Your lordship is a guest too. This night he makes a supper, and a great one, If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me; Cham. [Kisses her. Well said, my lord.So, now you are fairly seated:-Gentlemen, The penance lies on you, if these fair ladies For my little cure, The beauty of this kingdom, I'll assure you. Sands. Let me alone. Hautboys. Enter CARDINAL WOLSEY, attended and takes his state. Wol. You are welcome, my fair guests; tha' noble lady, Or gentleman, that is not freely merry, Is not my friend: This, to confirm welcome my ; And to you all good health. [Drinks. Sands. Your grace is noble ;Let me have such a bowl may hold my thanks, And save me so much talking. Wol. My Lord Sands, I am beholden to you: cheer your neighbours.Ladies, you are not merry ;-Gemdemen, Whose fault is this? Sands. The red wine first must rise [Exeunt. In their fair checks, my lord; then we shall have SCELE IV. The Presence Chamber in York Enter Lord Chamberlain, LORD SANDS, and SIR THOMAS LOVELL. The very thought of this fair company Cham. You are young, Sir Harry Guildford. Lov. O, that your lordship were but now confessor To one or two of these! Sands. I would, I were; They should find easy penance. Lov. 'Faith, how easy? Sands. As easy as a down bed would afford it. Cham. Sweet ladies, will it please you sit? Sir Harry, Place you that side, I'll take the charge of this: His grace is ent'ring.-Nay, you must not freeze; Two women plac'd together makes cold weather:My Lord Sands, you are one will keep them waking; Pray, sit between these ladies. Sands. By my faith, And thank your lordship.-By your leave, sweet ladies : [Seats himself between ANNE BULLEN and another Lady. them Talk us to silence. Anne. You are a merry gamester, my Lord Sands. Here's to your ladyship: and pledge it, madam, Sands. Yes, if I make my play.3. For 'tis to such a thing, Anne. You cannot show me. Sands. I told your grace, they would talk anon. [Drum and trumpets within: Chamis discharged. Wol. What's that! And, pray, receive them nobly, and conduct them A noble company! what are their pleasures? pray'd charges, and make a loud report. They had their name 1 The speaker is now in the king's palace at Bride-from being little more than mere chambers to lodge well, from whence he is proceeding by water to York Place (Cardinal Wolsey's house), now Whitehall. 2 A bevy is a company. 3 i. e. if I may choose my game. 4 Chambers are short pieces of ordnance, standing almost erect upon their breechings, chiefly ised upon festive occasions, being so contrived as to tarry great powder; that being the technical name for that cavity in a gun which contains the powder or combustible matter. Cavendish, describing this scene as it really oc curred, says that against the king's coming' were laid charged many chambers, and at his landing they were all shot off, which made such a rumble in the air that it was like thunder." To tell your grace;-That, having heard by fame Say, lord chamberlain, To drink to these fair ladies, and a measure ACT II. They have done my poor house grace; for which SCENE I. A Street. Enter two Gentlemen, I pay them A thousand thanks, and pray them take their plea 1 Cavendish, from whom Stowe and Holinshed copied their account, says that the cardinal pitched upon Sir Edward Neville, a comely knight of a goodly personage, that much more resembled the king's person in that mask than any other,' upon which the king plucked down his visor and Master Neville's also, and dashed out with such a pleasant cheer and countenance, that all noble estates there assembled, seeing the king to be there amongst them, rejoiced very much.' 2 i. e. waggishly, mischievously.. 3 A kiss was anciently the established fee of a lady's partner The custom is still prevalent among country people in many parts of the kingdom. meeting. Pray, speak, what has happen'd ? 1 Gent. You may guess quickly what. 2 Gent. 1 Gent. Yes, truly he is, and condemn'd it. 2 Gent. I am sorry for❜t. 1 Gent. upon So are a number more. 2 Gent. But, pray, how pass'd it? 1 Gent. I'll tell you in a little. The great duke Came to the bar; where, to his accusations, He pleaded still, not guilty, and alleg❜d. Many sharp reasons to defeat the law. The king's attorney, on the contrary, Urg'd on the examinations, proofs, confessions Of divers witnesses; which the duke desir'd To have brought, viva voce, to his face : At which appear'd against him, his surveyor, Sir Gilbert Peck his chancellor'; and John Court, Confessor to him; with that devil-monk, Hopkins, that made this mischief. 2 Gent. That fed him with his prophecies ? 1.Gent. That was he, The same. All these accus'd him strongly; which he fain Would have flung from him, but, indeed, he coul not: And so his peers, upon this evidence, 2 Gent. After all this, how did he bear himself? 1 Gent. When he was brought again to the bar,to hear His knell rung out, his judgment, he was stirr'd With such an agony, he sweat extremely, And something spoke in choler, ill, and hasty : But he fell to himself again, and, sweetly, In all the rest show'd a most noble patience. 2 Gent. I do not think, he fears death. 1 Gent. Sure, he does not, He never was so womanish; the cause He may a little grieve at. 2 Gent. Certainly, The cardinal is the end of this. 1 Gent. 'Tis likely, By all conjectures: First, Kildare's attainder, Then deputy of Ireland; who remov'd, was made and prepared for him, and there new apparelled him with rich and princely garments. And in the time of the king's absence the dishes of the banquet were cleane taken up, and the tables spread with new and sweet perfumed cloths.