Henry VIII by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 1
A street in Westminster.
First Gentleman : You're well met once again.
Second Gentleman : So are you.
First Gentleman : You come to take your stand here, and behold
[p]The Lady Anne pass
from her coronation?
Second Gentleman : 'Tis all my business. At our last encounter,
[p]The Duke of Buckingham
came from his trial.
First Gentleman : 'Tis very true: but that time offer'd sorrow;
[p]This, general joy.
Second Gentleman : 'Tis well: the citizens,
[p]I am sure, have shown at full their royal
minds--
[p]As, let 'em have their rights, they are ever
forward--
[p]In celebration of this day with shows,
[p]Pageants and
sights of honour.
First Gentleman : Never greater,
[p]Nor, I'll assure you, better taken, sir.
Second Gentleman : May I be bold to ask at what that contains,
[p]That paper in your
hand?
First Gentleman : Yes; 'tis the list
[p]Of those that claim their offices this day
[p]By
custom of the coronation.
[p]The Duke of Suffolk is the first, and
claims
[p]To be high-steward; next, the Duke of Norfolk,
[p]He to be
earl marshal: you may read the rest.
Second Gentleman : I thank you, sir: had I not known those customs,
[p]I should have been
beholding to your paper.
[p]But, I beseech you, what's become of
Katharine,
[p]The princess dowager? how goes her business?
First Gentleman : That I can tell you too. The Archbishop
[p]Of Canterbury, accompanied
with other
[p]Learned and reverend fathers of his order,
[p]Held a
late court at Dunstable, six miles off
[p]From Ampthill where the
princess lay; to which
[p]She was often cited by them, but appear'd
not:
[p]And, to be short, for not appearance and
[p]The king's late
scruple, by the main assent
[p]Of all these learned men she was
divorced,
[p]And the late marriage made of none effect
[p]Since which
she was removed to Kimbolton,
[p]Where she remains now sick.
Second Gentleman : Alas, good lady!
[p][Trumpets]
[p]The trumpets sound: stand close, the
queen is coming.
[p][Hautboys]
[p][THE ORDER OF THE CORONATION]
[p]1.
A lively flourish of Trumpets.
[p]2. Then, two Judges.
[p]3. Lord
Chancellor, with the purse and mace
[p]before him.
[p]4. Choristers,
singing.
[p][Music]
[p]5. Mayor of London, bearing the mace.
Then
[p]Garter, in his coat of arms, and on his
[p]head a gilt copper
crown.
[p]6. Marquess Dorset, bearing a sceptre of gold,
[p]on his
head a demi-coronal of gold. With
[p]him, SURREY, bearing the rod of
silver with
[p]the dove, crowned with an earl's coronet.
[p]Collars of
SS.
[p]7. SUFFOLK, in his robe of estate, his coronet
[p]on his head,
bearing a long white wand, as
[p]high-steward. With him, NORFOLK, with
the
[p]rod of marshalship, a coronet on his head.
[p]Collars of
SS.
[p]8. A canopy borne by four of the Cinque-ports;
[p]under it,
QUEEN ANNE in her robe; in her hair
[p]richly adorned with pearl,
crowned. On each
[p]side her, the Bishops of London
and
[p]Winchester.
[p]9. The old Duchess of Norfolk, in a coronal
of
[p]gold, wrought with flowers, bearing QUEEN
[p]ANNE's
train.
[p]10. Certain Ladies or Countesses, with plain
[p]circlets of
gold without flowers.
Second Gentleman : A royal train, believe me. These I know:
[p]Who's that that bears the
sceptre?
First Gentleman : Marquess Dorset:
[p]And that the Earl of Surrey, with the rod.
Second Gentleman : A bold brave gentleman. That should be
[p]The Duke of Suffolk?
First Gentleman : 'Tis the same: high-steward.
Second Gentleman : And that my Lord of Norfolk?
First Gentleman : Yes;
Second Gentleman : Heaven bless thee!
[p][Looking on QUEEN ANNE]
[p]Thou hast the
sweetest face I ever look'd on.
