Alarum. Enter King RICHARD. K. Rich. A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! I think, there be six Richmonds in the field; A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! [Exeunt. Alarums. Enter King RICHARD and RICHMOND; and exeunt, fighting. Retreat, and flourish. Then enter RICHMOND, STANLEY bearing the crown, with divers other Lords, and Forces. Richm. God, and your arms, be prais'd, victorious friends The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead. Stan. Courageous Richmond, well hast thou acquit thee! Lo, here, this long-usurped royalty, From the dead temples of this bloody wretch Richm. Great God of heaven, say, amen, to all!- And then, as we have ta'en the sacrament, O, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth, That she may long live here, God say-Amen! [Exeunt KING HENRY VIII.] We are unacquainted with any dra matick piece on the subject of Henry VIII. that preceded this of Shakespeare; and yet on the books of the Stationers' Company appears the following entry: "Nathaniel Butter] (who was one of our author's printers) Feb. 12, 1604. That he get good allowance for the enterlude of King Henry VIII. before he begin to print it; and with the wardens hand to yt, he is to have the same for his copy." Dr. Farmer observes, from Stowe, that Robert Greene had written somewhat on the same story. STEEVENS.. This historical drama comprizes a period of twelve years, commencing in the twelfth year of King Henry's reign, (1521,) and ending with the christening of Elizabeth in 1533. Shakespeare has deviated from history in placing the death of Queen Katharine before the birth of Elizabeth, for in fact Katharine did not die till 1536. King Henry VIII. was written, I believe, in 1601. See An Attempt to ascertain the Order of Shakespeare's Plays, Vol. II. Dr. Farmer observes, from Stowe, that" Robert Greene had written something on this story;" but this, I apprehend, was not a play, but some historical account of Henry's reign, ‹ written not by Robert Greene, the dramatick poet, but by some other person. In the list of authors out of whom Stowe's Annals were compiled," prefixed to the last edition printed in his life time, quarto, 1605, Robert Greene is enumerated with Robert de Brun, Robert Fabian, &c. and he is often quoted as an authority for facts in the margin of the history of that reign. MALONE, . J. |