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It ſhould alſo be obſerved, that “ hamlets,” in the foregoing paſſage, is not printed in Italicks, though the word Seneca, in the ſame ſentence, is; and all the quotations, authors’ names, and books mentioned in this epiſtle, are diſtinguiſhed by that character.
14. King John, 1596.
This is the only one of the unconteſted plays of Shakſpeare, that is not entered in the book’s of the Stationers’ company. It was not printed till 1623, but is mentioned by Meres in 1598, unleſs he miſtook the old play in two parts, printed in 1591, for the compoſition of Shakſpeare[1].
In the firſt act of King John, an ancient tragedy, entitled Salyman and Perſeda, is alluded to. The earlieſt edition of that play, now extant, is that of 1599, but it was written, and probably acted, many years before; for it was entered on the Stationers’ books, by Edward Whyte, Nov. 20, 1592.
Marſton’s Inſatiate Counteſs, printed in 1603, contains a paſſage, which, if it ſhould be conſdered as an imitation of a ſimilar one in King John, will aſcertain this hiſtorical drama to have been written at leaſt before that year:
“ Then how much more in me, whoſe youthful veins,
“ Like a proud river, overflow their bounds.”
So in King John:
“ Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,
Like a proud river peering o’er his bounds.”
15. Richard II. 1597.
King Richard II. was entered on the Stationers’ books, August, 29, 1597, and printed in that year.
Dr. Farmer ſuppoſes that there was a former play on this subject, becauſe when Sir Gilly Merricke, one of the fol-
- ↑ It is obſervable that on the republication of this old play in 1611, the two parts are ſet forth—“ as they were (ſundry times) lately acted by the Queene’s Majeſties ſervants”—a deſcription, which, probably, was copied literally from the former edition in 1591. If this had been really Shakſpeare’s performance, it would have been deſcribed, on its re-impreſſion, as acted by his Majeſty’s ſervants; for ſo runs the title of moſt of his genuine pieces, that were either originally printed or re-publiſhed after the year 1603. The bookſeller, the better to impoſe on the publick, prefixed the letters W. Sh. to the new edition of this play in 1611, which do not appear in the former impreſſion in 1591.
