His honour, and the greatness of his name Shall be, and make new nations. He fhall flourish, King. Thou fpeakest wonders.] Cran. She fhall be, to the happiness of England, An aged princess; many days fhall see her, And yet no day without a deed to crown it. 'Would I had known no more! but she must die, She muft, the faints must have her; yet a virgin, A most unspotted lily the fhall pass To the ground, and all the world shall mourn her. Thou haft made me now a man; never, before That, when I am in heaven, I shall defire To see what this child does, and praise my Maker.— I thank ye all. To you, my good lord mayor, And your good brethren, I am much beholden; I have receiv'd much honour by your prefence, And ye shall find me thankful. Lead the way, lords; Ye must all fee the queen, and fhe muft thank ye, She will be fick elfe. This day, no man think, He has business at his houfe, for all shall stay; This little one fhall make it holy day. And you good brethren, [Exeunt. -] But the aldermen were never called brethren to the king. The top of the nobility are but coufins and counsellors. Dr. Thirlby, therefore, rightly advised; And your good brethren i. e. the lord mayor's brethren; which is properly their style. THEOBALD. THE THE play of Henry the Eighth is one of thofe, which still keeps poffeffion of the stage, by the fplendour 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 forrows and virtuous distress of Catherine have furnished fome fcenes, which may be justly numbered among the greatest efforts of tragedy. But the genius of Shakespeare comes in and goes out with Catherine. Every other part may be eafily conceived and eafily written. JOHNSON. not by your EPI EPILOGUE. "T IS ten to one, this play can never please All that are bere. Some come to take their cafe, And fleep an act or two; but those, we fear, We have frighted with our trumpets: fo'tis clear, They'll fay it's naught: Others, to hear the city Abus'd extremely, and to cry, That's witty! Which we have not done neither; that, I fear, All the expected good we are like to hear For this play at this time, is only in The merciful conftruction of good women ; For fuch a one we fhew'd 'em. If they fmile, And fay, 'twill do; I know within a while All the best men are ours; for 'tis ill hap, If they bold, when their ladies bid 'em clap. In the character of Catharine. Though it is very difficult to decide whether fhort pieces be genuine or fpurious, yet I cannot reftrain myself from expreffing my fufpicion that neither the prologue nor epilogue to this play is the work of Shakespeare; non vultus, non color. It appears to me very likely that they were fupplied by the friendship or officioulness of Jonfon, whofe manner they will be perhaps found exactly to refemble. There is yet another fuppofition poffible: the prologue and epilogue may have been written after Shakefpeare's departure from the stage, upon fome accidental revifal of the play, and there will then be reafon for imagining that the writer, whoever he was, intended no great kindnefs to him, this play being recommended by a fubtle and covert cenfure of his other works. There is in Shakespeare fo much of fool and fight, -the fellow In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow, appears fo often in his drama, that I think it not very likely that he would have animadverted fo feverely on himfelf. All this, however, must be received as very dubious, fince we know not the exact date of this or the other plays, and cannot tell how our authour might have changed his practice or opinions. JOHNSON. In fupport of Dr. Johnfon's opinion, I cannot refrain from quoting the following lines from old Ben's prologue to his Every Man in bis Humour. To make a child now fwaddled, to proceed Man, and then foot up, in one beard and weed THE hiftorical dramas are now concluded, of which the two parts of Henry the Fourth, and Henry the Fifth, are among the happiest of our author's compofitions; and King John, Richard the Third, and Henry the Eighth, defervedly ftand in the fecond clafs. Those whofe curiofity would refer the hiftorcal scenes to their original, may confult Hollinfhead, and fometimes Hall: from Hollinfhead Shakespeare has often inferted whole speeches with no more alteration than was necessary to the numbers of his verfe. To tranfcribe them into the margin was unneceffary, because the original is eafily examined, and they are feldom less perfpicuous in the poet than in the historian. To play hiftories, or to exhibit a fucceffion of events by action and dialogue, was a common entertainment among our rude anceftors upon great feftivities. The parish clerks once performed at Clerkenwell a play which lafted three days, containing, The Hiftory of the World. JOHNSON. |