Henry VIII - William Shakespeare (big ebook reader txt) 📗

cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
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—prithee, lead me in:
There take an inventory of all I have,
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 served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies. Cromwell Good sir, have patience. Wolsey

So I have. Farewell
The hopes of court! my hopes in heaven do dwell. Exeunt.

Act IV Scene I

A street in Westminster.

Enter two Gentlemen, meeting one another. First Gentleman You’re well met once again. Second Gentleman So are you. First Gentleman

You come to take your stand here, and behold
The Lady Anne pass from her coronation?

Second Gentleman

’Tis all my business. At our last encounter,
The Duke of Buckingham came from his trial.

First Gentleman

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

Second Gentleman

’Tis well: the citizens,
I am sure, have shown at full their royal minds⁠—
As, let ’em have their rights, they are ever forward⁠—
In celebration of this day with shows,
Pageants and sights of honour.

First Gentleman

Never greater,
Nor, I’ll assure you, better taken, sir.

Second Gentleman

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

First Gentleman

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 marshal: you may read the rest.

Second Gentleman

I thank you, sir: had I not known those customs,
I should have been beholding to your paper.
But, I beseech you, what’s become of Katharine,
The princess dowager? how goes her business?

First Gentleman

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

Second Gentleman

Alas, good lady! Trumpets.
The trumpets sound: stand close, the queen is coming. Hautboys.

The Order of the Coronation

A lively flourish of Trumpets.

Then, two Judges.

Lord Chancellor, with the purse and mace before him.

Choristers, singing. Music.

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

Marquess 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.

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.

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 her, the Bishops of London and Winchester.

The old Duchess of Norfolk, in a coronal of gold, wrought with flowers, bearing the Queen’s train.

Certain Ladies or Countesses, with plain circlets of gold without flowers.

They pass over the stage in order and state.

Second Gentleman

A royal train, believe me. These I know:
Who’s that that bears the sceptre?

First Gentleman

Marquess Dorset:
And that the Earl of Surrey, with the rod.

Second Gentleman

A bold brave gentleman. That should be
The Duke of Suffolk?

First Gentleman ’Tis the same: high-steward. Second Gentleman And that my Lord of Norfolk? First Gentleman Yes; Second Gentleman

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:
I cannot blame his conscience.

First Gentleman

They that bear
The cloth of honour over her, are four barons
Of the Cinque-ports.

Second Gentleman

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.

First Gentleman It is; and all the rest are countesses. Second Gentleman

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

First Gentleman No more of that. Exit procession, and then a great flourish of trumpets. Enter a Third Gentleman. First Gentleman God save you, sir! where have you been broiling? Third Gentleman

Among the crowd i’ the Abbey; where a finger
Could not be wedged in more: I am stifled
With the mere rankness of their joy.

Second Gentleman

You saw
The ceremony?

Third Gentleman That I did. First Gentleman How was it? Third Gentleman Well worth the seeing. Second Gentleman Good sir, speak it to us. Third Gentleman

As well as I am able. The rich stream
Of lords and ladies, having brought the queen
To a prepared place in the choir, fell off
A distance from her; while her grace sat down
To rest awhile, some half an hour or so,
In a rich chair of state, opposing freely
The beauty of her person to the people.
Believe me, sir, she is the goodliest woman
That ever lay by man: which when the people
Had the full view of, such a noise arose
As the shrouds make at sea in a stiff tempest,
As loud, and to as many tunes: hats, cloaks⁠—
Doublets, I think⁠—flew up; and had their faces
Been loose, this day they had been lost. Such joy
I never saw before. Great-bellied