KING HENRY THE THE FIFTH. PRELIMINARY NOTICE. THE earliest edition of this play was published in 1600, under the title of "The Chronicle History of Henry the fift, With his battell fought at Agin Court in France. Togither with Auntient Pistoll. As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right honorable the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. London,-Printed by Thomas Creede, for Tho. Millington and Iohn Busby." This was followed by another edition in 1602, and a third, in 1608. The question whether the copy from which these quartos were printed was a maimed and surreptitious version of the perfect play, made up from what could be collected by short-hand, or remembered from the stage representation, as Mr. Collier believes, or whether it was an authentic transcript of the poet's first draft of the piece, but corrupted by the ordinary printing-house blunders, involves so much that is important in connexion with Shakespeare's method of production, that it has been fully considered in the Preface, Vol. I., pp. v.-xvi. Upon the evidence of a passage in the Chorus to the Fifth Act, "Were now the general of our gracious empress which bears an unmistakeable reference to the Irish expedition of the Earl of Essex, begun and terminated in 1599, this play is supposed to have been written in that year. Long before this date, however, Henry's exploits in France had been commemorated upon the stage. Nash, in his "Pierce Pennilesse," 1592, says,-"What a glorious thing it is to. have Henry the Fifth represented on the stage, leading the French King prisoner, and forcing both him and the Dolphin sweare fealtie;" and "The famous Victories of Henry the Fift," already spoken of in "Henry IV.", was no doubt both acted and printed prior to Shakespeare's Henry V." 1 Malone assumes the old historical drama alluded to by Nash, and The famous Victories, &c." to be the same piece, which he says was VOL. III. B exhibited before the year 1588, as Tarlton, who performed in it both the Chief Justice and the Clown, died in that year. Steevens speaks of them as distinct plays. The events comprehended in "Henry V." begin in the first year of the king's reign, and terminate with his marriage of Katharine, the French princess, about eight years afterwards. The Action at the beginning takes place in ENGLAND, but afterwards, wholly in FRANCE. Enter CHORUS.* O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire, Suppose, within the girdle of these walls Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them For 't is your thoughts that now must deck our kings; Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, (*) First folio, Enter Prologue. (†) First folio, hath. The very casques,-] The mere helmets. ACT I. SCENE I.-London. An Antechamber in the King's Palace. Enter the ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY, and the BISHOP of ELY. CANT. My lord, I'll tell you that self bill is urg'd Which in the eleventh year o' the last king's reign But that the scamblinga and unquiet time ELY. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now? Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil, A hundred alms-houses, right well supplied; And to the coffers of the king beside, A thousand pounds by the year. Thus runs the bill. CANT. ELY. But what prevention? 'T would drink the cup CANT. The king is full of grace and fair regard. And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him; To envelop and contain celestial spirits. Never was such a sudden scholar made; Never came reformation in a flood, With such a heady currance, scouring faults; Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness So soon did lose his seat, and all at once,b Scambling-] See note (*), p. 445, Vol. I. and all. And all at once,-] This was a trite phrase in Shakespeare's day, though not one ELY. We are blessed in the change. CANT. Hear him but reason in divinity, The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it, His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow; Any retirement, any sequestration ELY. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle, And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation CANT. It must be so: for miracles are ceas'd; ELY. How now for mitigation of this bill But, my good lord, of his editors has noticed it. In "As you Like It," Act III. Sc. 5, where it again some of them have even suspected a misprint, and proposed to read,― It is frequently met with in the old writers. Thus, in "The Fisherman's Tale," 1594, by F. Sabie: "She wept, she cride, she sob'd, and all at once." And in Middleton's "Changeling," Act IV. Sc. 3: "Does love turn fool, run mad, and all at once?" • Companies-] That is, companions. |