9. The 17 lines between brackets appear to have

been added later, and are attributed by some to Ben Jonson.

10. K. James I.

lusion to the settlement of Virginia,

God shall be truly known; and those about her
From her shall read the perfect ways of honour,
And by those claim their greatness, not by blood.
[Nor shall this peace sleep with her: but as when
The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
Her ashes new create another heir,

As great in admiration as herself;

So shall she leave her blessedness to 10 one

(When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness)
Who from the sacred ashes of her honour
Shall star-like rise, as great in fame as she was,

And so stand fix'd: peace, plenty, love, truth, terror,
That were the servants to this chosen infant,
Shall then be his, and like a vine grow to him:
Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine,
His honour and the greatness of his name

11. Probably in al- Shall be, and make 11 new nations: he shall flourish,
And, like a mountain cedar 12 reach his branches
To all the plains about him:-our children's children
Shall see this, and bless heaven.

1612.

12. Extend.

13. Reverting to Q. Elizabeth.

14. Comfortable prophecy.

15. See above, 2. 224.

K. Hen.

50

60

Thou speakest wonders.]
Cran. 13 She shall be, to the happiness of England,
An agèd princess; many days shall see her,
And yet no day without a deed to crown it.
Would I had known no more! but she must die,—
She must, the saints must have her,—yet a virgin;
A most unspotted lily shall she pass

Unto the ground, and all the world shall mourn her.
K. Hen. O lord árchbishop,

Thou hast made me now a man! never before

This happy child did I get any thing:

This 14 oracle of comfort has so pleas'd me,
That when I am in heaven I shall desire

To see what this child does, and praise my Maker.-
I thank ye all. To you, my good lord mayor,
And your good brethren, I am much 15 beholding;
I have receiv'd much honour by your presence,

And ye shall find me thankful.-Lead the way, lords :-
Ye must all see the queen, and she must thank ye;
She will be sick else. This day no man think

70

80

He's business at his house; for all shall stay:
This little one shall make it holiday.

1EPILOGUE.

"Tis ten to one this play can never please
All that are here: some come to take their ease,
And sleep an act or two; but those, we fear,
We've frighted with our trumpets; so, 'tis clear,
They'll say 'tis naught: others, to hear the city
Abus'd extremely, and to cry, "That's witty!"
Which we have not done neither: that, I fear,
All the expected good we're like to hear
For this play at this time, is only in
The merciful construction of good women;
For such a one we show'd 'em: if they smile,
And say 'twill do, I know, within a while
All the best men are ours; for 'tis ill hap,
If they hold when their ladies bid 'em clap.

NOTES ON KING HENRY VIII.

ACT I.-Scene 1.

(a) "Our poet appears to have invented Buckingham's sickness for the mere purpose of making him listen to Norfolk's story, for he is specially mentioned in the Chronicle as present."-COURTENAY, vol. ii. p. 122.

(b) There seems no occasion for "that" before "former," as in the usual text; and as it renders the line unmetrical, and makes the following "that" before "Bevis" more awkward, I have omitted it.

(c) Critics have puzzled over the two lines there omitted :

but to little purpose. It is supposed that "papers" is a verb, with "whom" understood; but Pope did not profess to understand the and Mr Grant White "suspects corruption." passage,

(d) "On June 15 was such an hideous storm of wind and weather that many conjectured it did prognosticate trouble and hatred shortly after to follow between princes."-HOLINSHED.

(e) There is much variety in the punctuation of this passage. I have followed Dyce (who follows the folio), Variorum, and Globe. But Grant White has no comma after "liberty," and the Leopold has a comma between "business" and "present;" while Collier places a colon after "liberty," and a comma after "present." I confess, however (notwithstanding the interpretation offered by

Dyce, in Mr Staunton's words), I am not satisfied with the text as it stands, and should prefer to read :

"To see you ta'en from liberty, and t' attend

The present business."

(f) Upon that and the next scene, Mr Spedding remarks: "The opening of the play-the conversation between Buckingham, Norfolk, and Abergavenny-seems to have the full stamp of Shakspeare in his latest manner: the same close-packed expression; the same life and reality and freshness; the same rapid and abrupt turnings of thought, so quick that language can hardly follow fast enough; the same impatient activity of intellect and fancy, which having once disclosed an idea, cannot wait to work it orderly out; the same daring confidence in the resources of language, which plunges headlong into a sentence without knowing how it is to come forth; the same careless metre, which disdains to produce its harmonious effects by the ordinary devices, yet is evidently subject to a master of harmony; the same entire freedom from book-language and commonplace ;-all the qualities in short which distinguish the magical hand which has never yet been successfully imitated. In the scene in the council-chamber which follows (i. 2.), where the characters of Katharine and Wolsey are brought out, I find the same characteristics equally strong. But the instant I enter upon the third scene, in which the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Sands, and Sir Thomas Lovell converse, I am conscious of a total change.” [See note (a) on that scene.]-Quoted in Furnivall's Introd., p. xciv, sq.

Scene 2.

(a) “Shakspeare is justified by his usual authority [Holinshed] in this scene, as to the exactions from the people, and Wolsey's ministerial finesse; but not so in the introduction of the queen. It is a gratuitous addition, which must have been made, not for political, but for dramatic reasons. Though it is probable that the obnoxious commission was devised by Wolsey, it is not so that the king was ignorant of the proceeding. Our poet is also justified by Holinshed in ascribing to Wolsey the proceedings against Buckingham. It is probable that Buckingham, as a peer of ancient family, was jealous of the proud and powerful churchman, and also that the duke could not have been tried for treason without the approbation of the minister; but there is no historical evidence for tracing either the trial or the accusation to personal causes. I find, however, in the depositions that he [Buckingham]