The duke of Suffolk is the first, and claims

To be high steward: next, the duke of Norfolk,
To be earl marshal; you may read the rest.

2 Gen. 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 Katharine,
The princess-dowager? how goes her business?

1 Gen. That I can tell you too. The archbishop
Of Canterbury, accompanied with other
Learned and reverend fathers of his order,
Held a late court a Dunstable, six miles off
From Ampthill, where the princess lay; to which
She oft was cited by them, but appear'd not :
And, to be short, for not appearance, and
The king's late scruple, by the main assent
Call these learned men she was divore'd,
And the late marriage made of none effect:
Since which, she was removed to Kimbolton,
Where she remains now, sick.

2 Gen. Alas, good lady!

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

THE ORDER OF THE PROCESSION.

A lively flourish of Trumpets; then, enter

1 Two Judges.

2 Lord Chancellor, with the purse and mace before him. 3 Choristers singing. [Music. 4 Mayor of London, bearing the mace. Then Garter, in his coat of arms, and on his head a gilt copper crown. 5 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, crown'd with an earl's coronet. Collars of SS.

6 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 SS.

7 A canopy borne by four of the Cinque-Ports; under it, The Queen in her robe; in her hair richly adorned with pearl, crowned. On each side of her, the Bishops of London and Winchester.

8 The old Duchess of NORFOLK, in a coronal of gold, wrought with flowers, bearing the Queen's train.

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

2 Gen. A royal train, believe me.-These I know Who's that, that bears the sceptre ?

1 Gen. Marquis Dorset :

And that the earl of Surrey, with the rod.

2 Gen. A bold brave gentleman: And that should be The duke of Suffolk.

1 Gen. 'Tis the same; high-steward.

2 Gen. And that my lord of Norfolk ?

1 Gen. Yes.

2 Gen. Heaven bless thee! [Looking on the Queen. Thou hast the sweetest face I ever look'd 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.

1 Gen. They, that bear

The cloth of honour over her, are four barons
Of the Cinque-Ports.

2 Gen. 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.

1 Gen. It is; and all the rest are countesses.

2 Gen. Their coronets say so. These are stars, indeed; And, sometimes, falling ones.

1 Gen. No more of that.

[Exit Procession, with a great flourish of Trumpets.

Enter a third Gentleman.

God save you, sir! Where have you been broiling?
3 Gen. Among the crowd i'the abbey; where a finger
Could not be wedg'd in more; and I am stifled
With the mere rankness of their joy.

2 Gen. You saw

The ceremony?

3 Gen. That I did.

1 Gen. How was it?

3 Gen. Well worth the seeing.

The rich stream

2 Gen. Good sir, speak it to us. 3 Gen. As well as I am able. Of lords, and ladies, having brought the queen To a prepar'd 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 them reel before them. No man living
Could say, This is my wife, there; all were woven
So strangely in one piece.

2 Gent. But, 'pray, what follow'd?

3 Gent. At length her grace rose, and with modest pace
Came to the altar; where she kneel'd, and, saint-like,
Cast her fair eyes to heaven, and pray'd devoutly.
Then rose again, and bow'd 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 perform'd, the choir,
With all the choicest music of the kingdom,
Together sung Te Deum. So she parted,
And with the same full state pac'd back again
To York-place, where the feast is held.
1 Gen. Sir, you

Must no more call it York-place, that is past:
For, since the cardinal fell, that title's lost;
'Tis now the king's, and call'd-Whitehall.
3 Gen. I know it;

But 'tis so lately alter'd, that the old name
Is fresh about me.

2 Gen. What two reverend bishops

Were those that went on each side of the queen ?

3 Gen. Stokesly and Gardiner; the one of Winchester, (Newly preferr'd from the king's secretary,)

The other, London.

2 Gen. He of Winchester

Is held no great good lover of the archbishop's,
The virtuous Cranmer.

[1] That is, like battering rams. JOHNSON.

3 Gen. All the land knows that:

However, yet there's no great breach; when it comes, Cranmer will find a friend will not shrink from him. 2 Gen. Who may that be, I pray you?

3 Gen. Thomas Cromwell;

A man in much esteem with the king, and truly
A worthy friend. The king-

Has made him master of the jewel-house,
And one, already, of the privy-council.
2 Gen. He will deserve more.

3 Gen. Yes, without all doubt.

Come, gentlemen, ye shall go my way, which
Is to the court, and there ye shall be my guests;
Something I can command. As I walk thither,
I'll tell ye more.

Both. You may command us, sir.

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

Kimbolton. Enter KATHARINE, Dowager, sick; led between GRIFFITH and PATIENCE.

Grif. How does your grace?

Kath. O, Griffith, sick to death:

My legs, like loaden branches, bow to the 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?

Grif. Yes, madam; but, I think, your grace,
Out of the pain you suffer'd, gave no ear to't.

Kath. Pr'ythee, good Griffith, tell me how he died: If well, he stepp'd before me, happily,"

For my example.

Grif. Well, the voice goes, madam :

For after the stout earl Northumberland

Arrested him at York, and brought him forward (As a man sorely tainted,) to his answer,

He fell sick suddenly, and grew so ill,

He could not sit his mule.

Kath. Alas, poor man!

Grif. At last, with easy roads, he came to Leicester,

[2] This scene is above any other part of Shakespeare's tragedies, and perhaps above any scene of any other poet, tender and pathetic, without gods, or furies, or poisons, or precipices, without the help of romantic circumstances, without improba ble sallies of poetical lamentation, and without any throes of tumultuous misery. JOHNSON.

[3] Happily seems to mean on this occasion---peradventure, haply. STEEVENS.

Lodg'd in the abbey; where the reverend abbot,
With all his convent, honourably receiv'd 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 for charity!

So went to bed: where eagerly his sickness
Pursu'd 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 blessed part to heaven, and slept in peace.
Kath. So may he rest; his faults lie gently on him!
Yet thus far, Griffith, give me leave to speak him,
And yet with charity, He was a man

Of an unbounded stomach,* ever ranking
Himself with princes; one, that by suggestion
Ty'd all the kingdom: simony was fair play;
His own opinion was his law: I' the presence
He would say untruths; and be ever double,
Both in his words and meaning: He was never,
But where he meant to ruin, pitiful:
His promises were, as he then was, mighty;
But his performance, as he is now, nothing.
Of his own body he was ill, and gave
The clergy ill example.

Grif. Noble madam,

Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues
We write in water. May it please your highness
To hear me speak his good now?

Kath. Yes, good Griffith;

I were malicious else.

Grif. This cardinal,

Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly
Was fashion'd to much honour.

From his cradle,

He was a scholar, and a ripe, and good one;
Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading :
Lofty, and sour, to them that lov'd him not;
But, to those men that sought him, sweet as summer.
And though he were unsatisfy'd in getting,

That is, of unbounded pride, or haughtiness. STEEVENS.

A criminal connexion with women was anciently called the vice of the body.

MALONE. H 2