Title page CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

CONTENTS.
PAGE The Preface vii King John 3 Notes to King John 97 King Richard II. 109 Notes to King Richard II. 223 The First Part of King Henry IV. 233 Notes to The First Part of King Henry IV. 351 The Second Part of King Henry IV. 361 Notes to The Second Part of King Henry IV. 481 King Henry V. 491 Notes to King Henry V. 607 The Chronicle Historie of Henry the Fift &c. 615

PREFACE.

1. Shakespeare's King John was printed for the first time in the Folio of 1623. The poet adopted most of the characters, the general plot, and occasional lines, or fragments of lines, from an earlier play, in two parts, published in 1591, with the following title-page:

The &break; Troublesome Raigne &break; of Iohn King of England, with the dis-&break;couerie of King Richard Cordelions &break; Base sonne (vulgarly named, The Ba-&break;stard Fawconbridge): also the &break; death of King Iohn at Swinstead &break; Abbey. &break; As it was (sundry times) publikely acted by the &break; Queenes Maiesties Players, in the ho-&break;nourable Citie of &break; London. &break; Imprinted at London for Sampson Clarke, &break; and are to be solde at his shop, on the backe-&break; side of the Royall Exchange. &break; 1591.&break;

This play was reprinted for a different bookseller in 1611, with the words ‘W. Sh.’ added to the title; and a third edition in 1622, again issued by a different bookseller, has ‘W. Shakespeare.’

There can be little doubt that the booksellers attributed the play to Shakespeare in the hope that so popular a name might help the sale, for although the earlier play is by no means devoid of merit, the evidence of its style conclusively proves that Shakespeare had no part in the authorship. We have therefore not reprinted it, but contented ourselves with indicating the passages borrowed verbally from it.

2. Of Richard II. four editions in Quarto were published before the appearance of the first Folio:

Q₁. The &break; Tragedie of King Ri-&break;chard the se-&break;cond. &break; As it hath beene publikely acted &break; by the right Honourable the &break; Lorde Chamberlaine his Ser-&break;uants. &break; London &break; Printed by Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, and &break; are to be sold at his shop in Paules church yard at &break; the signe of the Angel. &break; 1597. &break;

Q₂. The &break; Tragedie of King Ri-&break;chard the second. &break; As it hath beene publikely acted by the Right Ho-&break;nourable the Lord Chamberlaine his &break; seruants. &break; By William Shake-speare. &break; London &break; Printed by Valentine Simmes for Andrew Wise, and &break; are to be sold at his shop in Paules churchyard at &break; the signe of the Angel. &break; 1598. &break;

Q₃. The &break; Tragedie of King &break; Richard the second. &break; As it hath been publikely acted by the Right &break; Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine &break; his seruantes. &break; By William Shake-speare. &break; London, &break; Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, and are to be &break; sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard, at &break; the signe of the Foxe. &break; 1608. &break;

The same edition was also issued in the same year with the following title-page:

The &break; Tragedie of King &break; Richard the Second: &break; With new additions of the Parlia-&break;ment Sceane, and the deposing &break; of King Richard, &break; As it hath been lately acted by the Kinges &break; Maiesties seruantes, at the Globe. &break; By William Shake-speare. &break; At London, &break; Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, and are to &break; be sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard, &break; at the signe of the Foxe. 1608. &break;

Q₄. The &break; Tragedie of King &break; Richard the Se-&break;cond: &break; With new additions of the Parliament Sceane, &break; and the deposing of King &break; Richard. &break; As it hath been lately acted by the Kinges &break; Maiesties seruants, at the Globe. &break; By William Shake-speare. &break; At London, &break; Printed for Mathew Law, and are to be sold &break; at his shop in Paules Church-yard, at the &break; signe of the Foxe. &break; 1615. &break;

Each of these Quartos was printed from its immediate predecessor. The third however contains an important addition, found in all the extant copies of Q₃, amounting to 165 lines, viz. IV. I. 154–318. This is what is meant

by ‘the new additions of the Parliament scene’ mentioned in the title-pages of some copies of Q₃ and in that of Q₄. These ‘new additions’ are found also in the first and following Folios and in Q₅. The play, as given in the first Folio, was no doubt printed from a copy of Q₄, corrected with some care and prepared for stage representation. Several passages have been left out with a view of shortening the performance. In the ‘new additions of the Parliament Scene’ it would appear that the defective text of the Quarto had been corrected from the author's MS. For this part therefore the first Folio is our highest authority: for all the rest of the play the first Quarto affords the best text.

