O, 'tis a burden, Cromwell, 'tis a burden,

Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven.

Crom. I am glad, your grace has made that right use of it. Wol. I hope, I have: I am able now, methinks,

(Out of a fortitude of foul I feel,)

To endure more miferies, and greater far,

Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer.
What news abroad?

Crom. The heavieft, and the worst,

Is your difpleafure with the king.

Wol. God bless him!

Crom. The next is, that fir Thomas More is chofen Lord chancellor in your place.

Wol. That's fomewhat fudden:

But he's a learned man. May he continue
Long in his highnefs' favour, and do justice
For truth's fake, and his confcience; that his bones,
When he has run his course, and fleeps in bleffings,
May have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on 'em 7!
What more?

Crom. That Cranmer is return'd with welcome,
Inftall'd lord archbishop of Canterbury.

Wol. That's news indeed.

Crom. Laft, that the lady Anne,

Whom the king hath in fecrecy long marry'd,
This day was view'd in open, as his queen,
Going to chapel; and the voice is now
Only about her coronation.

7- a tomb of orphans' tears wept on 'em!] The chancellor is the general guardian of orphans. A tomb of tears is very harsh. JOHNSON. This idea will appear not altogether indefenfible to those who recollect the following epigram of Martial:

Flentibus Heliadum ramis dum vipera ferpit,
Fluxit in obftantem fuccina gutta feram:
Quæ dum miratur pingui fe rore teneri,
Concreto riguit vincta repente gelu.

Ne tibi regali placeas, Cleopatra, fepulchro,

Vipera fi tumulo nobiliore jacet.

The Heliades certainly wept a tomb of tears over the viper. STEEV. The old copy has-on bim. The error, which probably arose from fimilitude of lounds, was corrected by Mr. Steevens. MALONE.

Wol.

Wol. There was the weight that pull'd me down. O

Cromwell,

The king has gone beyond me, all my glories
In that one woman I have loft for ever:

No fun fhall ever usher forth mine honours,
Or gild again the noble troops that waited

Upon my fmiles. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell;
I am a poor fallen man, unworthy now

To be thy lord and mafter: Seek the king;

That fun, I pray, may never fet! I have told him
What, and how true thou art: he will advance thee;
Some little memory of me will ftir him,

(I know his noble nature,) not to let

Thy hopeful fervice perish too: Good Cromwell,
Neglect him not; make ufe now, and provide
For thine own future fafety.

Crom. O my lord,

Must I then leave you? muft I needs forego

So good, fo noble, and so true a master?
Bear witness, all that have not hearts of iron,

8 Or gild again the noble troops that waited

dred.

Upon my miles.] The number of perfons who compofed Cardinal Wolfey's houthold, according to the printed account, was eight hun"When (fays Cavendish,) in his Life of Wolfey, fhall we fee any more fuch fubjects, that shall keepe fuch a noble houfe ?-Here is an end of his houthold. The number of perfons in the cheyne-roll [check-roll] were eight burdred persons."

But Cavendish's work, though written in the time of Queen Mary, was not published till 1641; and it was then printed moft unfaithfully, fome paffages being interpolated, near half of the Mf, being omitted, and the phrafeology being modernifed throughout, to make it more readable at that time; the covert object of the publication probably having been, to render Laud odious, by fhewing how far church-power had been extended by Wolfey, and how dangerous that prelate was, who, in the opinion of many, followed his example.-The perfons who procured this publication, feem to have been little folicitous about the means they employed, if they could but obtain their end; and therefore among other unwarrantable fophiftications, they took care that the number "of troops who waited on Wolfey's fmiles," fhould be fufficiently magnified; and inftead of one bundred and eighty, which was the real number of his houfhold, they printed eight bundred. This appears from two Mfs. of this work in the Museum; Mfs. Harl. No. 428, and Mís. Birch, 4233. MALONE.

With

With what a forrow Cromwell leaves his lord.-
The king fhall have my fervice; but my prayers
For ever, and for ever, fhall be yours.

Wol. Cromwell, I did not think to fhed a tear
In all my miferies; but thou haft forc'd me,
Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman.
Let's dry our eyes: and thus far hear me, Cromwell;
And,-when I am forgotten, as I fhall be;
And fleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of,-fay, I taught thee,
Say, Wolfey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And founded all the depths and fhoals of honour,-
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rife in ;
A fure and fafe one, though thy mafter mifs'd it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition";
By that fin fell the angels, how can man then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win by't?
Love thyfelf laft: cherish thofe hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honefty.

Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,

To filence envious tongues. Be juft, and fear not :
Let all the ends, thou aim'ft at, be thy country's,

Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'ft, O Cromwell,
Thou fall'ft a bleffed martyr. Serve the king;
And,-Pr'ythee, lead me in:

There take an inventory of all I have,

To the last penny; 'tis the king's: my robe,

And my integrity to heaven, is all

I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell,
Had 1 but ferv'd my God with half the zeal'

I ferv'd

9-fling away ambition;] Wolley does not mean to condemn every kind of ambition; for in a preceding line he fays he will inftruct Cromwell how to rife, and in the fubfequent lines he evidently con fiders him as a man in office: "-then if thou fall ft," &c. Ambition here means a criminal and inordinate ambition, that endeavours to obtain honours by difhoneft means. MALONE.

Had I but ferv'd my God, &c.] This fentence was really uttered by Wolley. JOHNSON.

When Samrah, the deputy governor of Baforah, was depofed by Moawiyah the fixth caliph, he is reported to have exprefs'd himself in

the

I ferv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

Crum. Good fir, have patience.
Wol. So I have. Farewell

The hopes of court! my hopes in heaven do dwell.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.

A Street in Westminster.

Enter two Gentlemen, meeting.

1. Gen. You are well met once again 2.

2. Gen. So are you.

1. Gen. You come to take your ftand here, and behold The lady Anne pass from her coronation?

2. Gen. 'Tis all my business. At our last encounter, The duke of Buckingham came from his trial.

1. Gen. 'Tis very true: but that time offer'd forrow; This, general joy.

2. Gen. 'Tis well: the citizens,

I am fure, have fhewn at full their royal minds 3;
As, let them have their rights, they are ever forward

In

the fame manner:-" If I had ferved God fo well as I have ferved him, he would never have condemned me to all eternity." STEEVENS.

Antonio Perez, the favourite of Philip the Second of Spain, made the fame pathetick complaint: Mon zele etoit fi grand vers ces beLignes puiffances [la cour de Turin], que fi j'en eufle eu autant pour Dieu, je ne doubte point qu'il ne m'eut deja recompensé de fon paradis.” MALONE.

This was a ftrange fentence for Wolfey to utter, who was disgraced for the bafest treachery to his king, in the affair of the divorce: but it fhews how naturally men endeavour to palliate their crimes even to themfelves. MASON.

2-once again.] Alluding to their former meeting in the fecond act. JOHNSON.

3-their royal minds ;] i. e. their minds well affected to their king. Mr. Pope unneceffarily changed this word to loyal. In K. Henry IV. P. II. we have "royal faith," that is faith due to kings; which Sir T. Hanmer changed to loyal, and I too hastily followed Dr. Johnfon and the late editions, in adopting the emendation. The recurrence of the fame expreflion,

In celebration of this day with shews,
Pageants, and fights of honour.
1. Gen. Never greater,

Nor, I'll affure you, better taken, fir.

2. Gen. May I be bold to ask what that contains, That paper in your hand?

1. Gen. Yes; 'tis the lift

Of thofe, that claim their offices this day,

By cuftom of the coronation.

The duke of Suffolk is the firft, and claims

To be high fteward; next, the duke of Norfolk,

He to be earl marshal: you may read the reft.

2. Gen. I thank you, fir; had I not known those customs, I should have been beholding to your paper.

But, I befeech you, what's become of Catharine,
The princefs dowager? how goes her business?

1. Gen. That I can tell you too. The archbishop
Of Canterbury, accompanied with other
Learned and reverend fathers of his order,
Held a late court at Dunstable, fix miles off
From Ampthill, where the princess lay; to which
She oft was cited by them, but appear'd not:
And, to be short, for not appearance, and
The king's late fcruple, by the main affent
Of all these learned men fhe was divorc'd,
And the late marriage made of none effect:
Since which, the was removed to Kimbolton,
Where the remains now, fick.

2. Gen. Alas, good lady!—

[Trumpets. The trumpets found: ftand clofe, the queen is coming.

1.

2.

THE ORDER OF THE PROCESSION.

A lively flourish of trumpets; then, enter

Two judges.

Lord Chancellor, with the purfe and mace before him.

expreffion, though it is not fuch a one as we fhould now use, convinces me that there is no error in the text in either place. MALONE.

4 - this day- Hanmer reads-thefe days; but Shakspeare meant fuch a day as this, a coronation-day. And fuch is the English idiom, which our authour commonly prefers to grammatical nicety. JOHNSON.

5

3. Cha