-Then the king took his seat under the cloth of estate, commanding no man to remove, but set still as they did before. Then in came a new banquet before the king's majesty, and to all the rest through the tables, wherein, I suppose, were served two hundred dishes or above. Thus passed they forth the whole night with banquetting,' &c. 5 Thus in Antonio and Mellida : Fla. Faith, the song will seem to come off hardly. Catz. Troth, not a whit, if you seem to come of quickly. Fla. Pert Catzo, knock it, then."" 4 According to Cavendish, the king, on discovering himself, being desired by Wolsey to take his place under the state or seat of honour, said 'that he would go first and shift his apparel, and so departed, and went straight into my lord's bedchamber, where a great fire | tual pity. 6 Either produced no effect, or produced only ineffex No doubt, he will requite it. This is noted, And generally whoever the king favours, The cardinal instantly will find employment, And far enough from court too. 2 Gent. All the commons Hate him perniciously, and, o' my conscience, Wish him ten fathom deep: this duke as much They love and dote on; call him, bounteous Buckingham, The mirror of all courtesy ;11 Gent. Stay there, sir, And see the noble ruin'd man you speak of. Enter BUCKINGHAM from his arraignment; Tipstaves before him, the axe with the edge towards him ; halberts on each side: with him SIR THOMAS LOVELL, SIR NICHOLAS VAUX, SIR WILLIAM SANDS,2 and common People. 2 Gent. Let's stand close, and behold him. And, if have a conscience, let it sink me, Lov. I do beseech your grace, for charity, Were hid against me, now to forgive me frankly. 1 The report in the Old Year Book, referred to above, thus describes him.-Car il fut tres noble prince et prudent, et mirror de tout courtesie.' 2 The old copy reads Sir Walter. The correction is justified by Holinshed. Sir William Sands was at this time (May, 1521) only a knight, not being created Lord Sands till April 27, 1527. Shakspeare probably did not know that he was the same person whom he has already introduced with that title. The error arose by placing the king's visit to Wolsey (at which time Sir William was Lord Sands) and Buckingham's condemnation in the same year; whereas the visit was nade some years afterwards. 3 Evils are forciæ. 4 Thus in Lord Sterline's Darius : 'Scarce was the lasting last divorcement made Betwixt the bodie and the soule.' 5 Johnson observes, with great truth, that these lines are remarkably tender and pathetic. 6 Shakspeare. by this expression, probably meant to ake the duke say, No action expressive of malice shall for't. My noble father, Henry of Buckingham, Heaven has an end in all: Yet, you that hear me, 9 And give your hearts to, when they once perceive But where they mean to sink ye. All good people, And when you would say something that is sad,10 That were the authors. 2 Gent. If the duke be guiltless, 'Tis full of woe. yet I can give you inkling Of an ensuing evil, if it fall, Greater than this. 1 Gent. Where may Good angels keep it from us! it be? You do not doubt my faith, sir? close my life. Envy is elsewhere used by Shakspeare for malice or hatred. Unless with Warburton we read 'mark my grave; a very plausible emendation of an error easily made; and which has indeed happened in an instance in King Henry V. Act ii. Sc. 2, where the old copy erroneously reads: 'To make the full fraught man and best endued 7 The name of the duke of Buckingham most generally known was Stafford; it is said that he affected the surname of Bohun, because he was lord high constable of England by inheritance of tenure from the Bohuns Shakspeare follows Holinshed. 8 I now seal my truth, my loyalty, with blood, whick blood shall one day make them groan. 9 This expression occurs again in Othello :- 10 Thus also in King Richard II. :— 'Tell thou the lamentable tale of me, 2 Gent. This secret is so weighty, 'twill require | And with what zeal! For, now he has crack'd the A strong faith' to conceal n. 1 Gent. I do not talk much. 2 Gent. Let me have it; I am confident: You shall, sir: Did you not of late days hear 1 Gent. Yes, but it held2 not: 1 Gent. 'Tis woful. league Between us and the emperor, the queen's great nephew, He dives into the king's soul; and there scatters These news are every where; every tongue speaks And every true heart weeps for't: All, that dare The king's eyes, that so long have slept upon Suf. And free us from his slaverv. Nor. We had need pray, And heartily, for our deliverance; That she should feel the smart of this? The cardinal Or this imperious man will work us all Will have his will, and she must fall. From princes into pages: all men's honours 1 Gent. Lie in one lump before him, to be fashion'd We are too open here to argue this; Into what pitch he please." Let's think in private more. Suf. For me, my lords, I love him not, nor fear him; there's my creed SCENE II. An Antechamber in the Palace. En-As I am made without him, so I'll stand, ter the Lord Chamberlain, reading a Letter. If the king please; his curses and his blessings Cham. My lord,--The horses your lordship sent Touch me alike, they are breath I not believe in, for, with all the care I had, I saw well chosen, ridden, I knew him, and I know him; so I leave him and furnished. They were young, and handsome; To him, that made him proud, the pope. and of the best breed in the north. When they were ready to set out for London, a man of my lord cardinal's, by commission, and main power, took 'em from me; with this reason,-His master would be served before a subject, if not before the king: which stopped our mouths, sir. I fear, he will, indeed: Well, let him have them : Enter the Dukes of NORFOLK and SUFFOLK. Nor. Well met, my good lord chamberlain. I left him private, Full of sad thoughts and cubles. Has crept too near his conscience. Suf. Has crept too near another lady. No, his conscience 'Tis so; This is the cardinal's doing, the king-cardinal: Suf. Pray God, he do! he'll never know himself Nor. How holily he works in all his business! 