Gard. That will I.

Crom. But, on your honour will you?
Gard. Ay, on my honour.

Crom. Bear witnefs, lords.

hath known you,

Tell him, when he

And try'd your faith but half so much as mine,
He'll find you to be the falfeft-hearted man
In England: pray, tell him this.

Bed. Be patient, good my lord, in these extremes.
Crom. My kind and honourable lord of Bedford,
I know your honour always lov'd me well;
But, pardon me, this ftill fhall be my theme;
Gardiner's the cause makes Cromwell fo extreme.
Sir Ralph Sadler, I pray a word with you;
You were my man, and all that you poffefs
Came by my means: fir, to requite all this,
Say will you take this letter here of me,
And give it with your own hands to the king?
Sad. I kifs your hand, and never will I rest
[Exit Sadler.
Crom. Why then yet Cromwell hath one friend in

Ere to the king this be delivered.

ftore.

Gard. But all the hafte he makes fhall be but vain. Here is a discharge for your prifoner,

To fee him executed presently: [To the lieutenant.
My lord, you hear the tenure of your life'.

Crom. I do embrace it; welcome my last date,
And of this gliftering world I take last leave:
And, noble lords, I take my leave of you.
As willingly I go to meet with death,
As Gardiner did pronounce it with his breath.
From treason is my heart as white as snow;
My death procured only by my foe.

- you bear the tenure of your life.] You hear how fhort a period you have to live. The old copy reads, I think corruptedly, tenor. The two words are frequently confounded in our ancient dramas. MALONE.

I pray commend me to my fovereign king,
And tell him in what fort his Cromwell dy'd,
To lose his head before his caufe was try'd ;
But let his grace, when he fhall hear my name,
Say only this; Gardiner procur'd the fame.

Lieu. Here is your fon, fir, come to take his leave.
Crom. To take his leave? Come hither, Harry
Cromwell.

Mark, boy, the laft words that I speak to thee3:
Flatter not Fortune, neither fawn upon her;
Gape not for state, yet lofe no spark of honour;
Ambition, like the plague, fee thou efchew it *;
I die for treason, boy, and never knew it.
Yet let thy faith as fpotlefs be as mine,

And Cromwell's virtues in thy face shall shine:
Come, go along, and fee me leave my breath,
And I'll leave thee upon the floor of death *.

Son. O father, I fhall die to fee that wound,
Your blood being fpilt will make my heart to fwound.
Crom. How, boy! not dare to look upon the axe?
How shall I do then to have my head ftruck off?

2To lofe his head before his caufe was tried;] Speed is the only hiftorian (that I have feen) who afferts that the bill of attainder against Cromwell did not pafs till after his death. In one fenfe indeed he might be faid to be executed before his caufe was tried, for it was never fairly tried; but the act of parliament by which he fuffered, received the royal affent four days before his execution. MALONE.

Mark, boy, the laft words that I fpeak to thee:] The author has here departed from hiftorical truth. The earl of Effex's fon was arrived to manhood fome time before the execution of his father; and had been called up by fummons to the house of peers four years before that event, by the title of baron Cromwell of Wimbleton in the county of Surry. MALONE.

as

• Ambition, like the plague, fee thou efchew it;] To efchew is to avoid. It is a very common phrase in ancient warrantsyou will efchew that which may enfue." PERCY.

upon the floor of death.] Thus the folios. The quarto

has floure. MALONE,

Come

Come on, my child, and fee the end of all;
And after fay, that Gardiner was my fall.

Gard. My lord you fpeak it of an envious heart; I have done no more than law and equity.

Bed. O, my good lord of Winchester, forbear: It would have better feem'd you to have been absent, Than with your words disturb a dying man 5.

Crom. Who me, my lord? no: he difturbs not me. My mind he stirs not, though his mighty fhock Hath brought more peers' heads down unto the block.

Farewel, my boy! all Cromwell can bequeath,-
My hearty bleffing :-fo I take my leave.

Exec. I am your death's-man; pray my lord forgive me.

Crom. Even with my foul. Why man, thou art my doctor,

And bring'ft me precious phyfick for my foul.
My lord of Bedford, I defire of you
Before my death a corporal embrace.
Farewel, great lord; my love I do commend,
My heart to you; my foul to heaven I fend.
This is my joy, that ere my body fleet,

Your honour'd arms are my true winding-fheet.
Farewel, dear Bedford; my peace is made in heaven.
Thus falls great Cromwell, a poor ell in length,
To rife to unmeafur'd height, wing'd with new
ftrength,

The land of worms, which dying men difcover:
My foul is fhrin'd with heaven's celeftial cover..
[Exeunt Cromwell, Officers, &c.

5 It would have better feem'd you to have been abfent,

Than with your words difturb a dying man.] Perhaps here is a covert allufion to fir Walter Raleigh, who was reproached for having attended at the execution of his rival, the amiable earl of Effex. MALONE.

* The land of worms, which dying men difcover:] Some line, or couplet, feems wanting here, to introduce what follows; or per haps we should read:

Hail land of worms, which dying men discover! STEEVEN

Bed

Bed. Well, farewel Cromwell! fure the truest

friend

That ever Bedford fhall poffefs again.

Well, lords, I fear that when this man is dead,
You'll wish in vain that Cromwell had a head.

Enter an Officer with Cromwell's head.

Offi. Here is the head of the deceafed Cromwell. Bed. Pray thee go hence, and bear his head away Unto his body; interr them both in clay.

Enter fir Ralph Sadler.

[Exit Officer.

Sad. How now my lords? What, is lord Cromwell

dead?

Bed. Lord Cromwell's body now doth want a head.

Sad. O God, a little speed had fav'd his life.
Here is a kind reprieve come from the king,
To bring him straight unto his majesty .

Suf. Ay, ay, fir Ralph, reprieves come now too

late.

Gard. My confcience now tells me this deed was ill 7.

Would Chrift that Cromwell were alive again!

Nor. Come let us to the king, who, well I know, Will grieve for Cromwell, that his death was fo. [Exeunt omnes.

• Here is a kind reprieve come from the king,] No reprieve was at any time fent for Cromwell. The unfortunate ftatefinan during his confinement in the Tower wrote a pathetick letter to Henry, which brought tears into the eyes of that fanguinary tyrant, but produced no other effect. MALONE.

"My confcience now tells me this deed was ill ;] So fir Piers of Exton, on the fame occafion, at the conclufion of K. Richard II: "For now the devil that told me I did well,

"Says that this deed is chronicled in hell." STEEVENS. On the fall of this nobleman many fatirical ballads were compofed by the party who were adverse to him, one of which may be found in the Reliques of Anc. Poetry, vol. II. p. 64.

Το

To vindicate Shakspeare from having written a fingle line of this piece would be a waste of time. The poverty of the language, the barennefs of incident, and the inartificial conduct of every part of the performance, place it rather perhaps below the compofitions of even the fecond-rate dramatick authors of the age in which it was produced. Dr. Farmer thinks it was written by Thomas Heywood. That poet, according to his own account, having had either an entire hand or at leaft a main finger in two hundred and twenty plays," it is extremely probable that many of his compofitions (of which he appears to have taken little care) were printed either without a name, or, as in the prefent in stance, with initial letters calculated to deceive. MALONE,

LONDON