The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight occupies twenty-eight pages in the folio of 1623, viz.: from p. 205 to p. 232, inclusive, in the division of Histories. It is divided into Arts and Scenes, but is without a list of Dramatis Per sonæ. (818) KING HENRY VIII. INTRODUCTION. FOR four fall and Holinshed, themselves indebted NOR the first four Acts of this play, Shakespeare drew his to Cavendish's unpublished Life of Wolsey: for the fifth Act, he went to Fox's Book of Martyrs. He adhered closely to his authorities, often using their very words. Henslowe's Diary records the production, in 1601, of two lost plays — Cardinal Wolsey, and The Rise of Cardinal Wolsey; the latter of which was put upon the stage with unusual splendor. Shakespeare was most probably indebted to them only for the hint to make this play a show piece, which its stage directions clearly indicate it to have been. The editors and commentators of the last century (Chalmers excepted) thought that King Henry the Eighth was written in the reign of Elizabeth, and that Cranmer's allusion to James I. (Act V. Sc. 4) was interpolated, after his accession, by Ben Jonson. But the speech in question is homogeneous and Shakespearian; the subsequent allusion to Elizabeth, as "an aged princess," would not have been ventured during her life; and the exhibition of Henry's selfish passion for Anne Bullen and of her lightness of character would have been hardly less offensive to the Virgin Queen, her daughter; and these conclusions accord with the fact that the Globe Theatre was burned down on the 26th of June, 1613, during the performance, according to Sir Henry Wotton, of "a new play," founded on "some principal pieces of the reign of Henry VIII.," and which he calls All is True, but others, King Henry VIII. The excessively elliptical construction of this play, and its incessant use of verbal contractions, are marks of Shakespeare's latest years those which produced The Tempest and The Winter's Tale. A bold and singular use of its,' in the first Scene, ("Made former wonders its :") also indicates a very late period for its production. I believe that it was written at Stratford in 1613, and was the poet's last work. It was first printed in the folio of 1623, and with remarkable correctness. The period of its action is from 1521 to 1533. DRAMATIS PERSONE. KING HENRY the Eighth. CARDINAL WOLSEY. CARDINAL CAMPEIUS. CAPUCIUS, Ambassador from Charles V. DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. DUKE OF SUFFOLK. EARL OF SURREY. Lord Chamberlain. Lord Chancellor. GARDINER, Bishop of Winchester. Bishop of Lincoln. LORD ABERGAVENNY. Sir HENRY GUILDFORD. CROMWELL, Servant to Wolsey. GRIFFITH, Gentleman Usher to Queen Kathar.re. Surveyor to the Duke of Buckingham. BRANDON, and a Sergeant at Arms. Door-Keeper of the Council Chamber. Porter, and his Man. Page to Gardiner. A Crier. QUEEN KATHARINE, Wife to King Henry. ANNE BULLEN, her Maid of Honor, afterwards Queen. An old Lady, Friend to Anne Bullen. PATIENCE, Woman to Queen Katharine. Several Lords and Ladies in the Dumb Shows; Women attending upon the Queen; Spirits, which appear to her; Scribes, Officers, Guards, and other Attendants. SCENE: Chiefly in London and Westminster; once at Kimbolton. PROLOGUE. (I COME no more to make you laugh: things now The play may pass, if they be still and willing, As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring, Will leave us never an understanding friend. Therefore, for goodness' sake, and as you are known VOL. VIII. U (321) The first and happiest hearers of the town, As they were living; think you see them great, |