Anne BULLEN, maid of honour to Queen Katharine,

and afterwards Queen.
Appears, Act I. sc. 4. Act II. sc. 3.
An old Lady, friend to 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.

KING HENRY VIII.

PROLOGUE.

a

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 à 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 sec 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, beside 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 op 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 ?
Nor.

I thank your grace :
Healthful ; and ever since a fresh admirer
Of what I saw there.
Buck.

An untimely ague
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
I was my chamber's prisoner.
Nor.

Then you lost
The view of earthly glory: Men might say,
Till this time pomp was single, but now married

* Andren. So the original; so the Chroniclers. But the modern editors write "the vale of Arde.” Arde, or Ardres, is the town, which in the next line is spelt Arde in the original. Andren, or Ardren, is the village near the place of meeting.

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,a all 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 cry'd 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,
'Twas 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 challengd
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.
Buck.

0, you go far.
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 :
i Clinquant-bright with gingling ornaments.

b Censure-comparison.