Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition 39;
By that sin fell the angels, how can man then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win by't?
Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty10;
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,-Pr'ythee, lead me in:

41

There take an inventory of all I have 11,

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 serv'd my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies 42.

Crom. Good sir, have patience.

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

[Exeunt.

39 Ambition here means a criminal and inordinate ambition, that endeavours to obtain honours unsuited to the state of a subject. Wolsey does not mean to condemn every kind of ambition, for in a preceding line he says he will instruct Cromwell how to

rise.

40 Wolsey speaks here not as a statesman but as a Christian. Nothing makes the hour of disgrace more irksome than the reflection that we have been deaf to offers of reconciliation, and perpetuated that enmity which we might have converted into friendship.

41 This inventory is still to be seen among the Harleian MSS. No. 599. Some of the particulars may be seen in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 546, ed. 1631. See also Mr. Ellis's Historical Letters, vol. ii. p. 15.

42 This was actually said by the cardinal when on his deathbed in a conversation with Sir William Kingston. The whole of which

ACT IV.

SCENE I. A Street in Westminster.

Enter Two Gentlemen, meeting.

1 Gent. You are well met once again. 2 Gent.

And so are you.

1 Gent. You come to take your stand here, and

behold

The Lady Anne pass from her coronation ?

2 Gent. 'Tis all my business. At our last encounter,

The duke of Buckingham came from his trial. 1 Gent. 'Tis very true: but that time offer'd sorrow; This, general joy.

2 Gent.

"Tis well: The citizens,

is very interesting::-'Well, well, Master Kingston,' quoth he, 'I see the matter against me how it is framed, but if I had served my God as diligently as I have served my king, he would not have given me over in my grey hairs. Howbeit this is the just reward that I must receive for my worldly diligence and pains that I have had to do him service; only to satisfy his vain pleasure, not regarding my godly duty.'

When Samrah, deputy governor of Bassorah, was deposed by Moawryah, the sixth caliph, he is reported to have expressed himself in the same manner :- If I had served God so well as I served him, he would never have condemned me to all eternity.' A similar sentiment also occurs in The Earle of Murton's Tragedie, by Churchyard, 1593. Antonio Perez, the disgraced favourite, made the same complaint. Mr. Douce has also pointed out a remarkable passage in Pittscottie's History of Scotland, p. 261, edit. 1788, in which there is a great resemblance to these pathetic words of the cardinal. James V. imagined that Sir James Hamilton addressed him thus in a dream:- Though I was a sinner against God, I failed not to thee. Had I been as good a servant to the Lord my God as I was to thee, I had not died that death.'

I am sure, have shown at full their royal minds1,
(As, let them have their rights, they are ever forward)
In celebration of this day with shows,
Pageants, and sights of honour.

1 Gent.

Never greater,

Nor, I'll assure you, better taken, sir.

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

1 Gent.
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.

2 Gent. I thank you, sir; had I not known those customs,

I should have been beholden to your paper.
But, I beseech you, what's become of Katharine,
The princess dowager? how goes her business?

1 Gent. 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 oft was 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 divorc'd,
And the late marriage made of none effect:
Since which, she was removed to Kimbolton,
Where she remains now, sick.

1 Malone's explanation of this passage is entirely erroneous: royal minds are high minds, or as we still say, princely dispositions. To avaunt himself royally: Magnifice se efferre.' Baret. 2 i. e. the marriage lately considered as valid.

2 Gent.

Alas, good lady!

[Trumpets.

The trumpets sound: stand close, the queen is coming.

THE ORDER OF THE PROCESSION.

A lively flourish of Trumpets; then, enter 1. Two Judges.

2. Lord Chancellor, with the purse and mace before

him.

3. Choristers singing.

[Musick. 4. Mayor of London, bearing the mace. Then Garter, in his coat of arms3, and on his head a gilt copper crown.

5. Marquis 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 of her, the Bishops of London and Winchester.

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

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

3 i. e. in his coat of office, emblazoned with the royal arms.

2 Gent. A royal, train, believe me.-These I

know ;

Who's that, that bears the sceptre?

1 Gent.

Marquis Dorset: And that the earl of Surrey with the rod.

2 Gent. A bold brave gentleman: And that should be

[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,

4

And more, and richer, when he strains that lady; I cannot blame his conscience.

1 Gent.

They, that bear The cloth of honour over her, are four barons

Of the Cinque-ports.

2 Gent. 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.

1 Gent. It is; and all the rest are countesses. 2 Gent. Their coronets say so. These are stars, indeed;

And, sometimes, falling ones.

1 Gent.

No more of that. [Exit Procession, with a great flourish of

Trumpets.

4. Strain is here used in the sense of the Latin comprimere: 'Virgo ex eo compressu gravida facta est.' So Chapman in his version of the Twenty-first Iliad :—

'Bright Peribæa, whom the flood, &c.
Compress d'

VOL. VII.

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