home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The Illustrated Works of Shakespeare
/
Illustrated Works of Shakespeare, The (1990)(Animated Pixels)[!][CDTV-PC].iso
/
shakes
/
text
/
15
/
04_01
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1991-04-10
|
8KB
|
224 lines
A Street in Westminster.
Enter two GENTLEMEN, meeting one another.
1st Gentleman You're well met once again.
2nd Gentleman So are you.
1st Gentleman You come to take your stand here, and behold
The Lady Anne pass from her coronation?
2nd Gentleman 'Tis all my business. At our last encounter
The Duke of Buckingham came from his trial.
1st Gentleman 'Tis very true: but that time offered sorrow,
This general joy.
2nd Gentleman 'Tis well: the citizens,
I am sure, have shown at full their royal minds,
As, let 'em have their rights, they are ever forward,
In celebration of this day with shows,
Pageants, and sights of honour.
1st Gentleman Never greater,
Nor, I'll assure you, better taken, sir.
2nd Gentleman May I be bold to ask what that contains,
That paper in your hand?
1st Gentleman Yes, 'tis the list
Of those that claim their offices this day,
By custom of the coronation.
The Duke of Suffolk is the first, and claims
To be high-steward; next, the Duke of Norfolk,
He to be earl marshal: you may read the rest.
2nd Gentleman I thank you, sir: had I not known those customs,
I should have been beholding to your paper.
But, I beseech you, what's become of Katharine,
The princess dowager? How goes her business?
1st Gentleman That I can tell you too. The Archbishop
Of Canterbury, accompanied with other
Learnd and reverend fathers of his order,
Held a late court at Dunstable, six miles off
From Ampthill, where the princess lay, to which
She was often cited by them, but appeared not:
And to be short, for not appearance and
The king's late scruple, by the main assent
Of all these learnd men, she was divorced
And the late marriage made of none effect:
Since which she was removed to Kimbolton,
Where she remains now sick.
2nd Gentleman Alas good lady!
[Trumpets.
The trumpets sound: stand close, the queen is coming.
[Hautboys.
THE ORDER OF THE CORONATION.
>-----------!---L---!---!--!---!---!---!---!---!-------------------------R
1 A lively flourish of trumpets.
2 Then, two JUDGES.
3 LORD CHANCELLOR, with the purse and mace before him.
4 CHORISTERS singing. Music.
5 MAYOR OF LONDON, bearing the mace. Then GARTER, in his
coat of arms, and on his head he wore a gilt copper crown.
6 MARQUESS DORSET, bearing a sceptre of gold, on his head a
demi-coronal of gold. With him, the EARL OF SURREY,
bearing the rod of silver with the dove, crowned with an
earl's coronet. Collars of Esses.
7 DUKE OF SUFFOLK, in his robe of Estate, his coronet on his
head, bearing a long white wand, as High-steward. With
him, the DUKE OF NORFOLK, with the rod of Marshalship, a
coronet on his head. Collars of Esses.
8 A canopy, born by four of the CINQUE-PORTS, under it the
QUEEN in her robe; in her hair, richly adorned with pearl,
crowned. On each side her, the Bishops of LONDON and
WINCHESTER.
9 The old DUCHESS OF NORFOLK, in a coronal of gold, wrought
with flowers, bearing the queen's train.
10 CERTAIN LADIES or countesses, with plain circlets of gold,
without flowers.
>---------------L-!------!-!---!---!---!--!--!!--------------------------R
Exeunt, first passing over the stage in order and state, and then,
a great flourish of trumpets.
2nd Gentleman A royal train, believe me. These I know;
Who's that that bears the sceptre?
1st Gentleman Marquess Dorset,
And that the Earl of Surrey with the rod.
2nd Gentleman A bold brave gentleman. That should be
The Duke of Suffolk.
1st Gentleman 'Tis the same: high-steward.
2nd Gentleman And that my Lord of Norfolk?
1st Gentleman Yes.
2nd Gentleman [Looking on the Queen.] Heaven bless thee!
Thou hast the sweetest face I ever looked on.
Sir, as I have a soul, she is an angel;
Our king has all the Indies in his arms,
And more, and richer, when he strains that lady:
I cannot blame his conscience.
1st Gentleman They that bear
The cloth of honour over her, are four barons
Of the Cinque-ports.
2nd Gentleman Those men are happy, and so are all are near her.
I take it she that carries up the train
Is that old noble lady, Duchess of Norfolk.
1st Gentleman It is, and all the rest are countesses.
2nd Gentleman Their coronets say so. These are stars indeed;
And sometimes falling ones.
1st Gentleman No more of that.
Enter a 3rd GENTLEMAN.
1st Gentleman God save you sir! Where have you been broiling?
3rd Gentleman Among the crowd i'th'abbey, where a finger
Could not be wedged in more: I am stifled
With the mere rankness of their joy.
2nd Gentleman You saw
The ceremony?
3rd Gentleman That I did.
1st Gentleman How was it?
3rd Gentleman Well worth the seeing.
2nd Gentleman Good sir, speak it to us.
3rd Gentleman As well as I am able. The rich stream
Of lords and ladies, having brought the queen
To a prepared place in the choir, fell off
A distance from her; while her grace sat down
To rest a while, some half an hour or so,
In a rich chair of state, opposing freely
The beauty of her person to the people.
Believe me, sir, she is the goodliest woman
That ever lay by man: which when the people
Had the full view of, such a noise arose
As the shrouds make at sea in a stiff tempest,
As loud, and to as many tunes. Hats, cloaks,
Doublets, I think, flew up, and had their faces
Been loose, this day they had been lost. Such joy
I never saw before. Great-bellied women,
That had not half a week to go, like rams
In the old time of war, would shake the press
And make 'em reel before 'em. No man living
Could say 'This is my wife' there, all were woven
So strangely in one piece.
2nd Gentleman But what followed?
3rd Gentleman At length her grace rose, and with modest paces
Came to the altar, where she kneeled, and saintlike
Cast her fair eyes to heaven and prayed devoutly:
Then rose again and bowed her to the people:
When by the Archbishop of Canterbury
She had all the royal makings of a queen,
As holy oil, Edward Confessor's crown,
The rod, and bird of peace, and all such emblems
Laid nobly on her: which performed, the choir,
With all the choicest music of the kingdom,
Together sung Te Deum. So she parted,
And with the same full state paced back again
To York Place, where the feast is held.
1st Gentleman Sir, you must no more call it York Place; that's past;
For since the cardinal fell, that title's lost.
'Tis now the king's, and called Whitehall.
3rd Gentleman I know it;
But 'tis so lately altered that the old name
Is fresh about me.
2nd Gentleman What two reverend bishops
Were those that went on each side of the queen?
3rd Gentleman Stokesly and Gardiner, the one of Winchester,
Newly preferred from the king's secretary;
The other, London.
2nd Gentleman He of Winchester
Is held no great good lover of the archbishop's,
The virtuous Cranmer.
3rd Gentleman All the land knows that:
However, yet there is no great breach; when it comes,
Cranmer will find a friend will not shrink from him.
2nd Gentleman Who may that be, I pray you?
3rd Gentleman Thomas Cromwell,
A man in much esteem with the king, and truly
A worthy friend. The king
Has made him master o'th'jewel-house,
And one, already, of the privy council.
2nd Gentleman He will deserve more.
3rd Gentleman Yes, without all doubt.
Come, gentlemen, ye shall go my way, which
Is to the court, and there ye shall be my guests:
Something I can command. As I walk thither,
I'll tell ye more.
1st & 2nd
Gentlemen You may command us, sir.
[Exeunt.