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THE

COMPLETE WORKS

OF

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.

THE

COMPLETE WORKS

OF

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE,

WITH

Erplanatory & Historical Notes

BY THE MOST EMINENT COMMENTATORS.

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BIBLIO

DE L'UNIV HAITE

DE CA

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THE transactions contained in this historical drama are comprised within the period of about ten months; for the action commences with the news brought of Hotspur having defeated the Scots under Archibald earl of Douglas at Holmedon, (or Halidown-hill,) which battle was fought on Holy-rood day, (the 14th of September,) 1402; and it closes with the defeat and death of Hotspur at Shrewsbury; which engagement happened on Saturday the 21st of July, (the eve of Saint Mary Magdalen,) in the year 1403. THEOBALD.

This play was first entered at Stationers' Hall, Feb. 25, 1597, by Andrew Wise. Again, by M. Woolff, Jan. 9. 1598. For the piece supposed to have been its original, see Six old Plays on which Shakspeare founded, &c. pubtished for S. Leacroft, Charing-Cross.

STEEVENS.

Shakspeare has apparently designed a regular connection of these dramatic histories from Richard the Second to Henry the Fifth. King Henry, at the end of Richard the Second, declares his purpose to visit the Holy Land, which

he resumes in the first speech of this play. The complaint made by King Henry in the last Act of Richard the Second, of the wildness of his son, prepares the reader for the frolics which are there to be recounted, and the characters which are now to be exhibited. JOHNSON.

The persons of the drama were originally collected by Mr. Rowe, who has given the title of Duke of Lancaster to Prince John, a mistake which Shakspeare has been no where guilty of in the first part of this play, though in the second he has fallen into the same error. King Henry IV. was himself the last person that ever bore the title of Duke of Lancaster. But all his sons, (till they had peerages, as Clarence, Bedford, Gloucester) were distinguished by the name of the royal house, as John of Lancaster, Humphrey of Lancaster, &c. and in that proper style, the present John (who became afterwards so illustrious by the title of Duke of Bedford) is always mentioned in the play before us. STEEVENS. This comedy was written. I believe, in the year 1597. MALONE.

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