PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

This and The Third Part of King Henry VI. contain that troublesome period of this prince's reign which took in the whole contention betwixt the houses of York and Lancaster: and under that title were these two plays first acted and published. The present scene opens with King Henry's marriage, which was in the twenty-third year of his reign [A. D. 1445:] and closes with the first battle fought at St. Alban's, and won by the York faction, in the thirty-third year of his reign [A. D. 1455]: so that it comprizes the history and transactions of ten years. Theobald.

This play was altered by Crowne, and acted in the year 1681. Steevens.

In a note prefixed to the preceding play, I have briefly stated my opinion concerning the drama now before us, and that which follows it; to which the original editors of Shakspeare's works in folio have given the titles of The Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI.

The Contention of the Two Famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster in two parts, was published in quarto, the first part in 1594, the second in 1595, and both were reprinted in 1600. On these two plays, which I believe to have been written by some preceding author, before the year 1590, Shakspeare formed, as I conceive, this and the following drama; altering, retrenching, or amplifying, as he thought proper. The reasons on which this hypothesis is founded, I shall subjoin at large at the end of The Third Part of King Henry VI. At present it is only necessary to apprize the reader of the method observed in the printing of these plays. All the lines printed in the usual manner, are found in the original quarto plays (or at least with such minute variations as are not worth noticing): and those, I conceive, Shakspeare adopted as he found them. The lines to which inverted commas are prefixed, were, if my hypothesis be well founded, retouched, and greatly improved by him; and those with asterisks were his own original production; the embroidery with which he ornamented the coarse stuff that had been aukwardly made up for the stage by some of his contemporaries. The speeches which he new-modelled, he improved, sometimes by amplification, and sometimes by retrenchment.

Dr. Johnson observes very justly, p. 167, that these two parts were not written without a dependance on the first. Undoubtedly not; the old play of King Henry VI. (or, as it is now called, The First Part,) certainly had been exhibited before these were written in any

form. But it does not follow from this concession, either that The Contention of the Two Houses, &c. in two parts, was written by the author of the former play, or that Shakspeare was the author of these two pieces as they originally appeared. Malone.

As Mr. Malone varied in his opinion as to the period at which these plays were altered by Shakspeare, I have reserved what is said upon that topic for the conclusion of his Dissertation, as the reader will there find the reasons upon which his first conjecture was founded, and will from thence be better able to judge how far his departure from it was an improvement. Boswell.

PERSONS REPRESENTED. King Henry the Sixth: Humphrey, Duke of Gloster [Gloucester], his Uncle. Cardinal Beaufort [Winchester], Bishop of Winchester, great Uncle to the King. Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. Edward, his Son. Richard, his Son. Duke of Somerset, of the King's Party. Duke of Suffolk, of the King's Party. Duke of Buckingham, of the King's Party. Lord Clifford, of the King's Party. Young Clifford [Young Clifford], his Son, of the King's Party. Earl of Salisbury, of the York Faction. Earl of Warwick, of the York Faction. Lord Scales, Governour of the Tower. Lord Say. Sir Humphrey Stafford [William Stafford], His Brother. Sir John Stanley. A Sea-captain [Lieutenant], Master Master's Mate Walter Whitmore. Two Gentlemen, Prisoners with Suffolk [Gentleman 1], [Gentleman 2]. A Herald. Vaux. Hume, Priest. Southwell, Priest. Bolingbroke, a Conjurer. A Spirit raised by him. Thomas Horner, an Armourer. Peter, his Man. Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban's. Simpcox, an Impostor. Two Murderers [Murderer 1], [Murderer 2]. Jack Cade, a Rebel: George, a Follower of Cade. John, a Follower of Cade. Dick, a Follower of Cade. Smith, the Weaver, a Follower of Cade. Michael, a Follower of Cade. Alexander Iden, a Kentish Gentleman. Margaret, Queen to King Henry. Eleanor, Duchess of Gloster. Margery Jourdain, a Witch. Wife to Simpcox. Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Petitioners, Aldermen, a Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers; Citizens, Prentices, Falconers, Guards, Soldiers, Messengers, &c. [Messenger], [Messenger 2], [Petitioner 1], [Petitioner 2], [Citizen], [Citizen 1], [Neighbour 1], [Neighbour 2], [Neighbour 3], [Prentice 1], [Prentice 2], [Servant], [Commons], [Soldier] SCENE, dispersedly in various Parts of England.

SECOND PART OF KING HENRY VI.

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