Ch. 335: SCENE I. A street in Westminster.

SCENE I. A street in Westminster. ****

Enter two Gentlemen, meeting one another.

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

You’re well met once again.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

So are you.

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

You come to take your stand here and behold

The Lady Anne pass from her coronation?

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

’Tis all my business. At our last encounter,

The Duke of Buckingham came from his trial.

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

’Tis very true. But that time offered sorrow,

This, general joy.

SECOND 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.

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

Never greater,

Nor, I’ll assure you, better taken, sir.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

May I be bold to ask what that contains,

That paper in your hand?

FIRST 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.

SECOND 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 Katherine,

The Princess Dowager? How goes her business?

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

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 appeared 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 divorced,

And the late marriage made of none effect;

Since which she was removed to Kimbolton,

Where she remains now sick.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

Alas, good lady!

[_Trumpets. _]

The trumpets sound. Stand close. The Queen is coming.

_The order of the coronation_.

_1. A lively flourish of trumpets.

2. Then, two Judges.

3. Lord Chancellor, with 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 S’s.

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 S’s.

8. 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 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. _

[_Exeunt, first passing over the stage in order and state, and then a great flourish of trumpets. _]

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

A royal train, believe me. These I know.

Who’s that that bears the sceptre?

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

Marquess Dorset,

And that the Earl of Surrey with the rod.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

A bold brave gentleman. That should be

The Duke of Suffolk.

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

’Tis the same: High Steward.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

And that my Lord of Norfolk?

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

Yes.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

[_Sees 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.

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

They that bear

The cloth of honour over her are four barons

Of the Cinque Ports.

SECOND 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.

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

It is, and all the rest are countesses.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

Their coronets say so. These are stars indeed.

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

And sometimes falling ones.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

No more of that.

[_Exit the last of the procession. _]

Enter a third Gentleman.

God save you, sir. Where have you been broiling?

THIRD GENTLEMAN.

Among the crowds i’ th’ Abbey, where a finger

Could not be wedged in more. I am stifled

With the mere rankness of their joy.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

You saw

The ceremony?

THIRD GENTLEMAN.

That I did.

FIRST GENTLEMAN.

How was it?

THIRD GENTLEMAN.

Well worth the seeing.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

Good sir, speak it to us.

THIRD 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.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

But what followed?

THIRD 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.

FIRST 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”.

THIRD GENTLEMAN.

I know it,

But ’tis so lately altered that the old name

Is fresh about me.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

What two reverend bishops

Were those that went on each side of the Queen?

THIRD GENTLEMAN.

Stokesley and Gardiner, the one of Winchester,

Newly preferred from the King’s secretary;

The other, London.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

He of Winchester

Is held no great good lover of the Archbishop’s,

The virtuous Cranmer.

THIRD 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.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

Who may that be, I pray you?

THIRD GENTLEMAN.

Thomas Cromwell,

A man in much esteem with th’ King, and truly

A worthy friend. The King has made him

Master o’ th’ Jewel House,

And one already of the Privy Council.

SECOND GENTLEMAN.

He will deserve more.

THIRD GENTLEMAN.

Yes, without all doubt.

Come, gentlemen, ye shall go my way,

Which is to th’ court, and there ye shall be my guests,

Something I can command. As I walk thither,

I’ll tell ye more.

BOTH.

You may command us, sir.

[_Exeunt. _]