The fifth Quarto (Q₅) was printed from the second Folio (F₂), but its readings sometimes agree with one or other of the earlier Quartos, and in a few cases are entirely independent of previous editions. Its title-page is as follows:

The &break; Life and &break; Death of King &break; Richard the &break; Second. &break; With new Additions of the &break; Parliament Scene, and the &break; Deposing of King Richard. &break; As it hath beene acted by the Kings Majesties &break; Servants, at the Globe. &break; By William Shakespeare. &break; London, Printed by Iohn Norton. &break; 1634. &break;

3. The First Part of King Henry the Fourth appeared in six successive Quarto editions before the publication of the first Folio. The title-pages of the first five of these editions are given in full below. The version in the first Folio seems to have been printed from a partially corrected copy of the fifth Quarto. In many places the readings coincide with those of the earlier Quartos, which were probably consulted by the corrector. The title of the play in the Folio is, ‘The First Part of Henry the Fourth, with the Life and Death of Henry Sirnamed Hotspurre.’ As there is no copy of the fourth Quarto in the Capell collection, our collation has been made from the

copy in the Bodleian, and verified by that in the Devonshire Library. The deficiencies of Capell's copy of the third Quarto have been supplied by a collation of the Bodleian copy of that edition.

Q₁. The &break; History of &break; Henrie the &break; Fovrth; &break; With the battell at Shrewsburie, &break; betweene the King and Lord &break; Henry Percy, surnamed &break; Henrie Hotspur of &break; the North. &break; With the humorous conceits of Sir &break; Iohn Falstalffe. &break; at london, &break; Printed by P. S. for Andrew Wise, dwelling &break; in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of &break; the Angell. 1598. &break;

Q₂. The &break; History of &break; Henrie the &break; Fovrth; &break; With the battell at Shrewsburie, &break; betweene the King and Lord Henry &break; Percy, surnamed Henry Hot-&break;spur of the North. &break; With the humorous conceits of Sir &break; Iohn Falstalffe. &break; Newly corrected by W. Shakespeare. &break; at london, &break; Printed by S. S. for Andrew Wise, dwelling &break; in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of &break; the Angell. 1599. &break;

Q₃. The &break; History of &break; Henrie the fourth, &break; With the battell at Shrewsburie, &break; betweene the King, and Lord &break; Henry Percy, surnamed Henry Hot-&break;spur of the North. &break; With the humorous conceits of Sir &break; Iohn Falstaffe. &break; Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. &break; London &break; Printed by Valentine Simmes, for Mathew Law, and &break; are to be solde at his shop in Paules Churchyard, &break; at the signe of the Fox. &break; 1604. &break;

Q₄. The &break; History of &break; Henry the fourth, &break; With the battell at Shrewseburie, &break; betweene the King, and Lord &break; Henry Percy, surnamed Henry &break; Hotspur of the North. &break; With the humorous conceites of Sir &break; Iohn Falstalffe. &break; Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. &break; London, &break; Printed for Mathew Law, and are to be sold at &break; his shop in Paules Church-yard, neere vnto S. &break; Augustines gate, at the signe of &break; the Foxe. 1608. &break;

Q₅. The &break; History of &break; Henrie the fourth, &break; With the Battell at Shrewseburie, betweene &break; the King, and Lord Henrie Percy, sur-&break;named Henrie Hotspur of the North. &break; With the humorous conceites of Sir &break; Iohn Falstaffe. &break; Newly corrected by W. Shakespeare. &break; London, &break; Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, and are to be sold &break; at his shop in Paules Church-yard, neere vnto S. &break; Augustines Gate, at the signe of the Foxe. &break; 1613. &break;

Subsequent editions in Quarto were printed in 1622 (Q₆) by T. P. for Mathew Law, in 1632 (Q₇) by John Norton for William Sheares, and in 1639 (Q₈) by John Norton for Hugh Perry. In all these the title-page is substantially the same. Each Quarto appears to have been printed from its predecessor.

The ‘Dering MS.’ quoted in our foot-notes was discovered in the muniment room at Surrenden by the Rev. Lambert B. Larking in 1844, and published in the following year for the Shakespeare Society under the editorship of Mr Halliwell. It contains a large portion of the First Part of Henry IV. and some scenes of the Second Part. Mr Halliwell believes it to have been written in the early part of the 17th century, certainly earlier than 1640, for the purpose of private theatrical performance. Some additions and corrections were made by the hand of ‘Sir Edward Deryng, the first baronet, who died in 1644.’ (Introduction, p. xii. ed. 1845.)

We are of opinion that this MS. was copied from the fifth Quarto of the First Part, and from a complete Quarto of the Second Part. The writer seems to have been both illiterate and careless. His punctuation is singularly bad, and his spelling peculiar to himself. We have noticed such various readings as seemed in any way remarkable.

