And yet no day without a deed to crown it. To the ground, and all the world shall mourn her. Maker. Thou hast made me now a man; never, before Ye must all see the queen, and she must thank ye, [Exeunt. EPILOGUE. Tis ten to one, this play can never please The merciful construction of good women1; 1 A verse with as unmusical a close may be found in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Part III. sect. ii.:— 'Rose the pleasure of fine women.' In Ben Jonson's Alchemist there is also a line in which the word woman is accented on the last syllable : 'And then your red man, and your white woman.' THE play of Henry VIII. is one of those which still keeps possession of the stage by the splendour of its pageantry. The coronation, about forty years ago, drew the people together in multitudes for a great part of the winter. Yet pomp is not the only merit of this play. The meek sorrows and virtuous distress of Katharine have furnished some scenes which may be justly numbered among the greatest efforts of tragedy. But the genius of Shakspeare comes in and goes out with Katharine. Every other part may be easily conceived and easily written. The historical dramas are now concluded, of which the two parts of Henry IV. and Henry V. are among the happiest of our author's compositions; and King John, Richard III. aud Henry VIII. deservedly stand in the second class. Those whose curiosity would refer the historical scenes to their original, may consult Holinshed, and sometimes Hall. From Holinshed, Shakspeare has often inserted whole speeches with no more alteration than was necessary to the numbers of his verse. To transcribe them into the margin was unnecessary, because the original is easily examined, and they are seldom less perspicuous in the poet than in the historian. To play histories, or to exhibit a succession of events by action and dialogue, was a common entertainment among our rude ancestors upon great festivities*. The parish clerks once performed at Clerkenwell a play which lasted three days, containing the History of the World. JOHNSON. * It appears that the tradesmen of Chester were three days employed in the representation of twenty-four Whitsun plays or mysteries. See Mr. Markland's Disquisition, prefixed to his very elegant and interesting selection from the Chester Mysteries, printed for private distribution; which may be consulted in the third volume of the late edition of Malone's Shakspeare, by Mr. Boswell. The Coventry Mysteries must have taken up a longer time, as they were no less than forty in number. |