To conclusion that he had been entirely mistaken, and that none of these peculiarities were to be traced in the first part of "Henry VI.:" "1 am, therefore (he added), decisively of opinion, that this play was not written by Shakespeare." support this notion, he published a "Dissertation on the Three Parts of King Henry VI.," in which he argued that the first part was not only not the authorship of Shakespeare, but that it was not written by the same persons who had composed the second and third parts of "Henry VI." With reference to the question, how far and at what time Shakespeare became connected with the plays, known as the three parts of "Henry VI.," it is necessary to observe, that it was very usual in the time of our great dramatist, for one poet to take up the production of another, and, by making additions to and improvements in it, to appropriate it to his own use, or to the use of the theatre to which he belonged. This practice applied to the works of living as well as of dead poets, and it has been conjectured that when Robert Greene, in his "Groatsworth of Wit," 1592, spoke of Shakespeare, as "the only Shake-scene in a country," and as " an upstart crow beautified with our feathers," he alluded chiefly to the manner in which Shakespeare had employed certain drainas, by Greene and others, as the foundation of his three parts of Henry VI." These certain dramas were some undiscovered original of the first part of "Henry VI.;" the first part of "The Contention betwixt the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster," 1600; and "The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York," 1595. It was by making additions, alterations, and improvements in these three pieces, that Shakespeare's name became associated with them as their author, and hence the player-editors felt themselves justified in inserting them among his other works in the folio of 1623. There are two other theories respecting the elder plays we have mentioned, neither of them, as it seems to us, supported by sufficient testimony. One of them is, that the first part of "Henry VI.," as it is contained in the folio of 1623, the first part of the "Contention," 1594, and the "True Tragedy," 1595, were in fact productions by Shakespeare himself. which he subsequently enlarged and corrected: the other theory is, that the two latter were early editions of the same dramas that we find in the folio, and that the imperfections or variations in the quarto impressions are to be accounted for by the surreptitious manner in which the manuscript, from which they were printed, was obtained by the booksellers. In support of the first of these opinions, little better than conjecture can be produced, contradicted by the expressions of Greene in 1592, as far as those expressions apply to these plays; and with regard to the second opinion, in some places the quarto editions of the first part of the "Contention" and the "True Tragedy" are fuller, by many lines, than the copy in the folio, 1623, which would hardly have been the case, had the dialogue been taken down in short-hand, and corrected by memory in the next place, the speeches have such a degree of completeness and regularity as to render it very improbable that they were obtained by so uncertain and imperfect an expedient. We think it most likely that the first part of "Henry VI." was founded upon a previous play, although none such has been brought to light: and that the materials for the second and third parts of "Henry VI." were mainly derived from the older dramas of the first part of "The Contention betwixt the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster," and "The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York." Although no such drama has come down to us, we know, on the authority of Henslowe's Diary, that there was a play called "Harey the VI." acted on 3d March, 1591-2, and so popular as to have been repeated twelve times. This was, perhaps, the piece which Shakespeare subsequently altered and improved, and to which Nash alludes in his "Pierce Penniless," 1592 (sign. H. 2.), where he speaks of "brave Talbot" having been made "to triumph again on the stage," after having been two hundred years in his tomb. Malone (Shakespeare, by Boswell, vol. iii. p. 298.) concludes decisively in the affirmative on both these points, forgetting, however, that the "Harey the VI." acted by Henslowe's company, might possibly be a play got up and represented in consequence of the success of the drama in the authorship of which Shakespeare was concerned. If our great dramatist founded his first part of "Henry VI.' upon the play produced by Henslowe's company, of course, it could not have been written until after March, 1592; but with regard to the precise date of its composition we must remain in uncertainty. Malone's later notion was, as we have already observed, that Shakespeare's hand was not to be traced in any part of it; but Steevens called attention to several remarkable coincidences of expression, and passages might be pointed out so much in the spirit and character of Shakespeare, that we cannot conceive them to have come from any other pen. Coleridge has instanced the opening of the play as unlike Shakespeare's metre (Lit. Remains, vol. ii. p. 184.): he was unquestionably right; but he did not advert to the fact, of which there is the strongest presumptive evidence, that more than one author was engaged on the work. The very discordance of style forms part of the proof; and in his lectures in 1815, Coleridge adduced many lines which he beieved must have been written by Shakespeare. KING HENRY THE SIXTH. DUKE OF GLOSTER, Uncle to the King, and Pro DUKE OF BEDFORD, Uncle to the King, Regent of DUKE OF EXETER. HENRY BEAUFORT, Bishop of Winchester. JOHN BEAUFORT, Earl of Somerset. RICHARD PLATAGENET, Duke of York. EARLS OF WARWICK, SALISBURY, and SUFFOLK. JOHN TALBOT, his Son. EDMUND MORTIMER, Earl of March. Mortimer's Keeper, and a Lawyer. SIR JOHN FASTOLFE. SIR WILLIAM LUCY. SIR VERNON, of the White Rose, or York Faction. CHARLES, Dauphin, and afterwards King of REIGNIER, Duke of Anjou, and King of Naples. Governor of Paris. Master Gunner of Orleans, General of the French Forces in Bordeaux. A French Sergeant. A Porter. An old Shepherd, I ather to Joan la Pucelle. MARGARET, Daughter to Reignier. JOAN LA PUCELLE, commonly called Joan of Arc. Fiends appearing to La Pucelle, Lords, Warders of the Tower, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and several Attendants both on the English and French. SCENE, partly in England, and partly in France. FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI. ACT I. SCENE I.-Westminster Abbey. Dead March. The Corpse of King HENRY the Fifth is discovered, lying in state; attended on by the Dukes of BEDFORD, GLOSTER, and EXETER the Earl of WARWICK, the Bishop of Winchester, Heralds, &c. Bed. Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! Comets, importing change of times and states, And with them scourge the bad revolting stars, Glo. England ne'er had a king until his time. His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams; He ne'er lift up his hand, but conquered. Exe. We mourn in black: why mourn we not in blood? Henry is dead, and never shall revive. Upon a wooden coffin we attend ; Like captives bound to a triumphant car. What! shall we curse the planets of mishap, Win. He was a king, bless'd of the King of kings. Unto the French the dreadful judgment day So dreadful will not be, as was his sight. The battles of the Lord of hosts he fought: The church's prayers made him so prosperous. Glo. The church! where is it? Had not church- His thread of life had not so soon decay'd: Win. Gloster, whate'er we like, thou art protector, Glo. Name not religion, for thou lov'st the flesh; And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st, Except it be to pray against thy foes. Bed. Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds in peace. Let's to the altar-Heralds, wait on us.— Instead of gold, we 'll offer up our arms, Since arms avail not, now that Henry's dead. Posterity, await for wretched years, When at their mothers' moist eyes babes shall suck, Enter a Messenger. Mess. My honourable lords, health to you all. 1 Pope reads: marish, marsh. 2 This word is not in f e. |