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King Henry the Eighth.

Cardinal Wolfey. Cardinal Campeius.
Capucius, Ambassador from the Emperor, Charles V.
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Duke of Norfolk. Duke of Buckingham.
Duke of Suffolk. Earl of Surrey.

Lord Chamberlain. Lord Chancellor.

Gardiner, Bishop of Winchefter.

Bishop of Lincoln. Lord Abergavenny. Lord Sands.
Sir Henry Guildford. Sir Thomas Lovell.
Sir Anthony Denny. Sir Nicholas Vaux.
Secretaries to Wolfey.

Cromwell, Servant to Wolfey.

Griffith, Gentleman-Ufher to Queen Katharine.
Three other Gentlemen.

Doctor Butts, Physician to the King.

Garter, King at Arms.

Surveyor to the Duke of Buckingham.

Brandon, and a Serjeant at Arms.

Door-keeper of the Council-Chamber. Porter, and his

Man.

Page to Gardiner. A Cryer.

Queen Katharine, wife to King Henry; afterwards divorced.

Anne Bullen, her maid of honour; afterwards 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 ber; Scribes, Officers, Guards, and other Attendants. SCENE, chiefly in London, and Westminster; once, at Kimbolton.

KING HENRY VIII.

ACT I. SCENE I.

London. An Antechamber in the Palace.

Enter the Duke of NORFOLK, at one door; at the other, the Duke of BUCKINGHAM, and the Lord ABERGAVENNY."

BUCK. Good morrow, and well met. How have you done,

Since last we faw in France?

Nor.

I thank your grace:

Healthful; and ever fince a fresh admirer3
Of what I saw there.

Виск.

An untimely ague

Stay'd me a prifoner in my chamber, when
Thofe funs of glory,+ thofe two lights of men,
Met in the vale of Arde.

Lord Abergavenny.] George Nevill, who married Mary, daughter of Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham. REED.

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a fresh admirer-] An admirer untired; an admirer still feeling the impreffion as if it were hourly renewed. JOHNSON.

Thofe funs of glory,] That is, thofe glorious funs. The editor of the third folio plaufibly enough reads-Thofe fons of glory; and indeed as in old English books the two words are used indifcriminately, the luminary being often fpelt Jon, it is fometimes difficult to determine which is meant; fun, or fon. However, the fubfequent part of the line, and the recurrence of the fame expreffion afterwards, are in favour of the reading of the original copy. MALONE.

Pope has borrowed this phrafe in his Imitation of Horace's Epiftle to Auguftus, v. 22:

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Thofe funs of glory please not till they fet," STEEVENS,

Nor. 'Twixt Guynes and Arde: 3 I was then prefent, faw them falute on horfeback; Beheld them, when they lighted, how they clung In their embracement, as they grew together ; 4 Which had they, what four thron'd ones could have weigh'd

Such a compounded one?

BUCK.

All the whole time

I was my chamber's prisoner.

NOR.

Then you loft The view of carthly glory: Men might fay, Till this time, pomp was fingle; but now marry'd To one above itself. Each following day

3 Guyres and Arde:] Guynes then belonged to the English, and Arde to the French; they are towns in Picardy, and the valley of Ardre lay between them. Arde is Ardres, but both Hall and Holinfhed write it as Shakspeare does. REED.

4

-as they grew together;] So, in All's well that ends well: grow to you, and our parting is as a tortured body." Again, in A Midsummer Night's Dream: "So we grew together."

" I

STEEVENS.

as they grew together;] That is, as if they grew together. We have the fame image in our author's Venus and Adonis: -a fweet embrace;

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Incorporate then they feem; face grows to face."
MALONE.

5 Till this time, pomp was fingle; but now marry'd To one above itfelf.] The thought is odd and whimfical; and obfcure enough to need an explanation.-Till this time (fays the fpeaker) Pomp led a fingle life, as not finding a husband able to fupport her according to her dignity; but the has now got one in Henry VIII. who could fupport her, even above her condition, in finery. WARBURTON.

Dr. Warburton has here discovered more beauty than the author intended, who only meant to say in a noify periphrase, that pomp was encreased on this occafion to more than twice as much as it had ever been before. Pomp is no more married to the English than to the French king, for to neither is any preference given by the fpeaker. Pomp is only married to pomp, but the new pomp is greater than the old. JOHNSON.

6

Became the next day's mafter, till the last
Made former wonders it's: 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 dwarfifh 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 mafk
Was cry'd incomparable; and the enfuing night
Made it a fool, and beggar. The two kings,
Equal in luftre, were now beft, now worst,
As prefence did prefent them; him in eye,
Still him in praise: and, being present both,
'Twas faid, they faw but one; and no difcerner
Durft wag his tongue in cenfure." When these funs.

Before this time all pompous fhows were exhibited by one prince only. On this occafion the Kings of England and France vied with each other. To this circumftance Norfolk alludes. M. MASON.

-Each following day

Became the next day's mafter, &c.] Dies diem docet. Every day learned fomething from the preceding, till the concluding day collected all the fplendor of all the former fhows. JOHNSON.

All clinquant,] All glittering, all fining. Clarendon uses this word in his defcription of the Spanish Juego de Toros.

JOHNSON. It is likewife ufed in A Memorable Mafque, &c. performed be fore King James at Whitehall in 1613, at the marriage of the Palfgrave and Princess Elizabeth:

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his bufkins clinquant as his other attire."

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STEEVENS

"So match'd, as each feem'd worthieft when alone."

JOHNSON.

9 Durft wag his tongue in cenfure.] Cenfure for determination, of which had the nobleft appearance. WARBURTON.

See Vol. III. p. 179, n. 5. MALONE.

(For fo they phrase them,) by their heralds chal

leng'd

The noble spirits to arms, they did perform Beyond thought's compafs; that former fabulous

story,

Being now feen poffible enough, got credit,
That Bevis was believ'd."

BUCK.

O, you go far.

NOR. As I belong to worship, and affect
In honour honefty, the tract of every thing'
Would by a good difcourfer lose some life,
Which action's felf was tongue to. All was royal;
To the difpofing of it nought rebell'd,

Order gave each thing view; the office did
Diftinctly his full function."

BUCK.

Who did guide,

I mean, who fet the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together, as you guess?

2 That Bevis was believ'd.] The old romantic legend of Bevis of Southampton. This Bevis (or Beavois) a Saxon, was for his prowess created by William the Conqueror Earl of Southampton: of whom Camden in his Britannia. THEOBALD.

3 the tract of every thing &c.] The course of these triumphs and pleafures, however well related, muft lofe in the defcription part of that spirit and energy which were expreffed in the real action. JOHNSON.

All was royal; &c.] This fpeech was given in all the editions to Buckingham; but improperly. For he wanted information, having kept his chamber during the folemnity. I have therefore given it to Norfolk. WARBURTON.

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The regulation had already been made by Mr. Theobald.

the office did

MALONE.

Diftinally his full function.] The commiffion for regulating this feftivity was well executed, and gave exactly to every par ticular perfon and action the proper place. JOHNSON.

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