Lov. Your lordship is a guest too. Cham. To the cardinal's; O, 'tis true: This night he makes a supper, and a great one, The beauty of this kingdom, I'll assure you. Lov. That churchman bears a bounteous mind indeed, A hand as fruitful as the land that feeds us; His dews fall every where. Cham. No doubt, he's noble; He had a black mouth, that said other of him. Sands. He may, my lord, he has wherewithal; in him, Sparing would show a worse sin than ill doctrine: Men of his way should be most liberal, They are set here for examples. Cham. True, they are so; But few now give so great ones. My barge stays;1 Your lordship shall along:-Come, good sir Thomas, Sands. I am your lordship's. SCENE IV. The Presence-Chamber in York-Place. [Exeunt. Hautboys. A small Table under a State for the Cardinal, a longer Table for the Guests. Enter at one Door, ANNE BULLEN, and divers Lords, Ladies, and Gentlewomen, as Guests; at another Door, enter Sir HENRY GUILDFORD. Guild. Ladies, a general welcome from his grace Salutes ye all: This night he dedicates To fair content, and you: none here, he hopes, 1 My barge stays;] The speaker is now in the King's pa lace at Bridewell, from which he is proceeding by water to Yorkplace, (Cardinal Wolsey's house) now Whitehall. Malone. 2 noble bevy,] Milton has copied this word: "A bevy of fair dames." Johnson. Spenser had, before Shakspeare, employed this word in the same manner: One care abroad; he would have all as merry As first-good company, good wine, good welcome The very thought of this fair company Cham. You are young, sir Harry Guildford. Sands. Sir Thomas Lovell, had the cardinal But half my lay-thoughts in him, some of these Should find a running banquet ere they rested, "And whither runs this bevy of ladies bright?" Shepheard's Calender. April. Again, in his Faery Queene: "And in the midst thereof, upon the flowre, "A lovely bevy of faire ladies sate." The word bevy was originally applied to larks. See the Glossary to the Shepheard's Calender. Malone. 3 As first good company, &c.] As this passage has been all along pointed, [As first, good company,] Sir Harry Guildford is made to include all these under the first article; and then gives us the drop as to what should follow. The poet, I am persuaded, wrote: As first-good company good wine, good welcome, &c. i. e. he would have you as merry as these three things can make you, the best company in the land, of the best rank, good wine, &c. Theobald. Sir T. Hanmer has mended it more elegantly, but with greater violence: As first, good company, then good wine, &c. Johnson. a running banquet-] A running banquet, literally speaking, is a hasty refreshment, as set in opposition to a regular and protracted meal. The former is the object of this rakish peer; the latter, perhaps, he would have relinquished to those of more permanent desires. Steevens. A running banquet seems to have meant a hasty banquet. "Queen Margaret and Prince Edward, (says Habingdon, in his History of King Edward IV,) though by the Earle recalled, found their fate and the winds so adverse, that they could not land in England, to taste this running banquet to which fortune had invited them." The hasty banquet, that was in Lord Sands's thoughts, is too obvious to require explanation. It should seem from the following lines in the prologue to a comedy called The Walks of Islington, 1657, that some double meaning was couched under the phrase, a running banquet: I think, would better please them: By my life, Lov. O, that your lordship were but now confessor To one or two of these! Sands. I would, I were; They should find easy penance. Lov. 'Faith, how easy? Sands. As easy as a down-bed would afford it. Cham. Sweet ladies, will it please you sit? Sir Harry, Place you that side, I'll take the charge of this: His grace is ent'ring.-Nay, you must not freeze; Two women plac'd together makes cold weather:My lord Sands, you are one will keep them waking; Pray, sit between these ladies. Sands. By my faith, And thank your lordship.