King Henry the Fourth: Second Part

Excerpt from King Henry the Fourth Second Part
Though on account of its length Henry the Fourth is divided into two parts, it is in reality one play; and it will be convenient to treat it as such. The following Introduction will, therefore, preface both Parts, they being published separately to suit the requirements of students.
For both Parts the authority is Holinshed's Chronicle but there also existed when they were written a worthless anonymous play called The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth, containing the honourable battell of Agincourt, in which occur the leading incidents of Shakespeare's play. The first Part was written either in 1596 or 1597, and the second Part at all events before the 25th of February, 1598. The first Part was entered in the Stationers' Registers by Andrew Wise, Feb. 25th, 1597-8, as "A booke intitled the Historye of Henry iiiith, with his battaile at Shrewsburye against Henry Hottspurre of the Northe, with the conceipted Mirth of Sir John Falstaffe." Now it is certain that Sir John Falstaff was originally called Sir John Oldcastle. Thus in Field's Amends for Ladies, 1618, we have
"Did you never see
The play where the fat knight, hight Oldcastle
Did tell you truly what this honour is?"
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