I should have been beholden to your paper. But, I beseech you, what's become of Katharine, The princess dowager? how goes her business? 1 GENT. 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, six miles off
From Ampthill, where the princess lay; to which
She was often cited by them, but appear'd not:
And, to be short, for not appearance, and
The king's late scruple, by the main assent
Of all these learned men she was divorc'd,
And the late marriage made of none effect:
Since which she was removed to Kimbolton*,
Where she remains now, sick.

2 GENT.

8

Alas, good lady![Trumpets. The trumpets sound: stand close, the queen is

coming.

*First folio, Kymmalton.

6 BEHOLDEN- The old copy reads-beholding; and this is the word which constantly occurs in Shakspeare, but has throughout been considered as a corruption, and altered as in the text. But Butler, in his English Grammar, 1633, is of a contrary opinion: "Beholding to one, of to behold or regard: which by a synecdoche generis, signifyeth to respect and behold, or look upon with love and thanks for a benefit received, &c. yet some now adays had rather write it-beholden, i. e. obliged, answering to that teneri et firmiter obligari: which conceipt would seem the more probable, if to behold did signify to hold; as to bedek, to dek; to besprinkle, to sprinkle. But indeed neither is beholden English; neither are behold and hold any more all one, than become and come, or beseem and seem.” BOSWELL.

7 -NOT appearance,] I suppose, our author wrote-nonappearance. So, in The Winter's Tale :

66

66

the execution did cry out

Against the non-performance." STEEVENS. the LATE marriage- i. e. the marriage lately considered as a valid one.

8

STEEVENS.

THE ORDER OF THE PROCESSION.

A lively flourish of Trumpets; then enter 1. Two Judges.

2. Lord Chancellor, with the purse and mace before him.

3. Choristers singing.

[Musick. 4. Mayor of London bearing the mace. Then Garter, in his coat of arms, and on his head, a gilt copper crown.

5. Marquis 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 SS.

6. 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 SS.

7. A canopy borne by four of the Cinque-ports; under it, the Queen in her robe; in her hair richly adorned with pearl, crowned,

On

each side of her, the Bishops of London and Winchester.

8. The old Duchess of Norfolk, in a coronal of gold, wrought with flowers, bearing the Queen's train.

9. Certain Ladies or Countesses, with plain circlets1 of gold without flowers.

9-in his coat of arms,] i. e. in his coat of office, emblazoned with the royal arms. STEEVENS.

1-coronal- -circlets-] I do not recollect that these two words occur in any other of our author's works; a circumstance that may serve to strengthen Dr. Farmer's opinion-that the directions for the court pageantry throughout the present drama, were drawn up by another hand. STEEVENS.

2 GENT. A royal train, believe me.-These I know: Who's that, that bears the scepter?

1 Gent.

Marquis Dorset: And that the earl of Surrey, with the rod.

2 GENT. A bold brave gentleman: That should be The duke of Suffolk.

1 GENT.

'Tis the same; high-steward.

2 GENT. And that my lord of Norfolk ?

1 GENT.

2 GENT.

Yes.

Heaven bless thee!

[Looking on the Queen.

Thou hast the sweetest face I ever look'd 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 lady2: I cannot blame his conscience.

1 GENT.

They, that bear

The cloth of honour over her, are four barons

Of the Cinque-ports.

2 GENT. 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.

1 GENT. It is; and all the rest are countesses. 2 GENT. Their coronets say so. These are stars,

indeed;

And, sometimes, falling ones.

2

1 GENT.

No more of that. [Exit Procession, with a great flourish of Trumpets.

- when he STRAINS that lady:] I do not recollect that our author, in any other of his works, has used the verb-strain in its present sense, which is that of the Latin comprimere. Thus Livy, i. 4: "Compressa vestalis, quum geminum partum edidisset,” &c. Again, in Chapman's version of the 21st Iliad:

"Bright Peribæa, whom the flood, &c.
"Compress'd."

I have pointed out this circumstance, because Ben Jonson is suspected of having made some additions to the play before us,

Enter a third Gentleman.

God save you, sir! Where have you been broiling? 3 GENT. Among the croud i' the abbey; where a

finger

Could not be wedg'd in more; I am stifled3
With the mere rankness of their joy.

2 GENT. You saw the ceremony?
3 GENT. That I did.

1 GENT. How was it?

3 GENT, Well worth the seeing.

2 GENT. Good sir, speak it to us.

3 GENT. As well as I am able. The rich stream Of lords, and ladies, having brought the queen To a prepar'd 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,

and, perhaps, in this very scene which is descriptive of the personages who compose the antecedent procession. See Dr. Farmer's note on the Epilogue to this play. STEEVENS.

3

AND I am stifled-] And was introduced by Sir T. Hanmer, to complete the measure. STEEVENS.

4 The rich STREAM, &c.]

ingentem foribus domus alta superbis Mane salutantum totis vomit ædibus undam.

Virg. Georg. ii. 461. MALONE.

Again, in the second Thebaid of Statius, v. 223:

foribus cum immissa superbis

Unda fremit vulgi.

So, in Timon of Athens, vol. xiii. p. 254:

"this confluence, this great flood of visitors." STEEVENS

6

That had not half a week to go 3, like rams
In the old time of war, would shake the press,
And make them reel before them, No man living
Could say, This is my wife, there; all were woven
So strangely in one piece.

2 GENT. But, what follow'd'?

3 GENT. At length her grace rose, and with modest paces

Came to the altar; where she kneel'd, and, saintlike,
Cast her fair eyes to heaven, and pray'd devoutly.
Then rose again, and bow'd 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 perform'd, the choir,
With all the choicest musick of the kingdom,
Together sung Te Deum. So she parted,
And with the same full state pac'd back again
To York-place, where the feast is held.

Sir, you

1 GENT. Must no more call it York-place, that is past: For, since the cardinal fell, that title's lost: "Tis now the king's, and call'd-Whitehall.

3 GENT.

I know it;

But 'tis so lately alter'd, that the old name
Is fresh about me.

2 GENT.

What two reverend bishops Were those that went on each side of the queen?

5

to go,] i. e. to continue in their pregnancy. So, afterwards:

6

66

the fruit she goes with

"I pray for heartily." 'STEEVENS,

- That is, like battering rams. JOHNSON.

like rams

So, in Virgil, Æneid ii. :

·labat ariete crebro

Janua-. STEEVENS.

But 'PRAY, what follow'd?] The word-pray was added, for the sake of the measure, by Sir Thomas Hanmer. STEEVENS.