-By your leave, sweet ladies: [Seats himself between ANNE BULLEN and another Lady. If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me; I had it from my father. Anne. Was he mad, sir? Sands. O, very mad, exceeding mad, in love too: But he would bite none; just as I do now, He would kiss you twenty with a breath. [Kisses her. Cham. Well said, my lord.So, now you are fairly seated:-Gentlemen, The penance lies on you, if these fair ladies Pass away frowning. Sands. Let me alone. For my little cure, Hautboys. Enter Cardinal WOLSEY, attended; and takes his State. Wol. You are welcome, my fair guests; that noble lady, Or gentleman, that is not freely merry, Is not my friend: This, to confirm my welcome; Sands. [Drinks. Your grace is noble : Let me have such a bowl may hold my thanks, "The gate unto his walks, through which you may "A play of walks, or you may please to rank it "With that which ladies love, a running banquet." Malone. And save me so much talking. Wol. My lord Sands, I am beholden to you: cheer your neighbours.— Whose fault is this? Sands. The red wine first must rise In their fair cheeks, my lord; then we shall have them Talk us to silence. Anne. My lord Sands. Sands. You are a merry gamester, Yes, if I make my play.5 Here's to your lordship: and pledge it, madam, You cannot show me. Anne. Sands. I told your grace, they would talk anon. [Drum and trumpets within: chambers discharged. Wol. What's that? Cham. Look out there, some of you. [Exit a Servant. Wol. What warlike voice? And to what end is this?-Nay, ladies, fear not; By all the laws of war you are privileg❜d. Re-enter Servant. Cham. How now? what is 't? Serv. A noble troop of strangers; 5 if I make my play.] i. e. if I make my party. Steevens. Rather-if I may choose my game. Ritson. As the measure, in this place, requires an additional syllable, we may, commodiously enough, read, with Sir T. Hanmer: Yes, if I may make my play. Steevens. 6 chambers discharged.] A chamber is a gun which stands erect on its breech. Such are used only on occasions of rejoicing, and are so contrived as to carry great charges, and thereby to make a noise more than proportioned to their bulk. They are called chambers because they are mere chambers to lodge powder; a chamber being the technical term for that cavity in a piece of ordnance which contains the combustibles. Some of them are still fired in the Park, and at the places opposite to the parliament-house when the king goes thither. Camden enumerates them among other guns, as follows: " - cannons, demi-cannons, chambers, arquebuse, musquet." Again, in A new Trick to cheat the Devil, 1636: 66- I still think o' the Tower ordinance, "Or of the peal of chambers, that's still fir'd For so they seem: they have left their barge, and landed; And hither make, as great ambassadors From foreign princes. Wol. Good lord Chamberlain, Go, give them welcome, you can speak the French tongue: And, pray, receive them nobly, and conduct them, [Exit Chamberlain, attended. All arise, and Tables removed. You have now a broken banquet; but we 'll mend it. A good digestion to you all: and, once more, I shower a welcome on you;-Welcome all. Hautboys. Enter the King, and twelve Others, as Maskers, habited like Shepherds, with sixteen Torch-bearers; ushered by the Lord Chamberlain. They pass directly before the Cardinal, and gracefully salute him. A noble company! what are their pleasures? Cham. Because they speak no English, thus they pray'd This night to meet here, they could do no less, But leave their flocks; and, under your fair conduct, 7 they have left their barge,] See p. 230, n. 1. Malone. 8 Enter the King, and twelve others, as Maskers,] For an account of this masquerade, see Holinshed, Vol. II, p. 921. Steevens. The account of this masquerade was first given by Cavendish, in his Life of Wolsey, which was written in the time of Queen Mary; from which Stowe and Holinshed copied it. Cavendish was himself present. Before the King, &c. began to dance, they requested leave (says Cavendish) to accompany the ladies at mumchance. Leave being granted, "then went the masquers, and first saluted all the dames, and then returned to the most worthiest, and then opened the great cup of gold filled with crownes, and other pieces to cast at. Thus perusing all the gentlewomen, of some they wonne, and to some they lost. And having viewed all the ladies they returned to the Cardinal with great reverence, pouring downe all their gold, which was above two hundred crownes. At all, quoth the Cardinal, and casting the die, he wonne it; whereat was made great joy." Life of Wolsey, p. 22, edit. 1641. Malone. |