WELL.

THE COUNCIL-CHAMBER." Enter the Lord Chancellor, the DUKE of SUFFOLK, the DUKE of NORFOLK, EARL of SURREY, Lord Chamberlain, GARDINER, and CROMThe Chancellor places himself at the upper end of the table on the left hand; a seat being left void above him, as for the The rest ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY. seat themselves in order on each side. CROMWELL at the lower end, as secretary. CHAN. Speak to the business, master secretary: Why are we met in council?

CROM.

Please your honours, The chief cause concerns his grace of Canterbury. GAR. Has he had knowledge of it?

CROM.

NOR.

Yes.

Who waits there?

"A Councell Table brought in with Chayres and Stooles, and placed under the State. Enter Lord Chancellour," &c.

D. KEEP. Without, my noble lords?
GAR.

Yes.
D. KEEP.
My lord archbishop;
And has done half an hour, to know your pleasures.
CHAN. Let him come in.
D. KEEP.

Your grace may enter now. [CRANMER approaches the Council-table. CHAN. My good lord archbishop, I am very

sorry

To sit here at this present, and behold

a

That chair stand empty: but we all are men,
In our own natures frail, and capable
Of our flesh; few are angels: out of which frailty,
And want of wisdom, you, that best should teach us,
Have misdemean'd yourself, and not a little:
Toward the king first, then his laws, in filling
The whole realm, by your teaching and your chap-
lains,

(For so we are inform'd) with new opinions,
Divers and dangerous; which are heresies,
And, not reform'd, may prove pernicious.

GAR. Which reformation must be sudden too, My noble lords: for those that tame wild horses Pace 'em not in their hands to make 'em gentle, But stop their mouths with stubborn bits, and spur 'em,

Till they obey the manage.

If we suffer

(Out of our easiness, and childish pity
To one man's honour) this contagious sickness,
Farewell all physic; and what follows then?
Commotions, uproars, with a general taint

Of the whole state: as, of late days, our neighbours,

The upper Germany, can dearly witness;
Yet freshly pitied in our memories.

CRAN. My good lords, hitherto, in all the progress

Both of life and office, I have labour'd,
my
And with no little study, that my teaching,
And the strong course of my authority,
Might go one way, and safely; and the end
Was ever, to do well: nor is there living
(I speak it with a single heart, my lords)
A man that more detests, more stirs against,
Both in his private conscience and his place,
Defacers of a public peace, than I do.
Pray heaven, the king may never find a heart
With less allegiance in it! Men that make
Envy and crooked malice, nourishment,
Dare bite the best. I do beseech your lordships,
That, in this case of justice, my accusers,

(*) First folio, courageous.

but we all are men,

In our own natures frail, and capable
Of our flesh; few are angels :]

Capable of our flesh, if capable is not, as Mason surmised, a misprint for culpable, or, according to Malone, an error for incapable, may mean susceptible of fleshly temptations. Some editors point the lines thus,

you,

You are always my good friend; if your will pass,
I shall both find your lordship judge and juror,
You are so merciful: I see your end,—
'Tis my undoing: love and meekness, lord,
Become a churchman better than ambition;
Win straying souls with modesty again,
Cast none away. That I shall clear myself,
Lay all the weight ye can upon my patience,
I make as little doubt, as you do conscience
In doing daily wrongs. I could say more,
But reverence to your calling makes me modest.
GAR. My lord, my lord, you are a sectary,
That's the plain truth; your painted gloss dis-

K. HEN. Come, come, my lord, you'd spare your spoons; you shall have two noble partners with you; the old duchess of Norfolk, and lady marquis Dorset; will these please you ?— Once more, my lord of Winchester, I charge you, Embrace and love this man.

GAR.

And brother-love, I do it.

CRAN.

With a true heart, And let heaven

Witness, how dear I hold this confirmation.

