*KING HENRY IV. PART I.] The tranfactions contained in this historical drama are comprised within the period of about ten months; for the action commences with the news brought of Hotfpur having defeated the Scots under Archibald earl of Douglas at Holmedon, (or Halidown-hill,) which battle was fought on Holyrood-day, (the 14th of September,) 1402; and it clofes with the defeat and death of Hotfpur at Shrewsbury; which engagement happened on Saturday the 21ft of July, (the eve of Saint Mary Magdalen,) in the year 1403. THEOBALD. This play was first entered at Stationers' Hall, Feb. 25, 1597, by Andrew Wife. Again, by M. Woolff, Jan. 9, 1598. For the piece fuppofed to have been its original, fee Six old Plays on which Shakspeare founded, &c. published for S. Leacroft, Charing-Crofs. STEEVENS. Shakspeare has apparently defigned a regular connection of these dramatic hiftories from Richard the Second to Henry the Fifth. King Henry, at the end of Richard the Second, declares his purpofe to vifit the Holy Land, which he refumes in the firft fpeech of this play. The complaint made by King Henry in the last act of Richard the Second, of the wildness of his fon, prepares the reader for the frolicks which are here to be recounted, and the characters which are now to be exhibited. JOHNSON. This comedy was written, I believe, in the year 1597. See An Attempt to afcertain the Order of Shakspeare's Plays, Vol. I. MALONE, King Henry the Fourth. Prince John of Lancaster,} Sons to the King. Earl of Westmoreland, Sir Walter Blunt, } friends to the King. Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester. Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland: Archibald, Earl of Douglas. Owen Glendower. Sir Richard Vernon. Sir John Falstaff. Gadshill. Peto. Lady Percy, wife to Hotfpur, and fifter to Mortimer. Lady Mortimer, daughter to Glendower, and wife to Mortimer. Mrs. Quickly, hoftefs of a tavern in Eastcheap. Lords, Officers, Sheriff, Vintner, Chamberlain, Drawers, two Carriers, Travellers, and Attendants. SCENE, England. 2 Prince John of Lancafter.] The perfons of the drama were originally collected by Mr. Rowe, who has given the title of Duke of Lancafter to Prince John, a mistake which Shakspeare has been no where guilty of in the first part of this play, though in the fecond he has fallen into the fame error. King Henry IV. was himfelf the last perfon that ever bore the title of Duke of Lancaster. But all his fons (till they had peerages, as Clarence, Bedford, Gloucester,) were diftinguished by the name of the royal house, as John of Lancaster, Humphrey of Lancaster, &c. and in that proper style, the prefent John (who became afterwards fo illuftrious by the title of Duke of Bedford,) is always mentioned in the play before us. STEEVENS. FIRST PART OF KING HENRY IV. ACT I. SCENE 1. London. A Room in the Palace. Enter King HENRY, WESTMORELAND, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and Others. K. HEN. So fhaken as we are, fo wan with care, Find we a time for frighted peace to pant, And breathe short-winded accents of new broils * To be commenc'd in ftronds afar remote. No more the thirsty Erinnys of this foil 3 Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood; ' Find we a time for frighted peace to pant, And breathe short-winded accents of new broils-] That is, let us foften peace to reft a while without disturbance, that she may recover breath to propose new wars. JOHNSON. 3 No more the thirsty Erinnys of this foil Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood;] See Mr. M. Mafon's note, p. 359. The old copies read-entrance, Perhaps the following conjecture may be thought very far fetch'd, and yet I am willing to venture it, because it often happens that a wrong reading has affinity to the right. We might read: -the thirsty entrants of this foil; i. e. those who fet foot on this kingdom through the thirst of power or conqueft, as the speaker himself had done, on his return to England after banishment. Whoever is accustomed to the old copies of this author, will ge nerally find the words confequents, occurrents, ingredients, fpelt confequence, occurrence, ingredience; and thus, perhaps, the French word entrants, anglicized by Shakspeare, might have been corrupted into entrance, which affords no very apparent meaning. |