INTRODUCTION.

It is a circumstance deserving remark, that not one of the title-pages of the quarto editions of “Henry V.” attribute the authorship of the play to Shakespeare. It was printed three several times during the life of the poet, but in no instance with his name. The fact, no doubt, is, that there never was an authorized edition of “Henry V.” until it ppeared in the folio of 1623, and that the quarto impressions were surreptitious, and were published without the consent of the author, or of the company to which he was attached. They came out in 1600, 1602, and 1608, the one being merely a reprint of the other; and, considering the imperfectness and deficiency of the text in the quarto of 1600, it is perhaps strange that no improvements were made in the subsequent impressions. The drama must have enjoyed great popularity; it must have been played over and over again at the theatre, and yet the public interest, as far as perusal is concerned, would seem to have been satisfied with a brief, rude, and mutilated representation of the performance. The quartos can be looked upon in no other light than as fragments of the original play, printed in haste for the satisfaction of public curiosity.

The quartos bear strong external and internal evidence of fraud: the earliest of them was not published by a bookseller or booksellers by whom Shakespeare's genuine dramas were issued; and the second and third came from the hands of Thomas Pavier, who was instrumental in giving to the world some pieces, with the composition of which Shakespeare had no concern, though ascribed to him on the title-page. The internal evidence shows that the edition was made up, not from any authentic manuscript, nor even from any combination of the separate parts delivered out to the actors by the copyist of the theatre, but from what could be taken down in short-hand, or could be remembered, while the performance was taking place. It is true that the quarto impressions contain not the slightest hint of the Chorusses, nor of whole scenes, and long speeches found in the folio of 1623; and the inference seems to be that “Henry V.” was originally produced by Shakespeare in a comparatively incomplete state, and that large portions contained in the folio, and of which no trace can be pointed out in the quartos, were added at a subsequent date, to give greater novelty and attraction to the drama. Such, we

know, was a very common course with all our early stage-poets. A play called “Henry V.” was represented at Court on the 7th Jan. 1605, as we learn from “The Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels,” edited by Mr. P. Cunningham, and printed by the Shakespeare Society, p. 204; and these important additions may have been inserted for that occasion. The entry runs, literatim, as follows:—

“On the 7 of January was played the play of Henry the fift.”

In the margin we are informed that it was acted “by his Majesty's players,” but the name of the author is not in this instance given, although “Shaxberd” is placed opposite the title of “Measure for Measure,” stated to have been exhibited on a preceding night. The fact that the actors belonged to Shakespeare's company renders it most probable that his play was performed on the occasion; but it is to be recollected also, that the old play of “The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth” purports on the title-page to have been “acted by the King's Majesty's servants,” even at so late a date as 1617, when the last edition of it made its appearance. Nevertheless, we may perhaps take it for granted, that the “Henry the fift,” played at Whitehall by the king's servants, on 7th Jan. 1605, was Shakespeare's historical drama; and it may not be too much to presume, that most of the additions (Chorusses excepted) included in the folio of 1623, were written in consequence of the selection of “Henry V.” by the Master of the Revels for representation before James I.

Our opinion, then, is that Shakespeare did not originally write his “Henry V.” by any means as we find it in the folio of 1623, and that it was first produced without various scenes and speeches subsequently written and introduced: we are perfectly convinced that the three quarto editions of 1600, 1602, and 1608 do not at all contain the play as it was acted in the first instance; but were hastily made up from notes taken at the theatre during the performance, subsequently patched together. Now and then we meet with a few consecutive lines, similar to the authentic copy, but in general the text is miserably mangled and disfigured. We might find proofs in support of our position in every part of the play, but as in his “Twenty Quartos” Steevens has reprinted that of 1608, it will be needless to select more than a single specimen. We give the text as we find it, literatim, in the quarto, 1600, from the copy in the Library of the Duke of Devonshire: our extract is from Act i. sc. 2, the speech of the King, just before the French Ambassadors are called in:—
“Call in the messenger sent from the Dolphin,
And by your aid, the noble sinewes of our land,
France being ours, weele bring it to our awe,
Or break it all in pieces:

Eyther our Chronicles shal with full mouth speak
Freely of our acts,
Or else like toonglesse mutes
Not worshipt with a paper epitaph.”

