Some pitying-but those, alas! how few!
The most, such iron hearts we are, and such
The base barbarity of human kind,

With insolence and lewd reproach pursu'd her,
Hooting and railing, and with villainous hands
Gath'ring the filth from out the common ways,
To hurl upon her head.

Dum. Inhuman dogs!

How did she bear it?

Bel. With the gentlest patience;
Submissive, sad, and lowly was her look;
A burning taper in her hand she bore,
And on her shoulders carelessly confus'd,
With loose neglect, her lovely tresses hung;
Upon her cheek a faintish blush was spread;
Feeble she seem'd, and sorely smit with pain.
While barefoot as she trod the flinty pavement,
Her footsteps all along were mark'd with blood.
Yet, silent still she pass'd, and unrepining;
Her streaming eyes bent ever on the earth,
Except when in some bitter pang of sorrow,
To heav'n she seem'd in fervent zeal to raise,
And beg that mercy man deny'd her here.
Dum. When was this piteous sight?
Bel. These last two days.

You know my care was wholly bent on you,
To find the happy means of your deliverance,
Which but for Hastings' death I had not gain'd.
During that time, although I have not seen her,
Yet divers trusty messengers I've sent,

To wait about, and watch a fit convenience
To give her some relief, but all in vain;
A churlish guard attends upon her steps,

Who menace those with death, that bring her comfort,
And drive all succour from her.

Dum. Let 'em threaten;

Let proud oppression prove its fiercest malice;
So heav'n befriend my soul, as here I vow

To give her help, and share one fortune with her.
Bel. Mean you to see her thus, in your own form.
Dum. I do.

Bel. And have you thought upon the conséquence? Dum. What is there I should fear?

Bel. Have you examin'd

Into your inmost heart, and try'd at leisure

King Henry VEEE.

Patience. (Sings) Angels, ever bright and fair,

Take, O, take me to your care;

Speed to your bless'd courts my flight,
Clad in robes of virgin white !

Act IV. Scene 1.

KING HENRY VIII.

AN HISTORICAL PLAY,

En Five Acts,

e

BY WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.

PRINTED FROM THE ACTING COPY, WITH REMARKS,
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL, BY D-G.

To which are added,

A DESCRIPTION OF THE COSTUME,-CAST OF THE CHARACTERS, ENTRANCES AND EXITS, RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE PERFORMERS ON THE STAGE, AND THE WHOLE OF THE STAGE BUSINESS.

As now performed at the

THEATRES ROYAL, LONDON.

EMBELLISHED WITH A FINE ENGRAVING,

By MR. WHITE, from a Drawing taken in the Theatre, by Mr. R. CRUIKSHANK.

LONDON:

JOHN CUMBERLAND, 6, BRECKNOCK PLACE,

CAMDEN TOWN.

Wait then with patience, till the circling hours
Shall bring the time of thy appointed rest,
And lay thee down in death.

And, hark! methinks the roar that late pursu'd me,
Sinks like the murmurs of a falling wind,

And softens into silence. Does revenge

And malice then grow weary, and forsake me?
My guard, too, that observ'd me still so close,
Tire in the task of their inhuman office,

And loiter far behind. Alas! I faint,

My spirits fail at once.

This is the door

Of my Alicia ;-blessed opportunity!

I'll steal a little succour from her goodness,

Now while no eye observes me. [She knocks at R. D.

Is your lady,

Enter SERVANT, R.D.

My gentle friend, at home? Oh! bring me to her.

[Going in.

Serv. (n.) Hold, mistress, whither would you?

Jane S. Do you not know me ?

[Throwing her back.

Serv. I know you well, and know my orders too :

You must not enter here ;

Jane S. Tell my Alicia,

'Tis I would see her.

Serv. She is ill at ease,

And will admit no visitor.

Jane S. But tell her

"Tis I, her friend, the partner of her heart,

Wait at the door and beg

Serv. 'Tis all in vain :

Go hence and howl to those that will regard you.

[Shuts the Door. Jane S. It was not always thus: the time has been, When this unfriendly door, that bars my passage, Flew wide, and almost leap'd from off its hinges, To give me entrance here: when this good house Has pour'd forth all its dwellers to receive me; When my approaches made a little holiday, And every face was dress'd in smiles to meet me : But now 'tis otherwise; and those who bless'd me, Now curse me to my face. Why should I wander, Stray further on, for I can die ev'n here?

[She falls down at the Door of ALICIA's House.

REMARKS.

Henry VIII.

In Henry VIII. Shakspeare comes invested with a pomp and pageantry that belong not to any of his other dramas. It is adorned with a coronation and a christening; and the original stage directions may serve to give some idea of the splendour of our ancient theatres. To the costly masques and pageants that were common during the reigns of Elizabeth and James, poetry, mechanism, and invention, lent their utmost aid; the actors were often the prime nobility of the land; and kings and queens occasionally assisted at their representation. In the present day, the rich and the gorgeous have given place to the classic and the tasteful; and propriety of scenery and costume has banished many anachronisms that were tolerated during the meridian of Quin and Garrick. It is to that great restorer of classic elegance, the late Mr. Kemble, that the drama owes its present improvement. But for him, Coriolanus and Macbeth might have strutted their hour in scarlet coats, high-heeled shoes, and periwigs! the tent of Richard had been introduced into the Volsciar camp; and the tawdry banners of a city pageant formed part of the decoration of a Roman triumph!

Much difference of opinion has arisen regarding the era of this drama. Mr. Malone conceives that it was written in 1601 or 1602, and revived with great cost and magnificence in 1613, under the new title of "All is True." Mr. Chalmers assigns its date to 1613, and Mr. Gifford to 1601—adding, that the drama of " All is True" was an entire new play, constructed on the history of Henry VIII., in which Shakspeare had no hand. Dr. Drake is of opinion, that the play performed on the 29th June, 1613, was Shakspeare's Henry VIII., with (in the modern phrase) not only new scenes, dresses, and decorations, but with a new name and a new prologue, not, as Malone, Dr. Johnson, and Dr. Farmer, conjecture, composed by Ben Jonson, but by the author himself. Regarding a question upon which it is impossible to arrive at any certain conclusion, the latter opinion is the most reasonable. But Mr. Gifford is decidedly wrong in supposing that " All is True" was a distinct and separate drama, not written by Shakspeare; for, as Malone justly observes, in his Strictures on Julius Cæsar, no proof has hitherto been produced that any contemporary writer ever presumed to new-model a story that had already employed the pen of Shakspeare.

The play of Henry VIII. is full of incident: it comprises the disgrace and execution of the Duke of Buckingham; the trial and divorce of Queen Katharine; the fall of Wolsey; the coronation of Ann Bullen; and the birth and christening of the Princess Elizabeth. The story was tender ground for Shakspeare to touch upon. By representing Katharine as the most virtuous and injured of women, he casts a direct censure on the cruelty and injustice of Henry; and, by hinting the illegality of the divorce, he throws a doubt on the legitimacy of Elizabeth, who was then living, and of all potentates the most jealous of everything that regarded her birthright and pre