(Am yet a courtier beggarly), nor could
Come pat betwixt too early and too late,
For any suit of pounds: and you, (O fate!)
A very fresh-fish here, (fye, fye upon

This compell'd fortune!) have your mouth fill'd up, Before you open it.

13, no.

Anne. This is strange to me. Old L. How tastes it? is it bitter? forty pence 13, There was a lady once ('tis an old story), That would not be a queen, that would she not, For all the mud in Egypt 14:-Have you heard it? Anne. Come, you are pleasant.

Old L.

With your theme, I could
O'ermount the lark. The marchioness of Pembroke!
A thousand pounds a year! for pure respect;
No other obligation: By my life,

That promises more thousands: Honour's train
Is longer than his foreskirt. By this time,
I know, your back will bear a duchess;-Say,
Are you not stronger than you were?

Anne. Good lady, Make yourself mirth with your particular fancy, And leave me out on't. 'Would I had no being, If this salute my blood a jot; it faints me,

To think what follows.

The queen is comfortless, and we forgetful

13 Forty pence was in those days the proverbial expression of

a small wager. Thus in The Story of King Darius, an interlude:

Nay, that I will not for forty pence.'

Again in The Longer thou Livest the more Fool Thou art, 1570: I dare wage with any man forty pence.'

Money was then reckoned by pounds, marks, and nobles. Forty pence, or three and fourpence, is half a noble, and is still an established legal fee.

14 The fertility of Egypt is derived from the mud and slime of the Nile.

In our long absence: Pray, do not deliver
What here you have heard, to her.

Old L.

What do you think me?

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. A Hall in Black-Friars.

Trumpets sennet1, and cornets. Enter two Vergers, with short silver wands; next them, two Scribes, in the habits of doctors; after them, the Archbishop of Canterbury alone; after him the Bishops of Lincoln, Ely, Rochester, and Saint Asaph; next them, with some small distance, follows a Gentleman bearing the purse, with the great seal, and a cardinal's hat; then two Priests, bearing each a silver cross; then a Gentleman Usher bareheaded, accompanied with a Sergeant at Arms, bearing a silver mace; then two Gentlemen, bearing two great silver pillars; after them, side by side, the two Cardinals, WOLSEY and CAMPEIUS; two Noblemen with the sword and mace. Then enter the King and Queen, and their Trains. The King takes place under the cloth of state; the two Cardinals sit under him as judges. The

1 This word sennet, about which there has been so much discussion to little purpose, is nothing more than the senne of the old French, or the segno or segnata of the Italians, a signal given by sound of trumpet—' signum dare buccina.' We find it spelt signate, signet, and even synnet or cynet. It was distinct from a flourish, with which Malone and others have confounded it, as appears from Decker's Satiromastix, in which one of the stage directions is Trumpets sound a flourish, and then a sennet.' Some have derived it from the Italian sonata; and to this etymology the following passage of Berni, which I have met with, may give some colour:

'Senza indugiar si mette a bocca il corno
Per far la terza et ultima sonata.'

Orl. Inam. lib. i. c. xxiv. st. 62.

2 Ensigns of dignity carried before cardinals.

Queen takes place at some distance from the King. The Bishops place themselves on each side the court, in manner of a consistory; between them, the Scribes. The Lords sit next the Bishops. The Crier and the rest of the Attendants stand in convenient order about the stage.

Wol. Whilst our commission from Rome is read, Let silence be commanded.

K. Hen.

What's the need?

It hath already publickly been read,
And on all sides the authority allow'd;
You may then spare that time.

Wol.

Be't so:-Proceed.

Scribe. Say, Henry king of England, come into the court.

Crier. Henry king of England, &c.
K. Hen. Here.

Scribe. Say, Katharine queen of England, come into court.

Crier. Katharine queen of England, &c.

[The Queen makes no answer, rises out of her chair, goes about the court, comes to the King, and kneels at his feet; then speaks 3.]

Q. Kath. Sir, I desire you, do me right and justice*; And to bestow your pity on me: for

I am a most poor woman, and a stranger,

Born out of your dominions; having here

3 Because she could not come directly to the king for the distance which severed them, she took pain to go about unto the king, kneeling down at his feet,' &c.-Cavendish's Life of Wolsey, vol. i. p. 149, ed. 1825.

4 This speech is taken from Holinshed (who copies from Cavendish) with the most trifling variations. Hall has given a different report of the queen's speech, which, he says, was made in French, and translated by him from notes taken by Campeggio's secretary.

No judge indifferent, nor no more assurance
Of equal friendship and proceeding. Alas, sir,
In what have I offended you? what cause
Hath my behaviour given to your displeasure,
That thus you should proceed to put me off,
And take your good grace from me? Heaven witness,
I have been to you a true and humble wife,
At all times to your will conformable:
Ever in fear to kindle your dislike,

Yea, subject to your countenance; glad, or sorry,
As I saw it inclin'd. When was the hour,

I ever contradicted your desire,

your

friends

Or made it not mine too? Or which of
Have I not strove to love, although I knew
He were mine enemy? what friend of mine
That had to him deriv'd your anger, did I
Continue in my liking? nay, gave notice
He was from thence discharg'd? Sir, call to mind
That I have been your wife, in this obedience,
Upward of twenty years, and have been blest
With many children by you: If, in the course
And process of this time, you can report,
And prove it too, against mine honour aught,
My bond to wedlock, or my love and duty,
Against your sacred person5, in God's name,
Turn me away; and let the foul'st contempt
Shut door upon me, and so give me up
To the sharpest kind of justice. Please you, sir,
The king, your father, was reputed for
A prince most prudent, of an excellent
And unmatch'd wit and judgment: Ferdinand,
My father, king of Spain, was reckon❜d one
The wisest prince, that there had reign'd by many

5 That is, 'If you can report and prove aught against mine honour, my love and duty, or aught against your sacred person,' &c.

A year before: It is not to be question'd
That they had gather'd a wise council to them
Of every realm, that did debate this business,

Who deem'd our marriage lawful: Wherefore I humbly

Beseech you, sir, to spare me, till I may

Be by my friends in Spain advis'd; whose counsel
I will implore:: if not; i' the name of God,
Your pleasure be fulfill❜d!

Wol.
You have here, lady,
(And of your choice), these reverend fathers; men
Of singular integrity and learning,

Yea, the elect of the land, who are assembled

To plead your cause: It shall be therefore bootless, That longer you desire the court7; as well

For your own quiet, as to rectify

What is unsettled in the king.

Cam.

His grace

Hath spoken well, and justly: Therefore, madam, It's fit this royal session do proceed;

And that, without delay, their arguments

Be now produc'd, and heard.

I am about to weep; but, thinking that

e are a queen (or long have dream'd so), certain,

We

6 The historical fact is, that the queen staid for no reply to this speech. Cavendish says,' And with that she rose up, making a low courtesy to the king, and so departed from thence. Many supposed that she would have resorted again to her former place; but she took her way straight out of the house, leaning (as she was wont always to do) upon the arm of her general receiver Master Griffiths.'-Life of Wolsey, p. 152. 7 That you desire to protract the business of the court. pray for a longer day,' i. e. a more distant one, is yet the language of the bar in criminal trials.

To