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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Henry VIII and His Court, by Herbert Tree
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Henry VIII and His Court
+       6th edition
+
+Author: Herbert Tree
+
+Release Date: April 2, 2010 [EBook #31864]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HENRY VIII AND HIS COURT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Walt Farrell and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries.)
+
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+
+
+
+Henry VIII and His Court
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HENRY VIII
+
+From the Portrait by Holbein, at Warwick Castle]
+
+
+
+
+  HENRY VIII
+  AND HIS COURT
+
+
+  BY
+  HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE
+
+
+  WITH FOUR FULL-PAGE PLATES
+
+  SIXTH EDITION
+
+
+  CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD.
+  London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
+  1911
+
+
+
+  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+
+In these notes, written as a holiday task, it is not intended to give an
+exhaustive record of the events of Henry's reign; but rather to offer an
+impression of the more prominent personages in Shakespeare's play; and
+perhaps to aid the playgoer in a fuller appreciation of the conditions
+which governed their actions.
+
+_Marienbad, 1910_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                   PAGE
+
+  KING HENRY VIII.                                                    1
+
+  WOLSEY                                                             21
+
+  KATHARINE                                                          47
+
+  ANNE BOLEYN                                                        55
+
+  DIVORCE                                                            63
+
+  THE REFORMATION                                                    77
+
+  MANNERS AND CUSTOMS                                                83
+
+  A NOTE ON THE PRODUCTION OF HENRY VIII. AT HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE   87
+
+  AN APOLOGY AND A FOOTNOTE                                         103
+
+  CHRONOLOGY OF PUBLIC EVENTS DURING THE LIFETIME OF HENRY VIII.    111
+
+  SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYS PRODUCED UNDER HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE'S
+    MANAGEMENT AT THE HAYMARKET THEATRE                             115
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF PLATES
+
+
+  HENRY VIII.              _Frontispiece_
+
+  CARDINAL WOLSEY          _Facing page_   42
+
+  KATHARINE OF ARAGON         "     "      76
+
+  ANNE BOLEYN                 "     "      96
+
+
+
+
+KING HENRY VIII
+
+
+_His Character_
+
+Holbein has drawn the character and written the history of Henry on the
+canvas of his great picture. Masterful, cruel, crafty, merciless,
+courageous, sensual, through-seeing, humorous, mean, matter of fact,
+worldly-wise, and of indomitable will, Henry the Eighth is perhaps the
+most outstanding figure in English history. The reason is not far to seek.
+The genial adventurer with sporting tendencies and large-hearted
+proclivities is always popular with the mob, and "Bluff King Hal," as he
+was called, was of the eternal type adored by the people. He had a certain
+outward and inward affinity with Nero. Like Nero, he was corpulent; like
+Nero, he was red-haired; like Nero, he sang and poetised; like Nero, he
+was a lover of horsemanship, a master of the arts and the slave of his
+passions. If his private vices were great, his public virtues were no less
+considerable. He had the ineffable quality called charm, and the
+appearance of good-nature which captivated all who came within the orbit
+of his radiant personality. He was the "_beau garçon_," endearing himself
+to all women by his compelling and conquering manhood. Henry was every
+inch a man, but he was no gentleman. He chucked even Justice under the
+chin, and Justice winked her blind eye.
+
+It is extraordinary that in spite of his brutality, both Katharine and
+Anne Boleyn spoke of him as a model of kindness. This cannot be accounted
+for alone by that divinity which doth hedge a king.
+
+There is, above all, in the face of Henry, as depicted by Holbein, that
+look of impenetrable mystery which was the background of his character.
+Many royal men have this strange quality; with some it is inborn, with
+others it is assumed. Of Henry, Cavendish,[1] a contemporary, records the
+following saying: "Three may keep counsel, if two be away; and if I
+thought my cap knew my counsel, I would throw it in the fire and burn
+it." Referring to this passage, Brewer says, "Never had the King spoke a
+truer word or described himself more accurately. Few would have thought
+that, under so careless and splendid an exterior--the very ideal of bluff,
+open-hearted good humour and frankness--there lay a watchful and secret
+mind that marked what was going on without seeming to mark it; kept its
+own counsel until it was time to strike, and then struck as suddenly and
+remorselessly as a beast of prey. It was strange to witness so much
+subtlety combined with so much strength."
+
+There was something baffling and terrifying in the mysterious bonhomie of
+the King. In spite of Cæsar's dictum, it is the fat enemy who is to be
+feared; a thin villain is more easily seen through.
+
+
+_His Ancestry_
+
+Henry's antecedents were far from glorious. The Tudors were a Welsh family
+of somewhat humble stock. Henry VII.'s great-grandfather was butler or
+steward to the Bishop of Bangor, whose son, Owen Tudor, coming to London,
+obtained a clerkship of the Wardrobe to Henry V.'s Queen, Catherine of
+France. Within a few years of Henry's death, the widowed Queen and her
+clerk of the wardrobe were secretly living together as man and wife. The
+two sons of this morganatic match, Edmund and Jasper, were favoured by
+their half brother, Henry VI. Edmund, the elder, was knighted, and then
+made Earl of Richmond. In 1453 he was formally declared legitimate, and
+enrolled a member of the King's Council. Two years later he married the
+Lady Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of Edward III. It was this union
+between Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort which gave Henry VII. his claim
+by descent to the English throne.
+
+The popularity of the Tudors was, no doubt, enhanced by the fact that with
+their line, kings of decisively English blood, for the first time since
+the Norman Conquest, sat on the English throne.
+
+
+_His Early Days_
+
+When Henry VIII. ascended the throne in 1509, England regarded him with
+almost universal loyalty. The memory of the long years of the Wars of the
+Roses and the wars of the Pretenders during the reign of his father, were
+fresh in the people's mind. No other than he could have attained to the
+throne without civil war.
+
+Within two months he married Katharine of Aragon, his brother's widow, and
+a few days afterwards the King and Queen were crowned with great splendour
+in Westminster Abbey. He was still in his eighteenth year, of fine
+physical development, but of no special mental precocity. For the first
+five years of his reign, he was influenced by his Council, and especially
+by his father-in-law, Ferdinand the Catholic, giving little indication of
+the later mental vigour and power of initiation which made his reign so
+memorable in English annals.
+
+The political situation in Europe was a difficult one for Henry to deal
+with. France and Spain were the rivals for Imperial dominion. England was
+in danger of falling between two stools, such was the eagerness of each
+that the other should not support her. Henry, through his marriage with
+Katharine, began by being allied to Spain, and this alliance involved
+England in the costly burden of war. Henry's resentment at the empty
+result of this warfare, broke the Spanish alliance. Wolsey's aim was to
+keep the country out of wars, and a long period of peace raised England to
+the position of arbiter of Europe in the balanced contest between France
+and Spain.
+
+
+_The Field of the Cloth of Gold_
+
+It was in connection with the meetings and intrigues now with one power,
+now with the other, that the famous meeting with the French King at
+Guisnes, known as "the Field of the Cloth of Gold," was held in 1520.
+
+That the destinies of kingdoms sometimes hang on trifles is curiously
+exemplified by a singular incident which preceded the famous meeting.
+Francis I. prided himself on his beard. As a proof of his desire for the
+meeting with Francis, and out of compliment to the French King, Henry
+announced his resolve to wear his beard uncut until the meeting took
+place. But he reckoned without his wife. Some weeks before the meeting
+Louise of Savoy, the Queen-Mother of France, taxed Boleyn, the English
+Ambassador, with a report that Henry had put off his beard. "I said,"
+writes Boleyn, "that, as I suppose, it hath been by the Queen's desire,
+for I told my lady that I have hereafore known when the King's grace hath
+worn long his beard, that the Queen hath daily made him great instance,
+and desired him to put it off for her sake." This incident caused some
+resentment on the part of the French King, who was only pacified by
+Henry's tact.
+
+So small a matter might have proved a _casus belli_.
+
+The meeting was held amidst scenes of unparalleled splendour. The
+temporary palace erected for the occasion was so magnificent that a
+chronicler tells us it might have been the work of Leonardo da Vinci.