1 Great fidelity. 2 Steevens erroneously explains this passage, saying to hold is to believe: 'it held not' here rather means it did not sustain itself,' the rumour did not prove true. So in King Richard III. Act ii. Sc. 2 : 'Doth the news hold of good King Edward's death?" 3 See The Winter's Tale, Act i. Sc. 2. note 8. It was the main end or object of Wolsey to bring about a marriage between Henry and the French king's sister, the duchess of Alençon. for the state of the theatre in Shakspeare's time. When a person was to be discovered in a different apartment from that in which the original speakers in the scene are exhibited, the artless mode of that time was, to place such person in the back part of the stage, behind the curtains which were occasionally suspended across it. These the person who was to be discovered (as Henry in the present case,) drew back just at the proper time. Norfolk has just said 'Let's in;' and therefore should himself do some act in order to visit the king. This, indeed, in the simple state of the old stage, was 6 The stage direction in the old copy is singular-not attended to; the king very civilly discovering him 'Exit Lord Chamberlain, and the king draws the cur- self. See Malone's account of the Old Theatres, in Mr tain, and si's reading pensively.' This was calculated Boswell's edition, vol. ij. 5 The meaning is, that the cardinal can, as he pleases, make high or low. I'll venture one have at him.3 Suf. Cam. Was he not held a learned man? Yes, surely. Cam. Believe me, there's an ill opinion spread then Even of yourself, lord cardinal Aside. I another. [Exeunt NORFOLK and SUFFOLK. Wol. Your grace has given a precedent of wisdom Above all princes, in committing freely I mean, the learned ones, in Christian kingdoms, Have their free voices; Rome, the nurse of judgment, Invited by your noble self, hath sent One general tongue unto us, this good man, And thank the holy conclave for their loves Cam. Your grace must needs deserve all strangers' loves, You are so noble: To your highness' hand K. Hen. Two equal men. The queen shall be acquainted Forthwith, for what you come :-Where's Gardiner? Wol. I know, your majesty has always lov'd her have at you, First that without the king,' &c. The phrase is derived (like many other old popular phrases) from gaming: to have at all,' was to throw for all that was staked on the board, adventuring on the cast an equal stake. 4 i. e. kept him out of the king's presence, employed n foreign embassies. 5 'Aboute this time the king received into favour Doctor Stephen Gardiner, whose service he used in matters of great secrecie and weight, admitting him in the room of Dr Pace, the which being continually abroad in am Wol. How! of me? ; Cam. They will not stick to say, you envied him And, fearing he would rise, he was so virtuous, Kept him a foreign man1 still; which so griev'd him, That he ran mad, and died.5 Wol. Heaven's peace be with him ! That's Christian care enough: for living murmurers, There's places of rebuke." He was a fool ; For he would needs be virtuous: That good fellow, If I command him, follows my appointment; I will have none so near else. Learn this, brother, We live not to be grip'd by meaner persons. K. Hen. Deliver this with modesty to the queen. [Exit GARDINER. The most convenient place that I can think of, For such receipt of learning, is Black-Friars There ye shall meet about this weighty business: My Wolsey, see it furnish'd.--O, my lord, Would it not grieve an able man, to leave So sweet a bedfellow? But, conscience, conscience, O, 'tis a tender place, and I must leave her. [Exeunt. SCENE III. An Antechamber in the Queen's Apartments. Enter ANNE BULLEN, and an old Lady. Anne. Not for that neither;-Here's the pang that pinches : His highness having lived so long with her: and she Old L. Hearts of most hard temper Melt and lament for her. Anne. O, God's will! much better She ne'er had known pomp: though it be tempora, Yet, if that quarrel, fortune, do divorce" It from the bearer, 'tis a sufferance, panging As soul and body's severing.3 bassades, and the same oftentymes not much necessarie by the Cardinalles appointment, at length he toke such greefe therwith, that he fell out of his right wittes.' . Holinshed.' 6 To send her away contemptuously; to pronounce against her a sentence of ejection. 7 I think with Steevens that we should read :- i. e. if any quarrel happen or chance to divorce it from the bearer. To fortune is a verb, used by Shakspeare in The Two Gentlemen of Verona : I'll tell you as we pass along 8 Thus in Antony and Cleopatra :— Tc pang is used as a verb active by Skelton, in b book of Philip Sparrow, 1568, sig. R v. : • What heaviness did me pange. |