KING HENRY THE FIFTH, ARRANGED FOR REPRESENTATION AT THE PRINCESS'S THEATRE, WITH HISTORICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES, BY CHARLES KEAN, F. S. A. AS FIRST PERFORMED ON MONDAY, MARCH 28TH, 1859. ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL. SEVENTH EDITION. London: PRINTED BY JOHN K. CHAPMAN AND CO., 5, SHOE LANE, AND PETERBOROUGH COURT, FLEET STREET. FLUELLEN, BATES, WILLIAMS, NYM, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, (Conspirators Mr. T. W. EDMONDS. against the Mr. CORMACK. Mr. STOAKES. Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. G. EVERETT. King) (Officers in King Henry's Army) } (Soldiers in the same) (formerly Servants to Falstaff, now Soldiers in the same) QUICKLY (Pistol's Wife, a Hostess) Mr. MEADOWS. Mr. J. MORRIS. Mr. H. SAKER. Mr. FRANK MATTHEWS. Miss KATE TERRY. Mr. COLLIER. Mrs. CHARLES KEAN. Mr. TERRY. Mr. J. F. CATHCART. Mr. ROLLESTON. Mr. BRAZIER. Mr. JAMES. Mr. RAYMOND. Mr. WALTERS. Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. PAULO. Mr. BARSBY. Miss MURRAY. KATHARINE (Daughter of Charles and Isabel) Miss CHAPMAN. Lords, Ladies, Officers, French and English Soldiers, Messengers, and Attendants. The SCENE, at the Beginning of the Play, lies in England; but afterwards in France. STAGE DIRECTIONS. R. H. means Right Hand; L. H. Left Hand; U. E. Upper Entrance; R. H. C. Enters through the centre from the Right Hand; L. H. C. Enters through the centre from the Left Hand. RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE PERFORMERS WHEN ON THE STAGE. R. means on the Right Side of the Stage; L. on the Left Side of the Stage; C. Centre of the Stage; R. C. Right Centre of the Stage; L. C. Left Centre of the Stage. The reader is supposed to be on the Stage, facing the Audience. THE SCENERY Painted by Mr. GRIEVE and Mr. TELBIN, Mr. DAYES, &c., &c. THE MUSIC under the direction of Mr. ISAACSON. THE DANCE IN THE EPISODE by Mr. CORMACK. THE DECORATIONS AND APPOINTMENTS by Mr. E. W. BRADWELL. THE DRESSES by Mrs. and Miss HOGGINS. THE MACHINERY by Mr. G. HODSDON. PERRUQUIER, Mr. ASPLIN, of No. 13, New Bond Street. For reference to Historical Authorities indicated by Letters, see end of each Act. PREFACE. IN the selection of my last Shakespearean revival at the Princess's Theatre, I have been actuated by a desire to present some of the finest poetry of our great dramatic master, interwoven with a subject illustrating a most memorable era in English history. No play appears to be better adapted for this two-fold purpose than that which treats of Shakespeare's favorite hero, and England's favorite king-Henry the Fifth. The period thus recalled is flattering to our national pride; and however much the general feeling of the present day may be opposed to the evils of war, there are few amongst us who can be reminded of the military renown achieved by our ancestors on the fields of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, without a glow of patriotic enthusiasm. The political motives which induced the invasion of France in the year 1415 must be sought for in the warlike spirit of the times, and in the martial character of the English sovereign. It is sufficient for dramatic purposes that a few thousands of our countrymen, in their march through a foreign land, enfeebled by sickness and encompassed by foes, were able to subdue and scatter to the winds the multitudinous hosts of France, on whose blood-stained soil ten thousand of her bravest sons lay slain, mingled with scarcely one hundred Englishmen !* Such a marvellous disparity might well draw forth the pious acknowledgment of King Henry, "O God, thy arm was here; And not to us, but to thy arm alone, Ascribe we all.-When, without stratagem, On one part and on the other?-Take it, God, Shakespeare in this, as in other of his dramatic histories, hast closely followed Holinshed; but the light of his genius irradiates the dry pages of the chronicler. The play of Henry the Fifth is not only a poetical record of the past, but it is, as it were, a song of triumph," a lay of the minstrel pouring forth 66 *The English authorities vary in their statements from seventeen to one hundred killed. The French historian, Monstrelet, estimates the loss of his countrymen at ten thousand men. |