ACT I SCENE I.
Enter the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of Ely.
Arch Bishop of CANTERBURY.
Y Lord, I'll tell you, that felf Bill is urg'd,
Which in th' eleventh Year o'th' laft
King's Reign
Was like, and had indeed against us paft,
But that the fcambling and unquiet
Did pufh it out of farther Queftion.
Ely But how, my Lord, fhall we refift it now
Cant. It must be thought on: If it pafs against us,
We lofe the better part of our Poffeffion:
For all the Temporal Lands, which Men devout
By Teftament have given to the Church,
Would they ftrip from us; being valu'd thus,
As much as would maintain, to the King's Honour,
VOL. IV,
Full fifteen Earls, and fifteen hundred Knights,
Six thousand and two hundred good Efquires:
And to relief of Lazars, and weak Age
Of indigent faint Souls, paft corporal Toil,
A hundred Alms-houfes, right well fupply'd;
And to the Coffers of the King, befide,
A thousand pound by th'Year. Thus runs the Bill
Ely. This would drink deep.
Cant. 'Twould drink the Cup and all.
Ely. But what prevention?
Cant. The King is full of grace, and fair regard.
Ely. And a true Lover of the Holy Church.
Cant. The courfes of his Youth promis'd it not;
The Breath no fooner left his Father's Body,
But that his Wildnefs mortify'd in him,
Seem'd to die too; yea at that very moment,
Confideration, like an Angel, came,
And whipt th'offending Adam out of him,
Leaving his Body as a Paradise,
T'invelope and contain Celestial Spirits.
Never was such a sudden Scholar made:
Never came Reformation in a Flood
With fuch a heady current, fcowring Faults:
Nor never Hydra-headed Wilfulness
So foon did lofe his Seat, and all at once,
As in this King.
Ely. We are bleffed in the Change.
Cant. Hear him but reafon in Divinity,
And all-admiring, with an inward with
You would defire the King were made a Prelate,
Hear him debate of Commonwealth Affairs;
You would fay, it hath been all in all his Study:
Lift his Difcourfe of War, and fhall hear
you
A fearful Battel rendred you in Mufick.
Turn him to any Caufe of Policy,
The Gordian Knot of it he will unloofe,
Familiar as his Garter; then when he speaks,
The Air, a Charter'a Libertine, is still,
And the mute Wonder lurketh in Men's Ears,
To fteal his tweet and honied Sentences:
So that the Art and practick Part of Life
Must be the Miftrefs to his Theorique.
Which is a wonder how his Grace fhould glean it,
Since his Addiction was to courses vain,
His Companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow,
His Hours fill'd up with Riots, Banquets, Sports;
And never noted in him any ftudy,
Any retirement, any fequeftration
From open Haunts and Popularity.
Ely. The Strawberry grows underneath the Nettle,
And wholfom Berries thrive and ripen beft,
Neighbour'd by Fruit of bafer quality:
And fo the Prince obfcur'd his Contemplation
Under the vail of Wildnefs, which, no doubt,
Grew like the Summer Grafs, fastest by Night,
Unfeen, yet crefcive in his Faculty.
Cant. It must be fo; for Miracles are ceas'd:
And therefore we muft needs admit the Means,
How things are perfected.
Ely. But, my good Lord:
How now for mitigation of this Bill,
Urg'd by the Commons? Doth his Majefty
Incline to it, or no?
Cant. He feems indifferent:
Or rather fwaying more upon our Part,
Than cherishing th' Exhibiters against us:
For I have made an Offer to his Majefty,
Upon our Spiritual Convocation,
And in regard of Causes now in hand,
Which I have open'd to his Grace at large,
As touching France, to give a greater Sum
Than ever at one time the Clergy yet
Did to his Predeceffors part withal.
Ely. How did this Offer feem receiv'd, my Lord?
Cant. With good acceptance of his Majefty:
Save that there was not time enough to hear,
As I perceiv'd his Grace would fain have done,
The feverals and unhidden Paffages
Of his true Titles to fome certain Dukedoms,
And generally, to the Crown and Seat of France;
Deriv'd from Edward, his great Grandfather.
Ely. What was th' impediment that broke this off?
Cant. The French Ambaffador upon that inftant
Crav'd Audience; and the Hour I think is come,
To give him hearing. Is it four a Clock?
Ely. It is.
Cant. Then go we in to know his Embassie:
Which I could with a ready guefs declare,
Before the Frenchman fpeaks a word of it.
Ely. I'll wait upon you. and I long to hear it. [Exeunt. Enter King Henry, Gloucefter, Bedford, Clarence, Warwick, Weftmorland, and Exeter.
K. Henry. Where is my gracious Lord of Canterbury? Exe. Not here in prefence.
K. Henry. Send for him, good Uncle.
Weft Shall we call in the Ambasador, my Liege? K. Henry. Not yet, my Coufin; we would be refolv'd, Before we hear him, of fome things of weight, That task our Thoughts, concerning us and France. Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of Ely. Cant. God and his Angels guard your facred Throne, And make you long become it.
K. Henry. Sure we thank you.
My learned Lord, we pray you to proceed,
And justly and religiously unfold,
Why the Law Salike, that they have in France,
Or fhould, or fhould not bar us in our Claim.
And God forbid, my dear and faithful Lord,
That you should fashion, wreft, or bow your reading,
Or nicely charge your understanding Soul
With opening Titles mifcreate, whofe right
Sutes not in native Colours with the truth:
For God doth know, how many now in health
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Shall drop their Blood, in approbationis. wolf gla
Of what your Reverence fhall incite us to. daw 4D
Therefore take heed how you impawn our Perfon, 902
How you awake our fleeping Sword of War:
We charge you in the Name of God take heed.
For never two fuch Kingdoms did contend
Without much fall of Blood, whofe guiltless drops
Are every one, a Woe, a fore Complaint,
'Gainft him, whofe Wrong gives edge unto the Swords, That make fuch wafte in brief Mortality.
Under this Conjuration, fpeak my Lord;
For we will bear, note, and believe in Heart,
That what you speak is in your Confcience wafht,
As pure as Sin with Baptifm.
Cant. Then hear me, gracious Soveraign, and you Peers
That owe your felves, your Lives, and Services,
To this Imperial Throne. There is no Bar
To make against your Highness' Claim to France,
But this which they produce from Pharamond,
In terram Salicam Mulieres ne fuccedant,
No Woman fhall fucceed in Salike Land:
Which Salike Land, the French unjustly gloze
To be the Realm of France, and Pharamond
The founder of this Law and female Bar.
Yet their own Authors faithfully affirm,
That the Land Salike is in Germany,
Between the Floods of Sala and of Elve:
Where Charles the Great having fubdu'd the Saxons
There left behind and fettled certain. French:
Who holding in difdain the German Women,
For fome dishonest manners of their Life,
Establifht then this Law; to wit, No Female
Should be Inheritrix in Salike Land:
Which Salike, as I said, 'twixt Elve and Sala,
Is at this Day in Germany call'd Meifen.
Then doth it well appear; the Salike Law.
Was not devifed for the Realm of France:
Nor did the French poffefs the Salike Land,
Until four hundred one and twenty Years
After defunction of King Pharamond,
Idly fuppos'd the Founder of this Law,
Who died within the Year of our Redemption,
Four hundred twenty fix; and Charles the Great-
Subdu'd the Saxons, and did feat the French
Beyond the River Sala, in the Year
Eight hundred five. Befides, their Writers fay,
King Pepin, which depofed Childerick,
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