I fpeak my good lord cardinal to this point,
And thus far clear him. Now, what mov'd me to't,
I will be bold with time, and your attention :-
Then mark the inducement. Thus it came;-give

heed to't:

My confcience first receiv'd a tenderness,

4 Scruple, and prick, on certain speeches utter'd
By the bishop of Bayonne, then French ambassador;
Who had been hither sent on the debating
A marriage, 'twixt the duke of Orleans and
Our daughter Mary: I' the progress of this business,
Ere a determinate resolution, he

(I mean the bishop) did require a refpite;
Wherein he might the king his lord advertise
Whether our daughter were legitimate,
Refpecting this our marriage with the dowager,
Sometime our brother's wife. This respite shook
The bofom of my confcience, enter'd me,
Yea, with a fplitting power, and made to tremble
The region of my breast; which forc'd fuch way,
That many maz'd confiderings did throng,

4 Scruple, and prick, -) Prick of confcience was the term in confeffion. JOHNSON.

The expression is from Holinshed, where the king says: "The special cause that moved me unto this matter was a certaine scrupulositie that pricked my confcience, &c." See Holinshed, p. 907.

This respite shook.

The bosom of my confcience,

STEEVENS.

Though this reading be fenfe, yet, I verily believe, the poet

wrote:

1

The bottom of my conscience. Shakspeare, in all his historical plays, was a most diligent observer of Holinshed's Chronicle. Now Holinshed, in the speech which he has given to king Henry upon this subject, makes him deliver himself thus: Which words, once conceived within the secret bottom of my confcience, ingendred such a scrupulous doubt, that my confcience was incontinently accombred, vexed, and disquieted." Vid. Life of Henry VIII. p. 907.

THEOBALD.

And

And prefs'd in with this caution. First, methought,
I stood not in the smile of heaven; who had
Commanded nature, that my lady's womb,
If it conceiv'd a male child by me, should
Do no more offices of life to't, than
The grave does to the dead for her male-issue
Or died where they were made, or shortly after
This world had air'd them: Hence I took a thought,
This was a judgment on me; that my kingdom,
Well worthy the best heir o'the world, should not
Be gladded in't by me: Then follows, that
I weigh'd the danger which my realms stood in
By this my issue's fail; and that gave to me
Many a groaning throe. Thushulling in
The wild fea of my confcience, I did steer
Toward this remedy, whereon we are
Now present here together; that's to say,
I meant to rectify my confcience, which
I then did feel full fick, and yet not well,-
By all the reverend fathers of the land,
And doctors learn'd.-First, I began in private
With you, my lord of Lincoln; you remember
How under my oppression I did reek,
When I first mov'd you.

Lin. Very well, my liege.

King. I have spoke long; be pleas'd yourself to say

How far you satisfied me.

Lin. So please your highness,

The question did at first so stagger me,

Bearing a state of mighty moment in't,

6

-hulling in

The wild fea]

The phrase belongs to navigation. A ship is fa'd to bull,

when she is dismasted, and only her hull, or bulk, is left at the

direction and mercy of the waves.

So, in the Alarum for London, 1602:

L

"And they lye hulling up and down the stream."

STEEVENS.

And

And confequence of dread, -that I committed
The daring'st counsel which I had, to doubt;
And did entreat your highness to this course,
Which you are running here.

King. I then mov'd you,
My lord of Canterbury; and got your leave
To make this present summons:- Unsolicited
I left no reverend person in this court;
But by particular consent proceeded.
Under your hands and feals. Therefore, go on;
For no difslike i'the world against the perfon
Of our good queen, but the sharp thorny points
Of my alledged reasons, drive this forward :
Prove but our marriage lawful, by my life,
And kingly dignity, we are contented
To wear our mortal state to come, with her,
Katharine our queen, before the primest creature
That's paragon'd o' the world.

? I then mov'd you,] I have rescued the text from Holinshed." I moved it in confession to you, my lord of Lincoln, then ghostly father. And forasmuch as then you yourself were in fome doubt, you moved me to ask the counsel of all these my lords. Whereupon I moved you, my lord of Canterbury, firit to have your licence, in as much as you were metropolitan, to put this matter in question; and fo I did of all you, my lords." Holinshed's Life of Henry VIII. p. 908. THEOBALD.

• That's paragon'd i' th' world.] Hammer reads, I think, better:

The primeft creature

That's paragon'do' th' world. JOHNSON.

So, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona :

No: but she is an earthly paragon.

Again, in another of our author's plays:

an angel! or, if not,

An earthly paragon.

To paragon, however, is a verb used by Shakspeare both in

Antony and Cleopatra, and Othello :

If thou with Cæfar paragon again

My man of men.

a maid

That paragons description and wild fame. STEEVENS

Cam

Cam. So please your highness,
The queen being absent, 'tis a needful fitness
That we adjourn this court to further day:
Mean while must be an earnest motion

Made to the queen, to call back her appeal
She intends unto his holiness. (They rise to depart.
King. I may perceive,

These cardinals trifle with me: I abhor
This dilatory floth, and tricks of Rome.
My learn'd and well-beloved servant, Cranmer,
Pr'ythee, return! with thy approach, I know,
My comfort comes along. Break up the court:
I say, set on.
[Exeunt, in manner as they enter'd

ACT III.

SCENE I.

The Queen's Apartments.

The Queen and her women, as at work.

Queen. Take thy lute, wench: my foul grows fad with troubles;

Sing, and disperse them, if thou canst : leave work

ing.

They rise to depart.] Here the modern editors add: The king Speaks to Cranmer. This marginal direction is not found in the old folio, and was wrongly introduced by some subsequent editor. Cranmer was now absent from court on an embaffy, as appears from the last scene of this act, where Cromwell informs Wolfey, that he is return'd and install'd archbishop of Canterbury:

My learn'd and well-beloved fervant, Cranmer,

Pr'ythee, return!

is no more than an apoftrophe to the abfent bishop of that name.

RIDLEY.

SONG. SONG.

Orpheus with his lute made trees,
And the mountain-tops, that freeze,
Bow themselves, when he did fing :
To his musick, plants, and flowers,
Ever sprung; as fun, and showers,
There had made a lasting spring.

Every thing that heard him play,
Even the billows of the sea,

Hung their heads, and then lay by.
In fweet musick is such art;
Killing care, and grief of heart,
Fall asleep, or, bearing, die.

Enter a Gentleman.

Queen. How now ?

Gent. An't please your grace, the two great car

dinals

Wait in the prefence *.

Queen. Would they speak with me?

Gent. They will'd me say so, madam.

Queen. Pray their graces

To come near. (Exit Gent.] What can be their bu

finess

With me, a poor weak woman, fallen from favour? I do not like their coming, now I think on't.

2

They should be good men; their affairs are righ

teous:

* Wait in the presence.] i. e. in the presence-chamber.

2

But;

1

STEEVENS.

They should be good men; their affairs are righteous:] Affairs for professions; and then the sense is clear and pertinent. The proposition is they are priests. The illation, therefore they are good men; for being understood: but if affairs be interpreted in its common fignification, the sentence is absurd. WARBURTON.

The