In Act V Archbishop Cranmer enjoys the king's favour, but is set upon by various lords who threaten his seizure. Henry himself interposes on behalf of the prelate, and the latter officiates afterward at the christening of Anne's daughter, Elizabeth.

SOURCES

A manuscript current in Shakespeare's day, entitled The Life of Cardinal Wolsey,' by George Cavendish, usher to the cardinal, was the indirect source of this play. The direct sources were the histories of Hall and Holinshed, each of whom drew from Cavendish. These were followed for the first four acts, the fifth act resting upon Fox's Book of Martyrs,' first published in 1563 as Acts and Monuments of the Church.' The dramatist followed his authorities closely, often using their very words.

Two plays concerning Cardinal Wolsey were performed about 1601, but were afterward lost. Henslowe alludes to them, and at least one was given with much brilliancy. The author of Henry VIII' may have been indebted to them in a measure, especially for the idea of making his play also the show-piece it evidently was.

For more than two centuries after Shakespeare's death Henry VIII' was accepted as his. But recent critical tests have given to John Fletcher a large share of its material. Lord Tennyson was one of the first to suggest the presence of Fletcher, a casual opinion worked out fully in 1850 by James Spedding, who examined the construction, diction, and metre, and from evidence thus derived gave to Shakespeare Act I, scenes i and ii; Act II, scenes iii and iv; Act III, scene ii-the re

mainder of the play being ascribed to Fletcher, and possibly a third writer. The metrical tests are especially strong and convincing in their relation to Fletcher. Various editors have confirmed Spedding's analysis, and to-day it is usually received as correct, although some authorities reject it.

There is no doubt that Henry VIII' exhibits marked peculiarities in its use of redundant syllables and clash of emphasis with metre. Its masque-like close, also, is in seeming contradiction to the sad tone of the Prologue.

The effect of the play,' said Spedding, is weak and disappointing. The truth is that the interest, instead of rising toward the end, falls away utterly, and leaves us in the last act among persons whom we scarcely know, and events for which we do not care. I know no other play in Shakespeare which is chargeable with a fault like this.'

Henry VIII' may well have been intended, at its inception, for an historical canvas of wide stretch showing the events from Wolsey's rule to the establishment of the Church of England. Shakespeare's planaccording to theory-carried as far as Act III, when a demand arose for a special play to suit an immediate need at the Globe. The manuscript was given to Fletcher to complete by interspersing scenes of show and magnificence,' and an historical masque totally at variance with the opening idea was the result.

Still another ingenious theory is that the original Shakespearian version was destroyed in the Globe fire which occurred at a performance of the play, and that Fletcher pieced out the fragments from memory and added material. But this is disturbed by the evident genuineness of the opening scenes, which seem to have

the full stamp of Shakespeare in his latest manner; the same close-packed expression; the same life and reality and freshness; the same rapid and abrupt turnings of thought, so quick that language can hardly follow fast enough.' It is the transition from this method to Fletcherian mannerisms and pageantry which first pointed to divided authorship.

DURATION OF THE ACTION

The historical period covers twenty-four years, from 1520, the Field of the Cloth of Gold, to 1544, the trial of Cranmer. But chronology is often violated in the intervening years. To cite two instances: In the play, Buckingham is executed after Henry's meeting with Anne Bullen, whereas the execution was six years earlier. In the play, Cranmer is tried prior to Elizabeth's christening - an historical event eleven years earlier than the trial.

The stage period is seven days, with intervals: Day I, Act I. Interval. Day 2, Act II, scenes i, ii, and iii. Day 3, Act II, scene iv. Day 4, Act III, scene i. Interval. Day 5, Act III, scene ii. Interval. Day 6, Act IV, scenes i and ii. Interval. Act V.

was 6

DATE OF COMPOSITION

Day 7,

He calls

On June 26, 1613, the Globe Theatre was burned down during a performance of Henry VIII,' which a new play,' according to Sir Henry Wotton, who wrote a letter concerning it in 1613. the play All is True,' but states that it deals with the reign of Henry VIII: Now King Henry making a Masque at the Cardinal Wolsey's House, and certain cannons being shot off at his entry [see stage direction,

Act I, scene iv], some of the paper, and other stuff, wherewith one of them was stopped did light the thatch.'

Thomas Lorkin writes still more conclusively in a letter dated this last of June,' 1613: No longer since than yesterday, while Bourbage his companie were acting at the Globe the play of Henry VIII,” and their shooting at certayne chambers in the way of triumph, the fire catch'd.'

66

Three or four other credible writers, among them Jonson, allude to the catastrophe, and several lamentable ballads' were composed on the event.

Internally, the probable reference in Act V to Virginia settlements (between 1607 and 1612); the references to King James; the trial scene, which is similar to the trial of Hermione in another late play, The Winter's Tale'; the elliptical and involved expressions and verbal contractions in the true Shakespearian parts these and other traits place the play among the last of Shakespeare's compositions.

Henry VIII' was probably written in 1612-13.

EARLY EDITIONS

The First Folio of 1623 contains the play's earliest printing. It there bears the title of The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight.' It is the last of the histories, being given in twenty-eight pages, from page 205 to page 232, inclusive. The acts and scenes are given, but the Dramatis Personæ is omitted, being first supplied, though not fully, by Rowe.

The Folio text is unusually clear and accurate, and since there were no conflicting Quartos, the reading has been little disturbed by later editors.