PERSONS REPRESENTED.

KING HENRY VIII.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 4. Act II. sc. 2; sc. 4. Act III. sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 4.

CAPUCIUS, ambassador from the Emperor Charles V.
Appears, Act IV. sc. 2.

CRANMER, archbishop of Canterbury.

Appears, Act II. sc. 4. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 4.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 2. Act III. sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2.

Act III. sc. 2.

Lord Chamberlain.

Appears, Act I. sc. 3; sc. 4. Act II. sc. 2; sc. 3.

Act V. sc. 2; sc. 3.

Lord Chancellor.
Appears, Act V. sc. 2.

GARDINER, bishop of Winchester.

Appears, Act II. sc. 2.

Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2.

BISHOP OF LINCOLN.

Appears, Act II. sc. 4.

LORD ABERGAVENNY.
Appears, Act I. sc. 1.

LORD SANDS.

Appears, Act I. sc. 3; sc. 4. Act II. sc. 1.

SIR HENRY Guildford.
Appears, Act I. sc. 4.

SIR THOMAS LOVELL.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 4.

Act II. sc. 1.

Act V. sc. 1.

SIR ANTHONY DENNY.
Appears, Act V. sc. 1.

SIR NICHOLAS Vaux.
Appears, Act II. sc. 1.

Act III. sc. 2.

QUEEN KATHARINE, wife to King Henry, afterwards divorced.
Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 4. Act III. sc. 1.
Act IV. sc. 2.

ANNE BULLEN, maid of honour to Queen Katharine, and afterwards Queen.
Appears, Act I. sc. 4.

An old Lady, friend to

Act II. sc. 3.

Anne Bullen.

Appears, Act II. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 1.

PATIENCE, woman to Queen Katharine.
Appears, Act IV. sc. 2.

Several Lords and Ladies in the dumb shows; Women attending upon the
Queen; Spirits which appear to her; Scribes, Officers, Guards,
and other Attendants.

SCENE, CHIEFLY IN LONDON AND WESTMINSTER; ONCE, AT KIMBOLTON.

The famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth' was first published in the folio collection of Shakspere's works in 1623. The text, taken as a whole, is singularly correct: it contains, no doubt, some few typographical errors, but certainly not so many as those which deform the ordinary reprints.

KING HENRY VIII.

PROLOGUE.

I come no more to make you laugh; things now, That bear a weighty and a serious brow, Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe, Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow, We now present. Those that can pity, here May, if they think it well, let fall a tear; The subject will deserve it. Such as give Their money out of hope they may believe, May here find truth too. Those that come to see Only a show or two, and so agree

The play may pass, if they be still and willing

I'll undertake may see away their shilling

Richly in two short hours.

Only they

That come to hear a merry, bawdy play,

A noise of targets; or to see a fellow
In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow,
Will be deceiv'd: for, gentle hearers, know,
To rank our chosen truth with such a show
As fool and fight is, besides forfeiting

Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring,
(To make that only true we now intend,)

Will leave us never an understanding friend.

Therefore, for goodness' sake, and, as you are known
The first and happiest hearers of the town,
Be sad, as we would make you: Think, ye see
The very persons of our noble story,

As they were living; think, you see them great,
And follow'd with the general throng and sweat

Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see
How soon this mightiness meets misery!
And if you can be merry then, I'll say
A man may weep upon his wedding-day.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-London. An Antechamber in the Palace.

Enter the DUKE OF NORFOLK, at one door; at the other, the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM and the LORD ABERGAVENNY.

BUCK. Good morrow, and well met. How have you done Since last we saw in France?

I thank your grace.

NOR.
Healthful; and ever since a fresh admirer

Of what I saw there.

Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber, when
Those suns of glory, those two lights of men,
Met in the vale of Andren.

NOR.

'Twixt Guynes and Arde:

I was then present, saw them salute on horseback;
Beheld them, when they lighted, how they clung
In their embracement as they grew together;

Which had they, what four thron'd ones could have weigh'd
Such a compounded one?

BUCK.

All the whole time

Then you lost

I was my chamber's prisoner.

NOR.

The view of earthly glory: Men might say,
Till this time pomp was single, but now married
To one above itself. Each following day
Became the next day's master, till the last
Made former wonders its: To-day, the French,
All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods,
Shone down the English; and, to-morrow, they
Made Britain, India: every man that stood

Show'd like a mine.

Their dwarfish pages were

As cherubins, all gilt: the madams too,
Not us'd to toil, did almost sweat to bear
The pride upon them, that their very labour
Was to them as a painting: Now this mask
Was cried incomparable; and the ensuing night
Made it a fool, and beggar. The two kings,
Equal in lustre, were now best, now worst,
As presence did present them; him in eye
Still him in praise: and, being present both,
"T was said they saw but one: and no discerner
Durst wag his tongue in censure. When these suns
(For so they phrase them) by their heralds challeng'd
The noble spirits to arms, they did perform

Beyond thought's compass; that former fabulous story,
Being now seen possible enough, got credit,
That Bevis was believ'd.

O, you go far.

Buck.
NOR. As I belong to worship, and affect
In honour honesty, the tract of everything
Would by a good discourser lose some life,
Which action's self was tongue to.

Buck.

All was royal;

To the disposing of it nought rebell'd,
Order gave each thing view; the office did
Distinctly his full function. Who did guide?
I mean, who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together?

NOR.
As you guess:
One, certes, that promises no element
In such a business.

BUCK.

I pray you, who, my lord?

NOR. All this was order'd by the good discretion Of the right reverend cardinal of York.

BUCK. The devil speed him! no man's pie is freed
From his ambitious finger. What had he

To do in these fierce vanities? I wonder
That such a keech can with his very bulk
Take up the rays o' the beneficial sun,
And keep it from the earth.