ment that condemns the "thousand irreligious cursed hours, Which forced marriage would have brought upon her" (V. v. 232-243). (23) KING HENRY V, 1599 Historical Particulars We may begin with the following entries in the Registers of the Stationers' Company: 1600 "4 Augusti. As you like yt | a booke Euery man in his humour | a booke 1600 " nothing a booke | ." 14 Augusti to be staied Thomas Entred for his Copyes by Direction of mas- These Copyes followinge beinge thinges Henry the Vth with the battell of Agen- From the foregoing we learn that the first application for license was unsuccessful. The Lord Chamberlain's company may have objected to the publication, and as far as we know, "As You Like It" was altogether withdrawn, or, less likely, it was not ready for publication. Ten days later "Henry V" was licensed, and somewhat later in the same year it appeared with the following title-page: "The Cronicle | History of Henry the fift, | with his battell fought at Agin Court in | France. Together with Auntient | Pistoll. | As it hath bene sundry times playd 1 Millington and Busby, publishers of the First Quarto, made over their interest to Pavyer, whose name appears on the Second Quarto. T by the Right honorable | the Lord Chamberlaine his servants. | [Creede's device] LONDON | Printed by Thomas Creede, for Tho. Milling- | ton, and Iohn Busby. And are to be sold at his house in Carter Lane, next | the Powle head. 1600 |. This Quarto is a very imperfect copy of the original play which is represented in the Folio edition, or possibly of a shortened acting version. It is not half the length of the Folio version; it omits the choruses, the Epilogue, the first scenes of Act I and Act III, the second scene of Act IV, and several of the characters; possibly it found occasional use as a short stage copy of the play. Moreover it prints the prose as verse, for the purpose, it would seem, of enlarging its bulk. The Second Quarto (1602) is a reprint of the First, with some trifling alterations, and the Third (1608) is a reprint of the Second, introducing some corrections and improvements. For the question of date I must refer the reader to the section immediately preceding (No. 22); to this may be added the important evidence afforded by the well-known passage in the Chorus to Act V, which anticipates the return of Essex from Ireland, "Bringing rebellion broached on his sword." Essex, accompanied by Shakespeare's friend and patron, Southampton, left for Ireland, March 27th, 1599, and returned at the end of September in the same year; and we may infer that the play was completed and perhaps acted between these dates, and before the discomfiture of Essex had become known. On the other hand (p. 22) it is not mentioned by Meres in 1598. Further, "this wooden O" of the first Chorus may refer to the Globe Theatre recently built.' I may add briefly that the evidence of style is in accordance with this date; the blank verse is more flexible than in 1 1598-1599, by Burbage, with the materials of the old "Theatre" of Shoreditch. Henry IV"; while in the lyric melodies or the martial music we detect no note of the sadness that is soon to follow. Turning now to the question of Shakespeare's originals for his "Henry V," we find that, as in the two parts of "Henry IV," he was indebted to Holinshed, and "The Famous Victories of Henry the fifth" (Section 21), which itself was based on Holinshed. As an example of the use made by Shakespeare of his authorities I will quote a passage from "The Famous Victories," which makes it evident that he must have used the latter as well as Holinshed. Archb. And it please your Maiestie, | My Lord Prince Dolphin greets you well, | With this present. He deliuereth a Tunne of Tennis Balles. Hen. 5. What a guilded Tunne? | I pray you my Lord of Yorke, looke what is in it? | Yorke. And it please your Grace, | Here is a Carpet and a Tunne of Tennis balles. Hen. 5. A Tunne of Tennis balles? | . . . My lord prince Dolphin is very pleasant with me." In this passage we have the suggestion of the line "We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us" (I, ii, 256), for which there is no hint in Holinshed. We may add that there is no trace of the famous wooing scene (V, ii, 98-298) in Holinshed, but it occurs (Katherine, however, speaks in English), in "The Famous Victories." The well-known simile of the "honey-bees" (I, ii, 183-204) is based on a passage in Lyly's "Euphues," and this again on Pliny's "Natural History." The time analysis is: 1st day, I. i. ii. (Interval); 2nd day, II. i. (Interval); 3rd day, II. ii. iii. (Interval); 4th day, II. iv. (Interval); 5th day, III. i-iii. (Interval), III. iv; 6th day, III. v,; 7th day, III. vi. vii. (part); 8th day, III. vii. (part), IV. i.