The | Second part of Henrie | the fourth, continuing to his death, | and coronation of Henrie | the fift. | With the humours of sir Iohn Fal-| staffe, and swaggering | Pistoll. | As it hath been sundrie times publikely | acted by the right honourable, the Lord | Chamberlaine his seruants. | Written by William Shakespeare. | London | Printed by V. S. for Andrew Wise, and | William Aspley. | 1600. |
In some copies of the Quarto the first scene of Act III. is left out altogether. The omission seems to have been discovered after part of the edition had been struck off and rectified by the insertion of two new leaves. In order to make this insertion, the type was taken to pieces in part of the preceding and subsequent leaves, so that there are two different impressions for the latter part of Act II. and the beginning of Act III. Sc. 2. Where this difference occurs we have used the symbols Q1, and Q2; where the two are identical we use only Q.
The version in the first Folio was probably printed from a transcript of the original MS. It contains passages of considerable length which are not found in the Quarto. Some of these are among the finest in the play, and are too closely connected with the context to allow of the supposition that they were later additions inserted by the author after the publication of the Quarto. In the MS. from which that edition was printed, these passages had been most likely omitted, or erased, in order to shorten the play for the stage. The Folio in other places affords occasional readings which seem preferable to those of the Quarto, but for the most part the Quarto is to be regarded as having the higher critical value.
5. King Henry the Fifth appears in its present form for the first time in the Folio of 1623. An imperfect edition in quarto was printed surreptitiously in 1600, with the following title:
(Q1). The | Cronicle | History of Henry the fift, | With his battell fought at Agin Court in | France. Togither with Auntient | Pistoll. | As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right honorable | the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. | 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. |
The text of this edition is given literatim at the end of the present volume, with the readings of two reprints which appeared in 1602 and 1608 respectively. The title-pages of these are as follows:
(Q2). The | Chronicle | 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 by the Right honorable | the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. | London | Printed by Thomas Creede, for Thomas | Pauier, and are to be sold at his shop in Cornhill, | at the signe of the Cat and Parrets neare | the Exchange. 1602. |
Q3. The | Chronicle History | of Henry the fift, with his | battell fought at Agin Court in | France. Together with an-|cient Pistoll. | As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right Honou-|rable the Lord Chamberlaine his | Seruants. | Printed for T. P. 1608. |
The text of these Quarto editions is so imperfect and varies so much from the more authentic text of the Folio, that it was impossible to give the variations in our foot-notes. We are inclined to agree with Mr Collier and others in the supposition that the Quarto text was 'hastily made up from notes taken at the theatre during the performance, subsequently patched together.' The references to these Quartos are inclosed in brackets in accordance with the rule mentioned in the Preface to Vol. I. p. xxi.