SCENE 1. An Antichamber in the English Court, at Kenelworth.
Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of Ely.
Y lord, I'll tell you, that felf bill is urg'd,
Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king's
Was like, and had indeed against us past,
But that the fcambling and unquiet time
Did push it out of further queftion.
Ely. But how, my lord, shall we refift it now? Cant. It must be thought on. If it pafs against us, We lose the better half of our poffeffion : For all the temporal lands, which men devout By teftament have given to the church,
Would they strip from us; being valued thus,→→→
As much as would maintain, to the king's honour,
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 fouls, paft corporal toil,
A hundred alms-houfes, right well fupply'd;
And to the coffers of the king, befide,
A thousand pounds by the 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 courses 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 whipp'd the offending Adam out of him:
Leaving his body as a paradise,
To envelope and contain celeftial fpirits.
Never was fuch a fudden fcholar made:
Never came reformation in a flood,
With fuch a heady current, fcouring faults;
Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulnefs
So foon did lofe his feat, 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 common-wealth affairs,
You would fay, it hath been all-in-all his study:
Lift his difcourfe of war, and you fhall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in mufic:
Turn him to any caufe of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unloofe,
Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is ftill,
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To fteel his fweet and honey'd fentences;
So that the art and practic part of life
Must be the mistress to this theoric:
Which is a wonder, how his grace fhould glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain :
His companies unletter'd, rude, and fhallow;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports;
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any fequeftration
From open haunts and popularity.
Ely. The ftrawberry grows underneath the nettle; And wholefome berries thrive, and ripen beft, Neighbour'd by fruit of bafer quality:
And fo the prince obfcur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildnefs; which, no doubt,
Grew like the fummer grafs, fastest by night,
Unfeen, yet crefcive in his faculty.
Cant. It must be fo: for miracles are ceas'd;
And therefore we must 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 majesty
Incline to it, or no?
Cant. He feems indifferent;
Or, rather fwaying more upon our part,
Than cherishing the exhibiters against us:
For I have made an offer to his majefty,-
Upon our fpiritual 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 fum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet
Did to his predeceffors part withal.
Ely. How did this offer feem receiv'd, my 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 feat of France,
Deriv'd from Edward, his great grandfather.
Ely. What was the 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 o'clock ?
Ely. It is.
Cant. Then go we in, to know his embaffy; Which I could, with a ready guefs, declare, Before the Frenchman fpeak a word of it. Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exeunt.
SCENE II. Opens to the Prefence.
Enter King HENRY, GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER,
WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and Attendants.
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 ambaffador, 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 juftly and religiously unfold,
Why the law Salique, that they have in France,
Or fhould, or should 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 foul
With opening titles mifcreate, whofe right
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
For God doth know, how many, now in health,
Shall drop their blood in approbation
Of what your reverence fhall incite us to:
Therefore take heed how you impawn our perfor
How you awake the fleeping fword 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 guiltlefs drops
Are every one a woe, a fore complaint,
'Gainft him, whofe wrongs give edge unto the fwords
That make fuch wafte in brief mortality.
Under this conjuration, fpeak, my lord:
And we will hear, note, and believe in heart,
That what you fpeak is in your confcience wash'd
As pure as fin with baptifm.
Cant. Then hear me, gracious fovereign, and you
That owe your lives, your faith, and fervices, [peers,
To this imperial throne ;-There is no bar.
To make against your highnefs' claim to France,
But this, which they produce from Pharamond,→
In terram Salicam mulieres nè fuccedant,
No woman fhall fucceed in Salique land:
Which Salique 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 Salique lies in Germany,
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe:
Where Charles the great, having fubdu'd the Saxons,
There left behind and fettled certain French;
Who, holding in difdain the German women,
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