-viii. (Interval); 9th day, V. i.; 10th day, V. ii. Critical remarks What should perhaps be a final reflection I will place first, that in writing this magnificent national epic Shakespeare, like Virgil, at once glorifies and edifies a great, if a less heroic present by his story of the heroic past: Small time, but in that small most greatly lived This star of England. If the analogy is not to be pressed further, it is at least worth mentioning, "As, by a lower but loving likelihood" (Chorus to Act V, 1. 29), and the solitary instance in all Shakespeare of an Irishman' among his dramatis personae may give some emphasis to the thought expressed or implied so often in the play (II. Chorus, 16-19): O England! model to thy inward greatness, Like little body with a mighty heart, What mightst thou do, that honour would thee do, That Shakespeare had a special-a political-object in view when he wrote this play, I do not for one moment believe; but I believe most firmly and most gladly that not only in "Henry V," but also in the majestic cycle of these histories we have the expression of an enthusiastic patriotism, made possible only by a time of momentous issues and the birth of national greatness, and that even in our day we should gratefully acknowledge the reflex resultant-a priceless summary of political wisdom, and a noble—an irresistible appeal to national unity.2 We may further remark that the subject of "Henry V” was long present to Shakespeare, e.g., we read in " 2 Henry 1 But the Irishman and the Scotchman may have been introduced that they might add their own peculiarities to a popular comic element in the play, and further to give Fluellen another opportunity of bringing down the house with his "variable and pleasing humours." (See title-page of "Merry Wives," Quarto, p. 224; and for the character of Fluellen see p. 219.) 2 When the danger is over Shakespeare will play with the subject, as in "Troilus" and "The Tempest"; at present, he is terribly in earnest. VI," IV, ii: "For his father's sake, Henry the Fifth, in whose time boys went to span-counter for French crowns," sqq.; and for the long-resounding note of patriotism, see Chapter VIII. Passing now from the spirit to the form of the play, we note that the dramatic structure is not of a normal type; and this may be implied from the mere presence of a chorus in front of each act; briefly, we have a combination of the two methods, the dramatic and the epic; the story is told mostly by action and dialogue, but partly by an extra-dramatic narrator. To this composite treatment Shakespeare was driven by the scope and grandeur of his subject, and, as is true of nearly all his experiments, the composite method was successful.' It is customary, however, to compare the Choruses that link the episodes of "Henry V" with their predecessors in the classic drama; customary also to assert that they have nothing in common with the latter. But the brief truth is that the nature and the function of the classic chorus was variable; that the Chorus in "Henry V" assumes much of this nature and many of these functions, while it adds yet others-" prologue-like' says the poet himself. Apart, moreover, from their dramatic functions, these Choruses are epic in some of their aspects: "O for a Muse of fire that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention." "2 "3 1 Of course, the Chorus was largely used by his contemporaries, and on one or two other occasions by himself. 2 In the Folio we have sometimes "Prologue," sometimes "Chorus." Cf. also: "You are as good as a Chorus, my lord" ("Hamlet," III. ii. 225). Also cf. : "Which, chorus-like, her eyes did rain” (“Venus and Adonis," 360), which shows that Shakespeare was acquainted with the classical function of the Chorus in regard to weeping in sympathy with the sorrows of the actors. 3 I.e. "Oh that I might be inspired by a divinity of poetry whose inspiration bright and light and upward, like fire, would raise my imagination to the highest, the empyreal heaven, the heaven of song." Here cf. Milton: "Upled by thee, Into the Heaven of Heavens I have presumed An earthly guest, and drawn empyreal air." |