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.1

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 Canterbury, 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 :

66

—an angel! or, if not,

"An earthly paragon."

To paragon, however, is a verb used by Shakspeare, both in An

tony and Cleopatra, and Othello:

"If thou with Cæsar paragon again

66

66

My man of men.

-a maid

"That paragons description and wild fame." Steevens.

1 They 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, "Pr'ythee, return!"

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

2 at work.] Her majesty (says Cavendish) on being in formed 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.

3

Would they speak with me?

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

Q. Kath.

Pray their graces

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

5 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.

Into your private chamber, we shall give you
The full cause of our coming.

Q. Kath.

Speak it here;
There's nothing I have done yet, o' my conscience,
Deserves a corner: 'Would, all other women
Could speak this with as free a soul as I do!
My lords, I care not, (so much I am happy
Above a number) if my actions

Were tried by every tongue, every eye saw them,
Envy and base opinion set against them,"

8

I know my life so even: If your business
Seek me out, and that way I am wife in,
Out with it boldly; Truth loves open dealing.

6 Envy and base opinion set against them,] I would be glad that my conduct were in some publick trial confronted with mine enemies, that envy and corrupt judgment might try their utmost power against me. Johnson.

Envy, in Shakspeare's age, often signified, malice. So, afterwards:

"Ye turn the good we offer into envy." Malone.

7 Seek me out, &c.] I believe that a word has dropt out here, and that we should read:

If your business

Seek me, speak out, and that way I am wise in;

i. e. in the way that I can understand it. Tyrwhitt
The metre shows here is a syllable dropt. I would read:
I know my life so even. If 'tis your business

To seek me out, &c. Blackstone.

The alteration proposed by Sir W. Blackstone injures one line as much as it improves the other. We might read:

8

and that way I am wife in,] That is, if you come to examine the title by which I am the King's wife; or, if you come to know how I have behaved as a wife. The meaning, whatever it be, is so coarsely and unskilfully expressed, that the latter editors have liked nonsense better, and contrarily to the ancient and only copy, have published:

And that way I am wise in. Johnson.

This passage is unskilfully expressed indeed; so much so, that I don't see how it can import either of the meanings that Johnson contends for, or indeed any other. I therefore think that the modern editors have acted rightly in reading wise instead of wife, for which that word might easily have been mistaken; nor can I think the passage, so amended, nonsense, the meaning of it being this: "If your business relates to me, or to any thing of which I have any knowledge." M. Mason.