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.

Chan. Speak to the business, inaster secre-
Why are we met in council?
[tary:
Crom.
Please your honours,
The chief cause concerns his grace of Canter.
Gar. Has he had knowledge of it? [bury.
Crom.
Yes.
Nor.
Who waits there?

D. Keep. Without, my noble lords?
Gar.

Yes.
D. Keep.
My lord archbishop;
And has done half an hour, to know your plea-
Chan. Let him come in.
[sures.
D. Keep. Your grace may enter now.
[CRANMER approaches the Council-table.
Chan. My good lord archbishop, I am very
To sit here at this present, and behold [sorry
That chair stand empty: But we all are men,
In our own natures frail; and capable
Of our flesh, few are angels: out of which
frailty,
[teach us,
And want of wisdom, you, that best should
Have misdemean'd yourself, and not a little,"
Toward the king first, then his laws, in filling
The whole realm, by your teaching, and your
chaplains,

(For so we are inform'd,) with new opinions,
Divers, and dangerous; which are heresies,
And, not reformn'd, may prove pernicious.
Gur. Which reformation must be sudden too,
My noble lords: for those that tame wild
horses,
[gentle;
Pace them not in their hands to make them
But stop their mouths with stubborn bits, and
spur them,

Till they obey the inanage. If we suffer
(Out of our easiness, and childish pity
To one man's honour) this contagious sickness,
Farewell all physic: And what follows then?
Commotions, uproars, with a general taint
Of the whole state: as, of late days, our neigh-
The upper Gerniany can dearly witness, [bours,
Yet freshly pitied in our memories.

Cran. My good lords, hitherto, in all the

progress

Both of my life and office, I have labour'd,
And with no little study, that my teaching
And the strong course of my authority,
Might go one way, and safely; and the end
Was ever to do well: nor is there living
(I speak it with a single heart*, my lords)
A man that more detests, more stirs against,
Both in his private conscience, and his place,
Defacers of a public peace, than I do.
'Pray heaven, the king may never find a heart
With less allegiance in it! Men that make

Suf.

Envy, and crooked malice nourishment,
Dare bite the best. I do beseech your lordships,
That, in this case of justice, my accusers,
Be what they will, may stand forth face to face,
And freely urge against me.
Nay, my lord,
That cannot be; you are a counsellor,
And, by that virtue, no man dare accuse you.
Gar. My lord, because we have business of
more moment,
[pleasure,
We will be short with you. 'Tis his highness'
And our consent, for better trial of you,
From hence you be committed to the Tower;
Where, being but a private man again,
You shall know many dare accuse you boldly,
More than, I fear, you are provided for.

Cran. Ah, my good lord of Winchester, I thank you, [pass, You are always my good friend; if your will I shall both find your lordship judge and juror, You are so merciful: I see your end, 'Tis my undoing: Love, and meekness, lord, Become a churchman better than ambition; Win straying souls with modesty again, Cast none away. That I shall clear myself, Lay all the weight ye can upon my patience, I make as little doubt, as you do conscience, In doing daily wrongs. I could say more, But reverence to your calling makes me modest.

Gar. My lord, my lord, you are a sectary, That's the plain truth; your painted gloss dis[ness. To men that understand you, words and weakCrom. My lord of Winchester, you are a

covers,

[Within.] Good master porter, I belong to the larder.

Port. Belong to the gallows, and be hanged, you rogue: Is this a place to roar in?-Fetch me a dozen crab-tree staves, and strong ones; these are but switches to them.-I'll scratch your heads: You must be seeing christenings? Do you look for ale and cakes here, you rude rascals?

Man. Pray, sir, be patient; 'tis as much impossible [cannons,) (Unless we sweep them from the door with To scatter them, as 'tis to make them sleep On May-day morning; which will never be: We may as well push against Paul's,as stir them. Port. How got they in, and be hang'd? [in? Man. Alas, I know not; How gets the tide As much as one sound cudgel of four foot (You see the poor remainder) could distribute, I made no spare, sir. Port. You did nothing, sir. Man. I am not, Samson, nor sir Guy, nor Colbrand*, to mow them down before me: but, if I spared any that had a head to hit, either young or old, he or she, cuckold or cuckoldmaker, let me never hope to see a chine again; and that I would not for a cow, God save her. [Within.] Do you hear, master Porter? Port. I shall be with you presently, good master puppy.-Keep the door close, sirrah. Man. What would you have me do?

Port. What should you do, but knock them down by the dozens? Is this Moorfields to muster in? or have we some strange Indian with the great tool come to court, the women so besiege us? Bless me, what a fry of fornication is at door! On my christian conscience, this one christening will beget a thousand; here will be father, godfather, and all together.

