Page:Henry IV Part 1 (1917) Yale.djvu/150



King Henry IV, Part 1, was apparently written in the year 1596-1597, when Shakespeare was in his thirty-third year. He had probably already produced nine successful plays, among them Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice. The year 1596 had witnessed the English expedition to Spain and the destruction of the city of Cadiz; the year 1597 saw the destruction of the second Spanish Armada. English patriotism never found nobler expression than in the historical plays of Shakespeare written during these years of national trial and endeavour.

The popularity of this play is attested by the large number of early editions, no less than six appearing before the publication of the first Folio in 1623. The first Quarto appeared in 1598, and was followed by others in 1599, 1604, 1608, 1613, and 1622. The first Quarto furnishes the best text. The text of the first Folio was apparently based upon the fifth Quarto.

In Shakespeare's first version of the play he evidently retained the name Oldcastle for the fat knight who attended the Prince. Hal's pun, 'my old lad of the castle' (I. ii.) bears witness to this, as does the metrical imperfection in the line