William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (577 page)

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Authors: William Shakespeare

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CROMWELL ⌈
weeping
⌉

O, my lord,

Must I then leave you? Must I needs forgo
So good, so noble, and so true a master?
Bear witness, all that have not hearts of iron,
With what a sorrow Cromwell leaves his lord.
The King shall have my service, but my prayers
For ever and for ever shall be yours.

CARDINAL WOLSEY (
weeping
)

Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
In all my miseries, but thou hast forced me,
Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman.
Let’s dry our eyes, and thus far hear me, Cromwell,
And when I am forgotten, as I shall be,
And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of, say I taught thee—
Say Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour,
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in,
A sure and safe one, though thy master missed it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruined me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition.
By that sin fell the angels. How can man, then,
The image of his maker, hope to win by it?
Love thyself last. Cherish those hearts that hate thee.
Corruption wins not more than honesty.
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace
To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not.
Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s,
Thy God’s, and truth’s. Then if thou fall’st, O
Cromwell,
Thou fall‘st a blessed martyr.
Serve the King. And prithee, lead me in—
There take an inventory of all I have:
To the last penny ’tis the King’s. My robe,
And my integrity to heaven, is all
I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell,
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my King, He would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

CROMWELL

Good sir, have patience.

CARDINAL WOLSEY So I have. Farewell

The hopes of court; my hopes in heaven do dwell.

Exeunt

4.1
Enter the two Gentlemen meeting one another. The first holds a paper

FIRST GENTLEMAN

You’re well met once again.

SECOND GENTLEMAN

So are you.

FIRST GENTLEMAN

You come to take your stand here and behold
The Lady Anne pass from her coronation?

SECOND GENTLEMAN

’Tis all my business. At our last encounter
The Duke of Buckingham came from his trial.

FIRST GENTLEMAN

’Tis very true. But that time offered sorrow,
This, general joy.

SECOND GENTLEMAN ’Tis well. The citizens,

I am sure, have shown at full their royal minds—
As, let ’em have their rights, they are ever forward—
In celebration of this day with shows,
Pageants, and sights of honour.

FIRST GENTLEMAN

Never greater,

Nor, I’ll assure you, better taken, sir.

SECOND GENTLEMAN

May I be bold to ask what that contains,
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; next, the Duke of Norfolk,
He to be Earl Marshal. You may read the rest.

He gives him the paper

SECOND GENTLEMAN

I thank you, sir. Had I not known those customs,
I should have been beholden 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
Learned and reverend fathers of his order,
Held a late court at Dunstable, six miles off
From Ampthill, where the Princess lay; to which
She was often cited by them, but appeared not.
And, to be short, for not appearance, and
The King’s late scruple, by the main assent
Of all these learned men, she was divorced,
And the late marriage made of none effect,
Since which she was removed to Kimbolton,
Where she remains now sick.

SECOND GENTLEMAN

Alas, good lady!

Flourish of trumpets within

The trumpets sound. Stand close. The Queen is coming.

Enter the coronation procession, which passes over the stage in order and state. Hautboys, within,
⌈
play during the procession
⌉
THE ORDER OF THE CORONATION
1.
First
, ⌈
enter
⌉
trumpeters
,
who play a lively flourish
.
2.
Then, enter two judges
.
3.
Then, enter the Lord Chancellor, with both the purse containing the great seal and the mace borne before him
.
4.
Then, enter choristers singing
; ⌈
with them
,
musicians playing
.⌉
5.
Then, enter the Lord Mayor of London bearing the mace, followed by Garter King-of-Arms wearing his coat of arms and a gilt copper crown
.
6.
Then, enter Marquis Dorset bearing a sceptre of gold, and wearing, on his head, a demi-coronal of gold and, about his neck, a collar of esses. With him enter the Earl of Surrey bearing the rod of silver with the dove, crowned with an earl’s coronet, and also wearing a collar of esses
.
7.
Next, enter the Duke of Suffolk as High Steward, in his robe of estate, with his coronet on his head, and bearing a long white wand. With him, enter the Duke of Norfolk with the rod of marshalship and a coronet on his head. Each wears a collar of esses.
8.
Then, under a canopy borne by four barons of the Cinque Ports, enter Anne, the new Queen, in her robe. Her hair, which hangs loose, is richly adorned with pearl. She wears a crown. Accompanying her on either side are the Bishops of London and Winchester
.
9.
Next, enter the old Duchess of Norfolk, in a coronal of gold wrought with flowers, bearing the Queen’s train
.
10.
Finally, enter certain ladies or countesses, with plain circlets of gold without flowers. The two Gentlemen comment on the procession as it passes over the stage

SECOND GENTLEMAN

A royal train, 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 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 (
seeing Anne
) Heaven bless thee!

Thou hast the sweetest face ever looked on.
Sir, as I have a soul, she is an angel.
Our King has all the Indies in his arms,
And more, and richer, when he strains that lady.
I cannot blame his conscience.

FIRST GENTLEMAN

They that bear The cloth of honour over her are four barons
Of the Cinque Ports.

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—

⌈FIRST GENTLEMAN⌉

And sometimes falling ones.

SECOND GENTLEMAN

No more of that.

Exit the last of the procession, and then
a great flourish of trumpets within

Enter a third Gentleman
⌈
in a sweat
⌉

FIRST GENTLEMAN

God save you, sir. Where have you been broiling?

THIRD GENTLEMAN

Among the crowd i’th’ Abbey, where a finger
Could not be wedged in more. I am stifled
With the mere rankness 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 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
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 freely
The beauty of her person to the people.
Believe me, sir, she is the goodliest woman
That ever lay by man; which when the people
Had the full view of, such a noise arose
As the shrouds make at sea in a stiff tempest,
As loud and to as many tunes. Hats, cloaks—
Doublets, I think—flew up, and had their faces
Been loose, this day they had been lost. Such joy
I never saw before. Great-bellied women,
That had not half a week to go, like rams
In the old time of war, would shake the press,
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, 86
Then rose again, and bowed her to the people,
When by the Archbishop of Canterbury
She had all the royal makings of a queen,
As 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 of the kingdom,
Together sung
Te Deum.
So she parted,
And with the same full state 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 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 of Winchester—
Newly preferred 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