SCENE IV. The Prefence-Chamber in York-Place. Hautboys. A fmall table under a ftate for the Cardinal, a longer table for the guests. Enter at one door, ANNE BULLEN, and divers Lords, Ladies, and Gentlewomen, as guests; at another door, enter Sir HENRY GUILDFORD. GUILD. Ladies, a general welcome from his grace Salutes ye all: This night he dedicates To fair content, and you: none here, he hopes, In all this noble bevy, has brought with her One care abroad; he would have all as merry As firft-good company, good wine, good welcome Can make good people. -O, my lord, you are tardy; 5 noble bevy,] Milton has copied this word: "A bevy of fair dames." JOHNSON. Spenfer had before Shakspeare employed this word in the fame manner: "And whither runs this bevy of ladies bright?" Shepheard's Calender. April. Again, in his Faery Queene: "And in the midft thereof, upon the flowre, "A lovely bevy of faire ladies fate." The word bevy was originally applied to larks. See the Gloffary to the Shepheard's Calender. MALONE. As firft-good company, &c.] As this paffage has been all along pointed, [As firft, good company,] Sir Harry Guildford is made to include all thefe under the first article; and then gives us the drop as to what should follow. The poet, I am perfuaded, wrote: As first-good company, good wine, good welcome, &c. Enter Lord Chamberlain, Lord SANDS, and Sir THOMAS LOVELL. The very thought of this fair company Снам. You are young, fir Harry Guildford. i.e. he would have you as merry as thefe three things can make you, the best company in the land, of the beft rank, good wine, &c. THEOBALD. Sir T. Hanmer has mended it more elegantly, but with greater violence : 7 As firft, good company, then good wine, &c. JOHNSON. a running banquet-] A running banquet, literally fpeaking, is a hafty refreshment, as fet in oppofition to a regular and protracted meal. The former is the object of this rakish peer; the latter, perhaps he would have relinquished to thofe of more permanent defires. STEEVENS. A running banquet feems to have meant a hafty banquet. "Queen Margaret and Prince Edward, (fays Habington in his Hiftory of King Edward IV.) though by the Earle recalled, found their fate and the winds fo adverfe, that they could not land in England, to tafte this running banquet to which fortune had invited them." The bafty banquet, that was in Lord Sands's thoughts, is too obvious to require explanation. It fhould feem from the following lines in the prologue to a comedy called The Walks of Islington, 1657, that fome double meaning was couched under the phrafe, a running banquet : The gate unto his walks, through which you may "A play of walks, or you may please to rank it MALONE. Lor. O, that your lordship were but now con feffor To one or two of these! SANDS. They should find easy penance. I would, I were; 'Faith, how eafy? Lov. Place you that fide, I'll take the charge of this: SANDS. By my faith, And thank your lordship.-By your leave, fweet ladies: [Seats himself between ANNE BULLEN and another Lady. If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me; I had it from my father. ANNE. Was he mad, fir? SANDS. O, very mad, exceeding mad, in love too: But he would bite none; juft as I do now, He would kiss you twenty with a breath. [Kifles ber. Снам. Well faid, my lord.So, now you are fairly feated:-Gentlemen, The penance lies on you, if these fair ladies Pafs away frowning. SANDS. For my little cure, Hautboys. Enter Cardinal WOLSEY, attended; and takes his ftate. WOL. You are welcome, my fair guests; that noble lady, Or gentleman, that is not freely merry, Is not my friend: This, to confirm my welcome; And to you all good health. SANDS. [Drinks. Your grace is noble:Let me have fuch a bowl may hold my thanks, And fave me fo much talking. WOL. My lord Sands, I am beholden to you: cheer your neighbours.→ Ladies, you are not merry ;-Gentlemen, Whose fault is this? SANDS. The red wine firft muft rife In their fair cheeks, my lord; then we shall have Here's to your ladyfhip: and pledge it, madam, ANNE. You cannot show me. if I make my play.] i. e. if I make my party. Rather, if I may choofe my game. RITSON. STEEVENS. As the measure, in this place, requires an additional fyllable, we may, commodiously enough, read with Sir Thomas Hanmer: Yes, if I may make my play. STEEVENS. SANDS. I told your grace, they would talk anon. [Drum and trumpets within: chambers discharged." What's that? WOL. CHAM. Look out there, fome of you. WOL. [Exit a Servant. What warlike voice? And to what end is this?-Nay, ladies, fear not; Re-enter Servant. CHAM. How now? what is't? SERV. A noble troop of strangers; For fo they feem: they have left their barge, and landed; And hither make, as great ambaffadors From foreign princes. WOL. Good lord chamberlain, Go, give them welcome, you can speak the French tongue; And, pray, receive them nobly, and conduct them, chambers difcharged.] A chamber is a gun which stands erect on its breech. Such are ufed only on occafions of rejoicing, and are fo contrived as to carry great charges, and thereby to make a noise more than proportioned to their bulk. They are called chambers because they are mere chambers to lodge powder; a chamber being the technical term for that cavity in a piece of ordnance which contains the combuftibles. Some of them are ftill fired in the Park, and at the places oppofite to the parliamenthoufe when the king goes thither. Camden enumerates them among other guns, as follows: "" cannons, demi-cannons, chambers, arquebufe, mufquet." Again, in A New Trick to cheat the Devil, 1636: -I ftill think o' the Tower ordinance, "Or of the peal of chambers, that's ftill fir'd they have left their barge,] See p. 47, n. 4. MALONE. |