has been assumed as beyond controversy, and the lines printed in brackets, as having no right to be considered a part of the original play. And it is worthy of special note, that the words,-"She shall be an aged princess," have not been included in the brackets; which, notwithstanding, are precisely what any man would have least dared to write, unless he meant that writing should be his last, while the great queen was living.

Nor is it easy to discover in the play itself any very strong indications of its having been written with a special view to please Elizabeth. The design, so far as she was anywise concerned therein, seems much rather to have been, to please the people by whom she was all-beloved during her life, and, if possible, still more so when, after the lapse of a few years, her prudence, her courage, and her magnanimity, save where her female jealousies were touched, had been set off to greater advantage by the blunders and infirmities of her speech-wise, act-fool successor. For it is well known that for a long while the popular feeling run back so strongly to her government, that James had no way but to fall in with and swell the current, notwithstanding the strong causes which he had, both public and personal, to execrate her memory. The play has an evident making in with this feeling, unsolicitous, generally, of what would have been likely to make in, and sometimes boldly adventurous of what would have been sure to make out, with the object of it. Such an appreciative representation of the meek and honorable sorrows of Katharine, so nobly-proud, yet in that pride so gentle and true-hearted; her dignified submission, wherein her rights as a woman and a wife are firmly watched and sweetly maintained, yet the sharpest eye cannot detect the least swerving from duty; her brave and eloquent sympathy with the plundered people, pleading their cause in the face of royal and reverend rapacity, and that with an energetic simplicity which even the witchcraft of Wolsey's tongue cannot sophisticate; and all this set in open contrast with the worldly-minded levity, and the equiv

ocal, or at least the qualified, virtue of her rival, and with the sensual, hard-hearted, hypocritical tyranny of the king; surely the Poet must have known a great deal less, or else a great deal more, than anybody else, of the haughty daughter of that rival and that king, to have thought of pleasing her by such a representation.

Mr. Collier, who holds much the same view as here expressed, so far as regards the prophecies touching Elizabeth and James, has however a third view as to the date of the composition. He thinks that the play was probably brought out at the Globe Theater in the summer of 1604, and that what Sir Henry Wotton described in 1613 as "a new play, called All is True," was the work of another person. His only ground for this opinion is the following entry in the Stationers' Register, made to Nathaniel Butter, February 12, 1605: "If he get good allowance for the Interlude of King Henry VIII before he begins to print it, and then procure the wardens' hands to it for the entrance of it, he is to have the same for his copy." Had there been at that time no other dramatic performance on the subject of Henry the Eighth, this would indeed go far to prove, not that the play described by Sir Henry was not Shakespeare's, but that he was mistaken in calling it new. But it seems quite probable that the above-quoted entry relates to another play by Samuel Rowley, published in 1605, and entitled When you see me you know me, or The Famous Chronicle History of King Henry the Eighth.

The historical matter of this play, so far as relates to the fall of Wolsey and the divorcement of Katharine, was originally derived from George Cavendish, who was gentleman-usher to the great cardinal, and himself an eyewitness of much that he describes. His Life of Master Wolsey is among the best specimens extant of the older English literature; the narrative being set forth in a clear, simple, manly eloquence, which in some of his finest passages the Poet has almost literally transcribed. Whether his book had been published in Shakespeare's time, is un

certain, but so much of it as fell within the plot of the drama had been embodied in the Chronicles of Holinshed and Stowe. That the Poet may have read it either in manuscript or in some unknown edition, is indeed possible: howbeit, the play yields no evidence of his having gone beyond the pages of the chronicler. We subjoin a pretty full statement of the matter as it stands in Holinshed; where the reader will be apt to feel a certain first-hand directness and spirit, as though the words had been caught and kept in all their racy freshness, as they fell from the original speakers.