K. HEN. Good man, those joyful tears show thy true heart:*

The common voice, I see, is verified

Of thee, which says thus, Do my lord of Canterbury

A shrewd turn, and he's your friend for ever.—
Come, lords, we trifle time away; I long
To have this young one made a christian.
As I have made ye one, lords, one remain;
So I grow stronger, you more honour gain.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The Palace Yard.

Noise and tumult without: enter Porter, and his

Man.

PORT. You'll leave your noise anon, ye rascals: do you take the court for Parish-garden? (1) ye rude slaves, leave your gaping.a

[Without.] Good master porter, I belong to the larder.

PORT. Belong to the gallows, and be hanged, ye rogue! is this a place to roar in ?-Fetch me a dozen crab-tree staves, and strong ones; these are but switches to 'em.-I'll scratch your heads: you must be seeing christenings? do you look for ale and cakes here, you rude rascals?

MAN. Pray, sir, be patient; 't is as much impossible

Unless we sweep 'em from the door with cannons,-
To scatter 'em, as 't is to make 'em sleep
On May-day morning; which will never be:
We may as well push against Paul's, as stir 'em.
PORT. How got they in, and be hanged?
MAN. Alas, I know not; how gets the tide in?
As much as one sound cudgel of four foot

(*) First folio, hearts.

a Gaping.] One sense of this word was to yell, shout, or roar. b Let me ne'er hope to see a chine again; and that I would not for a cow, God save her!] Mr. Collier's aunotator very speciously alters this to,

"Let me ne'er hope to see a queen again;

And that I would not for a crown, God save her!"

but by chine is meant a chine of beef,

"A chine of English beef, meat for a king," &c. GREENE's play of "The Old Wife's Tale," Dyce's edition, p. 224. And perhaps the only change demanded is to read, "my cow," instead of "a cow." The expression, "my cow, God save her!"

(You see the poor remainder) could distribute, I made no spare, sir.

PORT. You did nothing, sir. MAN. I am not Samson, nor sir Guy, nor Colbrand, to mow 'em down before me: but, if I spared any that had a head to hit, either young or old, he or she, cuckold or cuckold-maker, let me ne'er hope to see a chine again; and that I would not for a cow, God save her!"

[Without.] Do you hear, master porter? PORT. I shall be with you presently, good master puppy.-Keep the door close, sirrah. MAN. What would you have me do?

PORT. What should you do, but knock 'em down by the dozens? Is this Moorfields to muster in? or have we some strange Indian with the great tool come to court, the women so besiege us? Bless me, what a fry of fornication is at door! On my christian conscience, this one christening will beget a thousand; here will be father, godfather, and all together.

MAN. The spoons will be the bigger, sir. There is a fellow somewhat near the door, he should be a brazier by his face, for, o' my conscience, twenty of the dog-days now reign in 's nose; all that stand about him are under the line, they need no other penance: that fire-drake did I hit three times on the head, and three times was his nose discharged against me; he stands there, like a mortar-piece, to blow us. There was a haberdasher's wife of small wit near him, that railed upon me till her pinked porringer fell off her head, for kindling such a combustion in the state. I missed the meteor once, and hit that woman, who cried out, Clubs! when I might see from far some forty truncheoners draw to her succour, which were the Hope of the Strand, where she was quartered. They fell on; I made good my place; at length they came to the broomstaff to me; I defied them still; when suddenly a file of boys behind 'em, loose shot, delivered such a shower of pebbles, that I was fain to draw mine honour in, and let 'em win the work: the devil was amongst 'em, I think, surely.

