Dramatis Personæ. KING Henry the Eighth. 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. Sir Thomas Audleie, Lord Keeper after Sir Thomas More; and then 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 Sands. Cromwell, first Servant to Wolsey, afterwards to the King. Griffith, Gentleman-Usher to Queen Catharine. Three 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 Serjeant at Arms.[Sergeant at Arms] Door-Keeper [Doorkeeper] of the Council-Chamber. Porter, and his Man. Queen Catharine [Queen Katharine], first Wife to King Henry, afterwards divorced. Anne Bullen, beloved by the King, and afterwads married to him. An old Lady, Friend to Anne Bullen. Patience, Woman of the Bed-chamber to Queen Catharine. Several Lords and Ladies in the Dumb Shews. Women attending upon the Queen; Spirits, which appear to her. Scribes, Officers, Guards, and other Attendants. [Secretary], [Crier], [Usher], [Gentleman], [Messenger], [Page to Gardiner] The SCENE lies mostly in London and Westminster; once, at Kimbolton.

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 shall 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; 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, (besides forfeiting
Our own brains, and th' opinion that we bring
To make that only true we now intend)
Will leave us ne'er an understanding friend.
Therefore, for goodness' sake, 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 gen'ral 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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