardy wild-head, rough and venturous."
It is easy to say this; yet who but Shakspeare could have expanded the last line into a Falconbridge?