Daw.

Whither speeds his boldness?

Check his rude tongue, great sir.

K. Hen.

The player's on the stage still, 'tis his part;

He does but act. What followed?

O, let him range:

Bosworth Field;

War. Where, at an instant, to the world's amazement, A morn to Richmond, and a night to Richard, Appeared at once: the tale is soon applied; Fate, which crowned these attempts when least assured, Might have befriended others like resolved.

K. Hen. A pretty gallant!

Urswick, command the dukeling and these fellows

(They rise.)

To Digby, the lieutenant of the Tower:
With safety let them be conveyed to London.
It is our pleasure no uncivil outrage,

Taunts or abuse be suffered to their persons;
They shall meet fairer law than they deserve.
Time may restore their wits, whom vain ambition
Hath many years distracted.

War.

Noble thoughts.

Meet freedom in captivity: the Tower, —
Our childhood's dreadful nursery!

K. Hen.

No more!

Urs. Come, come, you shall have leisure to be

think ye.

[Exit Urswick with Perkin Warbeck and his Followers, guarded.

K. Hen. Was ever so much impudence in forgery? The custom, sure, of being styled a king

Hath fastened in his thought that he is such; But we shall teach the lad another language: 'Tis good we have him fast.

(Enter Constable and Officers, Perkin Warbeck, Urswick, followed by the rabble. Enter Sheriff with Warbeck's Followers, halters about their necks.)

Oxf. Look ye; behold your followers, appointed To wait on ye in death!

War.

Why, peers of England,

We'll lead 'em on courageously: I read

A triumph over tyranny upon

Their several foreheads. Faint not in the moment Of victory! our ends, and Warwick's head,

Innocent Warwick's head, — for we are prologue

But to his tragedy, - conclude the wonder
Of Henry's fears; and then the glorious race
Of fourteen kings, Plantagenets, determines
In this last issue male; Heaven be obeyed!
Impoverish time of its amazement, friends,
And we will prove as trusty in our payments
As prodigal to nature in our debts.

Death? pish! 'tis but a sound; a name of air;

A minute's storm, or not so much: to tumble
From bed to bed, be massacred alive

By some physicians, for a month or two,
In hope of freedom from a fever's torments,
Might stagger manhood; here the pain is past
Ere sensibly 'tis felt. Be men of spirit!
Spurn coward passion! so illustrious mention
Shall blaze our names, and style us kings o'er Death.
Daw. Away, impostor beyond precedent!

[Exeunt Sheriff and Officers with the Prisoners. No chronicle records his fellow.

THE FIRST VOYAGE OF JOHN CABOT

JOHN CABOT applied to Henry VII. in 1495 for authority to explore the New World. The parsimonious monarch granted the letters patent, but gave no financial aid. Only when the adventurers had returned, reporting the discovery of Cape Breton, did the king bestow a beggarly £10. Nevertheless, few of his contemporaries had more faith in the future of America than Henry Tudor.

"He chases shadows," sneered the Bristol tars. "As well fling nets to catch the golden stars As climb the surges of earth's utmost sea." But for the Venice pilot, meagre, wan, His swarthy sons beside him, life began With that slipt cable, when his dream rode free.

And Henry, on his battle-wrested throne,
The Councils done, would speak in musing tone
Of Cabot, not the cargo he might bring.

"Man's heart, though morsel scant for hungry crow, Is greater than a world can fill, and so Fair fall the shadow-seekers!" quoth the king.

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH

RECOLLECTION OF HIS PORTRAIT IN TRINITY LODGE, CAMBRIDGE

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

THE second Tudor came to the throne unhampered by rivals. He was handsome, good-humored, pleasure-loving, a man born to popularity and success. His imperious temper was not resented, for the people were weary of weak government and welcomed a masterful king. In reckless pursuit of his own selfish purposes Henry reformed the church, abolished the monasteries, and gave England a leading place in the politics of Europe.

The imperial stature, the colossal stride,
Are yet before me; yet do I behold

The broad, full visage, chest of amplest mould,
The vestments 'broidered with barbaric pride;
And lo! a poniard, at the Monarch's side,
Hangs ready to be grasped in sympathy
With the keen threatenings of that fulgent eye,
Below the white-rimmed bonnet far descried.
Who trembles now at thy capricious mood?
'Mid those surrounding Worthies, haughty King,
We rather think, with grateful mind sedate,
How Providence educeth, from the spring
Of lawless will, unlooked-for streams of good,
Which neither force shall check nor time abate!

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH

JACOBEAN PLAY DOUBTFULLY ASCRIBED TO SHAKESPEARE AND FLETCHER

HENRY'S first queen was Katharine of Aragon, the widow of his elder brother Arthur. The ecclesiastical law forbade marrying with so near a relative, but for reasons of state the match was thought desirable, and a special dispensation was secured from the Pope. The legality of the arrangement was not called in question until 1527, when, after twenty years of wedded life, there being but one child living and that a daughter, the king became convinced that the marriage with Katharine had been a mistake, perhaps a sin. Henry's close friend and adviser was Thomas Wolsey, a man of great ability, on whom had been conferred the highest honors in church and state. Cardinal, Archbishop of York, and Chancellor of the Realm, he enjoyed enormous wealth and well-nigh royal powers. To him was entrusted the task of accomplishing a divorce. Wolsey's appeal to the Pope was unsuccessful, and the king in anger deposed him from the chancellorship (1529), confiscated his estates, and threw him into the Tower on a charge of high treason.

ACT II

SCENE IV. A Hall in Black-friars.

(Pomp of Court and Clergy. Enter the King with his Train, followed by the Queen with hers.)

Wolsey. Whilst our commission from Rome is read,

Let silence be commanded.

King Henry.

What's the need?

It hath already publicly been read,

And on all sides th' authority allow'd;

You may, then, spare that time.