+Henry "the goodliest prince that ever reigned over the realm of England,"
+is described as "_honnête, hault et droit_, in manner gentle and gracious,
+rather fat, with a red beard, large enough, and very becoming."
+
+On this occasion Wolsey was accompanied by two hundred gentlemen clad in
+crimson velvet, and had a body-guard of two hundred archers. He was
+clothed in crimson satin from head to foot, his mule was covered with
+crimson velvet, and her trappings were all of gold.
+
+There were jousts and many entertainments and rejoicings, many kissings of
+Royal cheeks, but the Sovereigns hated each other cordially. While they
+were kissing they were plotting against each other. A more unedifying page
+of history has not been written. Appalling, indeed, are the shifts and
+intrigues which go to make up the records of the time.
+
+The rulers of Europe were playing a game of cards, in which all the
+players were in collusion with, and all cheating each other. Temporizing
+and intriguing, Henry met the Spanish monarch immediately before and
+immediately after his meeting with the French King. Within a few months,
+France and Spain were again at war, and England, in a fruitless and costly
+struggle, fought on the side of Spain.
+
+It was the divorce from Katharine of Aragon and its momentous
+consequences, which finally put an end to the alliance with Spain, and to
+the struggle with France succeeded a long struggle with Spain, which
+culminated in the great event of The Armada in the reign of Henry's
+daughter, Elizabeth.
+
+However, in these pages it is not proposed to enlarge upon the political
+aspect of the times, but rather to deal with the dramatic and domestic
+side of Henry's being. In the play of _Henry VIII._, the author or authors
+(for to another than Shakespeare is ascribed a portion of the drama), have
+given us as impartial a view of his character as a due regard for truth on
+the one hand, and a respect for the scaffold on the other, permitted.
+
+
+_His Aspirations_
+
+There can be no doubt that when Henry ascended the throne, he had a
+sincere wish to serve God and uphold the right.
+
+In his early years he was really devout and generous in almsgiving.
+Erasmus affirmed that his Court was an example to all Christendom for
+learning and piety. To the Pope he paid deference as to the representative
+of God.
+
+With youthful enthusiasm, the young King, looking round and seeing
+corruption on every side, said to Giustinian, the Venetian ambassador:
+"Nor do I see any faith in the world save in me, and therefore God
+Almighty, who knows this, prosper my affairs."
+
+In Henry's early reign, England was trusted more than any country to keep
+faith in her alliances. At a time when all was perfidy and treachery,
+promises and alliances were made only to be broken when self-interest
+prompted. History, like Nature itself, is ruled by brutal laws, and to
+play the round game of politics with single-handed honesty would be to
+lose at every turn. Henry was born into an inheritance of blood and
+blackmail. Corruption has its vested interests. It is useless to attempt
+to stem the recurrent tide of corruption by sprinkling the waves with holy
+water.
+
+Then religion was a part of men's daily lives, but the principles of
+Christianity were set at naught at the first bidding of expediency.
+
+Men murdered to live--the axe and the sword were the final Court of
+Appeal. Nor does the old order change appreciably in the course of a few
+hundred years. In international politics, as in public life, when
+self-interest steps in, Christianity goes to the wall.
+
+To-day we grind our axe with a difference. A more subtle process of
+dealing with our rivals obtains. To-day the pen is mightier than the
+sword, the stylograph is more deadly than the stiletto. The bravo still
+plies his trade. He no longer takes life, but character. To intrigue, to
+combine against those outside the ring is often the swiftest way to
+fortune. By such combination do weaker particles make themselves strong.
+To "play the game" is necessary to progress. The world was not made for
+poets and idealists. To quote an anonymous modern writer:
+
+  "'Act well your part, there all the honour lies';
+  Stoop to expediency and honour dies.
+  Many there are that in the race for fame,
+  Lose the great cause to win the little game,
+  Who pandering to the town's decadent taste,
+  Barter the precious pearl for gawdy paste,
+  And leave upon the virgin page of Time
+  The venom'd trail of iridescent slime."
+
+Henry's eyes soon opened. His character, like his body, underwent a
+gradual process of expansion.
+
+
+_His Pastimes_
+
+Soon the lighter side of kingship was not disdained. One authority wrote
+in 1515: "He is a youngling, cares for nothing but girls and hunting." He
+was an inveterate gambler, and turned the sport of hunting into a
+martyrdom, rising at four or five in the morning, and hunting till nine or
+ten at night. Another contemporary writes: "He devotes himself to
+accomplishments and amusements day and night, is intent on nothing else,
+and leaves business to Wolsey, who rules everything."
+
+As a sportsman, Henry was the "_beau idéal_" of his people. In the lists
+he especially distinguished himself, "in supernatural feats, changing his
+horses, and making them fly or rather leap, to the delight and ecstasy of
+everybody."
+
+He also gave himself to masquerades and charades. We are told: "It was at
+the Christmas festivals at Richmond, that Henry VIII. stole from the side
+of the Queen during the jousts, and returned in the disguise of a strange
+Knight, astonishing all the company with the grace and vigour of his
+tilting. At first the King appeared ashamed of taking part in these
+gladiatorial exercises, but the applause he received on all sides soon
+inclined him openly to appear on every occasion in the tilt-yard.
+Katharine humoured the childish taste of her husband for disguisings and
+masquings, by pretending great surprise when he presented himself before
+her in some assumed character."
+
+He was gifted with enormous energy; he could ride all day, changing his
+horses nine or ten times a day; then he would dance all night; even then
+his energies were not exhausted; then he would write what the courtiers
+described as poetry, or he would compose music, or he would dash off an
+attack on Luther, and so earn from the Pope the much-coveted title of
+"_Fidei Defensor_."
+
+In shooting at the butt, it is said, Henry excelled, drawing the best bow
+in England. At tennis, too, he excelled beyond all others. He was addicted
+to games of chance, and his courtiers permitted him to lose as much as
+£3,500 in the course of one year--scarcely a tactful proceeding. He
+played with taste and execution on the organ, harpsichord and lute. He had
+a powerful voice, and sang with great accomplishment.
+
+One of Henry's anthems, "O Lord, the Maker of all thyng," is said to be of
+the highest merit, and is still sung in our Cathedrals. In his songs,[2]
+he particularly liked to dwell on his constancy as a lover:
+
+  "As the holly groweth green and never changeth hue,
+  So I am--ever have been--unto my lady true."
+
+and again:
+
+  "For whoso loveth, should love but one."
+
+An admirable maxim.
+
+
+_As Statesman_
+
+In spite of all these distractions, Henry was an excellent man of business
+in the State--indeed, he threw himself into public affairs with the energy
+which characterised all his doings. The autocrat only slumbered in Henry;
+and before many years had passed, he threw the enormous energy, which he
+had hitherto reserved for his pleasure, into affairs of State.
+
+Under Henry, the Navy was first organised as a permanent force. His power
+of detail was prodigious in this direction. Ever loving the picturesque,
+even in the most practical affairs of life, Henry "acted as pilot and wore
+a sailor's coat and trousers, made of cloth of gold, and a gold chain with
+the inscription, '_Dieu est mon droit_,' to which was suspended a whistle
+which he blew nearly as loud as a trumpet." A strange picture!
+
+He was a practical architect, and Whitehall Palace and many other great
+buildings owed their masonry to his hand.
+
+He spoke French, Spanish, Italian and Latin with great perfection.
+
+He said many wise things. Of the much-debated Divorce, Henry said: "The
+law of every man's conscience be but a private Court, yet it is the
+highest and supreme Court for judgment or justice." As the most unjust
+wars have often produced the greatest heroisms, so the vilest causes have
+often produced the profoundest utterances.
+
+He appears to have been at peace with himself and complacent towards God.
+In 1541, during his temporary happiness with Catherine Howard, he attended
+mass in the chapel, and "receiving his Maker, gave Him most hearty thanks
+for the good life he led and trusted to lead with his wife; and also
+desired the Bishop of Lincoln to make like prayer, and give like thanks on
+All Souls' Day."
+
+Henry confessed his sins every day during the plague. When it abated, his
+spirits revived, and he wrote daily love-letters to Anne Boleyn, whom he
+had previously banished from the Court.
