Will make my boldness manners.-Now, good angels Fly o'er thy royal head, and shade thy person K. HEN. I guess thy message. Is the Now, by thy looks queen deliver❜d? Ay, ay, my liege; LADY. Acquainted with this stranger; 'tis as like you, K. HEN. 3 Lov. K. HEN. Give her an hundred marks. LADY. An hundred marks! By this light, I'll have more. good angels Fly o'er thy royal head, and shade thy person Under their blessed wings!] So, in Hamlet, Act III. sc. iv: "Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings, "You heavenly guards!" STEEvens. bless her!] It is doubtful whether her is referred to the Queen or the girl. JOHNSON. As I believe this play was calculated for the ear of Elizabeth, I imagine, her relates to the girl. MALONE. 4 Lovell,] Lovell has been just sent out of the presence, and no notice is given of his return: I have placed it here at the instant when the King calls for him. STEEVENS. An ordinary groom is for such payment. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Lobby before the Council-Chamber. Enter CRANMER; Servants, Door-Keeper, &c. attending. CRAN. I hope, I am not too late; and yet the gentleman, That was sent to me from the council, pray'd me To make great haste. All fast? what means this?— Hoa! Who waits there?-Sure, you know me? D. KEEP. But yet I cannot help you. CRAN. Yes, my lord; Why? D. KEEP. Your grace must wait, till you be call'd for. CRAN. Enter Doctor BUTTS. So. BUTTS. This is a piece of malice. I am glad, I came this way so happily: The king Shall understand it presently. CRAN. [Aside.] [Exit BUTTS. 'Tis Butts, The king's physician; As he past along, How earnestly he cast his eyes upon me! Pray heaven, he sound not my disgrace! For cer tain, This is of purpose lay'd, by some that hate me, (God turn their hearts! Inever sought their malice,) To quench mine honour: they would shame to make me Wait else at door; a fellow counsellor, Among boys, grooms, and lackeys. But their pleasures Must be fulfill'd, and I attend with patience. Enter, at a window above, the King and BUTTS. BUTTS. I'll show your grace the strangest sight,— day. K. HEN. Body o'me, where is it? BUTTS. There, my lord: The high promotion of his grace of Canterbury; 5 at a window above,] The suspicious vigilance of our ancestors contrived windows which overlooked the insides of chapels, halls, kitchens, passages, &c. Some of these convenient peep-holes may still be found in colleges, and such ancient houses as have not suffered from the reformations of modern architecture. Among Andrew Borde's instructions for building a house, (see his Dietarie of Health,) is the following: "Many of the chambers to have a view into the chapel." Again, in a Letter from Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1573: "And if it please her majestie, she may come in through my gallerie, and see the disposition of the hall in dynner time, at a window opening thereunto." See Mr. Seward's Anecdotes of some distinguished Persons, Vol. IV. p. 270. Without a previous knowledge of this custom, Shakspeare's scenery, in the present instance, would be obscure. STEEVENS. Who holds his state at door, 'mongst pursuivants, Pages, and footboys. K. HEN. Ha! 'Tis he, indeed: 6 Is this the honour they do one another? Let them alone, and draw the curtain close ;7 THE COUNCIL-CHAMBER. Enter the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of SUFFolk, Earl of SURREY, Lord Chamberlain, GARDINER, and CROMWELL. The Chancellor places himself at the upper end of the table on the left hand; a seat being left void above him, as for the Archbishop of Canterbury. The rest seat themselves in order on each side. CROMWELL at the lower end, as secretary. 8 CHAN. Speak to the business, master secretary: Why are we met in council? 6 They had parted &c.] We should now say-They had shared, &c. i. e. had so much honesty among them. 7 STEEVENS. draw the curtain close ;] i. e. the curtain of the balcony, or upper-stage, where the King now is. See The Historical Account of the English Stage, Vol. III. MALOne. Chan. Speak to the business,] This Lord Chancellor, though a character, has hitherto had no place in the Dramatis Persona. In the last scene of the fourth Act, we heard that Sir Thomas CROM. Please your honours, The chief cause concerns his grace of Canterbury. GAR. Has he had knowledge of it? D. KEEP. My lord archbishop; And has done half an hour, to know your pleasures. CHAN. Let him come in. D. KEEP. Your grace may enter now.' [CRANMER approaches the Council-table. More was appointed Lord Chancellor: but it is not he whom the poet here introduces. Wolsey, by command, delivered up the seals on the 18th of November, 1529; on the 25th of the same month, they were delivered to Sir Thomas More, who surrendered them on the 16th of May, 1532. Now the conclusion of this scene taking notice of Queen Elizabeth's birth, (which brings it down to the year 1534,) Sir Thomas Audlie must necessarily be our poet's chancellor; who succeeded Sir Thomas More, and held the seals many years. THeobald. In the preceding scene we have heard of the birth of Elizabeth, and from the conclusion of the present it appears that she is not yet christened. She was born September 7, 1533, and baptized on the 11th of the same month. Cardinal Wolsey was Chancellor of England from September 7, 1516, to the 25th of October, 1530, on which day the seals were given to Sir Thomas More. He held them till the 20th of May, 1533, when Sir Thomas Audley was appointed Lord Keeper. He therefore is the person here introduced; but Shakspeare has made a mistake in calling him Lord Chancellor, for he did not obtain that title till the January after the birth of Elizabeth. MALONE. noble lords?] The epithet-noble should be omitted, as it spoils the metre. STEEVENS, 1 Your grace may enter now.] It is not easy to ascertain the mode of exhibition here. The inside and the outside of the council-chamber seem to be exhibited at once. Norfolk within |