And thus far clear him. Now, what mov'd me to 't,-
I will be bold with time, and your attention:-
Then mark the inducement. Thus it came ;-give heed
to 't:-

My conscience first receiv'd a tenderness,
Scruple, and prick, on certain speeches utter'd
By the bishop of Bayonne, then French ambassador;
Who had been hither sent on the debating

A marriage, 'twixt the duke of Orleans and

Our daughter Mary: I' the progress of this business,
Ere a determinate resolution, he

(I mean, the bishop) did require a respite;
Wherein he might the king his lord advertise
Whether our daughter were legitimate,
Respecting this our marriage with the dowager,
Sometimes our brother's wife. This respite shook
The bosom of my conscience, enter'd me,
Yea, with a splitting power, and made to tremble
The region of my breast; which forc'd such way,

upon the point in question; and clears him from any attempt, or wish, to stir that business. Theobald.

4 Scruple, and prick,] Prick of conscience was the term in confession. Johnson.

The expression is from Holinshed, where the king says: "The special cause that mov'd me unto this matter was a certaine scrupulositie that pricked my conscience," &c. See Holinshed, p. 907. Steevens.

5 A marriage,] Old copy-And marriage. Corrected by Mr. Pope. Malone.

6

This respite shook

The bosom of my conscience,] Though this reading be sense, yet, I verily believe, the poet wrote:

The bottom of my conscience,

Shakspeare, in all his historical plays, was a most diligent ob. server of Holinshed's Chronicle. Now Holinshed, in the speech which he has given to King Henry upon this subject, makes him deliver himself thus: "Which words, once conceived within the secret bottom of my conscience, ingendred such a scrupulous doubt, that my conscience was incontinently accombred, vexed, and disquieted." Vid. Life of Henry VIII, p. 907. Theobald. The phrase recommended by Mr. Theobald occurs again, in King Henry VI, Part I:

for therein should we read

"The very bottom and soul of hope."

It is repeated also in Measure for Measure, All's Well that Ends Well, King Henry VI, P. II, Coriolanus, &c. Steevens.

That many maz'd considerings did throng,
And press'd in with this caution. First, methought,
I stood not in the smile of heaven; who had
Commanded nature, that my lady's womb,
If it conceiv'd a male child by me, should
Do no more offices of life to 't, than

The grave does to the dead: for her male issue
Or died where they were made, or shortly after
This world had air'd them: Hence I took a thought,
This was a judgment on me; that my kingdom,
Well worthy the best heir o' the world, should not
Be gladded in 't by me: Then follows, that

I weigh'd the danger which my realms stood in
By this my issue's fail; and that gave to me
Many a groaning throe. Thus hulling in
The wild sea' of my conscience, I did steer
Toward this remedy, whereupon we are
Now present here together; that's to say,
I meant to rectify my conscience, which
I then did feel full sick, and yet not well,-
By all the reverend fathers of the land,
And doctors learn'd.-First, I began in private
With you, my lord of Lincoln; you remember
How under my oppression I did reek,

When I first mov'd you.

Lin.

Very well, my liege.

K. Hen. I have spoke long; be pleas'd yourself to say How far you satisfy'd me.

Lin.

So please your highness, The question did at first so stagger me,Bearing a state of mighty moment in 't, And consequence of dread, that I committed The daring'st counsel which I had, to doubt; And did entreat your highness to this course, Which you are running here.

7

-hulling in

The wild sea-] That is, floating without guidance; tossed here and there. Johnson.

The phrase belongs to navigation. A ship is said to hull, when she is dismasted, and only her hull, or hulk, is left at the direction and mercy of the waves.

So, in The Alarum for London, 1602:

"And they lye hulling up and down the stream." Steevens.

K. Hen.

I then mov'd you,

My lord of Canterbury; and got your leave
To make this present summons:- -Unsolicited
I left no reverend person in this court;
But by particular consent proceeded,

Under your hands and seals. Therefore, go on:
For no dislike i' the world against the person
Of the good queen, but the sharp thorny points
Of my alleged reasons, drive this forward:
Prove but our marriage lawful, by my life,
And kingly dignity, we are contented

To wear our mortal state to come, with her,
Katharine our queen, before the primest creature
That's paragon'd o'the world.9

Cam.
So please your highness,
The queen being absent, 'tis a needful fitness
That we adjourn this court till further day:
Mean while must be an earnest motion
Made to the queen, to call back her appeal
She intends unto his holiness.