+
+
+_As Moralist_
+
+A stern moralist in regard to the conduct of others, he had an indulgence
+towards himself which enabled him somewhat freely to interpret the Divine
+right of Kings as "_Le droit de seigneur_." But it is human to tolerate in
+ourselves the failings which we so rightly deprecate in our inferiors.
+
+So strong was he in his self-assurance, that he made even his conscience
+his slave.
+
+Henry sometimes lacked regal taste. The night Anne Boleyn was executed he
+supped with Jane Seymour; they were betrothed the next morning, and
+married ten days later. It is also recorded that on the day following
+Katharine's death, Henry went to a ball, clad all in yellow.
+
+The commendation or condemnation of Henry's public life depends upon our
+point of view--upon which side we take in the eternal strife between
+Church and State.
+
+In this dilemma we must then judge by results, for the truest expression
+of a man is his work; his greatness or his littleness is measured by his
+output. Henry produced great results, though he may have been the
+unconscious instrument of Fate. The motives which guided him in his
+dealings with the Roman Catholic Church may have been only selfish--they
+resulted in the emancipation of England from the tyranny of Popedom. A
+Catholic estimate of him would, of course, have been wholly condemnatory,
+yet it must be remembered that his quarrel was entirely with the supremacy
+of the Pope, and that otherwise Henry's Church retained every dogma and
+every observance believed in and practised by Roman Catholics.
+
+
+_His Greatness_
+
+His learning was great, and it was illuminated by his genius. Gradually he
+learned to control others--to do this he learned to control his temper,
+when control was useful, but he was always able to make diplomatic use of
+his rage--a faculty ever helpful in the conduct of one's life! In fact, it
+is difficult to determine whose genius was greater--Wolsey's as the
+diplomatist and administrator, or Henry's as the man of action, the
+figurehead of the State. Around him he gathered the great men of his time,
+and their learning he turned to his own account, with that adaptiveness
+which is the peculiar attribute of genius. Shakespeare himself was not
+more assimilative. In Wolsey, Henry appreciated the mighty minister, and
+this is one of his claims to greatness, for graciously to permit others to
+be great is a sign of greatness in a King.
+
+
+
+
+WOLSEY
+
+
+_His Early Life_
+
+Wolsey was born at Ipswich, probably in the year 1471. His father, Robert
+Wolsey, was a grazier, and perhaps also a butcher in well-to-do
+circumstances. Sent to Oxford at the age of 11, at 15 he was made a
+Bachelor of Arts. He became a parish priest of St. Mary's, at Lymington,
+in 1500. Within a year he was subjected to the indignity of being put into
+the public stocks--for what reason is not known. It has been said that he
+was concerned in a drunken fray. I prefer to think that, in an unguarded
+moment, he had been tempted to speak the truth. No doubt this was his
+first lesson in diplomacy.
+
+In 1507 Wolsey entered the service of Henry VII. as chaplain, and seems to
+have acted as secretary to Richard Fox, Lord Privy Seal. Thus Wolsey was
+trained in the policy of Henry VII., which he never forgot.
+
+
+_His Growing Power_
+
+When Henry VIII. came to the throne, he soon realised Wolsey's value, and
+allowed him full scope for his ambition.
+
+Wolsey thought it desirable to become a Cardinal--a view that was shared
+by Henry, whose right hand Wolsey had become. In 1514 Henry wrote to the
+Pope asking that the Hat should be conferred on his favourite, who in the
+following year was made Lord Chancellor of England. There was some
+hesitancy which bribery and threats overcame, and in 1515 Wolsey was
+created Cardinal, in spite of the hatred which Leo X. bore him. Having won
+this instalment of greatness, Wolsey promptly asked for the Legateship
+which should give him precedence over the Archbishop of Canterbury. This
+ambition was realised three years later, but only by what practically
+amounted to political and ecclesiastical blackmail. In the Church and
+State Wolsey now stood second only to the King.
+
+
+HIS STATE
+
+(_a_) _His Retinue_
+
+As an instance of the state he kept, we are told that he had as many as
+500 retainers--among them many lords and ladies. Cavendish, his secretary,
+describes his pomp when he walked abroad as follows: "First went the
+Cardinal's attendants, attired in boddices of crimson velvet with gold
+chains, and the inferior officers in coats of scarlet bordered with black
+velvet. After these came two gentlemen bearing the great seal and his
+Cardinal's hat, then two priests with silver pillars and poleaxes, and
+next two great crosses of silver, whereof one of them was for his
+Archbishoprick and the other for his legacy borne always before him,
+whithersoever he went or rode. Then came the Cardinal himself, very
+sumptuously, on a mule trapped with crimson velvet and his stirrup of
+copper gilt." Sometimes he preferred to make his progress on the river,
+for which purpose he had a magnificent State barge "furnished with yeomen
+standing on the bayles and crowded with his Gentlemen within and
+without."
+
+His stables were also extensive. His choir far excelled that of the King.
+Besides all the officials attendant on the Cardinal, Wolsey had 160
+personal attendants, including his High Chamberlain, vice-chamberlain;
+twelve gentlemen ushers, daily waiters; eight gentlemen ushers and waiters
+of his privy chamber, nine or ten lords, forty persons acting as gentlemen
+cupbearers, carvers, servers, etc., six yeomen ushers, eight grooms of the
+chamber, forty-six yeomen of his chamber (one daily to attend upon his
+person), sixteen doctors and chaplains, two secretaries, three clerks, and
+four counsellors learned in the law. As Lord Chancellor, he had an
+additional and separate retinue, almost as numerous, including ministers,
+armourers, serjeants-at-arms, herald, etc.
+
+
+(_b_) _Gifts from Foreign Powers_
+
+Nor was he above using the gentle suasion of his office to obtain
+sumptuous gifts from the representatives of foreign powers--for
+Giustinian, on his return to Venice, reported to the Doge and Senate that
+"Cardinal Wolsey is very anxious for the signory to send him a hundred
+Damascene carpets for which he has asked several times, and expected to
+receive them by the last galleys. This present," continues the diplomat,
+"might make him pass a decree in our favour; and, at any rate, it would
+render the Cardinal friendly to our nation in other matters." The carpets,
+it seems, were duly sent to the Cardinal.
+
+
+(_c_) _His Drinking Water_
+
+To show his disregard for money, it may be mentioned that in order to
+obtain pure water for himself and his household, and not being satisfied
+with the drinking water at Hampton Court, Wolsey had the water brought
+from the springs at Coombe Hill by means of leaden pipes, at a cost, it is
+said, of something like £50,000.
+
+
+(_d_) _His Table_
+
+Wolsey seems to have been a lover of good food, for Skelton, for whose
+verse the Cardinal had perhaps expressed contempt, wrote:
+
+  "To drynke and for to eate
+  Swete hypocras[3] and swete meate
+  To keep his flesh chast
+  In Lent for a repast
+  He eateth capon's stew,
+  Fesaunt and partriche mewed
+  Hennes checkynges and pygges."
+
+(Skelton, it should be explained, was the Poet Laureate.) It appears that
+on this score of his delicate digestion, Wolsey procured a dispensation
+from the Pope for the Lenten observances.
+
+He had not a robust constitution, and suffered from many ailments. On one
+occasion, Henry sent him some pills--it is not recorded, however, that
+Wolsey partook of them.
+
+
+(_e_) _His Orange_
+
+Cavendish speaks of a peculiar habit of the great Cardinal. He tells us
+that, "Whenever he was in a crowd or pestered with suitors, he most
+commonly held to his nose a very fair orange whereof the meat or
+substance within was taken out, and filled up again with the part of a
+sponge, wherein was vinegar and other confections against the pestilent
+airs!" The habit may have given offence to importunate mayors and
+others--the Poet Laureate himself may have been thus affronted by the
+imperious Cardinal, when he wrote:
+
+  "He is set so high
+  In his hierarchy
+  Of frantic phrenesy
+  And foolish fantasy
+  That in the Chamber of Stars
+  All matters there he mars.
+  Clapping his rod on the Board
+  No man dare speak a word;
+
+   *       *       *       *
+
+  Some say "yes" and some
+  Sit still as they were dumb.
