Cham. Because they speak no English, thus they pray'd To tell your grace: Of this so noble and so fair assembly This night to meet here, they could do no less, An hour of revels with them. Wol. Say, lord chamberlain, They have done my poor house grace; for which I pay 'em The A thousand thanks, and pray 'em take their pleasures. [Ladies chosen for the Dance. King chooses ANNE BOLEYN. King. The fairest hand I ever touch'd! beauty! Till now I never knew thee." [Music. Dance. standing of this banket, where was assembled such a number of excellent dames, could do no lesse under support of your grace, but to repaire hither, to view as well their incomparable beautie, as to accompanie them at mum-chance, and then to danse with them." H. 5 This incident of the king's dancing with Anne Boleyn did not occur during the banquet at York-House, but is judiciously introduced here from another occasion. Which occasion was a grand entertainment given by the king at Greenwich, May 5, 1527, to the French ambassadors who had come to negotiate a marriage between their king, Francis I., or his son, the duke of Orleans, and the Princess Mary. First a grand tournament was held, and three hundred lances broken; then came a course of songs and dances. About midnight, the king, the ambassadors, and six others withdrew, disguised themselves as Venetian noblemen, returned, and took out ladies to dance, the king having Anne Boleyn for his partner. As Holinshed says nothing about this matter, the Poet probably derived it from Hall or Cavendish, who give detailed accounts of it. The latter thus describes the impression made by the queen and her ladies: "They seemed to all men to be rather celestial angels descended from heaven than flesh and bone. Surely, to me, simple soul, it was inestimable." R. Wol. My lord, Cham. Wol. Your grace? Pray, tell 'em thus much from me: There should be one amongst 'em, by his person, More worthy this place than myself; to whom, If I but knew him, with my love and duty Wol. What say they? Cham. Such a one, they all confess, There is indeed; which they would have your grace Find out, and he will take it. Wol. [Coming from his state.] Let me see then.— By all your good leaves, gentlemen, here I'll make My royal choice. King. [Unmasking.] You have found him, car dinal. You hold a fair assembly; you do well, lord: 6 That is, waggishly, or mischievously. Shakespeare often uses unhappy and its derivatives in this sense. See Much Ado about Nothing, Act ii. sc. 1, note 21.- From the account of this passage, as given by Cavendish and copied by Holinshed, it will be seen that the Poet took a little freedom here with fact: "Then quoth the cardinall to the lord chamberlaine, I pray you, shew them that mescemeth there should be a nobleman amongst them, who is more meet to occupie this seat than I am; to whome I would most gladlie surrender the same, if I knew him. Then spake the lord chamberlaine to them in French, and, they rounding him in the eare, said, Sir, they confesse that among them there is such a noble personage, whom if your grace can appoint out from the rest, he is content to disclose himselfe, and to accept your place. Taking good advisement among them, at the last quoth he, meseemeth the gentleman with the blacke beard should be even he; and with that he arose out of his chaire, and offered the same to the gentleman in the blacke beard. The person was Sir Edward Nevill, a come Wol. I am glad Your grace is grown so pleasant. King. My lord chamberlain, Pr'ythee, come hither: What fair lady's that? Cham. An't please your grace, Sir Thomas Boleyn's daughter,— The Viscount Rochford, - -one of her highness' women. King. By Heaven, she is a dainty one.-Sweet heart, I were unmannerly to take you out, And not to kiss you.'-A health, gentlemen! Wol. Sir Thomas Lovell, is the banquet ready I' the privy chamber? Lov. Wol. Yes, my lord. Your grace, I fear, with dancing is a little heated. Wol. In the next chamber. There's fresher air, my lord, lie knight, that much more resembled the kings person in that maske than anie other. The king, perceiving the cardinall so de ceived, could not forbeare laughing, but pulled downe his visar and master Nevills also, and dashed out such a pleasant countenance and cheere, that all the noble estates there assembled, perceiving the king to be among them, rejoised verie much." H. 7 A kiss was anciently the established fee of a lady's partner. Thus in A Dialogue between Custom and Veritie, concerning the Use and Abuse of Dauncing and Minstrelsie: "But some reply, what foole would daunce, If that when daunce is doon He may not have at ladyes lips That which in daunce he woon." 8 According to Cavendish, the king, on discovering himself, being desired by Wolsey to take his place under the state or seat of honour, said that he would go first and shift his apparel, and King. Lead in your ladies, every one.— partner, Sweet I must not yet forsake you. —Let's be merry, To lead 'em once again; and then let's dream E'en to the hall, to hear what shall become Of the great duke of Buckingham. 1 so departed, and went straight into my lord's bedchamber, where a great fire was made and prepared for him, and there new ap parelled him with rich and princely garments. And in the time of the king's absence the dishes of the banquet were cleane taken up, and the tables spread with new and sweet perfumed cloths. Then the king took his seat under the cloth of estate, commanding no man to remove, but set still as they did before. Then in came a new banquet before the king's majesty, and to all the rest through the tables, wherein, I suppose were served two hundred dishes or above. Thus passed they forth the whole night with banquetting." 9 The use of this phrase for "let the music play," probably sprung from beating time, as beating the drum. Thus in Antonio and Mellida : "Fla. Faith, the song will seem to come off hardly. Catz. Troth, not a whit, if you seem to come off quickly 1 Gent. I'll save you That labour, sir. All's now done, but the cere Is he found guilty? 1 Gent. Yes, truly is he, and condemn'd upon it. 2 Gent. I am sorry for't. So are a number more. 1 Gent. 2 Gent. But, pray, how pass'd it? 1 Gent. I'll tell you in a little. The great duke Came to the bar; where to his accusations He pleaded still not guilty, and alleg'd Many sharp reasons to defeat the law. The king's attorney, on the contrary, Urg'd on the examinations, proofs, confessions Of divers witnesses, which the duke desir'd To have brought, viva voce, to his face; At which appear'd against him his surveyor, Hopkins, that made this mischief. 2 Gent. That fed him with his prophecies ? 1 Gent. That was he The same. All these accus'd him strongly; which he fain Would have flung from him, but, indeed, he could not: And so his peers, upon this evidence, Much |