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Unto the house of peace from whence she came

As queen of silence.

The spirit [of the Lady] enters again and stays to go out with the body, as it were attending it.

Oh, welcome, blessed spirit!

Thou need'st not mistrust me; I have a care

As jealous as thine own. We'll see it done

And not believe report. Our zeal is such

We cannot reverence chastity too much.

Lead on!

I would those ladies that fill honour's rooms

Might all be borne so honest to their tombs.

Recorders or other solemn music plays them out.

FINIS

SIR JOHN OLDCASTLE

This apocryphal play tells the story of John Oldcastle, a controversial 14th-15th century rebel, and Protestant martyr. Like other subjects of Elizabethan history plays, Sir John Oldcastle was an actual person, a soldier and Lollard dissenter, who was hanged and burned for heresy and treason in 1417 — thus earning himself the status of a Protestant martyr. The play was originally published anonymously in 1601, printed by Valentine Simmes for the bookseller Thomas Pavier. In 1619, a new edition carried an attribution to Shakespeare. The Diary of Philip Henslowe records that the play was written by Anthony Munday, Michael Drayton, Richard Hathwaye and Robert Wilson. An entry in Henslowe's Diary records a later payment to Drayton for a second part to the play, which has not survived; because of this fact, the extant play has sometimes been called Sir John Oldcastle, Part I.

In 1664, the play was one of the seven dramas added to the second impression of the Shakespeare Third Folio by publisher Philip Chetwinde. Many believe that Shakespeare originally named his popular character Sir John Falstaff "John Oldcastle" after the same historical figure, and that Lord Cobham, a descendant of the real John Oldcastle, complained, forcing Shakespeare to change the name. There is both textual and external evidence for this belief. In Henry IV, Part One, Falstaff's name is always unmetrical, suggesting a name change after the original composition; Prince Hal refers to Falstaff as "my old lad of the castle" in the first act of the play; the epilogue to Henry IV, Part II, moreover, explicitly disavows any connection between Falstaff and Oldcastle, a dancer declaring: "...where, for anything I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already 'a be killed with your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr and this is not the man".

CONTENTS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

THE PROLOGUE.

ACT I. SCENE I. Hereford. A street.

ACT I. SCENE II. Eltham. An antechamber in the palace.

ACT I. SCENE III. Kent. An outer court before lord Cobham's house.

ACT II. SCENE I. The same.

ACT II. SCENE II. London. A room in the Axe Inn, without Bishop-gate.

ACT II. SCENE III. An audience-chamber in the palace at Eltham.

ACT III. SCENE I. An avenue leading to lord Cobham's house in Kent.

ACT III. SCENE II. A road near Highgate.

ACT III. SCENE III. A high road in Kent.

ACT III. SCENE IV. Blackheath.

ACT IV. SCENE I. A field near London. King Henry's camp.

ACT IV. SCENE II. A field of Battle near London.

ACT IV. SCENE III. Kent. Court before lord Cobham's house.

ACT IV. SCENE IV. The entrance of the Tower.

ACT V. SCENE I. A room in lord Cobham's house in Kent.

ACT V. SCENE II. A high road near St. Albans.

ACT V. SCENE III. St. Albans. The entrance of a carrier's inn.

ACT V. SCENE IV. The same. A room in the carrier's inn.

ACT V. SCENE V. The same. A street.

ACT V. SCENE VI. The same. Before the Carrier's Inn. Enter Watch.

ACT V. SCENE VII. The same. The yard of the Inn.

ACT V. SCENE VIII. A wood near St. Albans.

ACT V. SCENE IX. St. Albans.

ACT V. SCENE X. Hertford. A Hall of Justice.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

King Henry the Fifth.

Sir John Old-castle, Lord Cobham.

Harpoole, Servant to the Lord Cobham.

Lord Herbert, with Gough his man.

Lord Powis, with Owen and Davy his men.

The Mayor of Hereford, and Sheriff of Herefordshire, with Bailiffs

and Servants.

Two Judges of Assize.

The Bishop of Rochester and Clun his Sumner.

Sir John the Parson of Wrotham,