3. THE FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI. 1591. The regular First Part of K. Henry VI. was not published till 1623, at which time it was entered at Stationers' hall by the printers of the earliest folio, under the name of the Third Part of K. Henry VI. In one fenfe it might be called fo; for two parts had appeared before. But confidering the hiftory of that reign, and the period of time it comprehends, it ought to have been called, what in fact it is, the FIRST Part of K. Henry VI. Why this Firft Part was not entered on the Stationers' books with the other two, it is impoffible now to determine. That it was written before the Second and Third Parts, Dr. Johnfon thinks, appears indubitably from the series of events. "It is apparent," he fays, "that the Second Part begins where the former ends, and continues the feries of tranfactions of which it pre-fuppofes the first part already known. This is a fufficient proof that the Second and Third Parts were not written without dependence on the First, though they were printed as containing a complete period of history." I once thought differently from the learned commentator; imagining that the First Part of King Henry VI. was not written till after the two other parts. But on an attentive examination of these three plays, I have found fufficient reason to subscribe to Dr. Johnfon's opinion. This piece is fuppofed to have been produced in the year 1591, on the authority of Thomas Nafhe, who in a tract entitled Pierce Pennylejs his Supplication to the Devil, which was published in 1592', exprefly mentions one of the characters in it, who does not appear in the second or third Part of K. Henry VI. nor, I believe, in any other play of that time. "How (fays he) would it have joyed brave Talbot, the terror of the French, to think that after he had lain two hundred years in his tomb, he should triumph again on the NOTES. This was the first edition, for it was not entered on the Stationers' books before that year. • Thus Talbot is defcribed in the firft part of K. Henry VI, A& I. fc. iii. "Here, faid they, is the terror of the French." Again in Act V, se. i. "Is Talbot flain, the Frenchmens' only scourge, ftage, ftage, and have his bones new embalmed with the tears of ten thousand spectators at leaft (at feveral times), who, in the tragedian that reprefents his perfon, imagine they behold him fresh bleeding." 4.1 SECOND AND THIRD PARTS OF KING HENRY VI. 5. 1592. In a tract already mentioned, entitled Greene's Groatsworth of Witte, &c. which was written before the end of the year 1592, there is, as Mr. Tyrwhitt has obferved', a parody on a line in the Third Part of K. Henry VI. and an allufion to the name of Shakspeare. These two hiftorical dramas were entered on the books of the Stationers' company, March 12, 1593-4, but were not printed till the year 1600. In their fecond titles they are called-THE FIRST AND SECOND PARTS of the Contention of the two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancafler; but in reality they are THE SECOND and THIRD PARTS of King Henry VI. In the laft chorus of King Henry V. Shakspeare alludes to the Second Part, perhaps to all the parts of K. Henry VI. as popular performances, that had frequently been exhibited on the ftage; and expreffes a hope, that K. Henry V. may, for their fake, meet with a favourable reception: a plea, which he fcarcely would have urged, if he had not been their author. 6. Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1592. There is reafon to believe that Pericles, whoever was the writer of it, was compofed about this time. The poet introduces John Gower by way of chorus to it, as Middleton introduces Rainulph, the monk of Chefter, in his Mayor of Quinborough, and as Thomas Heywood does Skelton and Fryar Tuck, in his Robert of Huntingdon: performances nearly of this date. Ben Johnson, in his ode on the ill reception of his New Inn, fpeaks of Pericles as a play of great antiquity, calling it a mouldy tale. It was not entered on the books of the Stationers' company till May 2, 1608, nor printed till 1609; but the following ftanza, in a metrical See vol. VI. p. ult. NOTE. pamphlet, pamphlet, entitled Pymlico or Run away Redcap, publifhed in 1596, afcertains it to have been written and exhibited on the stage, prior to that year: "Amaz'd I ftood, to see a crowd "Of civil throats ftretch'd out fo lowd: "Did fwarm with gentles mix'd with grooms; In this piece are introduced many dumb fhews, which were much admired at this time; and they afford one argument against its being the production of Shakspeare; he having never admitted a serious dumb fhew in any play unquestionably his: and having in Hamlet, four years after the date here affigned to Pericles, exprefsly marked his difapprobation of them, by calling them inexplicable. Dryden, however, feems to have thought Pericles genuine, and our author's first compofition: "Shakespeare's own mufe his Pericles firft bore, 7. Locrine, 1593. Entered on the Stationers' books July 20, 1594. Printed in 1595, without any author's name. In the title-page this piece is faid to be newly fet forth, overseene and corrected by W. S. NOTES. See the entry on the books of the Stationers' company, June 19, 1594, where the lamentable End of Shore's Wife is mentioned as a part of Richard III. This piece in which Shore's wife was introduced was, probably, in poffeffion of the stage a year or two before this entry; and from the manner in which these plays are mentioned in the verfes above quoted, we may conclude that Pericles was equally ancient, and equally well known. X Prologue to the tragedy of Circe, by Charles Davenant, 1677. -Mr. Rowe, in his Life of Shakespeare, (first edition) fays, "There is good reafon to believe that the greatest part of Pericles was not written by him, though it is owned, fome part of it certainly was, particularly the left act." I have not been able to learn on what authority this latter affertion was grounded.