In the summer of 1527, something over six years after the death of Buckingham, it began to be whispered in London, how the king had been told by Dr. Longland, bishop of Lincoln, and others, that his marriage with Katharine was not lawful; and how for that cause he was thinking to put her away, and marry the duchess of Alencon, sister to the king of France. Hearing that this rumor was going, the king sent for the mayor, and charged him to see that the people ceased from such talk. The next year, however, the trouble, which, it seems, had long been secretly brewing in the king's conscience touching that matter, broke out sure enough. Whether this doubt were first moved by the cardinal or by Longland, the king's confessor, at all events, in doubt he was; and therefore he resolved to have the case examined and cleared by sufficient authority. And, in truth, the blame of having cast this scruple into his mind was commonly laid upon Wolsey, because of his known hatred to the emperor, Charles V, who was nephew to Katharine, and who had refused him the archbishopric of Toledo, for which he was a suitor. Therefore he sought to procure a divorce, that Henry might be free to knit a fast friendship with the French king by marrying his sister. In pursuance of his resolution Henry wrote to Rome, desiring that a legate might be sent over to hear and determine the cause; and the consistory sent Cardinal Campeius, a man of great judgment and experience, with whom was joined the car

dinal of York. Upon his coming, which was in October, 1528, the king, knowing that the queen was somewhat wedded to her opinion, and wishing her to do nothing without counsel, bade her choose the best clerks in his realm, and licensed them to do the best they could for her. She having made her selection, the great hall at BlackFriars was fixed upon and fitted up for the trial.

The court began its work on June 21, 1529. All things being ready, at the command of the scribe the crier called, "Henry, king of England, come into the court. With that the king answered, Here. Then called he, Katharine, queen of England, come into the court. Who made no answer, but rose out of her chair; and, because she could not come to the king directly for the distance between them, she went about by the court, and came to the king, kneeling down at his feet. Sir, quoth she, I desire you to do me justice and right, and take some pity upon me; for I am a poor woman, and a stranger, born out of your dominion, having here no indifferent counsel, and less assurance of friendship. Alas, sir, in what have I offended you, or what occasion of displeasure have I showed you, intending thus to put me from you? I take God to my judge, I have been to you a true and humble wife, ever conformable to your will and pleasure, and being always contented with all things wherein you had any delight, whether little or much: without grudge or displeasure, I loved for your sake all them whom you loved, whether they were my friends or enemies. I have been your wife these twenty years and more, and you have had by me divers children. If there be any just cause that you can allege against me, either of dishonesty, or of matter lawful to put me from you, I am content to depart to my shame and rebuke: and if there be none, then I pray you to let me have justice at your hand. The king your father was in his time of excellent wit; and the king of Spain my father, Ferdinand, was reckoned one of the wisest princes that reigned in Spain many years before. is not to be doubted, that they had gathered as wise

counselors unto them of every realm, who deemed the marriage between you and me good and lawful. Wherefore I humbly desire you to spare me, until I may know what counsel my friends in Spain will advise me to take; and if you will not, then your pleasure be fulfilled.

"Here is to be noted, that the queen in presence of the whole court most grievously accused the cardinal of untruth, deceit, and malice, which had sown dissension betwixt her and the king; and therefore openly protested that she did utterly abhor, refuse, and forsake such a judge, who was not only a malicious enemy to her, but also a manifest adversary to all right and justice: and therewith did she appeal unto the pope, committing her whole cause to be judged of him. With that she arose up, making a low courtesy to the king, and departed. The king, being advertised that she was ready to go out of the house, commanded the crier to call her again; who called, Katharine, queen of England, come into the court. With that quoth master Griffith, Madam, you be called again. On, on, quoth she; it maketh no matter: I will not tarry; go on your ways. And thus she departed, without any further answer at that time, or any other; and never would appear after in any court. The king, perceiving she was departed, said these words in effect: Forasmuch as the queen is gone, I will in her absence declare to you all, that she has been to me as true, as obedient, and as conformable a wife, as I would wish or desire. She hath all the virtuous qualities that ought to be in a woman: she is also surely noble born; her conditions well declare the same.

"With that quoth the cardinal, Sir, I most humbly require your highness to declare before all this audience, whether I have been the chief and first mover of this matter unto your majesty, or no; for I am greatly suspected herein. My lord cardinal, quoth the king, I can well excuse you in this matter; marry, you have been rather against me, than a setter-forward or mover of the same. The special cause that moved me was a scrupulosity that