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KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.

CARDINAL WOLSEY, and CARDINAL CAMPEIUS.

CAPUCIUS, Ambassador from the Emperor Charles V. CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Dukes of NORFOLK, BUCKINGHAM, and SUFFOLK. The EARL OF SURREY.

The LORD CHAMBERLAIN, and the LORD CHANCELLOR. GARDINER, King's Secretary, afterwards Bishop of Winchester; and the BISHOP OF LINCOLN.

LORD ABERGAVENNY, and LORD SANDS.

Sir HENRY GUILDFORD, Sir THOMAS LOVELL, Sir ANTHONY DENNY, and Sir NICHOLAS VAUX. CROMWELL, Servant to Wolsey, afterwards King's Secretary.

Secretaries to Wolsey.

GRIFFITH, Gentleman-usher to Queen Katharine.

A Gentleman of the King's; a Gentleman of the Queen's. Three Gentlemen.

DOCTOR BUTTS, Physician to the King.

Ga ter King-at-Arms,

Surveyor to the Duke of Buckingham.

BRANDON, and a Sergeant-at-Arms.

Door-keeper of the Council Chamber.

Page to Gardiner; a Por.er, and his Man; a Crie".

QUEEN KATHARINE, wife to King Henry, afterwards

divorced.

ANNE BULLEN, her Maid of Honour, afterwards Queen. An old Lady, friend to Anne Bullen.

PATIENCE, woman to Queen Katharine.

Several Lords and Ladies in the Dumb Shows; Women attending upon the Queen; Spirits, which appear to her; Scribes, Officers, Guards, and other Attendants.

SCENE,-Chiefly in LONDON and WESTMINSTER; once at KIMBOLTON.

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.

I

PROLOGUE.

COME no more to make you laugh; things now,

That bear a weighty and a serious brow,

Sad, high, and working, full of state

and woe,

Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow,
We now present. Those that can pity, here
May, if they think it well, let fall a tear;
The subject will deserve it. Such as give
Their money out of hope they may believe,
May here find truth too. Those that come to

see

Only a show or two, and so agree

The play may pass, if they be still and willing,
I'll undertake may see away their shilling
Richly in two short hours. Only they
That come to hear a merry, bawdy play,
A noise of targets; or to see a fellow
In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow,
Will be deceived: for, gentle hearers, know,

VOL VIII.

17

To rank our chosen truth with such a show
As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting

Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring,
(To make that only true we now intend,)
Will leave us never an understanding friend.
Therefore, for goodness sake, and, as you are
known

The first and happiest hearers of the town,
Be sad, as we would make you think ye see
The very persons of our noble story,

As they were living; think you see them great,
And follow'd with the general throng and sweat
Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see
How soon this mightiness meets misery!
And if you can be merry then, I'll say
A man may weep upon his wedding-day.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-London.

An Antechamber in the

Palace.

Enter the DUKE OF NORFOLK, at one door; at the other, the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM and the LORD ABERGAVENNY.

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Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber, when
Those suns of glory, those two lights of men
Met in the vale of Andren.

Nor. 'Twixt Guynes and Arde: I was then present, saw them salute on horseback; Beheld them, when they lighted, how they clung In their embracement, as they grew together; Which had they, what four throned ones could have weigh'd

Such a compounded one?

Buck.

I was my chamber's prisoner.

All the whole time

Nor. Then you lost The view of earthly glory: men might say, Till this time pomp was single, but now married To one above itself. Each following day Became the next day's master, till the last Made former wonders its. To-day, the French, All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods, Shone down the English; and, to-morrow, they Made Britain, India: every man that stood Show'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were As cherubins, all gilt: the madams too, Not used to toil, did almost sweat to bear The pride upon them, that their very labour Was to them as a painting: now this mask Was cried incomparable; and the ensuing night Made it a fool and beggar. The two kings, Equal in lustre, were now best, now worst, As presence did present them; him in eye Still him in praise: and, being present both, 'Twas said they saw but one: and no discerner Durst wag his tongue in censure. When these

suns

(For so they phrase them) by their heralds challenged

The noble spirits to arms, they did perform Beyond thought's compass; that former fabulous story,

Being now seen possible enough, got credit,

That Bevis was believed.

Buck.

O, you go far. Nor. As I belong to worship, and affect In honour honesty, the tract of everything Would by a good discourser lose some life, Which action's self was tongue to.

Buck.

All was royal;
To the disposing of it nought rebel. d,
Order gave each thing view; the office did
Distinctly his full function.

I mean, who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together?

Nor.

Who did guide?

As you guess:

I pray you, who, my lord?

One, certes, that promises no element
In such a business.

Buck.

Nor. All this was order'd by the good dis

cretion

Of the right reverend cardinal of York.

Buck. The devil speed him! no man's pie is
freed

From his ambitious finger. What had he
To do in these fierce vanities? I wonder
That such a keech can with his very bulk
Take
o' the beneficial sun,
And keep it from the earth.

Nor.

the up

rays

Surely, sir,

There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends :
For, being not propp'd by ancestry, whose grace
Chalks successors their way; nor call'd upon
For high feats done to the crown; neither allied
To eminent assistants; but, spider-like,

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