ACT I.

the Palace.

Enter the Duke of NORFOLK, at one door; at the other, the Duke of BUCKINGHAM, and the Lord ABERGAVENNY.

Buck. Good morrow, and well met. have you done,

Since last we saw in France ?

Nor. I thank your grace :

Healthful; and ever since a fresh admirer
Of what I saw there.

Buck. An untimely ague

How

Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber, when Those suns of glory, those two lights of men, Met in the vale of Arde.

Nor. 'Twixt Guynes and Arde:

I was then present, saw them salute on horse.
back;
[clung
Beheld them, when they lighted, how they
In their embracement, as they grew together;
Which had they, what four thron'd ones could
have weigh'd

Such a compounded one?
Buck. All the whole time
I was my chamber's prisoner.
Nor. Then you lost

The view of earthly glory: Men might say,
Till this time, pomp was single; but now mar-

ried

To one above itself. Each following day
Became the next day's master, till the last
Made former wonders it's: To-day, the French,
All clinquant, † all in gold, like heathen gods,
Shone down the English: and, to-morrow,
they

Made Britain, India: every man that stood
Show'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages

To do in these fierce⚫ vanities? I wonder,
That such a keech can with his very bulk
Take up the rays o' the beneficial sun,
And keep it from the earth.

Nor. Surely, Sir,

There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends:

For being not propp'd by ancestry, (whose

grace

Chalks successors their way,) nor call'd upon For high feats done to the crown; neither allied

To eminent assistance, but, spider-like,
Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note,
The force of his own merit makes his way;
A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys
A place next to the king.
Aber. I cannot tell

[eye What heaven hath given him, let some graver Pierce into that; but I can see his pride Peep through each part of him: Whence has he that?

If not from hell, the devil is a niggard;
Or has given all before, and he begins
A new hell in himself.

Buck. Why the devil,

Upon this French going-out, took he upon him,
Without the privity o' the king, to appoint
Who should attend on him? He makes up the
Of all the gentry for the most part such [file t
Too, whom as great a charge as little honour
He meant to lay upon and his own letter, §
The honourable board of council out,
Must fetch him in the papers.

Aber. I do know

Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have
By this so sicken'd their estates, that never
They shall abound as formerly.

Buck. O many

Have broke their backs with laying manors on

Sir Bevis, created for bis prowess Earl of Southampton by William the Conqueror.

1 Certainly.

Practice.

What his high hatred would effect, wants not
A minister in his power: You know his nature,
That he's revengeful; and I know, his sword
Hath a sharp edge: it's long, and it may be
said

Bran. Here is a warrant from

Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger

Of the duke's confessor, John de la Court,

One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,-

Buck. So, so;

These

And danger serves among them.

K. Hen. Taxation !

Bran. A monk o'the Chartreux.

Buck. O Nicholas Hopkins?

Bran. He.

Buck. My surveyor is false; the o'er-great cardinal

Hath show'd him gold; my life is spann'd * already;

I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;
Whose figure even this instant clouds put on,
By dark'ning my clear sun.-My lord, farewell.
[Excunt.

Of a full-charg'd confederacy, and give thanks
To you that chok'd it.-Let be call'd before us
That gentleman of Buckingham's in person
I'll hear him his confessions justify;

And point by point the treasons of his master
He shall again relate.

The KING takes his state. The Lords of the
Council take their several places. The
CARDINAL places himself under the KING'S
feet on his right side.

A noise within, crying, Room for the Queen. Enter the QUEEN, ushered by the Dukes of NORFOLK and SUFFOLK: she kneels. The KING riseth from his state, takes her up, kisses and places her by him.

Q. Kath Nay, we must longer kneel; I am a

suitor.

K. Hen. Arise, and take place by us :-Half your suit

Never name to us; you have half our power: The other moiety, ere you ask is given;

Repeat your will, and take it.

Q. Kath. Thank your majesty.

dinal,

You that are blam'd for it alike with us,
Know you of this taxation?

Wol. Please you, Sir,

I know but of a single part, in aught

Pertains to the state; and front but in bat file.

Where others tell steps with me.

Q. Kath. No, my lord,

You know no more than others: but you frame Things, that are known alike; which are not wholesome

To those which would not know them, and yet must

Perforce be their acquaintance. These exactions,

Whereof my sovereign would have note, they

are

Most pestilent to the hearing; and, to bear them,

The back is sacrifice to the load. They say,
They are devis'd by you; or else you suffer
Too hard an exclamation.

K. Hen. Still exaction!

The nature of it? In what kind, let's know
Is this exaction?

