between the boyhood and the manhood of Shakespeare's genius. The argument, branching out, as it does, into numerous details, and involving many nice points of critical inquiry, is much too long for rehearsal in this place; and, even if it were not so, a statement of it would hardly pay, as it is not of a nature to interest any but those who make a special study in matters of that kind. I have endeavored to understand the question thoroughly, and am not aware of any thing that should hinder my viewing it fairly; and I can but give it as my firm and settled judgment that the main body of the play is certainly Shakespeare's; nor do I perceive any clear and decisive reason for calling in another hand to account for any part of it.

In such a diversity of opinions resting on internal evidence, probably our best way is to fall back upon such clear points of external evidence as the case may afford. Now the mere fact of the play's being set forth as Shakespeare's by the Editors of the first folio certainly infers a strong presumption as to the authorship. I cannot indeed affirm such presumption to be so strong that no possible force of internal evidence can overthrow it, for I think this is fairly done in the case of Titus Andronicus; but in that play the internal evidence is of quite another cast and texture from what we have in the play under consideration. But, as regards King Henry the Sixth, we have another piece of external evidence, which, taken along with the former, seems to me well nigh conclusive of the question. Shakespeare's King Henry the Fifth was registered at the Stationers' on the 4th of August, 1600, and a quarto edition of it was published in the course of that year; the title-page having these words, "as it hath been sundry times played by the Right-Honourable the Lord Chamberlain's Servants." The play closes with a brief epilogue, in which we have the following:

Henry the Sixth, in infant bonds crown'd King
Of France and England, did this King succeed;
Whose State so many had the managing,

That they lost France, and made his England bleed :
Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their sake,
In your fair minds let this acceptance take.

I am by no means certain that this epilogue was written by

Shakespeare, but that is nothing to the present purpose. The claim here put forth fairly covers the whole of King Henry the Sixth, the First Part of which is mostly occupied with the losing of France, as the Second and Third are with the making of England bleed. It also appears that the three earlier plays had been often performed by the company of which Shakespeare is known to have been a member; and the words quoted infer all four of the plays to have been written by the same author.

Shakespeare's usual authority in matters of British history was Holinshed, whose Chronicles were first published in 1577, when the Poet was thirteen years old. The corresponding work of Hall was published some thirty years before. The Poet was doubtless familiar with both of these writers; and it is beyond question that for the historic material of the play now in hand · he drew more or less from the work of Hall. It is to be noted, however, that in this case he took much greater freedom than usual with the actual order of events, marshalling them here and there upon no settled principle, or upon one which it is not easy to discover. The play extends over the whole period from the death of Henry the Fifth, in August, 1422, when his son was nine months old, till the marriage of the latter with Margaret of Anjou, which took place in October, 1444. In some cases the scattered events of several years are drawn together, and presented in one view; as in the first scene, where we have the angry rupture of Gloster and Beaufort occurring at the same time with the funeral of Henry the Fifth, and reports coming in. of losses in France, some of which did not occur till after the events set forth in several of the later scenes. In like manner, in the early part of the play the King is made much older, and in the latter part much younger, than he really was; the effect of which is, as it was probably meant to be, to give an impression of greater unity than were compatible with a more literal adherence to facts. So, again, the death of the Talbots is drawn back many years before the time of its actual occurrence, in order, as would seem, that the foreign wars, and the disasters attending them, may be dispatched in the First Part, and thus leave the Second and Third free for a more undistracted representation of the civil wars.

KING HENRY VI. PART FIRST.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

WOODVILLE, Lieutenant of the
Tower. Mayor of London.

THOMAS BEAUFORT, Duke of Exe- VERNON, of the York Faction.

Lords, Warders of the Tower, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and several Attendants both on the English and French. Fiends appearing to LA PUCELLE.

SCENE. Partly in England, and partly in France.

Dead march. The corpse of King HENRY the Fifth, in state, is brought in, attended on by the Dukes of BEDFORD,

GLOSTER, and EXETER, the Earl of WARWICK, the Bishop of WINCHESTER, Heralds, &c.

Bed. Hung be the heavens with black,1 yield day to night! Comets, importing change of times and States,

Brandish your crystal 2 tresses in the sky,

And with them scourge the bad-revolting stars
That have consented unto Henry's death! 3
Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long!
England ne'er lost a king of so much worth.

Glo. England ne'er had a king until his time.
Virtue he had, deserving to command:

His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams;
His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings;
His sparkling eyes, replete with wrathful fire,
More dazzled and drove back his enemies

Than mid-day Sun fierce bent against their faces.
What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech:
He ne'er lift up his hand, but conqueréd.

Exe. We mourn in black: why mourn we not in blood?

1 The upper part of the stage was in Shakespeare's time technically called the heavens, and was used to be hung with black when tragedies were performed.

2 The epithet crystal was often applied to comets by the old writers. So in a sonnet by Lord Sterline, 1604: "Whenas those crystal comets whiles appear."

3 Consented here means conspired together to promote the death of Henry by their malignant influence on human events.

4 Thomas Beaufort, the present Duke of Exeter, was son to John of Ghent by Catharine Swynford; born out of wedlock, but legitimated along with three other children in the time of Richard II. Of course therefore he was great-uncle to King Henry VI. At the death of Henry V. he was appointed governor of the infant King, which office he held till his death in 1425. The Poet, however, prolongs his life till 1444, the period of the First Part. Holinshed calls him "a right sage and discreet counsellor." The name Beaufort was derived from the place of his birth, which was Beaufortcastle in France.

Henry is dead, and never shall revive :
Upon a wooden coffin we attend ;
And death's dishonourable victory
We with our stately presence glorify,
Like captives bound to a triumphant car.
What! shall we curse the planets of mishap
That plotted thus our glory's overthrow?
Or shall we think the subtle-witted French
Conjurers and sorcerers, that, afraid of him,
By magic verses have contrived his end? 5
Win. He was a king bless'd of the King of kings.
Unto the French the dreadful judgment-day

So dreadful will not be as was his sight.

The battles of the Lord of Hosts he fought:

The Church's prayers made him so prosperous.

Glo. The Church! where is it? Had not churchinen 6

pray'd,

His thread of life had not so soon decay'd:

None do you like but an effeminate prince,

Whom, like a schoolboy, you may over-awe.

Win. Gloster, whate'er we like, thou art Protector,
And lookest to command the Prince and realm.
Thy wife is proud; she holdeth thee in awe,
More than God or religious churchmen may.

Glo. Name not religion, for thou lovest the flesh;

5 This is well explained by a passage in Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584: "The Irishmen will not sticke to affirme that they can rime man or beast to death." See vol. v. page 60, note 25.

6 Churchman was used for what we call a clergyman or priest.

7 Henry Beaufort, known in history as "the great Bishop of Winchester," was brother to the Duke of Exeter. At this time he held the office of chancellor, and was associated with Exeter in the governing of the infant sovereign. The quarrel between him and his nephew, the Duke of Gloster, did not break out till 1425, though it had been brewing in secret for some time. In 1427 he was advanced by Pope Martin to the office of cardinal.