3 Gen. Well worth the feeing.

2 Gen. Good Sir, fpeak it to us.

3 Gen. As well as I am able. The rich ftream Of lords and ladies, having brought the Queen To a prepar'd place in the choir, fell off

A diftance from her; while her Grace fat down
To reft a while, fome half an hour, or fo,
In a rich chair of ftate; oppofing freely
The beauty of her perfon to the people,
Believe me, Sir, fhe is the goodlieft woman,
That ever lay by man;) which when the people
Had the full view of, fuch a noise arose

As the shrouds make at fea in a stiff tempeft,
As loud and to as many tunes, Hats, cloaks,
Doublets, I think, flew up; and had their faces
Been loofe, this day they had been loft. Such joy
I never faw before. Great-bellied women,
That had not half a week to go, ' like rams
In the old time of war, would shake the prefs,
And make 'em reel before 'em. No man living
Could fay, this is my wife there, all were woven
So ftrangely in one piece.

3

2 Gen. But, pray, what follow'd ?

3 Gen. At length her Grace rofe, and with modest paces

Came to the altar, where she kneel'd; and, faint-like,
Caft her fair eyes to heav'n, and pray'd devoutly,
Then rofe again, and bow'd her to the people;
When by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Sh' had all the royal makings of a Queen;
As holy oil, Edward Confeffor's Crown,

The rod, and bird of peace, and all fuch emblems
Laid nobly on her; which perform'd, the choir,
With all the choiceft mufick of the kingdom,
Together iung Te Deum. So fhe parted,
And with the fame full ftate pac'd back again

3 like rams.] That is, like battering rams.

To York-Place, where the feaft is held.

I Gen. You must no more call it York-Place, that's

past.

For fince the Cardinal fell, that title's loft,
'Tis now the King's, and call'd Whiteball.
3 Gen. I know it;

But 'tis fo lately alter'd, that the old name
Is fresh about me.

2 Gen. What two reverend bishops

Were thofe that went on each fide of the Queen?

3 Gen. Stokefly and Gardiner; the one of Winchester, . Newly preferr'd from the King's Secretary;

The other, London.

2 Gen. He of Winchester

Is held no great good lover of th' Archbishop,
The virtuous Cranmer.

3 Gen. All the land knows that;

However, yet there's no great breach; when 't comes, Cranmer will find a friend will not fhrink from him.

2 Gen. Who may that be, I pray you?

3

Gen. Thomas Cromwell,

A man in much efteem with th' King, and, truly,
A worthy friend. The King has made him
Master o'th' jewel-house,

And one, already, of the privy-council.
2 Gen. He will deferve more.

3. Gen. Yes, without all doubt.

Come, gentlemen, you fhall go my way,

Which is to th' Court, and there fhall be my guests; Something I can command; as I walk thither,

I'll tell ye more.

Both. You may command us, Sir.

[Exeunt.

SCENE.

4 S CE NE II.

Changes to Kimbolton.

Enter Catharine Dowager, fick, led between Griffith ber gentleman ufber, and Patience her woman.

Grif. WOW does your Grace?

Cath. O Griffith, fick to death; My legs, like loaded branches, bow to th' earth, Willing to leave their burden. Reach a chairSo-Now methinks, I feel a little eafe. [Sitting downs Didft thou not tell me, Griffith, as thou led'ft me, That the great child of honour, Cardinal Wolfey, Was dead?

Grif. Yes, Madam; but I think, your Grace, Out of the pain you fuffer'd, gave no ear to't. Cath. Pr'ythee, good Griffith, tell me how he dy'd, If well, he ftept before me happily,

For my example.

Grif. Well, the voice goes, Madam.

For after the ftout Earl of Northumberland

Arrested him at York, and brought him forward,
As a man forely tainted, to his answer,

He fell fick fuddenly, and grew fo ill

He could not fit his mule.

Cath. Alas, poor man!

Grif. At last, with eafy roads he came to Leifter Lodg'd in the Abbey; where the rev'rend Abbot, With all his Convent, honourably receiv'd him; To whom he gave thefe words, "O father Abbot, "An old man, broken with the storms of state,

4 This fcene is above any other part of Shakespeare's tragedies, and perhaps above any fcene of any other poet, tender and pathetick, without gods, or furies, or poifons, or precipices,

without the help of romantick circumftances, without improbable fallies of poetical lamentation, and without any throes of tumultuous mifery.

"Is come to lay his weary bones among ye;
"Give him a little earth for charity !"
So went to bed; where eagerly his ficknefs
Purfu'd him still, and three nights after this,
About the hour of eight, which he himself
Foretold, fhould be his laft, full of repentance,
Continual meditations, tears and forrows,
He gave his honours to the world again,
His bleffed part to heav'n, and flept in peace.
Cath. So may he reft, 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 ftomach, ever ranking
Himself with Princes; one that by fuggeftion
Ty'd all the kingdom. Simony was fair play.
His own opinion was his law. I' th' Prefence
He would fay untruths, and be ever double
Both in his words and meaning. He was never,
But where he meant to ruin, pitiful.

His promises were, as he then was, mighty;
But his performance, as he now is, nothing.
Of his own body he was ill, and

The Clergy ill example.

Grif. Noble madam,

gave

Men's evil manners live in brafs, their virtues
We write in water. May it pleafe your Highness
To hear me fpeak his good now?

sone, that by fuggeftion Ty'd all the kingdom; ] i. e. by giving the King pernicious counfel, he ty'd or enflaved the kingdom. He ufes the word here with great propriety, and feeming knowledge of the Latin tongue. For the late Roman writers and their gloffers, agree to give this fenfe to it: SUGGESTIO eft cum magiftratus quilibet principi falubre confilium fug

gerit. So that nothing could be feverer than this reflexion, that that wholfome counfel, which it is the minifter's duty to give his prince, was fo empoifoned by him, as to produce flavery to his country. Yet all this fine fenfe vanishes inftantaneously before the touch of the Oxford Editor, by his happy thought of changing Ty'd into Tyth'd.

WARBURTON.

Cath.

Cath. Yes, good Griffith,

I were malicious elfe.

Griff. This Cardinal,

Though from an humble ftock, uudoubtedly
Was fashion'd to much honour from his cradle ;
He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one,
Exceeding wife, fair-fpoken, and perfuading;
Lofty and four to them, that lov'd him not,
But to those men, that fought him, fweet as fummer.
'And though he were unfatisfy'd in getting,
Which was a fin, yet in bestowing, Madam,
He was most princely: Ever witness for him
Thofe twins of learning that he rais'd in you,
Ipfwich and Oxford! one of which fell with him,
Unwilling to outlive the good he did it;
The other, though unfinish'd, yet so famous,
So excellent in art, and still fo rifing,
That Christendom fhall ever speak his virtue.
His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him;
For then, and not till then, he felt himself,
And found the blessednefs of being little :
And to add greater honours to his age
Than man could give him, he dy'd, fearing God.
Cath. After my death I wifh no other herald,
No other speaker of my living actions,
To keep mine honour from corruption,
But fuch an honeft chronicler as Griffith.
Whom I moft hated living, thou haft made me,
With thy religious truth and modesty,

Now in his afhes honour. Peace be with him!
-Patience, be near me ftill, and fet me lower.
I have not long to trouble thee. Good Griffith,
Cause the musicians play me that fad note,
I nam'd my knell; whilft I fit meditating
On that celestial harmony I go to."

Sad

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