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Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,

To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
Let all the ends, thou aim'st at, be thy country's,

Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell,
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Serve the king; -
And,-Pr'ythee, lead me in:

There take an inventory of all I have,

8

To the last penny; 'tis the king's: my robe,
And my integrity to heaven, is all

I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell,
Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal

i. e. You will never find men won over to your temporary occasions by bribery, so useful to you as friends made by a just and generous munificence. Warburton.

I am unwilling wantonly to contradict so ingenious a remark, but that the reader may not be misled, and believe the emendation proposed to be necessary, he should remember that this is not a time for Wolsey to speak only as a statesman, but as a christian. Shakspeare would have debased the character, just when he was employing his strongest efforts to raise it, had he drawn it otherwise. Nothing makes the hour of disgrace more irksome, than the reflection, that we have been deaf to offers of reconciliation, and perpetuated that enmity which we might have converted into friendship. Steevens.

8- Pr'ythee, lead me in:

There take an inventory of all I have,] This inventory Wolsey actually caused to be taken upon his disgrace, and the particulars may be seen at large in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 546, edit. 1631.

Among the Harl. MSS. there is one intitled, "An Inventorie of Cardinal Wolsey's rich Housholde Stuffe. Temp. Hen. VIII, The original book, as it seems, kept by his own officers." See Harl. Catal. No. 599. Douce.

9 Had I but serv'd my God &c.] This sentence was really uttered by Wolsey Johnson.

When Samrah, the deputy governor of Basorah, was deposed by Moawiyah the sixth caliph, he is reported to have expressed himself in the same manner: "If I had served God so well as I have served him, he would never have condemned me to all eternity." A similar sentiment also occurs in The Earle of Murton's Tragedy, by Churchyard, 1593:

"Had I serv'd God as well in euery sort,

"As I did serue my king and maister still;

"My scope had not this season beene so short,

"Nor world haue had the power to doe me ill." Steevens. Antonio Perez, the favorite of Philip the Second of Spain, made the same pathetick complaint: "Mon zele etoit si grand vers ses benignes puissances [la cour de Turin,] que si j'en eusse

I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.
Crom. Good sir, have patience.
Wol.

The hopes of court! my hopes in heaven do dwell.

So I have. Farewel

[Exeunt.

ACT IV..... SCENE I.

A Street in Westminster.

Enter Two Gentlemen, meeting.

1 Gent. You are well met once again.1 2 Gent. And so are you.2 1 Gent. You come to take your stand here, and behold The lady Anne pass from her coronation?

2 Gent. 'Tis all my business. At our last encounter, The duke of Buckingham came from his trial.

1 Gent. 'Tis very true: but that time offer'd sorrow; This, general joy.

2 Gent.

'Tis well: The citizens,

3

I am sure, have shown at full their royal minds; 3

eu autant pour Dieu, je ne doubte point qu'il ne m'eut deja recompensé de son paradis." Malone.

This was a strange sentence for Wolsey to utter, who was disgraced for the basest treachery to his King in the affair of the divorce: but it shows how naturally men endeavour to palliate their crimes even to themselves. M. Mason.

There is a remarkable affinity between these words and part of the speech of Sir James Hamilton, who was supposed, by King James V, thus to address him in a dream: "Though I was a sinner against God, I failed not to thee. Had I been as good a servant to the Lord my God, as I was to thee, I had not died that death." Pinscottie's History of Scotland, p. 261, edit. 1788, 12mo. Douce.

1 — once again,] Alluding to their former meeting in the second Act. Johnson.

2 And so are you.] The conjunction-And was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the measure. Steevens.

3 their royal minds;] i. e. their minds well affected to their King. Mr. Pope unnecessarily changed this word to loyal. In King Henry IV, Part II, we have “royal faith,” that is, faith due

VOL. XI.

Ee

As, let them have their rights, they are ever forward In celebration of this day with shows,

Pageants, and sights of honour.

1 Gent.

Never greater,

Nor, I'll assure you, better taken, sir.

2 Gent. May I be bold to ask what that contains, That paper in your hand?

1 Gent.

Yes; 'tis the list Of those, that claim their offices this day,

By custom of the coronation.

The duke of Suffolk is the first, and claims

To be high steward; next, the duke of Norfolk,
He to be earl márshal; you may read the rest.

2 Gent. I thank you, sir; had I not known those customs,

I should have been beholden to your paper.

But, I beseech you, what's become of Katharine,
The princess dowager? how goes her business?