+  Thus thwarting over them,
+  He ruleth all the roast
+  With bragging and with boast.
+  Borne up on every side
+  With pomp and with pride."
+
+As a proof of his sensuous tastes, Cavendish wrote:
+
+  "The subtle perfumes of musk and sweet amber
+  There wanted none to perfume all my chamber."
+
+
+(_f_) _His Fool_
+
+That Wolsey, like Henry, was possessed of a sense of humour we have
+abundant evidence in his utterances. Yet he kept a Fool about
+him--possibly in order that he might glean the opinions of the courtiers
+and common people. After Wolsey's fall, he sent this Fool as a present to
+King Henry. But so loth was the Fool to leave his master and to suffer
+what he considered a social descent, that six tall yeomen had to conduct
+him to the Court; "for," says Cavendish, "the poor fool took on and fired
+so in such a rage when he saw that he must needs depart from my lord. Yet,
+notwithstanding, they conveyed him with Master Norris to the Court, where
+the King received him most gladly."[4]
+
+
+(_g_) _Hampton Court_
+
+At his Palace of Hampton Court there were 280 beds always ready for
+strangers. These beds were of great splendour, being made of red, green
+and russet velvet, satin and silk, and all with magnificent canopies. The
+counterpanes, of which there were many hundreds, we are told, were of
+"tawny damask, lined with blue buckram; blue damask with flowers of gold;
+others of red satin with a great rose in the midst, wrought with
+needlework and with garters." Another is described as "of blue sarcenet,
+with a tree in the midst and beastes with scriptures, all wrought with
+needlework." The splendour of these beds beggars all description.
+
+
+(_h_) _His Plate_
+
+His gold and silver plate at Hampton Court alone, was valued by the
+Venetian Ambassador as worth 300,000 golden ducats, which would be the
+equivalent in modern coin of a million and a half! The silver was
+estimated at a similar amount. It is said that the quality was no less
+striking than the quantity, for Wolsey insisted on the most artistic
+workmanship. He had also a bowl of gold "with a cover garnished with
+rubies, diamonds, pearls and a sapphire set in a goblet." These gorgeous
+vessels were decorated with the Cardinal's hat, and sometimes too, less
+appropriately perhaps, with images of Christ!
+
+It is said that the decorations and furniture of Wolsey's Palace were on
+so splendid a scale that it threw the King's into the shade.
+
+
+(_i_) _His Prodigal Splendour_
+
+Like a wise minister, Wolsey did not neglect to entertain the King and
+keep his mind on trivial things. Hampton Court had become the scene of
+unrestrained gaiety. Music was always played on these occasions, and the
+King frequently took part in the revels, dancing, masquerading and
+singing, accompanying himself on the harpsichord or lute.
+
+The description in Cavendish's "Life of Wolsey" of the famous feast given
+by the Cardinal to the French ambassadors gives a graphic account of his
+prodigal splendour. As to the delicacies which were furnished at the
+supper, Cavendish writes:--
+
+"Anon came up the second course with so many dishes, subtleties and
+curious devices, which were above a hundred in number, of so goodly
+proportion and costly, that I suppose the Frenchmen never saw the like.
+The wonder was no less than it was worthy, indeed. There were castles with
+images in the same; Paul's Church and steeple, in proportion for the
+quantity as well counterfeited as the painter should have painted it upon
+a cloth or wall. There were beasts, birds, fowls of divers kinds, and
+personages, most lively made and counterfeit in dishes; some fighting, as
+it were, with swords, some with guns and crossbows; some vaulting and
+leaping; some dancing with ladies, some in complete harness, justing with
+spears, and with many more devices than I am able with my wit to
+describe."
+
+Giustinian, speaking of one of these banquets, writes: "The like of it was
+never given either by Cleopatra or Caligula." We must remember that Wolsey
+surrounded himself with such worldly vanities less from any vulgarity in
+his nature than from a desire to work upon the common mind, ever ready to
+be impressed by pomp and circumstance.
+
+
+_The Mind of Wolsey_
+
+If the outer man was thus caparisoned, what of Wolsey's mind? Its
+furniture, too, beggared all description. Amiable as Wolsey could be, he
+could also on occasions be as brusque as his royal master. A contemporary
+writer says: "I had rather be commanded to Rome than deliver letters to
+him and wait an answer. When he walks in the Park, he will suffer no
+suitor to come nigh unto him, but commands him away as far as a man will
+shoot an arrow."
+
+Yet to others he could be of sweet and gentle disposition and ready to
+listen and to help with advice.
+
+  "Lofty and sour to them that loved him not,
+  But to those men that sought him sweet as summer."
+
+To those who regard characters as either black or white, Wolsey's was
+indeed a contradiction. Charges of a personal character have been brought
+against the great prelate, which need not here be referred to, unless it
+be to say that if they were true, by so much the less he was a priest, by
+so much more he was a man.
+
+
+_His Ambition_
+
+There is no doubt that the Cardinal made several attempts to become
+Pope--but this enterprise was doomed to failure, although in it he was
+supported warmly by the King. To gain this end much bribery was needed,
+"especially to the younger men who are generally the most needy," as the
+Cardinal said. Wolsey was a sufficiently accomplished social diplomatist
+to conciliate the young, for their term of office begins to-morrow, and
+gold is the key of consciences. He was hated and feared, flattered,
+cajoled and brow-beaten where possible. But as a source of income he was
+ever held in high regard by the Pope.
+
+His own annual income from bribes--royal and otherwise--was indeed
+stupendous, though these were received with the knowledge of the King.
+
+So great was the power Wolsey attained to that Fox said of him: "We have
+to deal with the Cardinal, who is not Cardinal but King." He wrote of
+himself, "_Ego et rex meus_," and had the initials, "T. W." and the
+Cardinal's hat stamped on the King's coins. These were among the charges
+brought against him in his fall.
+
+To his ambitions there was no limit. For the spoils of office he had "an
+unbounded stomach." As an instance of his pretensions it is recorded that
+during the festivities of the Emperor's visit to England in 1520, "Wolsey
+alone sat down to dinner with the royal party, while peers, like the Dukes
+of Suffolk and Buckingham, performed menial offices for the Cardinal, as
+well as for Emperor, King and Queen."
+
+When he met Charles at Bruges in 1521 "he treated the Emperor of Spain as
+an equal. He did not dismount from his mule, but merely doffed his cap,
+and embraced as a brother the temporal head of Christendom."
+
+"He never granted audience either to English peers or foreign ambassadors"
+(says Guistinian) "until the third or fourth time of asking." Small wonder
+that he incurred the hatred of the nobility and the jealousy of the King.
+During his embassy to France in 1527, it is said that "his attendants
+served cap in hand, and when bringing the dishes knelt before him in the
+act of presenting them. Those who waited on the Most Christian King, kept
+their caps on their heads, dispensing with such exaggerated ceremonies."
+Had Wolsey's insolence been tempered by his sense of humour, his fall
+might have been on a softer place, as his Fool is believed to have
+remarked.
+
+
+_His Policy_
+
+In his policy of the reform of the Church, Wolsey dealt as a giant with
+his gigantic task. To quote a passage from Taunton: "Ignorance, he knew,
+was the root of most of the mischief of the day; so by education he
+endeavoured to give men the means to know better. Falsehood can only be
+expelled by Truth.... Had the other prelates of the age realized the true
+cause of the religious disputes, and how much they themselves were
+responsible for the present Ignorance, the sacred name of religion would
+not have had so bloody a record in this country."
+
+Wolsey's idea was, in fact, to bring the clergy in touch with the thought
+and conditions of the time. It is wonderful to reflect that this one brain
+should have controlled the secular and ecclesiastical destinies of
+Christendom.
+
+To reform the Church would seem to have been an almost superhuman
+undertaking, but to a man of Wolsey's greatness obstacles are only
+incentives to energy. He was "eager to cleanse the Church from the
+accumulated evil effects of centuries of human passions." A great man is
+stronger than a system, while he lives; but the system often outlives the
+man. Wolsey lived in a time whose very atmosphere was charged with
+intrigue. Had he not yielded to a Government by slaughter, he would not
+have existed.
