Nor. My lord, the enemy is pass'd the marsh; After the battle let George Stanley die. K. Rich. A thousand hearts are great within my bosom : Our Call up lord Stanley, bid him bring his power : Advance our standards, set upon our foes; ancient word of courage, fair Saint side Shall be well winged with our chiefest horse. This, and Saint George to boot !-What think'st thou, Norfolk ? Nor. A good direction, warlike sovereign.This found I on my tent this morning. [Giving a scroll. K. Rich. Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold, [reads. For Dickon thy master, is bought and sold. A thing devised by the enemy. Go, gentlemen, every man unto his charge: Conscience is but a word that cowards use, March on, join bravely, let us to't pell-mell; Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth wives, They would restrain the one, distain the other. again; seas Lash hence these over-weening rags of France, we be conquer'd, let men conquer us, Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and And, on record, left them the heirs of shame. wives? [Exeunt. SCENE IV.-Another part of the field. Alarum: Excursions. Enter NORFOLK and Cate. Rescue, my lord of Norfolk, rescue, The king enacts more wonders than a man, His horse is slain, and all on foot he fights, Alarum. Enter King RICHARD. R. Rich. A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! Cate. Withdraw, my lord, I'll help you to a horse. K. Rich. Slave, I have set my life upon a cast, 1 think there be six Richmonds in the field; [Exeunt. Richm. God and your arms be prais'd, victo- The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead. Lo, here, this long-usurped royalty, But tell me first, is young George Stanley liv Stan. He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester town; Whither, if it please you, we may now withdraw us. Rich. What men of name are slain on Stan. John duke of Norfolk, Walter lord Sir Robert Brakenbury, and Sir William Bran Richm. Inter their bodies as becomes their births. Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled, Fright the skies with the shivers of your laneta And then, as we have ta'en the sacrament, The brother blindly shed the brother's blood, And let their heirs, (God, if thy will be so,) Enrich the time to come with smooth-fac'd peace, With smiling plenty, and fair prosperous days! Abate the edge of traitors, gracious Lord, Let them not live to taste this land's increase, That would with treason wound this fair land's peace! Now civil wounds are stopp'd, peace lives again ; That she may long live here, God say-Amen. [Exeunt KING HENRY VIII. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. THIS historical play was probably written in the year 1601. It comprises a period of twelve years, com mencing in the 12th of Henry's reign, (1521) and terminating with the baptism of Elizabeth, 1533. It has always been an easy medium for the display of pageantry aud splendour; cousequently a great favourite with the generality of audiences. Its most powerfully drawn characters are the Queen and the Cardinal. The dying moments of the former (Act IV. Sc. 2.) are pourtrayed with a mingled majesty and pathos, scarce ly ever equalled by any other poet (Dr. Johnson numbers it, indeed, amongst "the greatest efforts of tra gedy") and the exquisite soliloquy of the latter, at the time of his degradation, would evince the superiority of Shakspeare's genius, had he never written another line. It is a fine philosophical picture of fallen ambition, brought to reflection by a merited reverse of fortune: the assimilation of human great. ness to the vegetation of a fruit tree, with the puerility of venturing upon " a sea of troubles," for burden. some and perishable acquisitions, affords a charming specimen of imaginative colouring and didactic morality. Yet this is one of the parts which, according to the Doctor," may be easily conceived, and easily written." Perhaps Shakspeare found it otherwise. DRAMATIS PERSONE. KING HENRY THE EIGHTH. CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury. DUKE OF NORFOLK.-DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. GARDINER, Bishop of Winchester. BISHOP OF LINCOLN.-LORD ABERGAVENNY. SIR HENRY GUILDFORD.-SIR THOMAS LO- DOCTOR BUTTS, Physician to the King PAGE to Gardiner.-A CRIER. QUEEN KATHARINE, Wife to King Henry; afterwards divorced. ANNE BULLEN, her Maid of Honour; afterwards Queen. AN OLD LADY, Friend to Anne Bullen. SIR ANTHONY DENNY.-SIR NICHOLAS VAUX. PATIENCE, Woman to Queen Katharine. SECRETARIES to Wolsey. CROMWELL, Servant to Wolsey. GRIFFITH, Gentleman-Usher to Queen Ka tharine. THREE OTHER GENTLEMEN. Several Lords and Ladies in the Dumb Shows; SCENE-chiefly in London and Westminster; once, at Kimbolton. PROLOGUE. Will be deceiv'd: for, gentle hearers, know, I COME no more to make you laugh; things As foot and fight is, beside forfeiting now, That bear a weighty and a serious brow, see Only a show or two, and so agree, The play may pass; if they be still, and willing, In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow, • Laced. Our own brains, and the opinion that we (To make that only true we now intend, *) known The first and happiest hearers of the town, see The very persons of our noble story, Of thousand friends; then, in a moment see • Pretend. |