By that fin fell the angels, how can man then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win by't?
Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate

thee;"

Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To filence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
Let all the ends, thou aim'st at, be thy country's,
Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O

Cromwell,

Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Serve the king;

6 By that fin fell the angels,] See p. 130, n. 2. STEEVENS.

7

- cherish those hearts that hate thee;] Though this be good divinity, and an admirable precept for our conduct in private life; it was never calculated or designed for the magistrate or publick minister. Nor could this be the direction of a man experienced in affairs, to his pupil. It would make a good christian, but a very ill and very unjust statesman. And we have nothing so infamous in tradition, as the supposed advice given to one of our kings, to cherish his enemies, and be in no pain for his friends. I am of opinion the poet wrote:

cherish those hearts that wait thee;

i. e. thy dependants. For the contrary practice had contributed to Wolfey's ruin. He was not careful enough in making dependants by his bounty, while intent in amassing wealth to himself. The following line feems to confirm this correction:

Corruption wins not more than honesty.

i. e. You will never find men won over to your temporary occafions by bribery, so useful to you as friends made by a just and generous munificence. WARBURTON.

I am unwilling wantonly to contradict so ingenious a remark, but that the reader may not be misled, and believe the emendation proposed to be neceffary, he should remember that this is not a time for Wolfey to speak only as a statesman, but as a chriftian. Shakspeare would have debased the character, just when he was employing his ftrongest efforts to raise it, had he drawn it otherwife. Nothing makes the hour of disgrace more irksome, than the reflection, that we have been deaf to offers of reconciliation, and perpetuated that enmity which we might have converted into friendship. STEEVENS.

1

And,-Pr'ythee, lead me in:

There take an inventory of all I have,
To the last penny; 'tis the king's: my robe,

And my integrity to heaven, is all

I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Crom

well,

Had I but ferv'd my God with half the zeal

8

- Prythee, lead me in:

There take an inventory of all I have,] This inventory Wolfey actually caused to be taken upon his disgrace, and the particulars may be seen at large in Stowe's Chronicle, p. 546, 54 edit. 1631.

Among the Harl. MSS. there is one intitled, "An Inventorie of Cardinal Wolfey's rich housholde stuffe. Temp. Hen. VIII. The original book, as it seems, kept by his own officers." See Harl. Catal. No. 599. DOUCE.

9 Had I but ferv'd my God &c.] This sentence was really uttered by Wolfey. JOHNSON.

When Samrah, the deputy governor of Baforah, was depofed by Moawiyah the fixth caliph, he is reported to have expressed himself in the same manner: "If I had ferved God so well as I have ferved him, he would never have condemned me to all eternity."

A fimilar sentiment also occurs in the Earle of Murton's Tragedy, by Churchyard, 1593;

"Had I ferv'd God as well in euery fort,
"As I did ferue my king and maister still;
"My scope had not this season beene so short,
"Nor world haue had the power to doe me ill."

STEEVENS.

Antonio Perez, the favourite of Philip the Second of Spain, made the fame pathetick complaint: " Mon zele etoit fi grand vers ces benignes puissances [la cour de Turin,) que si j'en eusse eu autant pour Dieu, je ne doubte point qu'il ne m'eut deja recompensé de fon paradis." MALONE.

This was a strange fentence for Wolfey to utter, who was difgraced for the basest treachery to his king in the affair of the divorce: but it shows how naturally men endeavour to palliate their crimes even to themselves. M. MASON.

There is a remarkable affinity between these words and part of the speech of Sir James Hamilton, who was supposed by King James V. thus to address him in a dream: "Though I was a finner

I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

CROM. Good fir, have patience.

WOL.

So I have. Farewell

The hopes of court! my hopes in heaven do dwell.

[Exeunt.

:

A Street in Westminster.

Enter two Gentlemen, meeting.

1. GENT. You are well met once again.
2. GENT.

And fo are you.

2

1. GENT. You come to take your stand here, and
behold

The lady Anne pass from her coronation?

2. GENT. 'Tis all my business. At our last en-
counter,

The duke of Buckingham came from his trial.
1. GENT. 'Tis very true: but that time offer'd
forrow;

This, general joy.

againft God, I failed not to thee. Had I been as good a servant
to my Lord my God, as I was to thee, I had not died that death."
Pinscottie's History of Scotland, p. 261, edit. 1788, 12mo.

9

DOUCE.

once again.] Alluding to their former meeting in the second act. JOHNSON.

* And so are you.] The conjunction-And was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the measure. STEEVENS.

:

2. GENT.

'Tis well: the citizens,

I am fure, have shown at full their royal minds;

As, let them have their rights, they are ever for

ward

In celebration of this day with shows,

Pageants, and fights of honour.

1. GENT.

Never greater,

Nor, I'll assure you, better taken, fir.

2. GENT. May I be bold to ask what that con

tains,

That paper in your hand?

I. GENT.

Yes; 'tis the lift

Of those, that claim their offices this day,
By custom of the coronation.

The duke of Suffolk is the first, and claims
To be high steward; next, the duke of Norfolk,
He to be earl marshal; you may read the rest.

2. GENT. I thank you, fir; had I not known those customs,

I should have been beholden to your paper.

3

- their royal minds;] i. e. their minds well affected to their king. Mr. Pope unnecessarily changed this word to loyal. In King Henry IV. Part II. we have "royal faith," that is, faith due to kings; which Sir T. Hanmer changed to loyal, and I too hastily followed Dr. Johnson and the late editions, in adopting the emendation. The recurrence of the fame expression, though it is not fuch a one as we should now use, convinces me that there is no error in the text in either place." MALONE.

Royal, I believe, in the present instance, only fignifies-noble, So, Macbeth, speaking of Banquo, mentions his " royalty of nature." STEEVENS.

4

this day-] Sir Thomas Hanmer reads:

these days

but Shakspeare meant fuch a day as this, a coronation day. And such is the English idiom, which our author commonly prefers to grammatical nicety. JOHNSON.

But, I beseech you, what's become of Katharine, The princess dowager? how goes her business?

1. GENT. That I can tell you too. The arch

bishop

Of Canterbury, accompanied with other
Learned and reverend fathers of his order,
Held a late court at Dunstable, fix miles off
From Ampthill, where the princess lay; to which
She oft was cited by them, but appear'd not:
And, to be short, for not appearance, and
The king's late fcruple, by the main affent
Of all these learned men she was divorc'd,
And the late marriage made of none effect:
Since which, she was removed to Kimbolton,
Where the remains now, fick.

2. GENT.

Alas, good lady ![Trumpets.

The trumpets found: stand close, the queen is

coming.

THE ORDER OF THE PROCESSION.

A lively flourish of trumpets; then, enter

1. Two judges.

2. Lord Chancellor, with the purse and mace before

bim.

3. Choristers finging.

5

[Mufick.

not appearance,] I suppose, our author wrote-non

appearance. So, in The Winter's Tale :

6

the execution did cry out

" Against the non-performance." STEEVENS.

the late marriage-] i. e. the marriage lately confidered