+
+The Cardinal realised that ignorance was one of the chief causes of the
+difficulties in the Church. So with great zeal he devoted himself to the
+founding of two colleges, one in Ipswich, the other in Oxford. His scheme
+was never entirely carried out, for on Wolsey's fall his works were not
+completed. The College at Ipswich fell into abeyance, but his college at
+Oxford was spared and refounded. Originally called Cardinal College, it
+was renamed Christ Church, so that not even in name was it allowed to be a
+memorial of Wolsey's greatness.
+
+
+_His Genius_
+
+For a long time Wolsey was regarded merely as the type of the ambitious
+and arrogant ecclesiastic whom the Reformation had made an impossibility
+in the future. It was not till the mass of documents relating to the reign
+of Henry VIII. was published that it was possible to estimate the
+greatness of the Cardinal's schemes. He took a wider view of the problems
+of his time than any statesman had done before. He had a genius for
+diplomacy. He was an artist and enthusiast in politics. They were not a
+pursuit to him, but a passion. Not perhaps unjustly has he been called the
+greatest statesman England ever produced.
+
+England, at the beginning of Henry VIII.'s reign, was weakened after the
+struggles of the Civil Wars, and wished to find peace at home at the cost
+of obscurity abroad. But it was this England which Wolsey's policy raised
+"from a third-rate state of little account into the highest circle of
+European politics." Wolsey did not show his genius to the best advantage
+in local politics, but in diplomacy. He could only be inspired by the
+gigantic things of statecraft. When he was set by Henry to deal with the
+sordid matter of the divorce, he felt restricted and cramped. He was
+better as a patriot than as a royal servant. It was this feeling of being
+sullied and unnerved in the uncongenial skirmishings of the divorce that
+jarred on his sensitive nature and made his ambitious hand lose its
+cunning. A first-rate man cannot do second-rate things well.
+
+Henry and Wolsey were two giants littered in one day. Wolsey had realised
+his possibilities of power before Henry. But when Henry once learned how
+easy it was for him to get his own way, Wolsey learned how dependent he
+necessarily was on the King's good will. And then, "the nation which had
+trembled before Wolsey, learned to tremble before the King who could
+destroy Wolsey with a breath."
+
+Had Wolsey been able to fulfil his own ideals, had he been the head of a
+Republic and not the servant of a King, his public record would no doubt
+have been on a higher ethical plane. That he himself realised this is
+shown by his pathetic words to Sir William Kingston, which have been but
+slightly paraphrased by Shakespeare: "Well, well, Master Kingston, I see
+how the matter against me is framed, but if I had served my God as
+diligently as I have done the King, He would not have given me over in my
+grey hairs." In this frankness we recognise once again a flicker of
+greatness--one might almost say a touch of divine humour.
+
+The lives of great men compose themselves dramatically; Wolsey's end was
+indeed a fit theme for the dramatist.
+
+
+_His Fall_
+
+In his later years, Wolsey began to totter on his throne. The King had
+become more and more masterful. It was impossible for two such stormy men
+to act permanently in concord. In 1528, Wolsey said that as soon as he had
+accomplished his ambition of reconciling England and France, and reforming
+the English laws and settling the succession, "he would retire and serve
+God for the rest of his days." In 1529 he lost his hold over Parliament
+and over Henry. The Great Seal was taken from him.
+
+The end of Wolsey was indeed appalling in its sordid tragedy. The woman
+had prevailed--Anne's revenge was sufficiently complete to satisfy even a
+woman scorned. The King, too, was probably more inclined to lend a willing
+ear to her whisperings, since he had grown jealous of his minister's
+greatness. He paid to his superior the tribute of hatred. Henry, who had
+treated the Cardinal as his friend and "walked with him in the garden arm
+in arm and sometimes with his arm thrown caressingly round his shoulder,"
+now felt very differently towards his one-time favourite.
+
+Covetous of Wolsey's splendour, he asked him why he, a subject, should
+have so magnificent an abode as Hampton Court, whereupon Wolsey
+diplomatically answered (feeling perhaps the twitch of a phantom rope
+around his neck), "To show how noble a palace a subject may offer to his
+sovereign." The King was not slow to accept this offer, and thenceforth
+made Hampton Court Palace his own.
+
+Wolsey, too, was failing in body--the sharks that follow the ship of State
+were already scenting their prey. As the King turned his back on Wolsey,
+Wolsey turned his face to God. Accused of high treason for having acted
+as Legate, Wolsey pleaded guilty of the offence, committed with the
+approval of the King. He was deprived of his worldly goods, and retired to
+his house at Esher.
+
+[Illustration: CARDINAL WOLSEY
+
+From the Portrait by Holbein, at Christ Church, Oxford]
+
+
+_Wolsey an Exile from Court_
+
+Cavendish says: "My Lord and his family continued there the space of three
+or four weeks without beds, sheets, tablecloths, cups and dishes to eat
+our meat, or to lie in." He was forced to borrow the bare necessaries of
+life. The mighty had fallen indeed! This was in the year 1529. In his
+disgrace, he was without friends. The Pope ignored him. But Queen
+Katharine--noble in a kindred sorrow--sent words of sympathy. Death was
+approaching, and Wolsey prepared himself for the great event by fasting
+and prayer. Ordered to York, he arrived at Peterborough in Easter Week.
+There it is said: "Upon Palm Sunday, he went in procession with the monks,
+bearing his palm; setting forth God's service right honourably with such
+singing men as he then had remaining with him.
+
+
+_He Washes the Feet of the Poor_
+
+And upon Maundy Thursday he made his Maundy in Our Lady's Chapel, having
+fifty-nine poor men, whose feet he washed, wiped and kissed; each of these
+poor men had twelve pence in money, three ells of canvas to make them
+shirts, a pair of new shoes, a cast of mead, three red herrings, and three
+white herrings, and the odd person had two shillings. Upon Easter Day he
+rode to the Resurrection,[5] and that morning he went in procession in his
+Cardinal's vesture, with his hat and hood on his head, and he himself sang
+there the High Mass very devoutly, and granted Clean Remission to all the
+hearers, and there continued all the holidays."
+
+Arrived at York, he indulged with a difference in his old love of
+hospitality; "he kept a noble house and plenty of both meat and drink for
+all comers, both for rich and poor, and much alms given at his gates. He
+used much charity and pity among his poor tenants and others." This
+caused him to be beloved in the country. Those that hated him owing to his
+repute learned to love him--he went among the people and brought them food
+and comforted them in their troubles. Now he was loved among the poor as
+he had been feared among the great.
+
+
+_Condemned to the Tower_
+
+On the 4th November, he was arrested on a new charge of high treason and
+condemned to the Tower. He left under custody amid the lamentations of the
+poor people, who in their thousands crowded round him, crying: "God save
+your Grace! God save your Grace! The foul evil take all them that hath
+thus taken you from us! We pray God that a very vengeance may light upon
+them." He remained at Sheffield Park, the Earl of Shrewsbury's seat, for
+eighteen days. Here his health broke down. There arrived, with twenty-four
+of the Guard from London, Sir William Kingston with order to conduct him
+to the Tower. The next day, in spite of increasing illness, he set out,
+but he could hardly ride his mule.
+
+
+_His End_
+
+Reaching the Abbey at Leicester on the 26th of November, and being
+received by the Benedictine monks, he said: "Father Abbot, I am come
+hither to leave my bones among you." Here he took to his last bed, and
+made ready to meet his God.
+
+The following morning, the 29th of November, he who had trod the ways of
+glory and sounded all the depths and shoals of honour, he who had shaped
+the destinies of Empires, before whom Popes and Parliaments had trembled,
+he who had swathed himself in the purple of kingdom, of power and of
+glory, learned the littleness of greatness and entered the Republic of
+Death in a hair-shirt.
+
+
+
+
+KATHARINE
+
+
+For purity and steadfastness of devotion and duty, Katharine stands
+unsurpassed in the history of the world, and Shakespeare has conceived no
+more pathetic figure than that of the patient Queen living in the midst of
+an unscrupulous Court.