Man. The spoons will be the bigger, sir. There is a fellow somewhat near the door, he should be a brazier by his face, for, o' my conscience, twenty of the dog-days now reign in's nose; all that stand about him are under the line, they need no other penance: That fire-drake did I hit three times on the head, and three times was his nose discharged against me; he stands there like a mortar-piece, to blow us. There was a baberdasher's wife of small wit near him, that railed upon me till her pink'd porringer + fell off her head, for kindling such a combustion in the state. I miss'd the meteor once, and hit that woman, who cried out, clubs! when I might see from far some forty truncheoneers draw to her succour, which were the hope of the Strand, where she was quartered. They fell on; I made good my place; at length they came to the broomstaff with me, I defied them still; when suddenly a file of boys behind them, loose shot, delivered such a shower of pebbles, that I was fain to draw mine honour in, and let them win the work: The devil was amongst them, I think, surely.."

Por. These are the youths that thunder at a play-house, and fight for bitten apples; that no

audience, but the Tribulation of Tower-hill, or the Limbs of Limehouse,their dear brothers,are able to endure. I have some of them in Limbo Patrums, and there they are like to dance these three days; besides the running banquet of two beadles, that is to come.

Enter the Lord Chamberlain. Cham. Mercy o' me, what a multitude are here!

They grow still too, from all parts they are coming,

As if we kept a fair here! Where are these porters,

These lazy knaves!-Ye have made a fine hand, fellows,

There's a trim rabble let in: Are all these
Your faithful friends o'the suburbs? We shall
have
[ladies,
Great store of room, no doubt, left for the
When they pass back from the christening.
Port.
An't please your honour,
We are but men; and what so many may do,
Not being torn a pieces, we have done:
An army cannot rule them.
Cham.
As I live,
If the king blame me for't, I'll lay ye all
By the heels, and suddenly; and on your heads
Clap round fines, for neglect: You are lazy
knaves;

And here ye lie baiting of bumbards, when Ye should do service. Hark, the trumpets sound;

They are come already from the christening:
Go, break among the press, and find a way out
To le. the troop pass fairly; or I'll find
A Marshalsea, shall hold you play these two
months.

Port. Make way there for the princess. Man. You great fellow, stand close up, or Il make your head ake.

Port. You i' the camblet, get up o' the rail; I'll pick ** you o'er the pale's else.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. The Palace tt. Enter Trumpets, sounding; then two Aldermen, Lord Mayor, Garter, CRANMER, Duke of NORFOLK, with his Marshal's Staff, Duke of SUFFOLK, two Noblemen bearing great standing bowls for the christening gifts; then four Noblemen bearing a ca nopy, under which the Duchess of NORFOLK, godmother, bearing the child richly habited in a mantle, &c. Train borne by a Lady; then follows the Marchioness of DORSET, the other godmother, and Ladies. The Troop pass once about the stage, and Garter speaks.

Gart. Heaven, from thy endless goodness send prosperous life, long, and ever happy, to the high and mighty princess of England, Elizabeth.

Flourish. Enter King, and Train. Cran. [Kneeling]. And to your royal grace, and the good queen,

+ Pink'd cap. A desert of whipping. At Greenwich.

In Troy, there lies the scene. From isles of

Greece

The princes orgulous, their high blood chafed,
Have to the port of Athens sent their ships,
Franght with the ministers and instruments
Of cruel war: Sixty and nine, that wore
Their crownets regal, from the Athenian bay
Put forth toward Phrygia and their vow is
made,
[mures
To ransack Troy; within whose strong im-
The ravish'd Helen, Menelaus' queen,
With wanton Paris steeps: And that's the
To Tenedos they come :
[quarrel.
And the deep drawing barks do there disgorge
Their warlike fraughtage: Now on Dardan
plains

The fresh and yet unbruised Greeks ao piten
Their brave pavilions: Priam's six-gated city

Dardan, and Tymbria, Ilias, Chetas, Trojan
And Antenorides, with massy staples,
And corresponsive and fulfilling bolts,
Sperrt up the sons of Troy.

Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits,
On one and other side, Trojan and Greek,
Sets all on hazard :-And hither am I come
A prologue arm'd, but not in confidence
Of author's pen, or actor's voice; but suited
In like conditions as our argument,- ››
To tell you, fair bebolders, that our play
Leaps o'er the vaunt and firstlings of these
broils,

'Giuning in the middle; starting thence away
To what may be digested in a play.
Like, or find fault; do as your pleasures are ;
Now good, or bad, 'tis but the chance of war.

Enter TROILUs armed, and PANDARUS. Tro. Call here my varlet, I'll unarm again: Why should I war without the walls of Troy, That find such cruel battle here within? Each Trojan, that is master of his heart, Let him to field; Troilus, alas! hath none. Pan. Will this geer ¶ ne'er be mended? Tro. The Greeks are strong, and skilful to their strength, [valiant ; Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness But I am weaker than a woman's tear,

I.

Tamer than sleep, fonder ** than ignorance; Less valiant than the virgin in the night, And skill-less as unpractised infancy.

Pan. Well, I have told you enough of this! for my part, I'll not meddle nor make no fur ther. He that will have a cake out of the wheat, must tarry the grinding.

Tro. Have I not tarried?

Pan. Ay, the grinding; but you must tarry the bolting.

Tro. Have I not tarried?'

Pan. Ay, the bolting; but you must tarry the leavening.

Tro. Still have I tarried.