K. Rich. "Jockey of Norfolk, be not too
bold,
For Dickon thy master is bought and sold."
A thing devised by the enemy.-
Go, gentlemen, every man unto his charge:
Let not our babbling dreams affright our
souls;
Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe :
Our strong arms be our conscience, swords
our law.
March on, join bravely, let us to't pell-mell;
If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.-
What shall I say more than I have inferr'd?
Remember whom you are to cope withal;-
A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and run-aways,
A scum of Bretagnes, and base lackey peasants,
Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth
To desperate ventures and assur'd destruction.
You sleeping safe, they bring you to unrest;
You having lands, and bless'd with beauteous
wives,
They would restrain the one, distain the other.
And who doth lead them, but a paltry fellow,
Long kept in Bretagne at our mother's cost?
A milk-sop, one that never in his life
Felt so much cold as over shoes in snow?
Let's whip these stragglers o'er the sea again;
Lash hence these over-weening rags of France,
These famish'd beggars, weary of their lives;
Who, but for dreaming on this fond exploit,
For want of means, poor rats, had hang'd
themselves :
If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us,
And not these bastard Bretagnes; whom our
fathers
Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and
thump'd,
And, on record, left them the heirs of shame.
Shall these enjoy our lands? lie with our wives?
Ravish our daughters? [Drum afar off.
Hark! I hear their drum.
Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold
yeomen!
Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!
Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in
blood;
Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!
SCENE IV.-Another part of the Field. Alarum: Excursions. Enter Norfolk and forces, to him Catesby.
Cate. Rescue, my lord of Norfolk, rescue,
The king enacts more wonders than a man,
Daring an opposite to every danger :
His horse is slain, and all on foot he fights,
Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death.
Rescue, fair lord, or else the day is lost!
Alarum. Enter King Richard.
K. 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 And I will stand the hazard of the die. [cast, I think there be six Richmonds in the field; Five have I slain to-day, instead of him.— A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! [Exeunt. Alarums. Enter from opposite sides King Richard and Richmond, and exeunt fighting. Retreat and flourish. Then re-enter Richmond, Stanley bearing the crown, and divers other Lords, and forces.
Richm. God and your arms be prais'd, vic-
torious friends;
The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead.
Stan. Courageous Richmond, well hast
Lo, here, this long-usurped royalty,
From the dead temples of this bloody wretch
Have I pluck'd off, to grace thy brows withal:
Wear it, enjoy it, and make much of it.
Richm. Great God of heaven, say amen
But, tell me, is young George Stanley living?
Stan. He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester
Whither, if you please, we may withdraw us.
Richm. What men of name are slain on
[Ferrers,
Stan. John duke of Norfolk, Walter lord
Sir Robert Brakenbury, and Sir William Bran-
don.
[births:
Richm. Inter their bodies as becomes their
Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled,
What says lord Stanley? will he bring his That in submission will return to us :
power?
Mess. My lord, he doth deny to come.
K. Rich. Off with his son George's head!
Nor. My lord, the enemy is pass'd the marsh:
After the battle let George Stanley die.
K. Rich. A thousand hearts are great with-
in my bosom :
Advance our standards, set upon our foes;
Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George,
Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons !
Upon them! Victory sits on our helms.
And then, as we have ta'en the sacrament,
We will unite the white rose and the red :-
Smile, heaven, upon this fair conjunction,
That long hath frown'd upon their enmity!
What traitor hears me, and says not amen?
England hath long been mad, and scarr'd
herself;
The brother blindly shed the brother's blood,
The father rashly slaughter'd his own son,
The son, compell'd, been butcher to the sire:
All this divided York and Lancaster,
Divided in their dire division,
O, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth,
The true succeeders of each royal house,
By God's fair ordinance conjoin together!
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,
That would reduce these bloody days again,
And make poor England weep in streams of
blood!
Let them not live to taste this land's increase,
That would with treason wound this fair land's
peace!
Lagain :
Now civil wounds are stopp'd, peace lives
That she may long live here, God say amen!
[Exeunt.
King Henry the Eighth.
Cardinal Wolsey.
Cardinal Campeius.
Capucius, Ambassador from the Emperor,
Charles V.
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Duke of Norfolk. Duke of Suffolk.
Duke of Buckingham. Earl of Surrey.
Lord Chancellor. Lord Chamberlain.
Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester.
Bishop of Lincoln.
Sir Thomas Lovell. Sir Henry Guildford.
Sir Anthony Denny. Sir Nicholas Vaux.
Secretaries to Wolsey.
Cromwell, Servant to Wolsey.
Griffith, Gentleman-Usher to Queen Katharine.
Three other Gentlemen. Garter King at Arms.
