2 SCENE IV. The Palace1. Enter Trumpets, sounding; then two Aldermen, Lord Mayor, Garter, CRANMER, DUKE of NORFOLK, with his Marshal's Staff, DUKE of SUFFOLK, two Noblemen bearing great standingbowls for the christening gifts; then four Noblemen bearing a canopy, under which the DUCHESS of NORFOLK, godmother, bearing the Child richly habited in a mantle, &c. Train borne by a Lady; then follows the MARCHIONESS of DORSET, the other godmother, and Ladies. The Troop pass once about the stage, and Garter speaks. Gart. Heaven, from thy endless goodness, send prosperous life, long, and ever happy, to the high and mighty princess of England, Elizabeth. Flourish. Enter King and Train. Cran. [Kneeling.] And to your royal grace, and the good queen, My noble partners, and myself, thus pray:- K. Hen. Thank you, good lord archbishop; What is her name? or cast.' And in Cole's Dictionary, 1679:- To pick a dart: jaculor.' So Stubbes, in his Anatomy of Abuses: To catch him on the hip, and to picke him on his necke:' and in another place, to picke him on his nose.' 1 At Greenwich, where this procession was made from the church of the Friars.-Hall, fo. 217. 2 Standing-bowls were bowls elevated on feet or pedestals. VOL. VII. D D K. Hen. Stand up, lord. [The King kisses the Child. With this kiss take my blessing: God protect thee! Into whose hands I give thy life. Cran. Amen. K. Hen. My noble gossips, ye have been too prodigal : I thank ye heartily; so shall this lady, When she has so much English. Cran. Let me speak, sir, For heaven now bids me; and the words I utter Let none think flattery, for they'll find them truth. This royal infant (heaven still move about her!) Though in her cradle, yet now promises Upon this land a thousand thousand blessings, And all that shall succeed: Sheba was never Shall still be doubled on her: truth shall nurse her, with her: In her days, every man shall eat in safety 3 The thought is borrowed from Scripture. See Micab, iv. 4. 1 Kings, c. iv. The first part of the prophecy is apparently burlesqued in the Beggar's Bush of Beaumont and Fletcher; where Orator Higgin is making his congratulatory speech to the new king of the beggars: 'Each man shall eat his stolen eggs and butter The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours: As great in admiration as herself: So shall she leave her blessedness to one, Who, from the sacred ashes of her honour, terror, That were the servants to this chosen infant, Shall be, and make new nations 5: He shall flourish, Shall see this, and bless heaven. K. Hen. Thou speakest wonders.] Cran. She shall be, to the happiness of England, An aged princess; many days shall see her, 4 Some of the commentators think that this and the following seventeen lines were probably written by Ben Jonson, after the accession of King James. We have before observed Mr. Gifford is of opinion that Ben Jonson had no hand in the additions to this play. 5 On a picture of King James, which formerly belonged to the great Bacon, and is now in the possession of Lord Grimston, he is styled imperii Atlantici conditor. The year before the revival of this play there was a lottery for the plantation of Virginia. The lines probably allude to the settlement of that colony. And yet no day without a deed to crown it. To the ground, and all the world shall mourn her. Thou hast made me now a man; never, before This oracle of comfort has so pleas'd me, To see what this child does, and praise my Maker.— Ye must all see the queen, and she must thank ye, [Exeunt. EPILOGUE. "Tis ten to one, this play can never please A verse with as unmusical a close may be found in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Part III. sect. ii.: 'Rose the pleasure of fine women.' In Ben Jonson's Alchemist there is also a line in which the word woman is accented on the last syllable : 'And then your red man, and your white woman.' |