The Famous HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF King HENRY VIII. Printed in the Year 1709.

Dramatis Personæ. King Henry. Cardinal Wolsey, his first Minister and Favourite. Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Duke of Norfolk. Duke of Buckingham. Duke of Suffolk. Earl of Surrey. Lord Chamberlain. Cardinal Campeius, the Pope's Legat. Capucius, Ambassador from the Emperor Charles the Fifth. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. Lord Abergavenny. Lord Sands [Lord Sandys]. Sir Henry Guilford [Sir Henry Guildford]. Sir Thomas Lovell. Sir Anthony Denny. Sir Nicholas Vaux. Cromwell, first Servant to Wolsey, afterwards to the King. Griffith, Gentleman-Usher to Queen Katherine. Three Gentlemen [Gentleman 1], [Gentleman 2]. Dr. Butts [Doctor Butts], Physician to the King. Surveyor to the Duke of Buckingham. Porter and his Man.

Queen Katherine [Queen Katharine], first Wife to King Henry, afterwards Divorc'd. Anne Bullen, belov'd by the King, and afterwards married to him. An old Lady, Friend to Anne Bullen. Patience, Woman of the Bed-Chamber to Queen Katherine. Several Lords and Ladies who appear in the dumb Shews. Women attending upon the Queen. Spirits which appear to her. Scribes, Officers, Guards, and other Attendants. [Secretary], [Brandon], [Garter, King at Arms], [Sergeant at Arms], [Crier], [Scribe], [Usher], [Bishop of Lincoln], [Gentleman], [Messenger], [Page to Gardiner], [Doorkeeper], [Lord Chancellor], The SCENE lies mostly in LONDON.

THE LIFE OF 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 Mony 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: 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 such a show
As Fool, and Fight is, beside forfeiting
Our own Brains, and the Opinion that we bring
That 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,
Be sad, as we would make ye. 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.

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