Doctor Butts, Physician to the King.
Surveyor to the Duke of Buckingham.
Brandon, and a Sergeant-at-Arms.
Door-keeper of the Council Chamber. Porter,
and his Man.
Page to Gardiner.
Queen Katharine, Wife to King Henry; afterwards divorced.
Anne Bullen, her Maid of Honour; after-
wards Queen.
An Old Lady, Friend to Anne Bullen.
Patience, Woman to Queen Katharine.
Several Lords and Ladies in the Dumb Shows:
Women attending upon the Queen; Spirits,
which appear to her: Scribes, Officers,
Guards, and other Attendants.
SCENE,-Chiefly in London and Westminster; once, at Kimbolton.
That bear a weighty and a serious brow,
Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe,
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 first and happiest hearers of the town,
Be sad, as we would make ye: 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.
An Ante-chamber in the Palace.
Enter, on one side, the Duke of Norfolk: on the other, the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Abergavenny.
The play may pass, if they be still and willing, SCENE I.-London.
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 deceived; for, gentle hearers, know,
To rank our chosen truth with such a show
As fool and fight is, besides forfeiting
Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring,
(To make that only true we now intend,)
Will leave us never an understanding friend.
Therefore, for goodness' sake, and as you are
known
Buck. Good morrow, and well met. How
have you done,
Since last we saw in France?
Nor.
I thank your grace,
Healthful; and ever since a fresh admirer
Of what I saw there.
Buck.
An untimely ague
Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber, when
Take up the rays o' the beneficial sun,
And keep it from the earth.
Nor.
Those suns of glory, those two lights of men,
Met in the vale of Ardren.
Nor.
I was then present, saw them salute on horse-There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends; [clung For, being not propp'd by ancestry, whose
Beheld them, when they lighted, how they
In their embracement, as they grew together;
Which had they, what four thron'd ones could
Such a compounded one? [have weigh'd
Buck.
All the whole time
I was my chamber's prisoner.
Nor.
Then you lost
The view of earthly glory: men might say,
Till this time, pomp was single; but now
married
To one above itself. Each following day
Became the next day's master, till the last
Made former wonders its : to-day the French
All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods,
Shone down the English; and to-morrow they
Made Britain, India: every man that stood
Show'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were
As cherubins, 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 cried 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,
Still him in praise; and, being present both,
'Twas said they saw but one; and no discerner
Durst wag his tongue in censure. When these
[challeng'd
(For so they phrase them) by their heralds
The noble spirits to arms, they did perform
Beyond thought's compass; that former fab-
ulous 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. Buck. All was royal; To the disposing of it nought rebell'd; Order gave each thing view; the office did Distinctly his full function. Who did guide? I mean, who set the body and the limbs Of this great sport together? Nor. As you guess : One, certes, that promises no element In such a business. Buck. I pray you, who, my lord? Nor. All this was ordered 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
Chalks successors their way; nor call'd upon For high feats done to the crown; neither
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.
Aber.
I cannot tell
What heaven hath given him, let some graver
Pierce into that; but I can see his pride [eye
Peep through each part of him whence has
he that?
If not from hell, the devil is a niggard;
Or has given all before, and he begins
A new hell in himself.
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
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't 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 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 Buckingham on him, both full of dis-
dain.
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 July, when
We see each grain of gravel, I do know
To be corrupt and treasonous.
Nor.
Buck. To the king I'll say't; and make my
vouch as strong
As shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox,
Or wolf, or both, (for he is equal ravenous
As he is subtle, and as prone to mischief
As able to perform't; his mind and place
Infecting one another, yea, reciprocally,)
Only to show his pomp as well in France
As here at home, suggests the king our master
To this last costly treaty, the interview,
That swallow'd so much treasure, and like a
Did break i' the rinsing.
[glass
Nor.
Faith, and so it did.
Buck. Pray, give me favour, sir. This cun-
ning cardinal
Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor, Where's his examination? [ha? Here, so please you. Wol. Is he in person ready? I Secr. Ay, please your grace. Wol. Well, we shall then know more; and The articles o' the combination drew, Shall lessen this big look. [Buckingham As himself pleas'd; and they were ratified, [Exeunt Wolsey, and train. As he cried, "Thus let it be " to as much Buck. This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd, end, and I
[cardinal [best As give a crutch to the dead but our countHave not the power to muzzle him; therefore Has done this, and 'tis well; for worthy WolNot wake him in his slumber. A beggar's Out-worths a noble's blood. Nor.
sey, [book Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows, What, are you chafd? (Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy [ror, To the old dam, treason)-Charles the empeUnder pretence to see the queen his aunt, (For 'twas indeed his colour, but he came To whisper Wolsey,) here makes visitation : His fears were, that the interview betwixt Engiand and France might, through their amity, [league Breed him some prejudice; for from this 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 [inade,
Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance
Which your disease requires.
