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Read Ebook: The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 5 of 9] by Shakespeare William Clark William George Editor Wright William Aldis Editor
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Ebook has 377 lines and 198511 words, and 8 pages
THE Preface. . . . vii
THE FIRST PART OF THE CONTENTION, &c. . . . 343
Notes to The First Part of the Contention, &c. . . . 405
Notes to The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke. . . . 469
PREFACE
The play upon which the Second part of Henry the Sixth was founded was first printed in quarto , in 1594, with the following title:
as the reading of his copy of the first edition. If so, it must have been a different copy from that now in the Bodleian, from which the present text is reprinted, and another instance of the curious variations in different copies of the same editions, which were first discovered by Steevens , and recently applied to good use by Mr Collier.' Mr Halliwell has here inadvertently fallen into error. Malone's collation is made in a copy of the edition of 1600, in which the line stands thus:
At the foot of the page he wrote 'their king,' which is the reading of the edition of 1594 for the two last words, but which Mr Halliwell misread 'thinking' and regarded as a various reading for 'Honouring.' It is still possible, therefore, that Malone's copy and that at present in the Bodleian may be identical.
The second edition of the First Part of the Contention appeared in quarto in 1600, with the following title:
In 1619, a third edition without date, printed by Isaac Jaggard, and including also 'The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York,' appeared with the following title:
'The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York,' which formed the ground-work of The Third part of King Henry the Sixth, was first printed in small 8vo. in 1595, with the following title:
A unique copy of this edition is in the Bodleian Library . Although printed in 8vo. we have quoted it as Q1, in order to avoid introducing a new notation.
The second edition was printed in 1600, with the following title:
The third edition of The True Tragedy formed the second part of The Whole Contention described above. It has no separate title-page, but merely the heading:
We have reprinted the text of The First Part of the Contention and of The True Tragedy from the first edition of each, giving in notes at the foot of the page the various readings of the second and third editions. For this purpose we collated Mr Halliwell's reprint for the Shakespeare Society with the originals in the Bodleian Library. The accuracy of Mr Halliwell's work materially facilitated our labours, and we can only hope that the errors of our own reprint may be as few and as unimportant as those we have discovered in his. For the readings of the second Quartos of The First Part of the Contention and The True Tragedy we collated the copies in the Bodleian and the Duke of Devonshire's Library, using also for the former the imperfect copy in the Capell collection. The readings of The Whole Contention have been given from Capell's copy verified by reference to that in the Devonshire Library.
With regard to the authorship of The First Part of the Contention and The True Tragedy, while we cannot agree with Malone on the one hand that they contain nothing of Shakespeare's, nor with Mr Knight on the other that they are entirely his work, there are so many internal proofs of his having had a considerable share in their composition, that, in accordance with our principle, we have reprinted them in a smaller type.
The first edition of KING RICHARD is a Quarto printed in 1597, with the following title-page:
The Tragedy of | King Richard the third. | Containing, | His treacherous Plots against his brother Clarence: | the pittiefull murther of his innocent nephewes: | his tyrannicall vsurpation: with the whole course | of his detested life, and most deserued death. | As it hath beene lately Acted by the | Right honourable the Lord Chamber-|laine his seruants. | AT LONDON | Printed by Valentine Sims, for Andrew Wise, | dwelling in Paules Church-yard, at the | Sign of the Angell. | 1597. |
This edition is referred to, in our notes, as Q1.
We have collated a complete copy belonging to the Duke of Devonshire and also an imperfect copy formerly belonging to Malone and now in the Bodleian. Malone had supplied the missing leaves by the insertion of some from the second Quarto+. There is no copy in the Capell collection.
The second edition, also in Quarto, which we call Q2, was published in the following year, with the name of the author. It is in other respects a reprint of the first. The title-page is as follows:
The third Quarto, our Q3, has the following title-page:
Notwithstanding the words 'newly augmented,' this edition contains nothing that is not found in the second Quarto, from which it is reprinted, except some additional errors of the press.
The fourth Quarto, our Q4, was printed from the third, by the same printer for a different bookseller, as appears by the title-page:
There is no copy of Q4 in the Capell collection. We have collated one in the Bodleian which formerly belonged to Malone. It is numbered 880.
The fifth Quarto, Q5, was printed in 1612, not from its immediate predecessor, but from the Quarto of 1602, although it was printed by the same printer and for the same bookseller as that of 1605. The title-page of Q5 is as follows:
The edition of 1622 is so rare that its very existence has been called in question+. There is however a copy in the Capell collection, of which the title-page is as follows:
This edition we call Q6. It is printed from Q5.
Another edition in Quarto was printed in 1629, not from the first Folio, but from the sixth Quarto. It was printed by Iohn Norton for Matthew Law. Except in the name of the printer and the substitution of the word 'tiranous' for 'tyrannicall' the title-page does not differ from that of Q6. We call it Q7.
The eighth and last Quarto, our Q8, copied from the seventh, was printed by Iohn Norton in 1634. There is no bookseller's name on the title-page, if we may trust that which Capell has supplied in MS. 'from a copy in the possession of Messrs Tonsons and Draper.'