+
+Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, she was betrothed at the age
+of five to Arthur, Henry VII.'s eldest son. Though known as the Princess
+of Wales, it was not till 1501, when only sixteen years old, that she was
+married to Prince Arthur. She had scarcely been married six months when
+Arthur died, at the early age of fifteen, and she was left a widow. Henry
+VII., in his desire to keep her marriage dower of 200,000 crowns, proposed
+a marriage between her and Arthur's brother. Katharine wrote to her father
+saying she had "no inclination for a second marriage in England." In spite
+of her remonstrances and the misgivings of the Pope, who had no wish to
+give the necessary dispensation for her to marry her deceased husband's
+brother, she was betrothed to Henry after two years of widowhood. But it
+was not till a few months after Henry VIII. came to the throne, five years
+later, that they were actually married. Henry was five years younger than
+Katharine, but their early married life appears to have been very happy.
+She wrote to her father, "Our time is ever passed in continual feasts."
+
+The cruel field sports of the time the Queen never could take any delight
+in, and avoided them as much as possible. She was pious and ascetic and
+most proficient in needlework. Katharine had a number of children, all of
+whom died shortly after birth. It was this consideration in the first
+instance which weighed in Henry's mind in desiring a divorce. The first
+child to survive was Princess Mary, born in February, 1516. Henry
+expressed the hope that sons would follow. But Katharine had no further
+living children. Henry hoped against hope, and undertook, in the event of
+her having an heir, to lead a crusade against the Turks. Even this bribe
+to fortune proved unavailing. Henry's conscience, which was at best of the
+utilitarian sort, now began to suffer deep pangs, and in 1525, when
+Katharine was forty years old and he thirty-four, he gave up hope of the
+much-needed heir to the throne. The Queen herself thought her
+childlessness was "a judgment of God, for that her former marriage was
+made in blood," the innocent Earl of Warwick having been put to death
+owing to the demand of Ferdinand of Aragon.
+
+The King began to indulge in the superstition that his marriage with a
+brother's widow was marked with the curse of Heaven. It is perhaps a
+strange coincidence that Anne Boleyn should have appeared on the scene at
+this moment. Katharine seems always to have regarded her rival with
+charity and pity. When one of her gentlewomen began to curse Anne as the
+cause of the Queen's misery, the Queen stopped her. "Curse her not," she
+said, "but rather pray for her; for even now is the time fast coming when
+you shall have reason to pity her and lament her case."
+
+Undoubtedly Katharine's most notable quality was her dignity. Even her
+enemies regarded her with respect. She was always sustained by the
+greatness of her soul, her life of right doing and her feeling of being "a
+Queen and daughter of a King." Through all her bitter trials she went, a
+pathetic figure, untouched by calumny. If she had any faults they are
+certainly not recorded in history. Her farewell letter to the King would
+seem to be very characteristic of Katharine's beauty of character. She
+knew the hand of death was upon her. She had entreated the King, but Henry
+had refused her request for a last interview with her daughter Mary.
+
+With this final cruelty fresh in her mind she still could write: "My lord
+and dear husband,--I commend me unto you. The hour of my death draweth
+fast on, and my case being such, the tender love I owe you forceth me with
+a few words, to put you in remembrance of the health and safeguard of your
+soul, which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the
+care and tendering of your own body, for the which you have cast me into
+many miseries and yourself into many cares. For my part I do pardon you
+all, yea, I do wish and devoutly pray God that He will pardon you."
+
+
+
+
+ANNE BOLEYN
+
+
+The estimation of the character of Anne Boleyn would seem to be as varied
+as the spelling of her name. She is believed to have been born in 1507.
+The Boleyns or Bullens were a Norfolk family of French origin, but her
+mother was of noble blood, being daughter of the Earl of Ormonde, and so a
+descendant of Edward I. It is a curious fact that all of Henry's wives can
+trace their descent from this King. Of Anne's early life little is known
+save that she was sent as Maid of Honour to the French Queen Claude. She
+was probably about nineteen years old when she was recalled to the English
+Court and began her round of revels and love intrigues. Certainly she was
+a born leader of men; many have denied her actual beauty, but she had the
+greater quality of charm, the power of subjugating, the beckoning eye. An
+accomplished dancer, we read of her "as leaping and jumping with infinite
+grace and agility." "She dressed with marvellous taste and devised new
+robes," but of the ladies who copied her, we read that unfortunately "none
+wore them with her gracefulness, in which she rivalled Venus." Music, too,
+was added to her accomplishments, and Cavendish tells us how "when she
+composed her hands to play and her voice to sing, it was joined with that
+sweetness of countenance that three harmonies concurred."
+
+It is difficult to speak with unalloyed admiration of Anne's virtue. At
+the most charitable computation, she was an outrageous flirt. It would
+seem that she was genuinely in love with Lord Percy, and that Wolsey was
+ordered by the then captivated and jealous King to put an end to their
+intrigue and their desire to marry. Anne is supposed never to have
+forgiven Wolsey for this, and by a dramatic irony it was her former lover,
+Percy, then become Earl of Northumberland, who was sent to arrest the
+fallen Cardinal at York. It is said that he treated Wolsey in a brutal
+manner, having his legs bound to the stirrup of his mule like a common
+criminal. When Henry, in his infatuation for the attractive
+Lady-in-Waiting to his Queen, as she was then, wished Wolsey to become the
+aider and abettor of his love affairs, Wolsey found himself placed in the
+double capacity of man of God and man of Kings. In these cases, God is apt
+to go to the wall--for the time being. But it was Wolsey's vain attempt to
+serve two masters that caused his fall, which the French Ambassador
+attributed entirely to the ill offices of Anne Boleyn. This is another
+proof that courtiers should always keep on the right side of women.
+
+Nothing could stop Henry's passion for Anne, and she showed her wonderful
+cleverness in the way she kept his love alive for years, being first
+created Marchioness of Pembroke, and ultimately triumphing over every
+obstacle and gaining her wish of being his Queen. This phase of her
+character has been nicely touched by Shakespeare's own deft hand. She was
+crowned with unparalleled splendour on Whit Sunday of 1533. At the banquet
+held after the Coronation of Anne Boleyn, we read that two Countesses
+stood on either side of Anne's chair and often held a "fine cloth before
+the Queen's face whenever she listed to spit." "And under the table went
+two gentlewomen, and sat at the Queen's feet during the dinner." The
+courtier's life, like the burglar's does not appear to have been one of
+unmixed happiness.
+
+In the same year she bore Henry a child, but to everyone's disappointment,
+it proved to be a girl, who was christened Elizabeth, and became the great
+Queen of England. Anne's triumph was pathetically brief. Her most
+important act was that of getting the publication of the Bible authorised
+in England. Two years after her coronation, Sir Thomas More, who had
+refused to swear fealty to the King's heir by Anne, who had been thrown
+into prison and was awaiting execution, asked "How Queen Anne did?" "There
+is nothing else but dancing and sporting," was the answer. "These dances
+of hers," he said, "will prove such dances that she will spurn our heads
+off like footballs, but it will not be long ere her head dance the like
+dance." In a year's time, this prophecy came true. Her Lady-in-Waiting,
+the beautiful Jane Seymour, stole the King from her who in her time had
+betrayed her royal mistress.
+
+There are two versions with regard to her last feelings towards the King.
+Lord Bacon writes that just before her execution she said: "Commend me to
+his Majesty and tell him he hath ever been constant in his career of
+advancing me. From a private gentlewoman he made me a marchioness, from a
+marchioness a Queen; and now he hath left no higher degree of honour, he
+gives my innocency the crown of martyrdom." This contains a fine sting of
+satire. Another chronicler gives us her words as follows: "I pray God to
+save the King, and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler or more
+merciful prince was there never." One cannot but think that this latter
+version of her dying words may have been edited by his Grace of
+Canterbury.
+
+If it is difficult to reconcile Anne's heartlessness with her piety, it
+should be remembered that cruelty is often the twin-sister of religious
+fervour.
+
+Whatever may have been her failings of character, whatever misfortunes
+she may have suffered during her life, Anne will ever live in history as
+one of the master mistresses of the world.
+
+
+
+
+THE DIVORCE
+
+
+As to the divorce, it will be well to clear away the enormous amount of
+argument, of vituperation and prevarication by which the whole question is
+obscured, and to seek by the magnet of common sense to find the needle of
+truth in this vast bundle of hay.