-Rowe, in his fecond edition, omitted the paffage. 8. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, 1593' This comedy was not entered on the books of the Sta tioners' company till 1623, at which time it was first printed; but is mentioned by Meres in 1598, and bears strong internal marks of an early compofition. The Winter's Tale was, perhaps, entered on the Stationers books, May 22, 1594, under the name of A Wynter Nyght's Paftime; which might have been the fame play. It is obfervable that Shakspeare has two other fimilar titles;Twelfth Night, and A Midfummer Night's Dream: and it appears that the titles of his plays were sometimes changed; thus, All's Well that Ends Well, we have reafon to think, was called Love's Labour Won; and Hamlet was fometimes called Hamlet's REVENGE, fometimes The HISTORY of Hamlet. However, it must not be concealed, that The Winter's Tale is not enumerated among our author's plays, by Meres, in 1598: a circumftance which, yet, is not decifive to fhew that it was not then written; for neither is Hamlet nor King Henry VI. mentioned by him. Greene's Doraflus and Fawnia, from which the plot of this play is borrowed, was published in 1588. The Winter's Tale was acted at court in the beginning of the year 1613. It was not printed till 1623. Mr. Walpole thinks, that this play was intended by Shakspeare as an indirect apology for Anne Boleyn; and confiders it as a Second Part to K. Henry VIII. My ref pect for that very judicicus and ingenious writer, the filence of Meres, and the circumftance of there not being one rhyming couplet throughout this piece, except in the cho rus, make me doubt whether it ought not to be ascribed to the year 1601, or 1602, rather than that in which it is here placed. 10. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, 1595. The poetry of this piece, glowing with all the warmth NOTES. y Mf. of the late Mr. Vertue. Hiftorick Doubts. of a youthful and lively imagination, the many fcenes that it contains of almost continual rhyme, the poverty of the fable, and want of difcrimination among the higher perfonages, difpofe me to believe that it was one of our author's earliest attempts in comedy. It feems to have been written, while the ridiculous compé titions, prevalent among the hiftrionick tribe, were ftrongly impreffed by novelty on his mind. He would naturally copy thofe manners first, with which he was firft acquainted. The ambition of a theatrical candidate for applaufe he has happily ridiculed in Bottom the weaver. But among the more dignified perfons of the drama we look in vain for any traits of character. The manners of Hippolita, the Amazon, are undistinguished from thofe of other females. Thefeus, the affociate of Hercules, is not engaged in any adventure, worthy of his rank or reputation, nor is he in reality an agent throughout the play. Like K. Henry VIII. he goes out a Maying. He meets the lovers in perplexity, and makes no effort to promote their happiness; but when fupernatural accidents have reconciled them, he joins their company, and concludes his day's entertainment by uttering some miferable puns at an interlude reprefented by a troop of clowns. Over the fairy part of the drama he cannot be fuppofed to have any influence. This part of the fable, indeed, (at least as much of it as relates to the quarrels of Oberon and Titania) was not of our author's invention .-Through the whole 2 Ante p. 282. NOTES. The learned editor of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, printed in 1775, obferves in his introductory difcourfe (vol. IV. p. 161.) that Pluto and Proferpine in the Marchant's Tale, appear to have been "the true progenitors of Shakspeare's Oberon and Titania." In a tract already quoted, Greene's Groatsworth of Witte, 1592, a player is introduced, who boafts of having performed the part of the King of Fairies with applaufe. Greene hinfelf wrote a play, entitled The Scottishe Story of James the Fourbe, flaine at Floddon, intermixed with a pleasant Comedie prefented by Oberon King of the Fairies; which was entered at Stationers' hall in 1594, and printed in 1599. Shakspeare, however, does not appear to have been indebted to this piece. The plan of it is fhortly this. Bohan, a Scot, in confequence of being difgufted with the world, having retired to a tomb where he has fixed his dwelling, is met by After Oberon, king of the fairies, who entertains him with an antick or dance by his fubjects. Thefe two perfonages, after fome converfation, |