Introductory matter
Persons Represented.
King Henry the Eighth.
Cardinal Wolsey.
Cardinal Campeius.
Capucius, Embassador from the Emperor, Charles V.
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Duke of Norfolk.
Duke of Buckingham.
Duke of Suffolk.
Earl of Surrey.
Lord Chamberlain.
Sir Tho. Audley, Lord Keeper [Lord Chancellor].
Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester.
Bishop of Lincoln.
Lord Abergavenny.
Lord Sands [Lord Sandys].
Sir Henry Guildford.
Sir Thomas Lovell.
Sir Anthony Denny.
Sir Nicholas Vaux.
Sir William Sands1 note
.
Cromwell, Servant to Wolsey.
Griffith, Gentleman-Usher to Queen Katharine.
Three other Gentlemen [Gentleman 1], [Gentleman 2], [Gentleman 3].
Doctor Butts, Physician to the King.
Garter, King at Arms.
Surveyor to the Duke of Buckingham.
Brandon, and a Serjeant at arms [Sergeant at Arms].
Door Keeper of the Council Chamber [Doorkeeper].
Porter, and his Man.
Queen Katharine.
Anne Bullen.
An old Lady, Friend to Anne Bullen.
Patience, Woman to Queen Katharine.
Several Lords and Ladies in the dumb shows. Women attending upon the Queen; Spirits, which appear to her. Scribes, Officers. Guards, and other Attendants.
[Secretary], [Servant], [Scribe], [Crier], [Usher], [Gentleman], [Messenger], [Page to Gardiner]
The SCENE lies mostly in London and Westminster;
once, at Kimbolton.
-- 177 --
5 note.
King Henry VIII
PROLOGUE.
I come no more to make you laugh; things now,
That bear a weighty and a serious brow,
Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe,
Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow,
We now present. Those, that can pity, here
May, if they think it well, let fall a tear;
The subject will deserve it. Such, as give
Their money out of hope they may believe,
May here find truth too. Those, that come to see
Only a show or two, and so agree,
The play may pass; if they be still, and willing,
I'll undertake, may see away their shilling
Richly in two short hours. Only they,
That come to hear a merry, bawdy play,
A noise of targets; 2 note
or to see a fellow
In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow,
Will be deceiv'd: for, gentle hearers, know,
To rank our chosen truth with 3 note
such a show
-- 178 --
As fool and fight is, (beside forfeiting
Our own brains, and 4 note
the opinion that we bring
To make that only true we now intend)
Will leave us never an understanding friend.
Therefore, for goodness' sake, and as you are known
The first and happiest hearers of the town,
-- 179 --
Be sad, as we would make ye: 5 note
Think, ye see
The very persons of our noble story,
As they were living; think, you see them great,
And follow'd with the general throng, and sweat
Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see
How soon this mightiness meets misery!
And, if you can be merry then, I'll say,
A man may weep upon his wedding day.
-- 181 --
Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].