+
+The situation was complicated. In those days it was generally supposed
+that no woman could succeed to the throne, and a male successor was
+regarded as a political necessity. Charles V., too, was plotting to depose
+Henry and to proclaim James V. as ruler of England, or Mary, who was to be
+married to an English noble for this purpose.
+
+
+_The Succession_
+
+The Duke of Buckingham was the most formidable possible heir to the
+throne, were the King to die without male heirs. His execution took place
+in 1521. Desperate men take desperate remedies. Now, in 1519, Henry had a
+natural son by Elizabeth Blount, sister of Lord Mountjoy. This boy Henry
+contemplated placing on the throne, so causing considerable uneasiness to
+the Queen. In 1525 he was created Duke of Richmond. Shortly after he was
+made Lord High Admiral of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. It was
+suggested that he should marry a royal Princess. Another suggestion was
+that he should marry his half-sister, an arrangement which seems to have
+commended itself to the Pope, on condition that Henry abandoned his
+divorce from Queen Katharine! But this was not to be, and Mary was
+betrothed to the French prince. An heir must be obtained somehow, and the
+divorce, therefore, took more and more tangible shape. A marriage with
+Anne Boleyn was the next move. To attain this object, Henry applied
+himself with his accustomed energy. His conscience walked hand in hand
+with expediency.
+
+To Rome, Henry sent many embassies and to the Universities of Christendom
+much gold, in order to persuade them to yield to the dictates of his
+conscience. His passion for marriage lines in his amours was one of
+Henry's most distinguishing qualities.
+
+In 1527 an union between Francis I. and the Princess Mary was set on foot.
+Here the question of Mary's legitimacy was debated, and this gave Henry
+another excuse for regarding the divorce as necessary.
+
+As the modern historian might aptly say: "Here was a pretty kettle of
+fish."
+
+There can be little doubt that as a man of God, Wolsey strongly
+disapproved of the divorce, but as the King's Chancellor he felt himself
+bound to urge his case to the best of his ability. He was in fact the
+advocate--the devil's advocate--under protest. One cannot imagine a more
+terrible position for a man of conscience to be placed in, but once even a
+cardinal embarks in politics the working of his conscience is temporarily
+suspended. In world politics the Ten Commandments are apt to become a
+negligible quantity.
+
+Henry's conscience was becoming more and more tender. Much may be urged in
+favour of the divorce from a political point of view, and no doubt Henry
+had a powerful faculty of self-persuasion--such men can grow to believe
+that whatever they desire is right, that "there is nothing either good or
+bad but thinking makes it so." It is a pity, however, that Henry's
+scruples did not assert themselves before the marriage with Katharine took
+place, for the ethical arguments against such an union were then equally
+strong. Indeed, these scruples appear to have been a "family failing," for
+Henry's sister Margaret, Queen of Scotland, obtained a dispensation of
+divorce from Rome on far slenderer grounds. To make matters worse for
+Henry, Rome was sacked--the Pope was a prisoner in the Emperor's hands. In
+this state of things, the Pope was naturally disinclined to give offence
+to the Emperor by divorcing his aunt (Katharine).
+
+At all costs, the Pope must be set free--on this errand Wolsey now set out
+for France. But Charles V. was no less wily than Wolsey, and dispatched
+Cardinal Quignon to Rome to frustrate his endeavours, and to deprive
+Wolsey of his legatine powers. A schism between Henry and Wolsey was now
+asserting itself--Wolsey being opposed to the King's union with Anne
+Boleyn. ("We'll no Anne Boleyns for him!") Wolsey desired that the King
+should marry the French King's sister, in order to strengthen his
+opposition to Charles V. of Spain.
+
+The Cardinal was indeed in an unenviable position. If the divorce
+succeeded, then his enemy, Anne Boleyn, would triumph and he would fall.
+If the divorce failed, then Henry would thrust from him the agent who had
+failed to secure the object of his master. And in his fall the Cardinal
+would drag down the Church. It is said that Wolsey secretly opposed the
+divorce. This is fully brought out in Shakespeare's play, and is indeed
+the main cause of Wolsey's fall.
+
+There was for Henry now only one way out of the dilemma into which the
+power of the Pope had thrown him--that was to obtain a dispensation for a
+bigamous marriage. It seems that Henry himself cancelled the proposition
+before it was made. This scruple was unnecessary, for the Pope himself
+secretly made a proposition "that His Majesty might be allowed two
+wives."
+
+The sanction for the marriage with Anne Boleyn was obtained without great
+difficulty--but it was to be subject to the divorce from Katharine being
+ratified. Thus the King was faced with another obstacle. At this moment
+began the struggle for supremacy at Rome between English and Spanish
+influence. The Pope had to choose between the two; Charles V. was the
+victor, whereupon Henry cut the Gordian knot by throwing over the
+jurisdiction of Rome. Wolsey was in a position of tragic perplexity. He
+was torn by his allegiance to the King, and his zeal for the preservation
+of the Church. He wrote: "I cannot reflect upon it and close my eye, for I
+see ruin, infamy and subversion of the whole dignity and estimation of the
+See Apostolic if this course is persisted in." But Pope Clement dared not
+offend the Emperor Charles, who was his best, because his most powerful
+ally, and had he not proved his power by sacking Rome? The Pope, although
+quite ready to grant dispensations for a marriage of Princess Mary and her
+half-brother, the Duke of Richmond, though he was ready to grant
+Margaret's divorce, could not afford to stultify the whole Papal dignity
+by revoking the dispensation he had originally given that Henry should
+marry his brother's wife. Truly an edifying embroglio! Henry was desirous
+of shifting the responsibility on God through the Pope--the Pope was
+sufficiently astute to wish to put the responsibility on the devil through
+Henry. There was one other course open--that course the Pope took.
+
+In 1528 he gave a Commission to Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio to try the
+case themselves, and pronounce sentence. Back went the embassy to England.
+Wolsey saw through the device, for the Pope was still free to revoke the
+Commission. Indeed Clement's attitude towards Henry was dictated entirely
+by the fluctuating fortune of Charles V., Emperor of Spain. Meanwhile,
+Charles won another battle against the French, and the Pope at once gave
+secret instructions to Campeggio to procrastinate, assuring Charles that
+nothing would be done which should be to the detriment of Katharine. The
+wily Campeggio (emissary of the Pope) at first sought to persuade Henry to
+refrain from the divorce. Henry refused. Thereupon he endeavoured to
+persuade Katharine voluntarily to enter a nunnery. Among all these
+plotters and intriguers, Katharine, adamant in her virtue, maintained her
+position as lawful wife and Queen.
+
+When Wolsey and Campeggio visited the Queen she was doing needlework with
+her maids. It appears (and this is important as showing the inwardness of
+Wolsey's attitude in the matter of the divorce) that "from this interview
+the Queen gained over both legates to her cause; indeed, they would never
+pronounce against her, and this was the head and front of the King's
+enmity to his former favourite Wolsey." In the first instance, Wolsey was
+undoubtedly a party, however unwilling, to the separation of the King and
+Queen, in order that Henry might marry the brilliant and high-minded
+sister of Francis I., Duchess of Alençon. That lady would not listen to
+such a proposal, lest it should break the heart of Queen Katharine. Wolsey
+was, either from personal enmity towards Anne Boleyn or from his estimate
+of her character, or from both, throughout opposed to the union with that
+lady.
+
+Subsequently the King sent to Katharine a deputation from his Council
+announcing that he had, by the advice of Cranmer, obtained the opinions of
+the universities of Europe concerning the divorce, and found several which
+considered it expedient. He therefore entreated her, for the quieting of
+his conscience, that she would refer the matter to the arbitration of four
+English prelates and four nobles. The Queen received the message in her
+chamber, and replied to it: "God grant my husband a quiet conscience, but
+I mean to abide by no decision excepting that of Rome." This infuriated
+the King.
+
+After many delays and the appearance of a document which was declared by
+one side to be a forgery, and by the other to be genuine, the case began
+on May 31, 1529. In the great hall of Blackfriars both the King and Queen
+appeared in person to hear the decision of the Court. The trial itself is
+very faithfully rendered in Shakespeare's play. Finding the King obdurate,
+Katharine protested against the jurisdiction of the Court, and appealing
+finally to Rome, withdrew from Blackfriars.