1 Gent. That I can tell you too. The archbishop
Of Canterbury, accompanied with other
Learned and reverend fathers of his order,,
Held a late court at Dunstable, six miles off
From Ampthill, where the princess lay; to which
She oft was cited by them, but appear'd not:
And, to be short, for not appearance, and
The king's late scruple, by the main assent
Of all these learned men she was divorc'd,

to kings; which Sir T. Hanmer changed to loyal, and I too hastily followed Dr. Johnson and the late editions, in adopting the emendation. The recurrence of the same expression, though it is not such a one as we should now use, convinces me that there is no error in the text in either place. Malone.

Royal, I believe, in the present instance, only signifies-noble. So, Macbeth, speaking of Banquo, mentions his "royalty of naSteevens.

ture."

4

this day] Sir Thomas Hanmer reads:

these days

but Shakspeare meant such a day as this, a coronation day. And such is the English idiom, which our author commonly prefers to grammatical nicety. Johnson.

5- not appearance,] I suppose our author wrote-non-appear ance. So, in The Winter's Tale:

66

66

the execution did cry out

Against the non-performance." Steevens.

And the late marriage made of none effect:
Since which, she was removed to Kimbolton,
Where she remains now, sick.

2 Gent.

Alas, good lady!

[Trumpets.

The trumpets sound: stand close, the queen is coming.

THE ORDER OF THE PROCESSION.

A lively flourish of Trumpets; then, enter

1. Two Judges.

2. Lord Chancellor, with the purse and mace before him. 3. Choristers singing.

[Musick.

4. Mayor of London bearing the mace. Then Garter, in his coat of arms, and on his head, a gilt copper

crown.

5. Marquis Dorset, bearing a sceptre of gold, on his head

a demi-coronal of gold. With him, the Earl of Surrey, bearing the rod of silver with the dove, crowned with an earl's coronet. Collars of SS.

6. Duke of Suffolk, in his robe of estate, his coronet on his head, bearing a long white wand, as high-steward. With him, the Duke of Norfolk, with the rod of marshalship, a coronet on his head. Collars of SS. 7. A canopy borne by four of the Cinque-ports; under it, the Queen in her robe; in her hair richly adorned with pearl, crowned. On each side of her, the Bishops of London and Winchester.

8. The old Duchess of Norfolk, in a coronal of gold, wrought with flowers, bearing the Queen's train. 9. Certain Ladies or Countesses, with plain circlets of gold without flowers.

2 Gent. A royal train, believe me.-These I know;— Who's that, that bears the sceptre?

6

the late marriage-] i. e. the marriage lately considered as a valid one. Steevens.

7

in his coat of arms,] i. e. in his coat of office, emblazoned with the royal arms. Steevens

8

coronal circlets-] I do not recollect that these two words occur in any other of our author's works; a circumstance that may serve to strengthen Dr. Farmer's opinion-that the directions for the court pageantry throughout the present drama, were drawn up by another hand. Steevens.

1 Gent.

Marquis Dorset:

And that the earl of Surrey, with the rod. 2 Gent. A bold brave gentleman: And that should be The duke of Suffolk.

1 Gent.

'Tis the same; high-steward.

2 Gent. And that my lord of Norfolk?

1 Gent.

2 Gent.

Yes.

Heaven bless thee! [Looking on the Queen.

Thou hast the sweetest face I ever look'd on.

Sir, as I have a soul, she is an angel;

Our king has all the Indies in his arms,

And more, and richer, when he strains that lady:9
I cannot blame his conscience.

1 Gent.

They, that bear

The cloth of honour over her, are four barons

Of the Cinque-ports.

2. Gent. Those men are happy; and so are all, are near her.

I take it, she that carries up the train,

Is that old noble lady, duchess of Norfolk.

1 Gent. It is; and all the rest are countesses.

2 Gent. Their coronets say so. These are stars, indeed; And, sometimes, falling ones.

1 Gent.

No more of that. [Exit Procession, with a great flourish of Trumpets. Enter a third Gentleman. God save you, sir! Where have you been broiling? 3 Gent. Among the croud i' the abbey; where a finger Could not be wedg'd in more; and I am stifled1

9 when he strains that lady:] I do not recollect that our author, in any other of his works, has used the verb-strain in its present sense, which is that of the Latin comprimere. Thus Livy, I 4: " Compressa vestalis, quum geminum partum edidisset," &c. Again, in Chapman's version of the 21st Iliad: 'Bright Peribæa, whom the flood, &c. Compress'd."

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I have pointed out this circumstance, because Ben Jonson is suspected of having made some additions to the play before us, and, perhaps, in this very scene which is descriptive of the personages who compose the antecedent procession. See Dr. Farmer's note on the Epilogue to this play. Steevens.

1 and I am stifled-] And was introduced by Sir T. Hanmer, to complete the measure. Steevens.

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