University of Virginia Library

III

Now such links between F and Q2 or Q3 do exist in considerable numbers in Henry V. The verbal links are as numerous as those indicated by Dr. Alice Walker in her arguments for the use of Q copy in other plays (Text. Pr., pp. 1-3). And the number can be extended, for Henry V, by the latent errors, some of which can be identified, where F has failed to correct an error common to the quartos. Like the much more numerous QF links of punctuation, spelling, and lineation, these are beyond the range of coincidence, or of transcription, or indeed of any form of transmission except F use of corrected Q copy.

The main verbal links (correct or probably correct readings are italicised) are:-

                               

Q2,F	II.iii.49	world Q2,F; word Q1,3
	IV.i.65	lewer Q1,2; fewer F; lower Q3
	IV.viii.3	toward Q2,F; towards Q1,3
Q3,F	II.i.32	honest Q1,2; omit Q3,F
	ii.177	ye Q1,2; you Q3,F
	iii.22	atQ1,2; on Q3,F
	iii.42	hell fire Q1,2; hell Q3,F
	iv.75	brother Q1,2; brother of Q3,F
	III.vi.106	abraided Q1,2; vpbraided Q3,F
	IV.iii.124	am Q1,2; vm Q3,F (= 'em)
	v.19	inough Q1,2; enow Q3,F
	vii.88	Cryspin, Cryspin Q1,2; Crispin Crispianus Q3,F
	vii.150	off from his Q1,2; from's Q3; from his F
	viii.50	as Q1,2; but as Q3,F
	V.i.14	Here a Q1,2; Heere he Q3,F
	i.31	meane time Q1,2; in the meane time Q3,F

Here the greater number of Q3,F (as compared with Q2, F) agreements is explained by the fact that Q3 was the main "copy," and by the fact that Q3 varies much more widely from Q1 than does Q2. While one or two of the links may be disputed as doubtful (e. g. lewer—lower—fewer), or as due to a common tendency towards modernization, or to a common printer, the general trend is clear enough.

The same impression is conveyed by the stage-directions. These furnish particularly valuable evidence. They differ from the rest of the text in that they are independent of the memorial process of reproduction, and are therefore most unlikely, in the ordinary course, to agree exactly with those of a manuscript such as must have been available for F. Excluding possible "parts," which just might have carried some directions with them, the close agreement of so many stage-directions in Henry V adds further weight to the bibliographical connection between Q and F. It is fairly obvious that many F directions have been copied or edited from those of Q, sometimes abbreviated, and sometimes elaborated or conflated; and where the quartos vary among themselves, F agrees consistently with Q2 or Q3 against Q1. For example:-

                                     

I.ii.7	Q Enter . . . 2. Bishops . . . (Q3 . . . two . . .)
	F Enter two Bishops.
234	Q Enter the Ambassadors from France. (Q1 Thambassadors; Q2 Th'ambassadors)
	F Enter Ambassadors of France.
II.i.79	Q Enter the Boy.
	F Enter the Boy.
	95 Q They draw.
	F Draw.
III.ii.1	Q Enter Nim, Bardolfe, Pistoll, and Boy. (and om. Q1,2)
	F Enter Nim, Bardolph, Pistoll, and Boy.
III.ii.1	Q Enter Gower and Flewellen. (Q3; Enter Gower. Q1,2)
	F Enter Captaines, English and Welch, Gower and Fluellen.
IV.i.85	Q Enter three Souldiers.
	F Enter three Souldiers, Iohn Bates, Alexander Court, and Michael Williams.
IV.iii.16	Q Enter the King. (Q2; the om. Q1,3)
	F Enter the King.
IV.viii.7	Q He strikes him. F Strikes him.
V.i.27	Q He strikes him. F Strikes him.
V.ii.1	Q Enter at one doore, the King of England and his Lords. And at the other doore, the King of France, Queene Katherine, the Duke of Burbon, and others.

 

F Enter at one doore, King Henry, Exeter, Bedford, Warwicke, and other Lords. At another, Queene Isabel, the King, the Duke of Bourgongne, and other French.