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INTRODUCTION

AIMS OF THE EDITION

THE first aim of this edition has been to give a sound text of the play. The text is conservative, being based upon that of the first Quarto.

Secondly, in the critical apparatus is given a selection of variæ lectiones, sufficiently numerous to illustrate the relations of Quartos and Folios, and of the chief emendations of later editors. I have collated the Quartos and the first Folio, but for readings of the later Folios and of subsequent editors I have used the collation of the Cambridge edition. Reference is made to the various Quartos as Q 1, Q 2, etc., to the first Folio as F, and to the subsequent Folios as F 2, F 3, F 4. Qq means all Quartos, and Ff all Folios.

Thirdly, the foot-notes supply a commentary to the play and illustrations of the poet's thought and language.

EARLY EDITIONS

By the end of the seventeenth century the play had been issued in eight Quarto editions and in the four Folios. The following are the titles of the first five Quartos.

QI. The History of | Henrie the | Fovrth; | With the battell at Shrewsburie, | betweene the King and Lord | Henry Percy, surnamed | Henrie Hotspur of ❘ the North. | With the humorous conceits of Sir | Iohn Falstalffe. | AT LONDON, | Printed by P.S. for Andrew Wise, dwelling | in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Angell. 1598. |

Q 2. The History of | Henrie the | Fovrth; | With the battell at Shrewsburie, | betweene the King and Lord Henry | Percy, surnamed Henry Hot-spur of the North. | VVith the

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humorous conceits of Sir | Iohn Falstalffe. | Newly corrected by W. Shakespeare. | AT LONDON, | Printed by S.S. for Andrew VVise, dwelling | in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Angell. 1599. |

Q3. The | History of | Henrie the fourth, | VVith the battell at Shrewsburie, | betweene the King, and Lord | Henry Percy, surnamed Henry Hot-spur of the North. | With the humorous conceits of Sir | Iohn Falstalffe. | Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. | London | Printed by Valentine Simmes, for Mathew Law, and | are to be solde at his shop in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Fox. | 1604. |

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Q4. The History of Henry the fourth, | VVith the battell at Shrewseburie, | betweene the King, and Lord | Henry Percy, surnamed Henry | Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceites of Sir | Iohn Falstalffe. | Newly corrected by W. Shakespeare. | LONDON, | Printed for Mathew Law, and are to be sold at | his shop in Paules Church-yard, neere vnto S. Augustines gate, at the signe of the Foxe. 1608. |

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Q5. The History of Henrie the fourth, | With the Battell at Shrewseburie, betweene | the King, and Lord Henrie Percy, sur-named Henrie Hotspur of the North. | VVith the humorous conceites of Sir | Iohn Falstaffe. | Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. | LONDON, | Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Church-yard, neere vnto S. | Augustines Gate, at the signe of the Foxe. | 1613.

Q 6 was printed in 1622 by T. P. for Mathew Law; Q7 in 1632 by John Norton for William Sheares, and Q 8 by John Norton for Hugh Perry.

The title in the first Folio is, "The First Part of Henry the Fourth, with the Life and Death, of Henry Sirnamed Hotspvrre".

The "Dering MS.," to which reference is made in the critical apparatus, was supposed by Mr. Halliwell to date from the early part of the seventeenth century. It contains a large portion of the First Part of Henry IV. and some scenes from the Second Part. It was found in the muniment room at Surrenden by the Rev. Lambert B. Larking in 1844, and was edited by Mr. Halliwell and published in the next year for

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