King Henry the Fifth. Duke of Bedford, Duke of York, } brothers to the king. Duke of Exeter, uncles to the king. Earl of Salisbury. Earl of Weftmoreland. Earl of Warwick. Archbishop of Canterbury. Earl of Cambridge, Lord Scroop, Sir Thomas Grey, conspirators against the king. Sir Thomas Erpingham, Gower, Fluellen, Mackmorris, Jamy, officers in king Henry's army. Nym, Bardolph, Piftol, Boy, formerly fervants to Falftaff, now foldiers in the king's army. Bates, Court, Williams, foldiers. Charles, the Sixth, king of France. The Dauphin. Duke of Burgundy. Conftable, Orleans, Rambures, Bourbon, Grandpree, French lords. Governor of Harfleur. Montjoy, a herald. Ambaffadors to the king of England. Ifabel, queen of France. Katharine, daughter to the king of France. Alice, a lady attending on the princefs Katharine. Quickly, Piftol's wife, an hoftefs. Chorus. Lords, Meffengers, French and English Soldiers, with other Attendants. The SCENE, at the beginning of the play, lies in Eng land; but afterwards, wholly in France. Τ CHO RU S. 'O, for a mufe of fire, that would ascend The brighteft heaven of invention ! A kingdom for a ftage, 2 princes to act, On this unworthy scaffold, to bring forth O for a mufe of fire, &c.] This goes upon the notion of the Peripatetic fyftem, which imagines feveral heavens one above another; the last and highest of which was one of fire. WARBURTON. It alludes likewife to the afpiring nature of fire, which, by its levity, at the separation of the chaos, took the highest seat of all the elements. JOHNSON. 2 -princes to act, And monarchs to behold Shakespeare does not feem to fet diftance enough between the performers and fpectators. JOHNSON. 3 Leafht in like bounds, Jhould famine, fword, and fire, Crouch for employment.-] In K. Henry VI. "Lean famine, quartering steel, and climbing fire," are called the three attendants on the English general, lord Talbot; and, as I fuppofe, are the dogs of war mentioned in Julius Cæfar. This image of the warlike Henry very much resembles Montfaucon's defcription of the Mars difcovered at Breffe, who leads a lyon and a lyonefs in couples, and crouching as for employ ment. TOLLET. Warner, in his Albion's England, 1602, fpeaking of King Henry V. fays: "He led good fortune in a line, and did but war and win." Holinfhed, (p. 567.) when the people of Roan petitioned king Henry V. has put this fentiment into his mouth : "He declared that the goddeffe of battell, called Bellona, had three handmaidens, ever of neceffitie attending upon her, as blood, fire, and famine." STEEVENS, B 2 The The vafty field of France? or may we cram, And let us, cyphers to this great accompt, 4 Within this wooden O Nothing fhews more evidently the power of cuftom over language, than that the frequent ufe of calling a circle an O could so much hide the meanness of the metaphor from Shakespeare, that he has used it many times where he makes his moft eager attempts at dignity of stile. The very cafques] The helmets. JOHNSON. JOHNSON. Imaginary forces] Imaginary for imaginative, or your powers of fancy. Active and paffive words are by this author frequently confounded. JOHNSON. 1 Whofe bigh-upreared, and abutting fronts The perilous narrow occan parts afunder.] Without doubt the author wrote: Whofe high-upreared and abutting fronts, Perilous, the narrow ocean parts afunder.} For his purpofe is to fhew, that the highest danger arifes from the fhock of their meeting, and that it is but a little thing which keeps them afunder. This fenfe my emendation gives us, as the common reading gives us a contrary; for those whom a perilous ocean parts afunder, are in no danger of meeting. WARBURTON. Perilous narrow, in burlefque and common language meant no more than very narrow. In old books this mode of expreffion occurs perpetually. A perilous broad brim to a hat, a perilous long fivord, &c. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Humourous Lieu tenant : "She is perilous crafty." Thus, villainous is only used to exaggerate, in the Tempeft: be turn'd to barnacles or apes. 66 "With foreheads villanous low." Again, in John Florio's Preface to his Translation of Montaigne: in this perilous crook'd paffage 66 STEEVENS Into a thoufand parts divide one man, 8 Think, when we talk of horfes, that you fee them Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth; For 'tis your thoughts that now muft deck our kings, ay them here and there; jumping o'er times; urning the accomplishment of many years Into an hour-glafs; For the which fupply, Admit me chorus to this hiftory; Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play. And make imaginary puiffance:] This fhews that Shakespeare was fully fenfible of the abfurdity of fhewing battles on the theatre, which indeed is never done but tragedy becomes farce. Nothing can be represented to the eye but by fomething like it, and within a wooden O nothing very like a battle can be exhibited. JOHNSON. Other authors of that age feem to have been fenfible of the fame abfurdities. In Heywood's Fair Maid of the Weft, 1631; a Chorus enters and fays: "Our stage fo lamely can exprefs a fea, "That we are forc'd by Chorus to discourse "What should have been in action, &c." STEEVENS. For 'tis your thoughts that now muft deck our kings; Carry them here and there; -] We may read king for kings. The prologue relates only to this fingle play. The mistake was made by referring them to kings which belongs to thoughts. The fenfe is, your thoughts must give the king his proper greatness; carry therefore your thoughts bere and there, jumping over time, and crowding years into an hour. JOHNSON. I am not sure that Dr. Johnson's obfervation is juft. In this play, the king of France as well as England, makes his appearance; and the sense may be this; -it must be to your imaginations that our kings are indebted for their royalty. Let the fancy of the spectator furnish out thofe appendages to greatness which the poverty of our stage is unable to fupply. The poet is ftill apologizing for the defects of theatrical reprefentation. STEEVENS |