Such is the speech as it is abridged and corrupted in the quarto, 1600: the correct text, as contained in the folio of 1623, may be seen on p. 477 of the following play.

It not unfrequently happened that the person who took down the lines as the actors delivered them, for the purpose of publishing the quarto, 1600, misheard what was said, and used wrong words which in sound nearly resembled the right: thus, earlier in the same scene, the Archbishop of Canterbury says, according to the folio, 1623,
“They of those Marches, gracious sovereign,
Shall be a wall sufficient to defend
Our inland from the pilfering borderers.” In the quarto, 1600, the materials for which were probably surreptitiously obtained at the theatre, the passage is thus given:—
“The Marches, gracious soveraigne, shalbe sufficient
To guard your England from the pilfering borderers.”

We might multiply instances of the same kind, but we do not think there can be any reasonable doubt upon the point.

The quartos, as we have stated, contain no hint of the Chorusses, but a passage in that which precedes Act v. certainly relates to the expedition of the Earl of Essex to Ireland, between the 15th April and the 28th Sept. 1599, and must have been written during his absence:—
“As, by a lower but loving likelihood,
Were now the general of our gracious empress
(As in good time he may) from Ireland coming,
Bringing rebellion broached on his sword,
How many would the peaceful city quit
To welcome him.”

The above lines were, therefore, composed between the 15th April and the 28th Sept. 1599, and most likely the Chorusses formed part of the piece as originally acted, although the short-hand writer did not think it a necessary portion of the performance to be included in the earliest quarto, 1600, which was to be brought out with great speed; and perhaps the length of these and other recitations might somewhat baffle his skill. Upon this supposition, the question when Shakespeare wrote his “Henry V.” is brought to a narrow point; and confirmed as it is by the omission of all mention of the play by Meres, in his Palladis Tamia, 1598, we need feel little doubt that his first sketch came from the pen of Shakespeare, for performance at the Globe theatre, early in the summer of 1599. The enlarged drama, as it stands in the folio of 1623, we are disposed to believe was not put into the complete shape in which it has there come down to us, until shortly before the date when it was played at Court.

1 ^note.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ KING HENRY THE FIFTH. DUKE OF GLOSTER [Duke of Gloucester], Brother to the King. DUKE OF BEDFORD, Brother to the King. DUKE OF EXETER, Uncle to the King. DUKE OF YORK, Cousin to the King. EARL OF SALISBURY, EARL OF WESTMORELAND, EARL OF WARWICK. ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. BISHOP OF ELY. EARL OF CAMBRIDGE, Conspirator. LORD SCROOP, Conspirator. SIR THOMAS GREY, Conspirator. SIR THOMAS ERPINGHAM, Officer in King Henry's Army. GOWER, Officer in King Henry's Army. FLUELLEN, Officer in King Henry's Army. MACMORRIS, Officer in King Henry's Army. JAMY, Officer in King Henry's Army. BATES, Soldier. COURT, Soldier. WILLIAMS, Soldier. PISTOL, NYM, BARDOLPH. BOY, Servant to Pistol, Nym and Bardolph. A Herald. CHORUS. CHARLES THE SIXTH, King of France. LEWIS, the Dauphin. DUKE OF BURGUNDY, DUKE OF ORLEANS, DUKE OF BOURBON. The CONSTABLE of FRANCE. RAMBURES, French Lord. GRANDPRE, French Lord. MONTJOY, A French Herald. Governor of Harfleur. Ambassadors to England [Ambassador]. ISABEL, Queen of France. KATHARINE, Daughter of Charles and Isabel. ALICE, a Lady attending on the Princess. MRS. QUICKLY, a Hostess. Lords, Ladies, Officers, French and English Soldiers, Messengers, and Attendants. The SCENE in England, and in France.

KING HENRY V.

[Prologue] CHORUS. Enter Chorus^{1 note}.
O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention!
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire,
Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraised spirit that hath dar'd,
On this unworthy scaffold, to bring forth
So great an object: can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O^{2 note} the very casques,
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may
Attest in little place a million;
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work.
Suppose, within the girdle of these walls

Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies,
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous, narrow ocean parts asunder.
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide one man,
And make imaginary puissance^{3 note}



:
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times,
Turning th' accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,
Admit me chorus to this history;
Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.

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