[p]Sir, as I have a soul, she is an
angel;
[p]Our king has all the Indies in his arms,
[p]And more and
richer, when he strains that lady:
[p]I cannot blame his conscience.
First Gentleman : They that bear
[p]The cloth of honour over her, are four barons
[p]Of
the Cinque-ports.
Second Gentleman : Those men are happy; and so are all are near her.
[p]I take it, she
that carries up the train
[p]Is that old noble lady, Duchess of
Norfolk.
First Gentleman : It is; and all the rest are countesses.
Second Gentleman : Their coronets say so. These are stars indeed;
[p]And sometimes
falling ones.
First Gentleman : No more of that.
First Gentleman : God save you, sir! where have you been broiling?
Third Gentleman : Among the crowd i' the Abbey; where a finger
[p]Could not be wedged in
more: I am stifled
[p]With the mere rankness of their joy.
Second Gentleman : You saw
[p]The ceremony?
Third Gentleman : That I did.
First Gentleman : How was it?
Third Gentleman : Well worth the seeing.
Second Gentleman : Good sir, speak it to us.
Third Gentleman : As well as I am able. The rich stream
[p]Of lords and ladies, having
brought the queen
[p]To a prepared place in the choir, fell off
[p]A
distance from her; while her grace sat down
[p]To rest awhile, some
half an hour or so,
[p]In a rich chair of state, opposing
freely
[p]The beauty of her person to the people.
[p]Believe me, sir,
she is the goodliest woman
[p]That ever lay by man: which when the
people
[p]Had the full view of, such a noise arose
[p]As the shrouds
make at sea in a stiff tempest,
[p]As loud, and to as many tunes:
hats, cloaks--
[p]Doublets, I think,--flew up; and had their
faces
[p]Been loose, this day they had been lost. Such joy
[p]I never
saw before. Great-bellied women,
[p]That had not half a week to go,
like rams
[p]In the old time of war, would shake the press,
[p]And
make 'em reel before 'em. No man living
[p]Could say 'This is my wife'
there; all were woven
[p]So strangely in one piece.
Second Gentleman : But, what follow'd?
Third Gentleman : At length her grace rose, and with modest paces
[p]Came to the altar;
where she kneel'd, and saint-like
[p]Cast her fair eyes to heaven and
pray'd devoutly.
[p]Then rose again and bow'd her to the
people:
[p]When by the Archbishop of Canterbury
[p]She had all the
royal makings of a queen;
[p]As holy oil, Edward Confessor's
crown,
[p]The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems
[p]Laid
nobly on her: which perform'd, the choir,
[p]With all the choicest
music of the kingdom,
[p]Together sung 'Te Deum.' So she
parted,
[p]And with the same full state paced back again
[p]To
York-place, where the feast is held.
First Gentleman : Sir,
[p]You must no more call it York-place, that's past;
[p]For,
since the cardinal fell, that title's lost:
[p]'Tis now the king's,
and call'd Whitehall.
Third Gentleman : I know it;
[p]But 'tis so lately alter'd, that the old name
[p]Is
fresh about me.
Second Gentleman : What two reverend bishops
[p]Were those that went on each side of the
queen?
Third Gentleman : Stokesly and Gardiner; the one of Winchester,
[p]Newly preferr'd from
the king's secretary,
[p]The other, London.
Second Gentleman : He of Winchester
[p]Is held no great good lover of the
archbishop's,
[p]The virtuous Cranmer.
Third Gentleman : All the land knows that:
[p]However, yet there is no great breach;
when it comes,
[p]Cranmer will find a friend will not shrink from
him.
Second Gentleman : Who may that be, I pray you?
Third Gentleman : Thomas Cromwell;
[p]A man in much esteem with the king, and truly
[p]A
worthy friend. The king has made him master
[p]O' the jewel
house,
[p]And one, already, of the privy council.
Second Gentleman : He will deserve more.
Third Gentleman : Yes, without all doubt.
[p]Come, gentlemen, ye shall go my way,
which
[p]Is to the court, and there ye shall be my
guests:
[p]Something I can command. As I walk thither,
[p]I'll tell ye
more.
Both : You may command us, sir.
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