Enter a third Gentleman. God save you, sir! Where have you been broiling? 3 Gent. Among the crowd i'the abbey; where a finger Could not be wedg'd in more; I am stifled With the mere rankness of their joy. 2 Gent. You saw Good sir, speak it to us. 3 Gent. As well as I am able. The rich stream Of lords, and ladies, having brought the queen To a prepar'd place in the choir, fell off 5 A distance from her; while her grace sat down 5 ingentem foribus domus alta superbis Mane salutantum totis vomit ædibus undam.' Virg. Georg. ii. 461. Statius Theb. v. 223. foribus cum immissa superbis Unda fremit vulgi.' Thus in Timon of Athens : this confluence, this great flood of visitors.' That had not half a week to go, like rams In the old time of war, would shake the press, 2 Gent. But what follow'd? 3 Gent. At length her grace rose, and with mo dest paces Came to the altar; where she kneel'd, and, saintlike, The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems 1 Gent. Sir, you Must no more call it York Place, that is past: For, since the cardinal fell, that title's lost; 'Tis now the king's, and call'd-Whitehall. 3 Gent. I know it; But 'tis so lately altered, that the old name 2 Gent. What two reverend bishops Were those that went on each side of the queen? 3 Gent. Stokesly and Gardiner; the one, of Winchester (Newly preferr'd from the king's secretary), The other, London. 2 Gent. He of Winchester Is held no great good lover of the archbishop's, 3 Gent. All the land knows that: However, yet there's no great breach; when it comes, Cranmer will find a friend will not shrink from him. 2 Gent. Who may that be, I pray you? 3 Gent. Thomas Cromwell; A man in much esteem with the king, and truly A worthy friend. The king Has made him master o'the jewel-house, And one, already, of the privy council. 2 Gent. He will deserve more. 3 Gent. Yes, without all doubt. Come, gentlemen, ye shall go my way, which Is to the court, and there ye shall be my guests; Something I can command. As I walk thither, I'll tell ye more. Both. You may command us, sir. [Exeunt. SCENE II1. Kimbolton. Enter KATHARINE, Dowager, sick; led between GRIFFITH and PATIENCE. Grif. How does your grace? O, Griffith, sick to death: Kath. My legs, like loaden branches, bow to the earth, Willing to leave their burden: Reach a chair;-So, now, methinks, I feel a little ease. Didst thou not tell me, Griffith, as thou led'st me, 1 This scene is above any other part of Shakspeare's tragedies, and perhaps above any scene of any other poet, tender and pathetick, without gods, or furies, or poisons, or precipices, without the help of romantick circumstances, without improbable sallies of poetical lamentation, and without any throes of tumultuous misery.-JOHNSON. That the great child of honour, cardinal Wolsey, Was dead? Grif. Yes, madam; but, I think, your grace, Out of the pain you suffer'd, gave no ear to't. Kath. Pr'ythee, good Griffith, tell me how he died : If well, he stepp'd before me, happily 2, For my example. Well, the voice goes, madam: For after the stout Earl Northumberland Arrested him at York, and brought him forward Alas! poor man! Kath. So went to bed: where eagerly his sickness 2 Happily is sometimes used by Shakspeare for haply, peradventure; as in The Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. 4:old Gremio is heark'ning still, And happily we might be interrupted.' But it here more probably means opportunely. 3 Cardinals generally rode on mules, as a mark perhaps of humility. Cavendish says that Wolsey rode like a cardinal sumptuously upon his mule, trapped altogether in crimson velvet and gilt stirrups.' And Roy, in the Satire already quoted, says: 'Doth he then use on mules to ride? Ye, and that with so shameful pride 4 Roads, or rodes, here, is the same as courses, stages, or journeys. From whence also was formed out-rodes, in-rodes, &c. Foretold, should be his last), full of repentance, His blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace.. Kath. So may he rest; his faults lie gently on him! Yet thus far, Griffith, give me leave to speak him, And yet with charity,—He was a man Of an unbounded stomach 5, ever ranking His promises were, as he then was, mighty; 5 i. e. of unbounded pride or haughtiness. Thus HolinshedThis cardinal was of a great stomach, for he computed himself equal with princes, and by crafty suggestions got into his hands innumerable treasure: he forced little on simony, and was not pitifull, and stood affectionate in his own opinion: in open presence he would lie and seie untruth, and was double both in speech and meaning: he would promise much and perform little : he was vicious of his bodie, and gave the clergie evil example.' Ed. 1587, p. 922. 6 one that by suggestion Ty'd all the kingdom Suggestion here, I think, means wicked prompting. It is used in this sense in The Tempest. I have no doubt that we should read tyth'd instead of ty'd, as Dr. Farmer proposed, and as the passage quoted from Holinshed warrants. The word tythes was not exclusively used to signify the emoluments of the clergy. Thus in Beaumont and Fletcher's Queen of Corinth : Why, sir, the kingdom's his; and no man now Can come to Corinth, or from Corinth go, Without his licence; he puts up the tithes 7 To be ill, evil, or naught of body, was to be addicted to women to be lewd in life and manners. |