Q. Kath. I am much too venturous In tempting of your patience; but am bolden'd Under your promis'd pardon. The subject's grief which compel

Comes through commissions,

from each

The sixth part of his substance, to be levied Without delay; and the pretence for this, Is nam'd your wars in France: This makes bold mouths : Tongues spit their duties out, and cold hearts freeze

Allegiance in them; their curses now, Live where their prayers did; and it's come to pass,

That tractable obedience is a slave

To each incensed will. I would, your highness
Would give it quick consideration, for
There is no primer business.

K. Hen. By my life,
This is against our pleasure.

Wol. And for me,

I have no farther gone in this, than by

heart

Of all their loyalties:-wherein, although,
My good lord cardinal, they vent reproaches
Most bitterly on you, as putter-on

Of these exactions, yet the king our master,
(Whose honour heaven shield from soil! even
he escapes not

Language unmannerly, yea, such which breaks
The sides of loyalty, and almost appears
In loud rebellion.

Nor. Not almost appears.

It doth appear; for, upon these taxations,
The clothiers all, not able to maintain
The many to them 'longing, have put off
The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who,

As he made semblance of his duty, would·
Have put his knife into him.

K. Hen. A giant traitor!

Wol. Now, madam, may his highness live in freedom,

And this man out of prison?

Q. Kath. God mend all!

K. Hen. There's something more would out of thee; What say'st?

Surv. After the duke his father,-with the knife,

He stretch'd him, and, with one hand on his dagger,

Another spread on his breast, mounting his eyes,
He did discharge a horrible oath; whose tenour
Was,-Were be evil us'd, he would outgo
His father, by as much as a performance
Does an irresolute purpose.

K. Hen. There's his period,

He is attach'd ;

To sheath his knife in us.

ones;

For when they hold them, you would swear directly,

Their very noses had been counsellors
To Pepin, or Clotharius, they keep state so.
Sands. They have all new legs, and lame
ones; one would take it,

That never saw them pace before, the spavin,
A springhalt + reign'd among them.

Cham. Death! my lord,

Their clothes are after such a pagan cut too, That, sure, they have worn out Christendom. How now?

What news, Sir Thomas Lovell?

Enter Sir THOMAS LOVELL.

Lov. 'Faith, my lord,

I hear of none but the new proclamation
That's clapp'd upon the court-gate.

Cham. What is't for?

Lou. The reformation of our travell'd gallants,

That fill the court with quarrels, talk, and tailors.

Cham. I am glad, 'tis there; now I would pray our monsieurs

To think an English courtier may be wise,
And never see the Louvre. ‡

Lov. They must either

(For so run the conditions,) leave these remnants

Of fool and feather, that they got in France, With all their honourable points of ignorance, Pertaining thereunto, (as fights, and fireworks; Abusing better men than they can be,

Out of a foreign wisdom,) renouncing clean The faith they have in tennis, and tall stockings,

Short blister'd breeches, and those types of travel,

And understand again like honest men; Or pack to their old playfellows: there I take it,

And have an hour of hearing; and, by'r-lady,
Held current music too.

Cham. Well said, lord Sands;

Your colt's tooth is not cast yet.
Sands, No, my lord;

Nor shall not, while I have a stump.
Cham, Sir Thomas,

Whither were you a-going?

Lov. To the cardinal's ;
Your lordship is a guest too.
Cham. Oh! 'tis true;

This night he makes a supper, and a great ɔne,
To many lords and ladies; there will be
The beauty of this kingdom, I'll assure you.
Lov. That churchman bears a bounteous mind
indeed,

A hand as fruitful as the land that feeds us :
His dews fall every where.

Cham. No doubt, he's noble ;

He had a black mouth that said other of him. Sands. He may, my lord, he has wherewithal; in him,

Sparing would show a worse sin than ill doctrine :

Men of his way should be most liberal,
They are set here for examples.

Cham. True, they are so ;

But few now give so great ones. My barge stays; +

Your lordship shall along :-Come, good Sir
Thomas,

We shall be late else, which I would not be.
For I was spoke to, with Sir Henry Guildford,
This night to be comptrollers.
Sands. I am your lordship's.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-The Presence-Chamber in York

Place.

Hautboys. A small table under a state for the CARDINAL, a longer table for the guests. Enter at one door ANNE BULLEN, und divers Lords, Ladies, and Gentlewomen, as guests; at another door, enter Sir HENRY GUILDFORD.

Guild. Ladies, a general welcome from his grace

Salutes ye all: This night he dedicates

To fair content and you: none here, he hopes, In all this noble bevy, has brought with her One care abroad; he would have all as merry As first-good, company, good wine, good wel.