Of as great size. Ween you of better luck, Cran. God, and your majesty, Trotect mine innocence, or I fall into The trap is laid for me! K. Hen. Be of good cheer; Fail not to use, and with what vehemency Deliver them, and your appeal to us There make before them.-Look, the good man weeps! He's honest, on mine honour. God's blest mother! I swear, he is true-hearted; and a soul None better in my kingdom.-Get you gone, And do as I have bid you.-[Exit CRAN.] He has strangled His language in his tears. Enter an old Lady. Gent. [within] Come back; What mean you? Lady. I'll not come back; the tidings that I bring Will make my boldness manners.-Now, good angels I'ly o'er thy royal head, and shade thy person Under their blessed wings! K. Hen. 71 Now, by thy looks ·Ween you of better luck,] To ween is to think, to imagine. Though now obsolete, the word was common to all our ancient writers. Steevens. 8 an old Lady.] This, I suppose, is the same old cat that appears with Anne Bullen, p. 250. Steevens. good angels Fly o'er thy royal head, and shade thy person Under their blessed wings!] So, in Hamlet, Act III, sc. iv: "You heavenly guards!" Steevens. I guess thy message. Is the queen deliver'd? Acquainted with this stranger; 'tis as like you, K. Hen. Lov. Lovell,2 Enter LovELL. Sir. I'll to the [Exit King. K. Hen. Give her an hundred marks. queen. Lady. An hundred marks! By this light, I'll have more. An ordinary groom is for such payment. SCENE II. Lobby before the Council-Chamber. [Exeunt. Enter CRANMER; Servants, Door-Keeper, &c. attending. Cran. I hope, I am not too late; and yet the gentle man, That was sent to me from the council, pray'd me D. Keep. But yet I cannot help you. 1 Cran. Why? Yes, my lord; D. Keep. Your grace must wait, till you be call'd for. bless her!] It is doubtful whether her is referred to the Queen or the girl. Johnson. As I believe this play was calculated for the ear of Elizabeth, I imagine, her relates to the girl. Malone. 2 Lovell,] Lovell has been just sent out of the presence, and no notice is given of his return: I have placed it here at the instant when the King calls for him. Steevens. Cran. Enter Doctor BUTTS. Butts. This is a piece of malice. I am glad, 'Tis Butts, The king's physician; As he past along, How earnestly he cast his eyes upon me! So. [Exit BUTTS. Pray heaven, he sound not my disgrace! For certain, This is of purpose lay'd, by some that hate me, (God turn their hearts! I never sought their malice,) To quench mine honour: they would shame to make me Wait else at door; a fellow-counsellor, Among boys, grooms, and lackeys. But their pleasures Enter, at a window above,3 the King and BUTTS. What 's that, Butts? Butts. I think, your highness saw this many a day. K. Hen. Body o' me, where is it? Butts. There, my lord: The high promotion of his grace of Canterbury; Who holds his state at door, 'mongst pursuivants, Pages, and footboys. K. Hen. Ha! 'Tis he, indeed: Is this the honour they do one another? 'Tis well, there's one above them yet. I had thought, They had parted so much honesty among them, 3 — at a window above,] The suspicious vigilance of our ancestors contrived windows which overlooked the insides of chapels, halls, kitchens, passages, &c. Some of these convenient peep-holes may be still found in colleges, and such ancient houses as have not suffered from the reformations of modern architecture. Among Andrew Borde's instructions for building a house, (see his Dietarie of Health,) is the following: "Many of the chambers to have a view into the chapel." Again, in a Letter from Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1573: "And if it please her majestie, she may come in through my gallerie, and see the disposition of the hall in dynner time, at a window opening thereunto" Without a previous knowledge of this custom, Shakspeare's scenery, in the present instance, would be obscure. Steevens. 4 They had parted &c.] We should now say-They had shared, &c. i. e. had so much honesty among them. Steevens. (At least, good manners,) as not thus to suffer Let them alone, and draw the curtain close ;5 THE COUNCIL-CHAMBER. [Exeunt. Enter the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of SUFFOLK, Eari of SURREY, Lord Chamberlain, GARDINER, and CROMWELL. The Chancellor places himself at the upper end of the table on the left hand; a seat being left void above him, as for the Archbishop of Canterbury. The rest seat themselves in order on each side. CROMWELL at the lower end, as secretary. 6 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? 5 draw the curtain close;] i. e. the curtain of the balcony, or upper-stage, where the King now is. Malone. 6 Chan. Speak to the business,] This Lord Chancellor, though a character, has hitherto had no place in the Dramatis Persona. In the last scene of the fourth Act, we heard that Sir Thomas More was appointed Lord Chancellor: but it is not he whom the poet here introduces. Wolsey, by command, delivered up the seals on the 18th of November, 1529; on the 25th of the same month, they were delivered to Sir Thomas More, who surrendered them on the 16th of May, 1532. Now the conclusion of this scene taking notice of Queen Elizabeth's birth, (which brings it down to the year 1534.) Sir Thomas Audlie must necessarily be our poet's chancellor; who succeeded Sir Thomas More, and held the seals many years. Theobald. In the preceding scene we have heard of the birth of Elizabeth, and from the conclusion of the present it appears that she is not yet christened. She was born September 7, 1533, and baptized on the 11th of the same month. Cardinal Wolsey was Chancellor of England from September 7, 1516, to the 25th of October, 1530, on which day the seals were given to Sir Thomas More. He held them till the 20th of May, 1533, when Sir Thomas Audley was appointed Lord Keeper. He therefore is the person here introduced; but Shakspeare has made a mistake in calling him Lord Chancellor, for he did not obtain that title till the January after the birth of Elizabeth. Malone. And has done half an hour, to know your pleasures. D. Keep. Your grace may enter now. [CRAN. approaches the Council-Table. Chan. My good lord archbishop, I am very sorry To sit here at this present, and behold That chair stand empty: But we all are men, In our own natures frail; and capable Of our flesh, few are angels:9 out of which frailty, 7 — noble lords?] The epithet-noble should be omitted, as it spoils the metre. Steevens. 8 Your grace may enter now.] It is not easy to ascertain the mode of exhibition here. The inside and outside of the council-chamber seem to be exhibited at once. Norfolk within calls to the Keeper without, who yet is on the stage, and supposed to be with Cranmer, &c. at the outside of the door of the chamber.-The Chancellor and counsellors probably were placed behind a curtain at the back part of the stage, and spoke, but were not seen, till Cranmer was called in. The stage-direction in the old copy, which is, "Cranmer approaches the council-table," not, "Cranmer enters the council-chamber," seems to countenance such an idea. With all the "appliances and aids" that modern scenery furnishes, it is impossible to produce any exhibition that shall precisely correspond with what our author has here written. Our less scrupulous ancestors were contented to be told, that the same spot, without any change of its appearance, (except perhaps the drawing back of a curtain) was at once the outside and the inside of the council-chamber. Malone. How the outside and inside of a room can be exhibited on the stage at the same instant, may be known from many ancient prints in which the act of listening or peeping is represented. See a famous plate illustrating the Tale of Giocondo, and intitled Vero essempio d' Impudicitia, cavato da M. L Ariosto; and the engraving prefixed to Twelfth Night, in Mr. Rowe's edition. 9 and capable Steevens. Of our flesh, few are angels: &c.] If this passage means any thing, it may mean, few are perfect while they remain in their mortal capacity; ie. while they are capable [in a condition] of being invested with flesh. A similar phrase occurs in Chapman's version of the sixteenth Iliad: |