[only.
Buck.
I read in his looks
Matter against me; and his eye revil'd
Me, as his abject object: at this instant
He bores me with some trick: he's gone t' the
I'll follow, and out-stare him.
[king;
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;
Ere it was ask'd ;-but when the way was
And pav'd with gold, the emperor thus de-
sir'd,
[course,
That he would please to alter the king's
And break the foresaid peace. Let the king
know
(As soon he shall by me) that thus the cardinal
Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases,
And for his own advantage.
Nor.
I am sorry
To hear this of him; and could wish he were
Something mistaken in't.
No, not a syllable:
I do pronounce him in that very shape
He shall appear in proof.
Enter Brandon; a Sergeant at Arms before A noise within, crying, Room for the
My lord the duke of Buckingham, and earl
Of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton, I
Arrest thee of high treason, in the name
Of our most sovereign king.
Buck.
Lo you, my lord.
The net has fall'n upon me; I shall perish
Under device and practice.
To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on
Queen!"' Enter the Queen, ushered by the
Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk: she kneels.
The King riseth from his state, takes her up,
kisses, and placeth her by him. [a suitor.
Q. Kath. Nay, we must longer kneel: I am
K. Hen. Arise, and take place by us :-half
your suit
Never name to us; you have half our power:
The other moiety, ere you ask, is given;
Repeat your will, and take it.
Thank your majesty. That you would love yourself, and in that love The business present: 'tis his highness' plea-Not unconsider'd leave your honour, nor You shall to the Tower. [sure, The dignity of your office, is the point Buck. It will help me nothing Of my petition. To plead mine innocence; for that dye is on [will of heaven Which makes my whitest part black. The Be done in this and all things !-I obey.O my lord Aberga'ny, fare you well!
Bran. Nay, he must bear you company.-
[To Aber.] The king
Is pleas'd you shall to the Tower, till you know
How he determines further.
Aber.
As the duke said,
The will of heaven be done, and the king's
By me obey'd!
[pleasure
Bran.
Here is a warrant from
The king to attach lord Montacute; and the
bodies
Of the duke's confessor, John de la Car,
One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,-
Buck.
So, so;
These are the limbs o'the plot :-No more, I
Bran. A monk o' the Chartreux. [hope.
Buck.
O, Michael Hopkins?
Bran.
He.
Buck. My surveyor is false; the o'er great
cardinal
[already:
Hath show'd him gold: my life is spann'd
I am the shadow of poor Buckingham,
Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on,
By darkening my clear sun. -My lord, fare-
well.
[Exeunt.
Q. Kath. I am solicited, not by a few,
And those of true condition, that your subjects
Are in great grievance: there have been com-
missions
[heart
Sent down among them, which hath flaw'd the
Of all their loyalties:-wherein, although,
My good lord Cardinal, they vent reproaches
Most bitterly on you, as putter-on
Of these exactions, yet the king our master,
(Whose honour heaven shield from soil !) even
he escapes not
Language unmannerly; yea, such which breaks
The sides of loyalty, and almost appears
In loud rebellion.
Nor.
Not almost appears,
It doth appear; for, upon these taxations,
The clothiers all, not able to maintain
The many to them 'longing, have put off
The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who,
Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger
And lack of other means, in desperate manner
Daring the event to the teeth, are all in uproar,
And danger serves among them.
K. Hen.
Taxation!
Wherein? and what taxation ?-My lord car-
dinal,
You that are blam'd for it alike with us,
Know you of this taxation?
Wol.
SCENE II.-The Council Chamber. I know but of a single part, in aught Cornets. Enter King Henry, Cardinal Wol- Pertains to the state; and front but in that file sey, the Lords of the Council, Sir Thomas Where others tell steps with me. Lovell, Officers, Attendants. The King Q. Kath. No, my lord, enters leaning on the Cardinal's shoulder. You know no more than others; but you frame K. Hen. My life itself, and the best heart Things that are known alike; which are not of it, [level Thanks you for this great care: I stood i' the Of a full-charg'd confederacy, and give thanks To you that chok'd it.-Let be call'd before us That 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 himself under the King's feet, on his right side.
wholesome
[must
To those which would not know them, and yet
Perforce be their acquaintance. These exac-
tions,
[are
Whereof my sov'reign would have note, they
Most pestilent to the hearing; and, to bear
them,
The back is sacrifice to the load. They say
They are devis'd by you or else you suffer
Too hard an exclamation.
K. Hen.
Still exaction!
The narure of it? In what kind, let's know,
|