King John & Henry VIII (42 page)

    That paper in your hand?

FIRST GENTLEMAN
    Yes, ’tis the list

    Of those that claim their offices this day

    By custom of the coronation.

    The Duke of Suffolk is the first, and claims

    To be
High Steward
²²
: next, the Duke of Norfolk,

    He to be
Earl Marshal
²³
: you may read the rest.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    I thank you, sir: had I not known those customs,

    I should have been
beholding
²⁵
to your paper:

    But I beseech you, what’s become of Katherine,

    The Princess Dowager? How goes her business?

FIRST GENTLEMAN
    That I can tell you too. The Archbishop

    Of Canterbury, accompanied with other

    Learnèd and reverend fathers of his
order
³⁰
,

    Held a
late
³¹
court at Dunstable, six miles off

    From
Ampthill
, where the princess
lay
³²
: to which

    She was often
cited
³³
by them, but appeared not:

    And, to be
short
³⁴
, for not appearance and

    The king’s
late scruple
, by the
main assent
³⁵

    Of all these learnèd men she was divorced,

    And the late marriage made
of none effect
³⁷
,

    Since which she was removed to
Kimbolton
³⁸
,

    Where she remains now sick.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    Alas, good lady.

    The trumpets sound: stand
close
⁴¹
, the queen is coming.

    
1. A lively
flourish
^41.1
of Trumpets
.

    
2. Then
, [
Enter
]
two Judges
.

    
3. Lord Chancellor, with purse and mace before him
.

    
4. Choristers, singing. Music
[
being played by musicians
].

    
5. Mayor of London, bearing the mace. Then
Garter
^41.2
, in his coat of arms, and on his head he wore a gilt copper crown
.

    
6. Marquis Dorset, bearing a sceptre of gold, on his head a
demi-coronal
of gold. With him, the Earl of Surrey, bearing the rod of silver with the
dove
^41.4
, crowned with an earl’s coronet. Collars of esses
.

    
7. Duke of Suffolk, in his robe of
estate
, his coronet on his head, bearing a long white wand, as High Steward. With him, the Duke of Norfolk, with the rod of marshalship, a coronet on his head.
Collars of esses
^41.5
.

    
8. A canopy, borne by four
[
Barons
]
of the
Cinque Ports
, under it the Queen
[
Anne
]
in her robe,
in her hair
^41.8
, richly adorned with pearl, crowned. On each side her, the Bishops of London and Winchester
.

    
9. The old Duchess of Norfolk, in a
coronal
of gold, wrought with flowers, bearing the Queen’s
train
^41.10
.

    
10. Certain Ladies or Countesses, with plain circlets of gold without flowers
.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    A royal
train
⁴²
, believe me: these I know.

    Who’s that that bears the sceptre?

FIRST GENTLEMAN
    Marquis Dorset,

    And that the Earl of Surrey, with the rod.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    A bold brave gentleman. That
should
⁴⁶
be

    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!

    Thou hast the sweetest face I ever looked on.—

    Sir, as I have a soul, she is an angel:

    Our king has all the
Indies
⁵⁴
in his arms,

    And more, and richer, when he
strains
⁵⁵
that lady:

    I cannot blame his
conscience
⁵⁶
.

FIRST GENTLEMAN
    They that bear

    The
cloth of honour
⁵⁸
over her, are four barons

    Of the
Cinque Ports
⁵⁹
.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    Those men are happy,

    And so are all are near her.

    I take it she that carries up the train

    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,

    And sometimes
falling
⁶⁶
ones.

FIRST GENTLEMAN
    No more of that.

    
Enter a Third Gentleman

FIRST GENTLEMAN
    God save you, sir. Where have you been
broiling
⁶⁸
?

THIRD GENTLEMAN
    Among the crowd
i’th’Abbey
, where a
finger
⁶⁹

    Could not be wedged in more: I am stifled

    With the
mere
rankness
⁷¹
of their joy.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    You saw

    The ceremony?

THIRD GENTLEMAN
    That I did.

FIRST GENTLEMAN
    How was it?

THIRD GENTLEMAN
    Well worth the seeing.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    Good sir,
speak
⁷⁷
it to us.

THIRD GENTLEMAN
    As well as I am able. The rich stream

    Of lords and ladies, having brought the queen

    To a prepared place in the choir,
fell off
⁸⁰

    A distance from her, while her grace sat down

    To rest a while, some half an hour or so,

    In a rich chair of state,
opposing
⁸³
freely

    The beauty of her person to the people.