In quoting the readings of the Quartos and Folios, we have, in all cases where the spelling is unimportant, given that of the earliest copy.
In 1766 Steevens published a reprint of the Quarto of 1612, 'collated'--to use his own words--'with the following editions.'
The date 1624 is probably a mistake for 1622. At the foot of each page he gives various readings, but without specifying the editions to which they respectively belong. Several of these are not found in any of the Quartos with which we are acquainted. We have therefore recorded them as 'quoted in Steevens's reprint.' So many of the other readings which he gives are found only in the first Quarto that we have no doubt that the imperfect copy which he mentions was of that edition.
We have made, and, as we believe, for the first time, a complete collation of all the extant Quartos. Those of 1597 and 1605 were unknown to Capell when he collated the other six.
The Quarto, Q1, contains passages not found in the Folio, F1, which are essential to the understanding of the context: the Folio, on the other hand, contains passages equally essential, which are not found in the Quarto.
Again, passages which in the Quarto are complete and consecutive, are amplified in the Folio, the expanded text being quite in the manner of Shakespeare. The Folio, too, contains passages not in the Quartos, which though not necessary to the sense yet harmonize so well, in sense and tone, with the context that we can have no hesitation in attributing them to the author himself.
On the other hand, we find in the Folio some insertions and many alterations which we may with equal certainty affirm not to be due to Shakespeare. Sometimes the alterations seem merely arbitrary, but more frequently they appear to have been made in order to avoid the recurrence of the same word, even where the recurrence adds to the force of the passage, or to correct a supposed defect of metre, although the metre cannot be amended except by spoiling the sense.
The following scheme will best explain the theory which we submit as a not impossible way of accounting for the phenomena of the text:
A1 A2 | | | | | | B1 B2 | | | | | | Q1 F1
A1 is the Author's original MS.
B1 is a transcript by another hand with some accidental omissions and, of course, slips of the pen. From this transcript was printed the Quarto of 1597, Q1.
A2 is the Author's original MS. revised by himself, with corrections and additions, interlinear, marginal, and on inserted leaves.
Assuming the truth of this hypothesis, the object of an Editor must be to give in the text as near an approximation as possible to A, rejecting from F1 all that is due to the unknown writer of B2 and supplying its place from Q1, which, errors of pen and press apart, certainly came from the hand of Shakespeare. In the construction of our text we have steadily borne this principle in mind, only deviating from it in a few instances where we have retained the expanded version of the Folio in preference to the briefer version of the Quarto, even when we incline to think that the earlier form is more terse and therefore not likely to have been altered by its Author. Our reason is this: as the Folio version contains substantially that of the Quarto and as the question does not admit of a positive decision we prefer the risk of putting in something which Shakespeare did not to that of leaving out something which he did write. Caeteris paribus, we have adopted the reading of the Quarto.
We have great pleasure in repeating our thanks to the curators of the British Museum and of the Bodleian Library and in adding to the number of those who have laid us under obligation the names of the Rev. Joseph Power, Fellow of Clare College, Mr Huth, and Mr Lilly.
It is only right to add that it is the constant kindness of the Duke of Devonshire which enables us to publish this volume without further delay and with such an approach to completeness as it may be found to possess.
W. G. C. W. A. W.
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE+.
KING HENRY the Sixth. DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, uncle to the King, and Protector. DUKE OF BEDFORD, uncle to the King, and Regent of France. THOMAS BEAUFORT, Duke of Exeter, great-uncle to the King. HENRY BEAUFORT, great-uncle to the King, Bishop of Winchester, and afterwards Cardinal. JOHN BEAUFORT, Earl, afterwards Duke, of Somerset. RICHARD PLANTAGENET, son of Richard late Earl of Cambridge, afterwards Duke of York. EARL OF WARWICK. EARL OF SALISBURY. EARL OF SUFFOLK. LORD TALBOT, afterwards Earl of Shrewsbury. JOHN TALBOT, his son. EDMUND MORTIMER, Earl of March. SIR JOHN FASTOLFE. SIR WILLIAM LUCY. SIR WILLIAM GLANSDALE. SIR THOMAS GARGRAVE. Mayor of London. WOODVILE, Lieutenant of the Tower. VERNON, of the White-rose or York Faction. BASSET, of the Red-Rose or Lancaster faction. A Lawyer. Mortimer's Keepers. CHARLES, Dauphin, and afterwards King, of France. REIGNIER, Duke of Anjou, and titular King of Naples. DUKE OF BURGUNDY. DUKE OF ALEN?ON. BASTARD OF ORLEANS. Governor of Paris. Master-Gunner of Orleans, and his Son. General of the French forces in Bourdeaux. A French Sergeant. A Porter. An old Shepherd, father to Joan la Pucelle. MARGARET, daughter to Reignier, afterwards married to King Henry. COUNTESS OF AUVERGNE. JOAN LA PUCELLE, commonly called Joan of Arc.
Lords, Warders of the Tower, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and Attendants.
Fiends appearing to La Pucelle.
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