PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

We are unacquainted with any dramatick pieceon the subject of Henry VIII. that preceded this of Shakspeare; and yet on the books of the Stationers' Company appears the following entry: “Nathaniel Butter] (who was one of our author's printers) Feb. 12, 1604. That he get good allowance for the enterlude of King Henry VIII. before he begin to print it; and with the wardens hand to yt, he is to have the same for his copy.” Dr. Farmer, in a note on the epilogue to this play, observes, from Stowe, that Robert Greene had written somewhat on the same story. Steevens.

This historical drama comprizes a period of twelve years, commencing in the twelfth year of King Henry's reign, (1521,) and ending with the christening of Elizabeth in 1533. Shakspeare has deviated from history in placing the death of Queen Katharine before the birth of Elizabeth, for in fact Katharine did not die till 1536.

King Henry VIII. was written, I believe, in 1601. See An Attempt to ascertain the Order of Shakspeare's Plays, vol. ii.

Dr. Farmer, in a note on the epilogue, observes, from Stowe, that “Robert Greene had written something on this story;” but this, I apprehend, was not a play, but some historical account of Henry's reign, written not by Robert Greene, the dramatick poet, but by some other person. In the list of “authors out of whom Stowe's Annals were compiled,” prefixed to the last edition printed in his life time, quarto, 1605, Robert Greene is enumerated with Robert de Brun, Robert Fabian, &c. and he is often quoted as an authority for facts in the margin of the history of that reign. Malone.

PERSONS REPRESENTED. King Henry the Eighth. Cardinal Wolsey. Cardinal Campeius. Capucius, Ambassador from the Emperor, Charles V. Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Duke of Norfolk. Duke of Buckingham. Duke of Suffolk. Earl of Surrey. Lord Chamberlain. Lord Chancellor. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. Bishop of Lincoln. Lord Abergavenny. Lord Sands [Lord Sandys]. Sir Henry Guildford. Sir Thomas Lovell. Sir Antony Denny. Sir Nicholas Vaux. Secretaries to Wolsey. Cromwell, Servant to Wolsey. Griffith, Gentleman-Usher to Queen Katharine. Three other Gentlemen [Gentleman 1], [Gentleman 2], [Gentleman 3]. Doctor Butts, Physician to the King. Garter, King at Arms. Surveyor to the Duke of Buckingham. Brandon Sergeant at Arms. Door-keeper of the Council-Chamber [Doorkeeper]. Porter His Man. Page to Gardiner. A Crier. Queen Katharine, Wife to King Henry, afterwards divorced. Anne Bullen, her Maid of Honour, afterwards Queen. An old Lady, Friend to Anne Bullen. Patience, Woman to Queen Katharine. Several Lords and Ladies in the Dumb Shows; Women attending upon the Queen; Spirits, which appear to her; Scribes, Officers, Guards, and other Attendants. [Servant], [Scribe], [Secretary 1], [Gentleman], [Messenger] SCENE, chiefly in London and Westminster; once, at Kimbolton.

KING HENRY VIII.

PROLOGUE.
I come no more to make you laugh; things now,
That bear a weighty and a serious brow,
Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe,
Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow,
We now present. Those that can pity, here
May, if they think it well, let fall a tear;
The subject will deserve it. Such, as give
Their money out of hope they may believe,
May here find truth too. Those, that come to see
Only a show or two, and so agree,
The play may pass; if they be still, and willing,
I'll undertake, may see away their shilling
Richly in two short hours. Only they,
That come to hear a merry, bawdy play,
A noise of targets; or to see a fellow
In a long motley coat^{1 note}

Will be deceiv'd: for, gentle hearers, know,
To rank our chosen truth with such a show
As fool and fight is^{2 note}

Therefore, for goodness' sake, and as you are known
The first and happiest hearers of the town^{4 note},

Be sad, as we would make ye; Think, ye see
The very persons of our noble story^{5 note}

Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see
How soon this mightiness meets misery.
And, if you can be merry then, I'll say,
A man may weep upon his wedding day.

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