No friends, no hope, no kindred weep for me.
Almost no grave allow'd me. -Like the lily,

That once was mistress of the field, and flourish'd, I'll hang my head, and perish.

If your grace

Wol. Could but be brought to know our ends are honest, You'd feel more comfort. Why should we, good lady,

Upon what cause, wrong you? Alas! our places,
The way of our profession is against it:

We are to cure such sorrows, not to sow them.
For goodness' sake consider what you do;
How you may hurt yourself, ay, utterly

Grow from the king's acquaintance, by this carriage.
The hearts of princes kiss obedience,

8

So much they love it; but to stubborn spirits
They swell, and grow as terrible as storms.
I know you have a gentle, noble temper,
A soul as even as a calm: pray, think us
Those we profess, peace-makers, friends, and ser-

vants.

Cam. Madam, you'll find it so.

virtues

You wrong your

With these weak women's fears: a noble spirit,
As yours was put into you, ever casts

Such doubts, as false coin, from it. The king loves

you;

Beware you lose it not: For us, if you please
To trust us in your business, we are ready
To use our utmost studies in your service.

8 It was one of the charges brought against Lord Essex, that in a letter written during his retirement in 1598 to the lord keeper, he had said, "There is no tempest to the passionate indignation of a prince."

Kath. Do what ye will, my lords; and, pray,

forgive me,

If I have us'd myself unmannerly:

You know, I am a woman, lacking wit

To make a seemly answer to such persons.
Pray, do my service to his majesty:

He has my heart yet, and shall have my prayers,
While I shall have my life. Come, reverend fathers;
Bestow your counsels on me: she now begs,
That little thought, when she set footing here,
She should have bought her dignities so dear.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

Antechamber to the King's Apartment.

Enter the Duke of NORFOLK, the Duke of SUFFOlk, the Earl of SURREY, and the Lord Chamberlain.

Nor. If you will now unite in your complaints,
And force' them with a constancy, the cardinal
Cannot stand under them: if you omit
The offer of this time, I cannot promise,
But that you shall sustain more new disgraces,
With these you bear already.

Sur.
I am joyful
To meet the least occasion, that may give me
Remembrance of my father-in-law, the duke,
To be reveng'd on him.

Suf.

Which of the peers

Have uncontemn'd gone by him, or at least
Strangely neglected? when did he regard

Force

enforce, urge.

* Of course, the force of not implied in uncontemn'd extends ver strangely neglected.

The stamp of nobleness in any person,
Out of himself?

Cham. My lords, you speak your pleasures :
What he deserves of you and me, I know;
What we can do to him, (though now the time
Gives way to us,) I much fear. If you cannot
Bar his access to the king, never attempt

Any thing on him; for he hath a witchcraft
Over the king in 's tongue.

Nor.

O! fear him not;

His spell in that is out: the king hath found
Matter against him, that for ever mars

The honey of his language.

No, he's settled,

Sir,

Not to come off, in his displeasure.

Sur.

I should be glad to hear such news as this

Once every hour.

Nor.

Believe it, this is true.

In the divorce his contrary proceedings

Are all unfolded; wherein he appears

As I could wish mine enemy.

pope

miscarried,

Suf. The cardinal's letter to the

And came to the eye o'the king; wherein was read

How that the cardinal did intreat his holiness

To stay the judgment o'the divorce: for if
It did take place, "I do," quoth he, "perceive
My king is tangled in affection to

A creature of the queen's, lady Anne Boleyn.”
Sur. Has the king this?

Suf.

Sur

Believe it.

Will this work?

Cham. The king in this perceives him, how he

coasts

3

And hedges his own way. But in this point
All his tricks founder, and he brings his physic
After his patient's death: the king already
Hath married the fair lady."

Sur.

'Would he had!

Suf. May you be happy in your wish, my lord! For, I profess, you have it.

Suf. There's order given for her coronation :
Marry, this is yet but young, and may be left
To some ears unrecounted. But, my lords,
She is a gallant creature, and complete
In mind and feature: I persuade me, from her
Will fall some blessing to this land, which shall
In it be memoriz'd."

3 To coast is to hover about, to pursue a sidelong course about a thing. To hedge is to creep along by the hedge, not to take the direct and open path, but to steal covertly through circumvolutions.

4 The date commonly assigned for the marriage of Henry and Anne is November 14, 1532; at which time they set sail together from Calais, the king having been on a visit to his royal brother of France. Lingard, following Godwin, Stowe, and Cranmer, says they were privately married the 25th of January, 1533, and that the former date was assigned in order to afford the proper space between their marriage and the birth of Elizabeth, which latter event took place the 7th of September following. The marriage was to have been kept secret till May; but the manifest makingready of Anne to become a mother forced on a public acknowledgment of it early in April.

H.

5 To trace is to follow. The original has, -"Now all my joy." The happy emendation is from Collier's newly-discovered folio of 1632. It seems to need no voucher but itself.

6 To memorize is to make memorable.

H.

Is stolen away to Rome; hath ta'en no leave ;
Has left the cause o'the king unhandled; and
Is posted, as the agent of our cardinal,

To second all this plot. I do assure you
The king cried ha! at this.

Suf. He is return'd, in his opinions,' which
Have satisfied the king for his divorce,
Together with all famous colleges
Almost in Christendom. Shortly, I believe,
His second marriage shall be publish'd, and
Her coronation. Katharine no more
Shall be call'd queen, but princess dowager,
And widow to Prince Arthur.

Nor.

This same Cranmer's

A worthy fellow, and hath ta'en much pain

In the king's business.

Suf.

For it an archbishop.

Nor.

He has; and we shall see him

So I hear.

7 Cranmer, then one of the king's chaplains, had been on 1 special mission to advocate the divorce at Rome, and to collect the opinions of learned canonists and divines in Italy and elsewhere. Doubtless these are the opinions meant in the text. The using of in for with has occasioned some doubt as to what was meant by opinions.

II.