KING HENRY V. ACT I. SCENE I. An antichamber in the English court, at Kenelworth. Enter the archbishop of Canterbury, and bishop of Ely. 2 Cant. My lord, I'll tell you,-that felf bill is urg'd, Which Life of Henry V. This play was writ (as appears from a paffage in the chorus to the fifth act) at the time of the earl of Effex's commanding the forces in Ireland in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and not 'till after Henry the VIth had been played, as may be feen by the conclufion of this play. POPE. The tranfactions comprised in this hiftorical play commence about the latter end of the first, and terminate in the eighth year of this king's reign: when he married Katharine princets of France, and clofed up the differences betwixt England and that Crown. THEOBALD. This play in the quarto edition, 1608, is styled the Chronicle Hiftory of Henry, &c. which feems to have been the title anciently appropriated to all Shakipeare's hiftorical dramas. So, in The Antipodes, a comedy by R. Brome, 1638: Thefe lads can act the emperor's lives all over, "And Shakespeare's Chronicled Hiftories to boot." The players likewife in the folio edition, 1623, rank these pieces under the title of Hiftories. It is evident, that a play on this fubject had been performed before the year 1595. Nath, in Pierce Penniless bis Supplication to the Devil, dated 1595, fays: "what a glorious thing it is to have Henry the Fift reprefented on the ftage leading the French king prifoner, and forcing both him and the Dolphin to sweare' fealtie." STEEVENS.' 2 Archbishop of Canterbury.] This firft fcene was added fince the edition of 1608, which is much flort of the prefent ed ions, wherein B 4 Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king's reign, Was like, and had indeed against us paft, But wherein the fpeeches are generally enlarged and raised: feveral whole scenes befides, and all the chorufes alfo, were fince added by Shakspeare, POPE. 66 On this fubject a play was written about the time of Shak speare; but whether before or after his Henry V. made its appearance, has not yet been abfolutely determined. (It is thus entered in the books of the Stationers' company. "Tho. Strode] May 2, 1594. A booke entituled the famous Victories of Henry the Fift, containing the honorable Battell of Agincourt." There are two more entries of a play of Henry V. viz. between 1596 and 1615, and one August 14th, 1600.) I have two copies of it in my poffeffion: one without date (which Teems much the elder of the two) and another (apparently printed from it) dated 1617, though printed by Bernard Alfop (who was printer of the other edition), and fold by the fame perfon and at the fame place, Alfop appears to have been a printer before the year 1600, and was afterwards one of the twenty appointed by decree of the starchamber to print for this kingdom. I believe, however, this piece to have been prior to that of Shakipeare for feveral reafons. First, because it is highly probable that it is the very displeafing play" alluded to in the epilogue to the fecond part of King Henry iv.-for Oldeafile died a martyr. Oldcaile is the Falstaff of the piece, which is defpicable, and full of ribaldry and impiety from the fift fcene to the laft.Secondly, Lecaufe Shakspeare feems to have taken not a few hints from it; for it comprehends in fome reature the ftory of the two parts of Henry IV. as well as of Henry V. and no ignorance, I think, could debate the gold of Shakspeare into fuch drofs; though no chemistry but that of Shakipeare could exalt fuch bafe metal into gold.- When the prince of Wales in Henry IV. calls Falstaff my old lad of the Caftle, it is probably but a ineering allufion to the deferved fate which this performance met with; for there is no proof that our poet was ever obliged to change the name of Oldcastle into that of Falstaff, though there is an abfolute certainty that this piece muit have been condemned by any andience before whom it was ever reprefented. Laftly, because it appears (as Dr. Farmer has obferved) from the Jefs of the famous comedian Tarlton, 4to. 1611, that he had been particularly celebrated in the part of the Clown in Henry Mr. Oldys, in a manufcript note in his copy of Langbaine, fays, that Tarlton appeared in the character of the Judge who receives the box on the ear. This judge is likewi e a character in the old play. I may add, on the authority of the books at Stationers-Hall, that Tariton published what he called his Farewell, 1 But that the scambling and unquiet time 3 Ely. Henry V. and though this character does not exist in our play, we find it in the other, which, for the reafons already enumerated, I fuppofe to have been prior to this. This anonymous play of Henry V. is neither divided into acts or fcenes, is uncommonly fhort, and has all the appearance of having been imperfectly taken down during the reprefentation. As much of it appears to have