4. The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth was first published in Quarto in 1600 with the following title-page:

The &break; Second part of Henrie &break; the fourth, continuing to his death, &break; and coronation of Henrie &break; the fift. &break; With the humours of sir Iohn Fal-&break;staffe, and swaggering &break; Pistoll. &break; As it hath been sundrie times publikely &break; acted by the right honourable, the Lord &break; Chamberlaine his seruants. &break; Written by William Shakespeare. &break; London &break; Printed by V. S. for Andrew Wise, and &break; William Aspley. &break; 1600. &break;

In some copies of the Quarto the first scene of Act III.

is left out altogether. The omission seems to have been discovered after part of the edition had been struck off and rectified by the insertion of two new leaves. In order to make this insertion, the type was taken to pieces in part of the preceding and subsequent leaves, so that there are two different impressions for the latter part of Act II. and the beginning of Act III. Sc. 2. Where this difference occurs we have used the symbols Q₁ and Q₂; where the two are identical we use only Q.

The version in the first Folio was probably printed from a transcript of the original MS. It contains passages of considerable length which are not found in the Quarto. Some of these are among the finest in the play, and are too closely connected with the context to allow of the supposition that they were later additions inserted by the author after the publication of the Quarto. In the MS. from which that edition was printed, these passages had been most likely omitted, or erased, in order to shorten the play for the stage. The Folio in other places affords occasional readings which seem preferable to those of the Quarto, but for the most part the Quarto is to be regarded as having the higher critical value.

5. King Henry the Fifth appears in its present form for the first time in the Folio of 1623. An imperfect edition in quarto was printed surreptitiously in 1600, with the following title:

(Q₁). The &break; Cronicle &break; History of Henry the fift, &break; With his battell fought at Agin Court in &break; France. Togither with Auntient &break; Pistoll. &break; As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right honorable &break; the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. &break; London &break; Printed by Thomas Creede, for Tho. Milling-&break;ton, and Iohn Busby. And are to be &break; sold at his house in Carter Lane, next &break; the Powle head. 1600. &break;

The text of this edition is given literatim at the end of the present volume, with the readings of two reprints

which appeared in 1602 and 1608 respectively. The title-pages of these are as follows:

(Q₂). The &break; Chronicle &break; History of Henry the fift, &break; With his battell fought at Agin Court &break; in France. Together with Auntient &break; Pistoll. &break; As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right honorable &break; the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. &break; London &break; Printed by Thomas Creede, for Thomas &break; Pauier, and are to be sold at his shop in Cornhill, &break; at the signe of the Cat and Parrets neare &break; the Exchange. 1602. &break;

Q₃. The &break; Chronicle History &break; of Henry the fift, with his &break; battell fought at Agin Court in &break; France. Together with an-&break;cient Pistoll. &break; As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right Honou-rable the Lord Chamberlaine his &break; Seruants. &break; Printed for T. P. 1608. &break;

The text of these Quarto editions is so imperfect and varies so much from the more authentic text of the Folio, that it was impossible to give the variations in our foot-notes. We are inclined to agree with Mr Collier and others in the supposition that the Quarto text was ‘hastily made up from notes taken at the theatre during the performance, subsequently patched together.’ The references to these Quartos are inclosed in brackets in accordance with the rule mentioned in the Preface to Vol. 1. p. xxi.

It is scarcely necessary to add that ‘The famous Victories of Henry the Fift,’ published in 1617, has nothing to do with Shakespeare's play.

We have the pleasure of adding several new names to the list of our benefactors. Miss Thackeray, of Windsor, has been so kind as to lend us a copy of Nares's Glossary which belonged to her late father, the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and is copiously annotated in his hand.

Mr Henry Wilbraham has obtained for us the loan of some valuable MS. notes on Shakespeare, compiled by the late Mr Roger Wilbraham, F.R.S., formerly Fellow of

Trinity College, and now in the possession of Mr George Fortescue Wilbraham of Delamere House, Cheshire.

Dr C. M. Ingleby and Mr G. R. French have sent us valuable communications, the former with reference to difficulties in the text, the latter with reference to points of history and genealogy.

We are also indebted for various acts of kindness and courtesy to the Marquis Camden, the Rev. T. S. Woollaston, the Rev. Lambert B. Larking, the Rev. Archibald Clerke of Kilmallie, Mr Stirling of Keir, Mr Pryme, Mr W. B. Donne, Mr P. S. Worsley, Professor Goldwin Smith, the Rev. H. O. Coxe, Librarian of the Bodleian, Mr C. Wright, and the late Mr George Daniell.

ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.