THE HISTORY OF HENRIE THE With the battell at Shrewsburie, the North. Printed by P. S. for Andrew Wife, dwelling SHAKESPEARE KING HENRY PART I INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY HENRY NORMAN HUDSON, LLD & 22 EDITED AND REVISED BY BLACK LLD (GLASGOW) 22 GINN AND COMPANY WS WS HARVARD UNIVERSITY UBRARY ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL COPYRIGHT, 1880 BY HENRY N. HUDSON COPYRIGHT, 1908 BY KATE W. HUDSON COPYRIGHT, 1922 BY GINN AND COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 422.9 The Athenæum Press PREFACE The text of this edition of King Henry the Fourth, Part I, is based on a collation of the earlier Quartos and the seventeenth century Folios, the Globe edition, the Cambridge (W. A. Wright) edition of 1891, and that of Delius (1882). As compared with the text of the earlier editions of Hudson's Shakespeare, it is conservative. Exclusive of changes in spelling, punctuation, and stage directions, very few emendations by eighteenth century and nineteenth century editors have been adopted; and these, with the more important variations from the First Folio, are indicated in the textual notes. These notes are printed immediately below the text, so that a reader or student may see at a glance the evidence in the case of a disputed reading, and have some definite understanding of the reasons for those differences in the text of Shakespeare which frequently surprise and very often annoy. Such an arrangement should be of special help in the case of a play so widely read and not infrequently acted, as actors and interpreters seldom agree in adhering to one text. A consideration of the more poetical, or the more dramatically effective, of two variant readings will often lead to rich results in awakening a spirit of discriminating interpretation and in developing true creative criticism. In no sense is this a textual variorum edition. The variants given are only those of importance and high authority. |