    Believe me, sir, she is the
goodliest
⁸⁵
woman

    That ever lay by man: which when the people

    Had the full view of, such a noise
arose
⁸⁷

    As the
shrouds
make at sea in a
stiff
⁸⁸
tempest,

    As loud, and to as many tunes. Hats, cloaks —

    
Doublets
⁹⁰
, I think — flew up, and had their faces

    Been loose, this day they had been lost. Such joy

    I never saw before.
Great-bellied
⁹²
women,

    That had not half a week to go, like
rams
⁹³

    In the old time of war, would shake the
press
⁹⁴

    And make ’em reel before ’em. No man living

    Could say ‘This is my wife’ there, all were woven

    So strangely in one piece.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    But, what followed?

THIRD GENTLEMAN
    At length her grace rose, and with modest paces

    Came to the altar, where she kneeled, and saint-like

    Cast her fair eyes to heaven and prayed devoutly.

    
Then rose again and bowed her to the people:

    When by the Archbishop of Canterbury

    She had all the
royal makings
¹⁰⁴
of a queen,

    
As
¹⁰⁵
holy oil, Edward Confessor’s crown,

    The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems

    Laid nobly on her: which performed, the choir,

    With all the choicest
music
¹⁰⁸
of the kingdom,

    Together sung
Te Deum
. So she
parted
¹⁰⁹
,

    And with the same full
state
¹¹⁰
paced back again

    To York Place, where the feast is held.

FIRST GENTLEMAN
    Sir,

    You must no more call it York Place, that’s past:

    For, since the cardinal fell, that title’s lost:

    ’Tis now the king’s, and called Whitehall.

THIRD GENTLEMAN
    I know it;

    But ’tis so
lately
¹¹⁷
altered, that the old name

    Is fresh about me.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    What two reverend bishops

    Were those that went on each side of the queen?

THIRD GENTLEMAN
    Stokesley and Gardiner,
the one
¹²¹
of Winchester,

    Newly
preferred
¹²²
from the king’s secretary:

    The other, London.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    He of Winchester

    Is held no great good lover of the archbishop’s,

    The virtuous Cranmer.

THIRD GENTLEMAN
    All the land knows that:

    However, yet there is no great breach: when it comes,

    Cranmer
will
¹²⁹
find a friend will not shrink from him.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    Who may that be, I pray you?

THIRD GENTLEMAN
    Thomas Cromwell;

    A man in much esteem with th’king, and truly

    A worthy friend. The king has made him

    
Master o’th’Jewel House
¹³⁴
,

    And one already of the Privy Council.

SECOND GENTLEMAN
    He will deserve more.

THIRD GENTLEMAN
    Yes, without all doubt.

    Come, gentlemen, ye shall go my way,

    Which is to th’court, and there ye shall be my guests:

    
Something I can command
¹⁴⁰
. As I walk thither,

    I’ll tell ye more.

FIRST
and
SECOND GENTLEMEN
    You may command us, sir.

GRIFFITH
    How does your grace?

KATHERINE
    O Griffith, sick to death:

    My legs like
loaden
³
branches, bow to th’earth,

    Willing to leave their burden. Reach a chair:

    So now, methinks, I feel a little ease.

    Didst thou not tell me, Griffith, as thou led’st me,

    That the great child of honour, Cardinal Wolsey, was dead?

GRIFFITH
    Yes, madam, but I think your grace,

    Out of the pain you suffered, gave no ear to’t.

KATHERINE
    Prithee, good Griffith, tell me how he died.

    If well, he stepped before me
happily
¹¹

    For my example.

GRIFFITH
    Well, the
voice
¹³
goes, madam:

    For after the
stout
¹⁴
Earl Northumberland

    Arrested him at York, and
brought him forward
¹⁵
,

    As a man sorely
tainted
, to his
answer
¹⁶
,

    He fell sick suddenly, and grew so ill

    He could not
sit
¹⁸
his mule.

KATHERINE
    Alas, poor man.

GRIFFITH
    At last, with easy
roads
, he came to
Leicester
²⁰
,

    Lodged in the abbey, where the reverend abbot,

    With all his
convent
²²
, honourably received him,

    To whom he gave these words: ‘O father abbot,

    An old man, broken with the storms of state,

    Is come to lay his weary bones among ye:

    Give him a
little earth
²⁶
for charity.’

    So went to bed, where
eagerly
²⁷
his sickness

    Pursued him still: and three nights after this,

    About the hour of eight, which he himself

    Foretold should be his last, full of repentance,

    Continual meditations, tears, and sorrows,

    He gave his honours to the world again,

    His
blessèd part
³³
to heaven, and slept in peace.