PORT. These are the youths that thunder at a play-house, and fight for bitten apples; that no audience, but the Tribulation of Tower-Hill, or the Limbs of Limehouse, their dear brothers, are

C

or, "my mare, God save her!" or, "my sow, God bless her!" appears to have been proverbial; thus, in Greene and Lodge's "Looking Glasse for London and Englande," 1598,-"my blind mare, God bless her!

e The Tribulation of Tower-Hill, or the Limbs of Limehouse,-] "I suspect the Tribulation," says Johnson," to have been a puritanical meeting-house;" and all the editors concur in opinion that the author here intended a fling at some puritanical sect or sects. Surely an extraordinary mistake. Can anything be more evident than that by the "Tribulation of Tower Hill," and the "Limbs of Limehouse," are meant the turbulent and mischievous 'long-shore rabble, the only congenial audience at a play-house for their dear brothers," "the Hope of the Strand"? See Taylor's (the Water-Poet) "Jacke-a-Lent," 1630.

able to endure. I have some of 'em in Limbo Patrum, and there they are like to dance these three days; besides the running banquet of two beadles that is to come.

Enter the Lord Chamberlain.

CHAM. Mercy o' me, what a multitude are here! They grow still too; from all parts they are coming,

As if we kept a fair here! Where are these porters,

These lazy knaves?-Ye've made a fine hand, fellows.

There's a trim rabble let in are all these
Your faithful friends o' the suburbs? We shall
have

Great store of room, no doubt, left for the ladies,
When they pass back from the christening.
PORT.
An't please your honour,
We are but men; and what so many may do,
Not being torn a-pieces, we have done :
An army cannot rule 'em.

Снам.

As I live,

b

If the king blame me for 't, I'll lay ye all
By the heels, and suddenly; and on your heads
Clap round fines, for neglect: ye 're lazy knaves;
And here ye lie baiting of bombards, when
Ye should do service. Hark! the trumpets sound;
They're come already from the christening:
Go, break among the press, and find a way out
To let the troop pass fairly; or I'll find
A Marshalsea, shall hold ye play these two
months.

PORT. Make way there for the princess.
MAN. You great fellow, stand close up, or I'll
make your head ache.

PORT. You i' the camlet, get up o' the rail; I'll pick you o'er the pales else.

с

SCENE IV.-The Palace.

[Exeunt.

Enter Trumpets, sounding; then two Aldermen, Lord Mayor, Garter, CRANMER, DUKE of NORFOLK with his marshal's staff, DUKE of SUFFOLK, two Noblemen bearing great standing-bowls for the christening gifts; then four Noblemen bearing a canopy, under which the DUCHESS of NORFOLK, godmother,

a Limbo Patrum.-] He means locked up. To be in limbo, is a cant phrase for being imprisoned, at the present time, and was derived probably from the Limbus Pulrum, the place where the Patriarchs are supposed to have awaited the resurrection.

b Baiting of bombards,-] Bombards, or bumbards, were capacious vessels, sometimes made of leather, for holding drink.

696

Amen.

K. HEN. My noble gossips, ye have been too
prodigal :

I thank ye heartily; so shall this lady,
When she has so much English.

CRAN.
Let me speak, sir,
For heaven now bids me; and the words I utter
Let none think flattery, for they 'll find 'em truth.
This royal infant, (heaven still move about her!)
Though in her cradle, yet now promises
Upon this land a thousand thousand blessings,
Which time shall bring to ripeness: she shall be
(But few now living can behold that goodness)
A pattern to all princes living with her,
And all that shall succeed: Sabad was never
More covetous of wisdom and fair virtue,
Than this pure soul shall be: all princely graces,
That mould up such a mighty piece as this is,
With all the virtues that attend the good,
Shall still be doubled on her: truth shall nurse her,
Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her:
She shall be lov'd and fear'd: her own shall bless
her;

Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn,
And hang their heads with sorrow: good grows
with her:

In her days every man shall eat in safety
Under his own vine, what he plants; and sing

I'll pick you o'er the pales-] In the old copies, "Ile pecke you," &c. To pick, or peck, was the same formerly as to pitch. d Saba-] That is, Sheba :

"Were she as chaste as was Penelope,
As wise as Saba," &c.

MARLOWE'S Doctor Faustus, Act II. Sc. L.