With this kiss take my blessing: God protect thee!
Into whose hand I give thy life.

Cran.

Amen.

King. My noble gossips, ye have been too prodigal :
I thank ye heartily; so shall this lady,
When she has so much English.

Cran.
Let me speak, sir,
For heaven now bids me; and the words I utter
Let none think flattery, for they'll find 'em truth.
This royal infant-heaven still move about her!-
Though in her cradle, yet now promises
Upon this land a thousand thousand blessings,
Which time shall bring to ripeness: she shall be—
But few now living can behold that goodness-
A pattern to all princes living with her,
And all that shall succeed: Saba was never
More covetous of wisdom and fair virtue

Than this pure soul shall be: all princely graces,
That mould up such a mighty piece as this is,
With all the virtues that attend the good,

ΙΟ

20

Shall still be doubled on her: truth shall nurse her,
Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her:

She shall be loved and fear'd: her own shall bless her;
Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn,
And hang their heads with sorrow.

Good grows with her:

In her days every man shall eat in safety,
Under his own vine, what he plants, and sing
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours:
God shall be truly known; and those about her
From her shall read the perfect ways of honour,
And by those claim their greatness, not by blood.
Nor shall this peace sleep with her: but, as when
The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
Her ashes new create another heir

As great in admiration as herself,

So shall she leave her blessedness to one

When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness

Who from the sacred ashes of her honour

Shall star-like rise, as great in fame as she was,

And so stand fix'd. Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror,
That were the servants to this chosen infant,

Shall then be his, and like a vine grow to him:
Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine,
His honour and the greatness of his name

Shall be, and make new nations: he shall flourish,

30

40

50

And, like a mountain cedar, reach his branches
To all the plains about him. Our children's children
Shall see this, and bless heaven.

King.

Thou speakest wonders.
Cran. She shall be, to the happiness of England,
An aged princess; many days shall see her,
And yet no day without a deed to crown it.
Would I had known no more! but she must die,
She must, the saints must have her; yet a virgin,
A most unspotted lily shall she pass

To the ground, and all the world shall mourn her.
King. O lord archbishop,

Thou hast made me now a man! never, before
This happy child, did I get any thing:
This oracle of comfort has so pleased me,
That when I am in heaven I shall desire

To see what this child does, and praise my Maker.
I thank ye all. To you, my good lord mayor,
And your good brethren, I am much beholding;
I have received much honour by your presence,
And ye shall find me thankful. Lead the way, lords:
Ye must all see the queen, and she must thank ye;
She will be sick else. This day, no man think
Has business at his house; for all shall stay:
This little one shall make it holiday.

EPILOGUE.

'Tis ten to one this play can never please
All that are here: some come to take their ease,
And sleep an act or two; but those, we fear,
We have frighted with our trumpets; so, 't is clear,
They'll say 't is naught: others, to hear the city
Abused extremely, and to cry 'That's witty!'
Which we have not done neither; that, I fear,
All the expected good we're like to hear
For this play at this time, is only in
The merciful construction of good women;
For such a one we show'd 'em: if they smile,
And say 't will do, I know, within a while
All the best men are ours; for 't is ill hap,
If they hold when their ladies bid 'em clap.

60

70

[Exeunt.

NOTES.

Abbott Dr. E. Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar.
Kellner... L. Kellner's Historical Outlines of English Syntax
O.E...... Old English (Anglo-Saxon).

M.E......Middle English.

The quotations from Hall and Holinshed are taken from the 1809 reprint of Hall's Chronicle, and the second edition (1587) of Holinshed's Chronicle. The longer passages in Holinshed of direct bearing on the play are given in Appendix A.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

This list is not in the Folios. It was first given, imperfectly, by Rowe (1709).

HENRY VIII., born in 1491, became heir to the crown in 1502 by the death of his brother Arthur, and succeeded his father Henry VII. in April, 1509. In June he married Katharine of Aragon, his brother's widow, and five years his senior. The only child of the marriage who survived was Mary; and as Henry was anxious for an heir, so as to avoid the recurrence of a disputed succession, no queen having yet ruled in England, he hoped to get a divorce from Katharine. His plea was that his marriage with his brother's wife was illegal; but his scruples were largely prompted by the fact that he was growing tired of Katharine and had cast his eyes on Anne Bullen. An alliance with the Emperor Charles, Katharine's nephew, for a while balked him of his plans, but in 1527, when he was veering towards an alliance with France, he took the matter up seriously. As the Pope Clement would not give his consent, Henry sent Stephen Gardiner to Rome in 1528 to urge the appointment of legates who should decide in Henry's favour. The Pope so far acceded as to appoint Wolsey and Campeggio, but he refused to consider any decision they might come to as valid before it had his approval. The legates opened proceedings at Blackfriars on 31st May, 1529, and the trial proper began on 21st June. The only result, however, was that Katharine appealed directly to the Pope. It was at this juncture that Henry contrived to make himself (M 548)

H

acknowledged the supreme head of the English church, and to forbid any appeals, as well in spiritual as in temporal matters, to be made to any authority outside the kingdom. He was accordingly now free to act as he pleased in the divorce, and had no longer to await the Pope's consent. On 23rd May, 1533, Cranmer gave judgment in his favour. Previous to this, on 25th January, he had secretly married Anne Bullen, who, on 7th September, gave birth to Elizabeth. It was not till 1537 that Henry had-by his third wife, Jane Seymour-a son who lived.

