PREFACE TO KING HENRY VI-PARTS I, II, AND III FIRST EDITIONS. The First Part of Henry the Sixth was in all probability printed for the first time in the First Folio (1623). Nov. 8, 1623, Blount and Jaggard entered among other copies of Shakespeare's Works "not formerly entered to other men "the Thirde Parte of Henry the Sixt," by which term they evidently referred to the play which, chronologically considered, precedes the Second and Third Parts. The opening lines of the play are sufficient to render it. well-nigh certain that 1 Henry VI. is not wholly Shakespeare's; 1 and there can be little doubt that, as Staunton says, "the hand of the Great Master is only occasionally perceptible" therein. Probably we have here an inferior production by some unknown dramatist,2 writing about 1589, to which Shakespeare made important" additions' 1 Coleridge says: "If you do not feel the impossibility of [these lines] having been written by Shakespeare, all I dare suggest is that you may have ears (for so has another animal), but an ear you cannot have, me judice.” Dr. Furnivall sees at least four hands in the play; Mr. Fleay assigns it to Peele, Marlowe, Lodge or Nash, and Shakespeare. The attempt, however, to determine the authorship is futile, owing to the absence of all evidence on the point. ་ལས་ ས་ in the year 1591. To him may safely be assigned the greater part of iv. 2-7, especially the Talbot episodes; scene 7, in spite of its rhyme, has the Shakespearian ring, and is noteworthy from the point of view of literary history. The wooing of Margaret by Suffolk (v. 3) has, too, something of Shakespeare's touch. Finally, there is the Temple-garden scene (ii. 4.), which is certainly Shakespeare's, though, judged by metrical peculiarities, it may well have been added some years after 1591. We may be sure that at no time in his career could he have been guilty of the crude and vulgar presentment of Joan of Arc in the latter part of the play. The Second and Third Parts of Henry the Sixth, forming together a two-sectioned play, have come down to us in two versions: (1) The Folio version, authorised by Shakespeare's editors; and (2) a carelessly printed early Quarto version, differing from the first in many important respects. About 3240 lines in the Quarto edition appear either in the same or an altered form in the Folio edition, while about 2740 lines in the latter are entirely new. The title-pages of the first Quartos, corresponding to Parts I. and II. respectively, are as follows (Quarto 1): (1) The First part of the Con | tention betwixt the two famous houses of Yorke | and Lancaster, with the death of the good | Duke Humphrey : | And the banishment and death of the Duke of | Suffolke, and the TragiI call end of the proud Cardinall | of Winchester, with the | notable Rebellion | of Iacke Lade: | And the Duke of Yorke's first claime vnto the | Crowne. LONDON. | Printed 1 Miss Jane Lee says that “out of 3075 lines in Part II. there are 1715 new lines, some 840 altered lines (many but very slightly altered), and some 520 old lines. In Part III., out of 2902 lines there are about 1021 new lines, about 871 altered lines, and about 1010 old lines.” |