[They rise to depart.

I then mov'd you,] "I moved it in confession to you, my lord of Lincoln, then my ghostly father. And forasmuch as then you yourself were in some doubt, you moved me to ask the counsel of all these my lords. Whereupon I moved you, my lord of Canter. bury, first to have your licence, in as much as you were metropolitan, to put this matter in question; and so I did of all of you, my lords." Holinshed's Life of Henry VIII, p. 908. Theobald.

9 That's paragon'd o' the world.] Sir T. Hanmer reads, I think, better:

the primest creature

That's paragon o' the world. Johnson. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: "No: but she is an earthly paragon."

Again, in Cymbeline:

"an angel! or, if not,

"An earthly paragon."

To paragon, however, is a verb used by Shakspeare, both in Antony and Cleopatra, and Othello:

"If thou with Cæsar paragon again

"My man of men.

66

a maid

"That paragons description and wild fame." Steevens. iThey rise to depart.] Here the modern editors add: [The King speaks to Cranmer.] This marginal direction is not found in the old folio, and was wrongly introduced by some subsequent editor.

K. Hen.

I may perceive, [Aside.

These cardinals trifle with me: I abhor
This dilatory sloth, and tricks of Rome.
My learn'd and well-beloved servant, Cranmer,
Pr'ythee return! with thy approach, I know,
My comfort comes along. Break up the court:
I say, set on.

[Exeunt, in manner as they entered.

ACT III.....SCENE I.

Palace at Bridewell.

A Room in the Queen's Apartment.

The Queen, and some of her Women, at work.2

Q. Kath. Take thy lute, wench: my soul grows sad with troubles;

Sing, and disperse them, if thou canst: leave working,

SONG.

Orpheus with his lute made trees,
And the mountain-tops, that freeze,

Bow themselves, when he did sing:
To his musick, plants, and flowers,
Ever sprung; as sun, and showers,
There had made a lasting spring.

Cranmer was now absent from court on an embassy, as appears from the last scene of this act, where Cromwell informs Wolsey that he is returned and installed archbishop of Canterbury: "My learn'd and well-beloved servant, Cranmer,

is no more than an apostrophe to the absent bishop of that name. Ridley.

2 — at work.] Her majesty (says Cavendish) on being informed that the cardinals were coming to visit her, "rose up, having a skein of red silke about her neck, being at work with her maidens." Cavendish attended Wolsey in this visit; and the Queen's answer, in p. 275, is exactly conformable to that which he has recorded, and which he appears to have heard her pronounce. Malone.

Every thing that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea,

Hung their heads, and then lay by.
In sweet musick is such art;

Killing care, and grief of heart,

Fall asleep, or, hearing, die.

Enter a Gentleman.

Q. Kath. How now?

Gent. An 't please your grace, the two great cardinals Wait in the presence. 3

Q. Kath.

Would they speak with me?

Pray their graces

Gent. They will'd me say so, madam.

Q. Kath.

To come near. [Exit Gent.] What can be their business With me, a poor weak woman, fallen from favour?

I do not like their coming, now I think on 't.

They should be good men; their affairs as righteous:4 But all hoods make not monks.5

Wol.

Enter WOLSEY and CAMPEIUS.

Peace to your highness!

Q. Kath. Your graces find me here part of a house

wife;

I would be all, against the worst may happen.
What are your pleasures with me, reverend lords?
Wol. May it please you, noble madam, to withdraw

3 Wait in the presence.] i. e. in the presence-chamber. So, in Peacham's Compleat Gentleman: "The lady Anne of Bretaigne, passing thorow the presence in the court of France," &c. Steevens.

4 They should be good men; their affairs as righteous:] Affairs for professions, and then the sense is clear and pertinent. The proposition is they are priests. The illation, they are good men; for being understood: but if affairs be interpreted in its common signification, the sentence is absurd. Warburton.

The sentence has no great difficulty: Affairs means not their present errand, but the business of their calling. Johnson.

Being churchmen they should be virtuous, and every business they undertake as righteous as their sacred office: but all hoods, &c.-The ignorant editor of the second folio, not understanding the line, substituted are for as; and this capricious alteration (with many others introduced by the same hand,) has been adopted by all the modern editors. Malone.

5

· all hoods make not monks.] Cucullus non facit monachum. Steevens.