CARDINAL WOLSEY was born at Ipswich in 1471. (For his parentage, see i. I. 120.) In 1506 he became chaplain to Henry VII., who subsequently sent him on several embassies, and conferred on him the deanery of Lincoln. Shortly after the accession of Henry VIII. he was made king's almoner and called to the council. His great genius for administration speedily made him the trusted servant of the king, who in 1514 appointed him Archbishop of York, and in 1515 Lord Chancellor; and in the same year the Pope made him a Cardinal. Henceforward he practically directed the home and foreign administration of England. His position was apparently never more secure than in 1527; but the case of the divorce was to bring about a change in his fortunes. Though he worked honestly in Henry's cause, circumstances were such that he could not but fail, and he became the victim of Henry's wrath. On 9th October, 1529, proceedings were taken against him under the Statute of Præmunire (see notes, iii. 2. 337-341), and though the charge was iniquitous, for Wolsey had exercised his legatine authority only at the king's wish and in his interests, he had no other course to follow than to submit. (See quotation, note iii. 2. 342-344.) On 17th October he was deprived of the great seal, and ordered to retire to Esher (iii. 2. 229, 231). The king's anger had somewhat relaxed, however, by the following February, when he received a full pardon, and was restored to the Archbishopric of York, whither he retired. But his old enemies were implacable, and searched for something to ruin him utterly. This they found in his indiscreet but harmless communications with the French and imperial envoys. Henry now ordered him to be charged with high treason. He was arrested at Cawood (not at York, as in iv. 2. 13) on 4th November; but on the way to his trial in London he died at Leicester Abbey on 29th November, 1530. It should be remarked that the dramatist's characterization of Wolsey was suggested directly by Holinshed, and is accordingly largely unjust. "The figure of Wolsey was long left to the portraiture of prejudice, and he was regarded only as the type of the arrogant ecclesiastic whom it was the great work of the Reformation to have rendered impossible in the future. Not till the mass of documents relating to the reign of Henry VIII. was published did it become possible for Dr. Brewer to show the significance of the schemes of the great cardinal, and to estimate his merits and his faults" (Mandell Creighton).

CARDINAL CAMPEIUS (Lorenzo Campeggio) was sent as a legate to England in October, 1528, to try, along with Wolsey, the case of the king's divorce. He refused to deliver judgment without reference to the Pope. He prorogued the court in July, 1529, and in September departed for Rome. This was his second mission to England. In 1524 he had been made Bishop of Salisbury, but he was deprived of the see by Act of Parliament in 1534. He died in 1539.

CAPUCIUS (Eustace Chapuys) came to England as imperial ambassador in 1529. In December, 1535, he obtained permission from the king to visit Katharine at Kimbolton in what proved to be her last illness. He arrived on 2nd January, and left on the 5th. Katharine died two days later. The historical inaccuracy of making Capucius present at the time of her death is due to a misleading statement in Holinshed (p. 939): "This in effect was all that she requested [of Capucius], and so immediatlie herevpon she departed this life".

CRANMER, THOMAS (1489-1556), first came into notice in connection with the divorce. It was he who recommended Henry to find out the opinions of the universities, and he was abroad on this errand in 1529 (ii. 4. 238; iii. 2. 64). In 1533 he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, in succession to William Warham (iii. 2. 400). In May of the same year he pronounced Katharine's marriage invalid (iv. I. 24, &c.), and in October was godfather to the princess Elizabeth (v. 5). He was in great favour with the king, who found him a pliable servant. The unsuccessful attempt of his enemies to convict him of heresy in 1544-45 (v. 3) strengthened his position, for nobody thereafter dared to oppose him as long as Henry lived. But in 1556, in the reign of Mary, he was burned at the stake as a heretic, despite several recantations.

DUKE OF NORFOLK, Thomas Howard (1443-1524), first Earl of Surrey and second Duke of Norfolk. Henry conferred the dukedom of Norfolk on him on 1st February, 1514. In the previous year he (while still Earl of Surrey) had defeated the Scots at Flodden. In 1520 he was left guardian of the kingdom while Henry was at the Field of the Cloth of Gold (see note i. I, init.). "In May, 1521, he was appointed lord high steward for the trial of Edward, Duke of Buckingham, on the charge of treason. Buckingham was his friend, and father of the wife of his eldest son; and few incidents are more characteristic of the temper of the time than that Norfolk should have consented to preside at such a trial, of which the issue was a foregone conclusion. With tears streaming down his face, Norfolk passed sentence of death on a man with whose sentiments he entirely agreed, but had his reward in a grant of manors from Buckingham's forfeitures" (Dict. Nat. Biog.). It is to be noted that all mention of Norfolk's part in this trial is studiously omitted in the play. As Norfolk died in 1524, his appearance in Acts iii., iv., and v. is anachronous. See note iii. 2, init.