Page:Henry VI Part 1 (1918) Yale.djvu/146

134 justify the usual assumption that this play had already received Shakespeare's additions, and was therefore in 1592 a revised version of a still earlier drama. Henslowe directly and Nashe by implication testify that their play was new. The same conclusion is warranted by the evident sensation it created in 1592 and particularly by the absence of the smallest hint of its existence previously. The only fair inference, then, from the facts known is that the play of Harry the Sixth, dealing largely with Talbot's wars in France, was composed about the beginning of the year 1592, and that this was later remodelled by Shakespeare into 1 Henry VI.

It is not easy to say when the remodelling and the consequent revival of the play on the stage occurred. In the absence of positive records, critics have naturally inclined to the assumption that a work clearly not equal to Shakespeare's ordinary performances must have been produced very early in his career. Against this are to be weighed the following considerations: (1) The success of Henslowe's play was proved but not completely exploited in 1592. According to the usual methods of the time a revised version would not be called for till after the lapse of several years. Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, originally produced about 1589, still held the stage in no seriously altered form from September, 1594, till October, 1597. The first extensive adaptation recorded was paid for, November 22, 1602. The Jew of Malta, acted without change from February, 1592, till June, 1596, was revived in 1601. The old Hamlet, performed between 1589 and 1594, was rewritten by Shakespeare about 1601.

(2) 1 Henry VI, as we have it, is arranged to serve as a prologue to 2 and 3 Henry VI. Shakespeare clearly revised our play with these dramas in his mind, and probably not till after he had completed his revision of them.