KING HENRY THE FIFTH ;

AN HISTORICAL PLAY, BY WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.

A CONVERSATION mentioning this Sovereign's design of invading France, concludes the Second Part of Henry IV., and commences the dramatic chronicle of the reign of his son; the former scene being supposed to take place immediately after the coronation of the new king, and the latter about July 1414, the middle of his first year. From his famous expedition forming the chief feature of this piece, it has sometimes appeared with the second title of The Conquest of France; and the scene is accordingly laid entirely in that country after the Third Scene of the Second Act, the previous events having passed in London and Southampton. The whole action is supposed to occupy about six years: in which are comprised the treason of the Earl of Cambridge, Henry Lord Scrope of Masham, and Sir Thomas Grey, in July 1415; the King's departure from Southampton, August 11th; the siege and capture of Harfleur, September 22nd; the advance of the English into Picardy; and the Battle of Agincourt, on October the 25th ;-all which extend to the close of Act iv. The ensuing Chorus briefly sums up Henry's triumphant entry into London; and the next scene recommences the history with the Treaty of Troyes, April 1st, 1420, wherein it was agreed that the King of England should marry the Princess Katherine of France.

By the same Chorus it is ascertained that this play must have been produced between April 15th and September 28th, 1599, whilst the Earl of Essex was General in Ireland for Queen Elizabeth; those being the times of his departure and return: and it is also shewn by the Epilogue to Henry IV., Part II., to have been written after that piece. It was entered at Stationers' Hall, August 14th, 1600, and three editions in quarto were published during the author's life, namely, in 1600, 1602, and 1608; all of which are without the Choruses, and commence with the fourth speech of Act ii,

The materials of these scenes were derived from Holinshed's Chronicle, and an older play entitled The famous Victories of Henry the Fift containing the honourable Battle of Agincourt, which also includes part of the reign of Henry IV. There are several editions of this piece, which is very short, not divided into Acts, and thought to be that " displeasing play" mentioned in the Epilogue to Henry IV., Part II.; since the Falstaff of it is called Oldcastle, and made a despicable character, full of ribaldry and impiety.

King Henry V. was adapted to the modern stage by J. P. Kemble and J. Wrighten, and was produced at Drury-Lane Theatre, October 1st, 1789, and again in 1801; and at Covent-Garden in 1806.

King Henry V.

K. Henry. Touching our person, seek we no revenge;
But we our kingdom's safety must so tender,
Whose ruin you three sought, that to her laws
We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,
Poor miserable wretches, to your death:
The taste whereof, God, of his mercy, give you
Patience to endure, and true repentance
Of all your dear offences!-Bear them hence.

[Exeunt Conspirators, guarded.
Act 2. Sc. 2.

KING HENRY THE SIXTH-PART THE FIRST:

AN HISTORICAL PLAY, ASCRIBED TO WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. MALONE, in a most curious, elaborate, and ingenious, Essay, has all but proved that the present part of this drama has been improperly attributed to the above author: his principal arguments being, that it is destitute of those Shaksperianisms, which abound in the other two parts; that it has more classical allusions, and is more correct in language, than the works of Shakspeare, corresponding more with those of the authors who preceded him; and that his historical events are more accurately related, and were taken from Holinshed's Chronicle, and not from that of Hall, which is known to have been here used. Malone presumes that Shakspeare did not commence writing for the stage before 1590, but that the present play was produced in 1588 or 1589, being originally called The Historical Play of Henry the Sixth; and in the MSS. accounts of Henslowe, proprietor of the Rose Theatre, Bankside, the drama is recorded by that name, the first entry of it being March 3rd, 1591; but as Shakspeare never appeared to have any connection with that house, or company, the circumstance is considered to be an additional argument against attributing this piece to him. It was, however, very successful, being played thirteen times in one season; and Thomas Nashe, in his Supplication of Pierce Pennilesse, 1592, says of part of it's action," How would it have joyed brave Talbot, the terror of the French, to think that, after he had lain two hundred years in his tomb, he should triumph again on the stage, and have his bones new embalmed with teares of ten thousand spectators, at least, at several times; who, in the tragedian that represents his person, imagine they behold him fresh bleeding."

There was no printed edition of this play before the folio collection of the Dramas of Shakspeare published in 1623; in which it appears to have been inserted partly to make up the series, and partly because he made some slight alterations in it, or wrote some lines. It evidently stands properly in order of time after Henry V.; though in the Epilogue-Chorus to that play, the minority of Henry VI. and the loss of France, are mentioned as having been already exhibited on the stage.

The scene of this dramatic history is of course partly in England and partly in France, and the events contained in it begin with the burial of Henry V., in November, 1422, and conclude with the Earl of Suffolk being sent to France for Margaret of Anjou, in the close of 1443. There is, however, little attention shewn to dates, since Lord Talbot is slain at the end of Act iv., who did not really fall until July 13th, 1453.

And now declare, sweet stem from York's great stock,

Why didst thou say-of late thou wert despis'd?

Plantagenet. First lean thine aged back against mine arm; And, in that ease, I'll tell thee my disease.

Act 2. Sc. 5.

KING HENRY THE SIXTH-PART THE SECOND:

AN HISTORICAL TRAGEDY, BY WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.

An old play in two parts, originally published in 1594 and 1595, is the foundation of this and the ensuing drama; that containing the materials of the present, being called The Contention of the Two famous Houses of York and Lancaster. To both Shakspeare wrote new beginnings for the Acts, and re-versified, modelled, and transposed, many parts; as well as greatly amplified and improved the whole. In 1619, long after these alterations had been made, and much longer before they were printed,― -one Pavier brought out a mere re-impression of both the old plays, and, calling them The Second and Third Parts of Henry the Sixth, substituted the words "newly corrected and enlarged by W. Shakspeare," for those which stood on the original title from which circumstance they were erroneously attributed to him. That he did not write them, however, Malone argues from the absence of his name in the entries of them at Stationers' Hall, and in the title-pages to the editions of 1594, 1595, and 1600. He ascribes them to some authors who preceded Shakspeare, and wrote about 1590; and it appears probable from a passage in Robert Greene's Groat's worth of Wit, 1592, that they were produced by Greene, Christopher Marlowe, and George Peele. The former of these writers addressing the latter, and speaking of the players, says, "Trust them not; for there is an upstart crowe beautified with our feathers, that, with 'his tygre's head wrapt in a player's hyde,' supposes he is as well able to bombaste out a blanke verse as the best of you; and, being Johannes factotum, is, in his own conceit, the onely Shake-scene in a countrey." The allusion here is, doubtless, to Shakspeare, and his alteration of these plays; Greene not being able to conceal his mortification at their improvement by another. The quotation is a parody upon a line in the Duke of York's speech to Margaret, Henry VI. Part III. Act I. Sc. 4., which was adopted from the old play.

From this passage Malone conjectured that Shakspeare altered the old play about 1591; but, from the praise of it in the Epilogue to Henry V., and the silence of Meres, he afterwards supposed it might be as late as 1600. There is no earlier edition of this revisal than the folio of 1623.

The scene of this piece is laid dispersedly in various parts of England; and the action, embracing ten years, commences with the conclusion of Henry's marriage with Margaret of Anjou, in May, 1444; and terminates with the first battle fought and won at St. Albans, for the House of York, 22nd May, 1455.