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KING HENRY
HENRY VIII.

King Henry the Eighth.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Cardinal Wolsey. Cardinal Campeius.
Capucius, ambassador from the emperor
Charles V.

Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury.
Duke of Norfolk. Duke of Buckingham.
Duke of Suffolk. Earl of Surrey.
Lord Chamberlain. Lord Chancellor.
Gardiner, bishop of Winchester.

Bishop of Lincoln. Lord Abergavenny.
Sands.

Sir Henry Guildford. Sir Thomas Lovell. Sir Anthony Denny. Sir Nicholas Vaux. Secretaries to Wolsey.

Cromwell, servant to Wolsey.

Griffith, gentleman-usher to queen Katharine.
Three other Gentlemen.

Doctor Butts, physician to the king.
Garter, king at arms.

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I COME no more to make you laugh; things SCENE I.-London. An ante-chamber in the

now,
That bear a weighty and a serious brow,
Sad, high, and working, full of state and
wo,
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 a 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 see
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,2)
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 ve; 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.

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Palace. Enter the Duke of Norfolk, at one door; at the other, the Duke of Buckingham, and the Lord Abergavenny.

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I do know

Aber.
Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have
By this so sicken'd their estates, that never
They shall abound as formerly.

O, many

Buck.
Have broke their backs with laying manors on them
For this great journey. What did this vanity,
But minister communication of

A most poor issue?

Nor.

Made Britain, India: every man, that stood,
Show'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were
As cherubims, 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,
Sull 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 chal-After the hideous storm that follow'd, was
A thing inspir'd: and, not consulting, broke
Into a general prophecy,-That this tempest
Dashing the garment of this peace, aboded
The sudden breach on't.
Nor.

leng'd,

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.

O, you go far.

Nor. As I belong to worship, and affect
In honour honesty, the tract of every thing
Would by a good discourser lose some life,
Which action's self was tongue to. All was royal;
To the disposing of it nought rebell'd;
Order gave each thing view; the office did
Distinctly his full function.

Buck.

Who did guide,
I mean, who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together, as you guess?
Nor. One, certes,' that promises no element*
In such a business.

Buck.
I pray you, who, my lord?
Nor. All this was order'd by the good discretion
Of the right reverend cardinal of York.
Buck. The devil speed him! no man's pie is freed
From his ambitious finger. What had he
To do in these fierce' vanities? I wonder,
That such a keech can with his very bulk
Take up the rays o' the beneficial sun,
And keep it from the earth.

Surely, sir,

Nor.
There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends:
For, being not propp'd by ancestry (whose grace
Chalks successors their way,) nor call'd upon
For high feats done to the crown; neither allied
To eminent assistants, but, spider-like,
Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note,
The force of his own merit makes his way;
A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys
A place next to the king.

I cannot tell

Aber.
What heaven hath given him, let some graver eye
Pierce into that; but I can see his pride

Peep through each part of him: Whence has he

that?

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Why the devil,

Upon this French going-out, took he upon him,
Without the privity o' the king, to appoint

Who should attend on him? He makes up the file"
Of all the gentry; for the most part such
Too, whom as great a charge as little honour
He meant to lay upon: and his own letter,
The honourable board of council out,
Must fetch him in the papers.

(1)In opinion, which was most noble.
(2) Sir Bevis, an old romance.

(3) Certainly. (4) Practice. (6) Lump of fat. (7) List.

(5) Proud.

Grievingly I think,

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'Like it your grace,
The state takes notice of the private difference
Betwixt you and the cardinal. I advise you,
(And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
Honour and plenteous safety,) that you read
The cardinal's malice and his potency
Together: to consider further, that
What his high hatred would effect, wants not
A minister in his power: You know his nature,
That he's revengeful; and I know, his sword
Hath a sharp edge: it's long, and, it may be said,
It reaches far; and where 'twill not extend,
Thither he darts it. Bosom up my counsel,
You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that
rock,

That I advise your shunning.

Enter Cardinal Wolsey (the purse borne before
him,) certain of the guard, and two Secretaries
with papers.
The Cardinal in his passage
fixeth his eye on Buckingham, and Buckinghamn
on him, both full of disdain.

Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor, ha?
Where's his examination?

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He bores me with some trick: He's gone to the king;

I'll follow, and out-stare him.

Nor.
Stay, my lord,
And let your reason with your choler question
What 'tis you go about: To climb steep hills,
Requires slow pace at first: Anger is like
A full-hot horse; who being allow'd his way,
Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England
Can advise me like you: be to yourself
As you would to your friend.
Buck.
I'll to the king;
And from a mouth of honour quite cry down
This Ipswich fellow's insolence; or proclaim,
There's difference in no persons.

Nor.

Be advis'd;

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself: We may outrun,
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by over-running. Know you not,
The fire, that mounts the liquor till it run o'er,
In seeming to augment it, wastes it? Be advis'd:
I say again, there is no English soul
More stronger to direct you than yourself;
If with the sap of reason you would quench,
Or but allay, the fire of passion.

Buck.

Sir,

I am thankful to you; and I'll go along

By your prescription:-but this top-proud fellow,
(Whom from the flow of gall I name not, but
From sincere motions) by intelligence,
And proofs as clear as founts in Júly, when
We see each grain of gravel, I do know
To be corrupt and treasonous.

Nor.

Say not, treasonous.

Buck. To the king I'll say't; and make my vouch

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Nor.

'Faith, and so it did.

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Be done in this and all things!-I obey.

O my lord Aberga'ny, fare you well.

Bran. Nay, he must bear you company :-The king [To Abergavenny. Is pleas'd, you shall to the Tower, till you know How he determines further. As the duke said, The will of heaven be done, and the king's pleasure | By_me obeyd.

Aber.

Bran.

Here is a warrant from The king, to attach lord Montacute; and the bodies Of the duke's confessor, John de la Court, One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,

Buck.

So, so;

These are the limbs of the plot: no more, I hope. Bran. A monk o'the Chartreux.

Buck. Bran.

O, Nicholas Hopkins?

He.

Buck. My surveyor is false; the o'er-great cardinal

Buck. Prav, give me favour, sir. This cunning Hath show'd him gold: my life is spann'd already:

cardinal

The articles o'the combination drew,

As himself pleas'd; and they were ratified,
As he cried, Thus let be: to as much end,

As give a crutch to the dead : But our count-cardinal
Has done this, and 'tis well ; for worthy Wolsey,
Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows
(Which as I take it is a kind of puppy

To the old dam, treason,) Charles the Emperor,
Under pretence to see the queen his aunt
(For 'tiras, indeed, his colour; but he came
To whisper Wolsey,) here makes visitation:
His fears were, that the interview, betwixt
England and France, might, through their amity,
Breed him some prejudice; for from this league
Peep'd harms that menac'd him: He privily
Deals with our cardinal; and, as I trow, -
Which I do well: for, I am sure, the emperor
Paid ere he promis'd; whereby his suit was granted,
Ere it was ask'd;-but when the way was made,
And pav'd with gold, the emperor thus desir'd;-
That he would please to alter the king's course,
And break the foresaid peace. Let the king know,

(1) Stabs (2) Excites. (3) Unfair stratagem.

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K. Hen. My life itself, and the best heart of it,
Thanks you for this great care: I stood i'the level
Of a full-charg'd confederacy, and give thanks
To you that chok'd it.-Let be call'd before us
Thit gentleman of Buckingham's: in person
I'll hear him his confessions justify;

And point by point the treasons of his master
He shall again relate.

The King takes his state. The Lords of the Council take their several places. The Cardinal places hinself under the King's feet, on his right side.

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