been omitted, we may fuppofe that the author did not think it convenient for his reputation to publifh a more ample copy. There is, indeed, a play, called Sir John Oldcastle, published in 1600, with the name of William Shakespeare prefixed to it. The prologue being very fhort, I fhall quote it as it ferves to prove, that a former piece, in which the character of Olicaftie was introduced, had given great offence: "The doubtfull title (gentlemen) prefixt "Upon the argument we have in hand, "May breed fufpence, and wrongfully disturbe "Unto his foveraigne, and his countries weale: STEEVENS. The fcambling and unquiet time. In the old hotffhold book of the 5th earl of Northumberland, there is a particular fection appointing the order of fervice for the scambling days in lent, that is, days on which no regular meals were provided, but every one fcambled, i. e. fcrambled and fhifted for himself as well as he could. So, in the old noted book intitled, "Leicester's Commonwrath," one of the marginal heads is, Scambling between Leicefter and Huntington at the upfhot.' Where in the text, the author fays, "Haftings, for ought I fee, when he cometh to " evell, a ballad, in Sept. 1588. In 08. 1589, was entered, "Tarlton's Repentance, and bis Farewell to bis Friends in his Sickness a little before bis Death" in 1590, " Tarlton's Newes out of Purgatorie:" and in the fame year, "A pleaJaunt Ditty Dialogue-wife, between Tarlton's Ghost and Robyn Good-felicame.” STILYENS. the Ely. But how, my lord, fhall we refift it now? Would they strip from us; being valu'd thus,- A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the bill. Cant. 'Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention? Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard. Ely. And a true lover of the holy church. Cant. The courfes of his youth promis'd it not. The breath no fooner left his father's body, But that his wildnefs, mortify'd in him, Seem'd to die too; yea, at that very moment, 5 Confideration like an angel came, And the fcambling, is like to have no better luck by the bear [Leieefter] then his ancestors had by the boare [K. Rich. III.]." edit. 1641, 12mo. p. 87. So again, Shakspeare himself makes king Hen. V. fay to the princefs Katharine, 1 get thee with cambling, and thou muit therefore prove a good foldier-breeder." Act V. PERCY. Shakspeare uses the fame word in Much Ado about Nothing: Scambling, out-facing, fafhion-mong'ring boys." Again, in the Merry Devil of Edmonton, 1626: "Leave us to feamble for her getting out." See Vol. II. 371. STEEVENS. 4 A thousand pounds by the year] Hall, who appears to have been Shakspeare's authority, in the above enumeration, fays, and the kyng to have clerely in his cofers twentie thousand "poundes." EDITOR. s Confideration like an angel, &c.] As paradife, when fin and Adam were driven out by the angel, became the habitation of 6 celeftial And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him; To envelop and contain celeftial fpirits. Ely. We are bleffed in the change. Cant. Hear him but reafon in divinity", And, all-admiring, with an inward with You would defire, the king were made a prelate: Hear celeftial fpirits, fo the king's heart, fince confideration has driven out his follies, is now the receptacle of wisdom and of virtue. JOHNSON. Never came reformation in a flood,] Alluding to the method by which Hercules cleanfed the famous ftables, when he turned a river through them. Hercules ftill is in our author's head when he mentions the Hydra. JOHNSON. 7 Hear him but reafon in divinity, &c.] This fpeech feems to have been copied from king James's prelates, fpeaking of their Solomon: when archbishop Whitgift, who, as an eminent writer fays, died foon afterwards, and probably doated then, at the Hampton-Court conference, declared himself verily perfuaded, that his facred majefly spoke by the Spirit of God. And, in effect, this scene was added after king James's acceffion to the crown: fo that we have no way of avoiding its being efteemed a compliment to him, but by fuppofing it was a fatire on his bijhops. WARBURTON. Why these lines fhould be divided from the rest of the speech and applied to king James, I am not able to conceive; nor why an opportunity fhould be fo eagerly fnatched to treat with contempt that part of his character which was leaft contemptible. King James's theological knowledge was not inconfiderable. To prefide at difputations is not very fuitable to a king, but to understand the questions is furely laudable. The poet, if he had James in his thoughts, was no fkilful encomiaft; for the mention of Harry's fkill in war, forced upon the remembrance of his audience the great deficiency of their prefent king; who yet with all his faults, and many faults he had, was fuch, that fir Robert Cotton fays, he would be content that England should never bave a better, provided that it should never have a worse. JOHNSON. Thofe |