HISTORY OF KING HENRY THE EIGHTH. EDITED, WITH NOTES, BY WILLIAM J. ROLFE, A.M., FORMERLY HEAD MASTER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. HARVAR Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by HARPER & BROTHERS In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington PREFACE. THIS edition of Henry the Eighth has been prepared on the same plan as those of The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest, and I have little to add by way of preface beyond a grateful acknowledgment of the kindness with which the series has thus far been received. As in the case of the former plays, the text is the result of a careful collation of the Folio of 1623 with all the modern editions that have any critical value. With very few exceptions, the variations from the Folio, however trivial, have been mentioned in the notes, together with the readings adopted or proposed by the leading commentators. These textual questions are of interest to every student of Shakespeare, and my experience as a teacher has satisfied me that they may be profitably discussed even by boys and girls at school. Indeed, it sometimes happens that these babes in criticism are quick to see what is hidden from men reputed "wise and prudent." Their young eyes discern the simple truth through all the dust that successive generations of learned editors have raised in their quarrels about it. In the Notes I have often referred the reader to illustrations of Shakespeare's English in the earlier books of the series, and the space thus gained has been used for historical annotations. The material for these has been drawn from a great variety of sources, and has been very carefully worked up. There are, of course, many notes which many of my readers will not need, but I think there are none that may not be of service, or at least of interest, to some of them. Cambridge, Nov. 16, 1871. |