Henry VIII

Henry VIII

By William Shakespeare.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Dramatis Personae
4. Henry VIII
   1. Prologue
   2. Act I
      1. Scene I
      2. Scene II
      3. Scene III
      4. Scene IV
   3. Act II
      1. Scene I
      2. Scene II
      3. Scene III
      4. Scene IV
   4. Act III
      1. Scene I
      2. Scene II
   5. Act IV
      1. Scene I
      2. Scene II
   6. Act V
      1. Scene I
      2. Scene II
      3. Scene III
      4. Scene IV
      5. Scene V
   7. Epilogue
5. Colophon
6. Uncopyright

Imprint

This ebook is the product of many hours of hard work by volunteers for Standard Ebooks, and builds on the hard work of other literature lovers made possible by the public domain.

This particular ebook is based on a transcription produced for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on digital scans available at the HathiTrust Digital Library.

The writing and artwork within are believed to be in the U.S. public domain, and Standard Ebooks releases this ebook edition under the terms in the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. For full license information, see the Uncopyright at the end of this ebook.

Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-driven project that produces ebook editions of public domain literature using modern typography, technology, and editorial standards, and distributes them free of cost. You can download this and other ebooks carefully produced for true book lovers at standardebooks.org.

Dramatis Personae

• King Henry the Eighth

• Cardinal Wolsey

• Cardinal Campeius

• Capucius, Ambassador from the Emperor Charles V

• Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury

• Duke of Norfolk

• Duke of Buckingham

• Duke of Suffolk

• Earl of Surrey

• Lord Chamberlain

• Lord Chancellor

• Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester

• Bishop of Lincoln

• Lord Abergavenny

• Lord Sands

• Sir Henry Guildford

• Sir Thomas Lovell

• Sir Anthony Denny

• Sir Nicholas Vaux

• Secretaries to Wolsey

• Cromwell, servant to Wolsey

• Griffith, gentleman-usher to Queen Katharine

• Three gentlemen

• Doctor Butts, physician to the King

• Garter King-at-Arms

• 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, afterwards divorced

• Anne Bullen, her Maid of Honour, 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; scribes, officers, guards, and other attendants

• Spirits

Scene: London; Westminster; Kimbolton.

Henry VIII

Prologue

I come no more to make you laugh: things now, That bear a weighty and a serious brow, Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe, Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow, We now present. Those that can pity, here May, if they think it well, let fall a tear; The subject will deserve it. Such as give Their money out of hope they may believe, May here find truth too. Those that come to see Only a show or two, and so agree The play may pass, if they be still and willing, I’ll undertake may see away their shilling Richly in two short hours. Only they That come to hear a merry bawdy play, A noise of targets, or to see a fellow In a long motley coat guarded with yellow, Will be deceived; for, gentle hearers, know, To rank our chosen truth with such a show As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring, To make that only true we now intend, Will leave us never an understanding friend. Therefore, for goodness’ sake, and as you are known The first and happiest hearers of the town, Be sad, as we would make ye: think ye see The very persons of our noble story As they were living; think you see them great, And follow’d with the general throng and sweat Of thousand friends; then in a moment, see How soon this mightiness meets misery: And, if you can be merry then, I’ll say A man may weep upon his wedding-day.

Act I

Scene I

London. An ante-chamber in the palace.

	Enter the Duke of Norfolk at one door; at the other, the Duke of Buckingham and the Lord Abergavenny.
Buckingham	Good morrow, and well met. How have ye done Since last we saw in France?
Norfolk	I thank your grace, Healthful; and ever since a fresh admirer Of what I saw there.
Buckingham	An untimely ague Stay’d me a prisoner in my chamber when Those suns of glory, those two lights of men, Met in the vale of Andren.
Norfolk	’Twixt Guynes and Arde: I was then present, saw them salute on horseback; Beheld them, when they lighted, how they clung In their embracement, as they grew together; Which had they, what four throned ones could have weigh’d Such a compounded one?
Buckingham	All the whole time I was my chamber’s prisoner.
Norfolk	Then you lost The view of earthly glory: men might say, Till this time pomp was single, but now married To one above itself. Each following day Became the next day’s master, till the last Made former wonders its. To-day the French, All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods, Shone down the English; and, to-morrow, they Made Britain India: every man that stood Show’d like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were As cherubins, all gilt: the madams too, Not used to toil, did almost sweat to bear The pride upon them, that their very labour Was to them as a painting: now this masque Was cried incomparable; and the ensuing night Made it a fool and beggar. The two kings, Equal in lustre, were now best, now worst, As presence did present them; him in eye, Still him in praise: and, being present both, ’Twas said they saw but one; and no discerner Durst wag his tongue in censure. When these suns⁠— For so they phrase ’em⁠—by their heralds challenged The noble spirits to arms, they did perform Beyond thought’s compass; that former fabulous story, Being now seen possible enough, got credit, That Bevis was believed.
Buckingham	O, you go far.
Norfolk	As I belong to worship and affect In honour honesty, the tract of every thing Would by a good discourser lose some life, Which action’s self was tongue to. All was royal; To the disposing of it nought rebell’d, Order gave each thing view; the office did Distinctly his full function.
Buckingham	Who did guide, I mean, who set the body and the