+
+Judgment was to be delivered on the 23rd of July, 1529. Campeggio rose in
+the presence of the King and adjourned the Court till October. This was
+the last straw, and the last meeting of the Court. Henry had lost. Charles
+was once more in the ascendant. England and France had declared war on him
+in 1528, but England's heart was not in the enterprise--the feeling of
+hatred to Wolsey became widespread. Henry and Charles made terms of peace,
+and embraced once more after a bloodless and (for England) somewhat
+ignominious war. The French force was utterly defeated in battle. The Pope
+and Charles signed a treaty--all was nicely arranged. The Pope's nephew
+was to marry the Emperor's natural daughter; certain towns were to be
+restored to the Pope, who was to crown Charles with the Imperial crown.
+The participators in the sacking of Rome were to be absolved from sin; the
+proceedings against the Emperor's aunt, Katharine, were to be null and
+void. If Katharine could not obtain justice in England, Henry should not
+have his justice in Rome. The Pope and the Emperor kissed again, and Henry
+finally cut himself adrift from Rome. It was the failure of the divorce
+that made England a Protestant country.
+
+Henry now openly defied the Pope, by whom he was excommunicated, and so
+"deprived of the solace of the rites of religion; when he died he must lie
+without burial, and in hell suffer torment for ever." The mind shrinks
+from contemplating the tortures to which the soul of His Majesty might
+have been subjected but for the timely intervention of his Grace the
+Archbishop of Canterbury.
+
+So far from Henry suffering in a temporal sense, he continued to defy the
+opinion and the power of the world. He showed his greatness by looking
+public opinion unflinchingly in the face; by ignoring, he conquered it.
+Amid the thunderous roarings of the Papal bull, Henry stood--as we see him
+in his picture--smiling and indifferent. "I never saw the King merrier
+than now," wrote a contemporary in 1533. Henry always had good cards--now
+he held the ace of public opinion up his sleeve.
+
+Wolsey, although averse to the Queen's divorce and the marriage of Anne
+Boleyn, expressed himself in terms of the strongest opposition to the
+overbearing Pope. A few days before the Papal revocation arrived, the
+Cardinal wrote thus: "If the King be cited to appear at Rome in person or
+by proxy, and his prerogative be interfered with, none of his subjects
+will tolerate it. If he appears in Italy, it will be at the head of a
+formidable army." Opposed as they were to the divorce, the English people
+were of one mind with Wolsey in this attitude.
+
+Henry was not slow to avail himself of the new development, and he made
+the divorce become in the eyes of the people but a secondary consideration
+to the pride of England. He drew the red herring of the Reformation across
+the trail of the divorce. The King and his Parliament held that the Church
+should not meddle with temporal affairs. The Church was the curer of
+souls, not the curer of the body politic.
+
+Katharine's cause sank into the background. The voice of justice was
+drowned by the birth shrieks of the Reformation.
+
+[Illustration: _Photo: Emery Walker_
+
+KATHARINE OF ARAGON
+
+From the Portrait in the National Portrait Gallery]
+
+
+
+
+THE REFORMATION
+
+
+We must remind ourselves that the divorce was merely the irritation which
+brought the discontent with Rome to a head. Religious affairs were in a
+very turbulent state. The monasteries were corrupt. The rule of Rome had
+become political, not spiritual. Luther had worked at shattering the
+pretensions of the Pope in Europe. Wolsey had prepared the English to
+acquiesce in Henry's religious supremacy by his long tenure of the whole
+Papal authority within the realm and the consequent suspension of appeals
+to Rome. Translations of the New Testament were being secretly read
+throughout the country--a most dangerous innovation--and Anne Boleyn, who
+had no cause to love the Pope or his power, held complete sway over the
+King.
+
+She and her father were said to be "more Lutheran than Luther himself."
+Though Henry was anti-Papal, he was never anti-Catholic, but, as the
+representative of God, as head of his own Church, he claimed to take
+precedence of the Pope. Moreover, the spoliation of the Church was not an
+unprofitable business.
+
+Rome declared the divorce illegal. Henry, with the support of his
+Parliament, abolished all forms of tribute to Rome, arranged that the
+election of Bishops should take place without the interference of the
+Pope, and declared that if he did not consent to the King's wishes within
+three months, the whole of his authority in England should be transferred
+to the Crown. This conditional abolition of the Papal authority was in due
+course made absolute, and the King assumed the title of Head of the
+Church.
+
+"The breach with Rome" was effected with a cold and calculated cunning,
+which the most adept disciple of Machiavelli could not have
+excelled."--(Pollard.)
+
+With an adroitness amounting to genius, Henry now used the moral suasion
+(not to use an uglier word) of threats towards the Church to induce the
+Pope to relent and to assent to the divorce. One by one, in this deadly
+battle, did the Pope's prerogatives vanish, until the sacerdotal
+foundations of Rome, so far as England was concerned, had been levelled to
+the ground.
+
+After many further political troubles and intrigues Henry prevailed on
+Cranmer, now Archbishop of Canterbury, as head of the Church, to declare
+the marriage between himself and Katharine to be null and void, and five
+days later Cranmer declared that Henry and Anne Boleyn were lawfully
+married. On the 1st of June, 1533, the Archbishop crowned Anne as Queen in
+Westminster Abbey. Shortly after she gave birth to a daughter, who was
+christened Elizabeth, and became Queen of England.
+
+Beyond this incident, with which the strange eventful history of
+Shakespeare's play ends, it is not proposed to travel in these notes,
+which are but intended as a brief chronicle that may guide the play-goer
+of to-day (sometimes a hasty reader) to realize the conditions of Henry's
+reign.
+
+
+
+
+MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
+
+
+In the days of Henry VIII., the ways of society differed from our own more
+in observance than in spirit. Though the gay world danced and gambled very
+late, they rose very early. Their conversation was coarse and lacked
+reserve. The ladies cursed freely. Outward show and ceremony were
+considered of the utmost importance. Hats were worn by the men in church
+and at meals, and only removed in the presence of the King and Cardinal.
+Kissing was far more prevalent as a mode of salutation. The Court society
+spent the greater part of their income on clothes. To those in the King's
+set, a thousand pounds was nothing out of the way to spend on a suit of
+clothes. The predominant colours at Court were crimson and green; the
+Tudor colours were green and white. It was an age of magnificent plate,
+and the possession and display of masses of gold and silver plate was
+considered as a sign of power. Later on in Shakespeare's time, not only
+the nobles, but also the better class citizens boasted collections of
+plate.
+
+A quaint instance of the recognition of distinctions of rank is afforded
+by certain "Ordinances" that went forth as the "Bouche of Court." Thus a
+Duke or Duchess was allowed in the morning one chet loaf, one manchet and
+a gallon of ale; in the afternoon one manchet and one gallon of ale; and
+for after supper one chet loaf, one manchet, one gallon of ale and a
+pitcher of wine, besides torches, etc. A Countess, however, was allowed
+nothing at all after supper, and a gentleman usher had no allowance for
+morning or afternoon. These class distinctions must have weighed heavily
+upon humbler beings, such as Countesses; but perhaps they consumed more at
+table to make up for these after-meal deficiencies.
+
+Table manners were a luxury as yet undreamed of. The use of the fork was a
+new fashion just being introduced from France and Spain.
+
+
+
+
+A NOTE ON THE PRODUCTION OF HENRY VIII. AT HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE
+
+
+From the descriptions which have appeared in these pages, it will be seen
+that the period of Henry VIII. was characterized by great sumptuousness;
+indeed, the daily life of the Court consisted largely of revels, masques
+and displays of splendour.
+
+Henry VIII. is largely a pageant play. As such it was conceived and
+written, as such we shall endeavour to present it to the public. Indeed,
+it is obvious that it would be far better not to produce the play at all
+than to do so without those adjuncts, by which alone the action of the
+play can be illustrated. Of course, it is not possible to do more than
+indicate on the stage the sumptuousness of the period of history covered
+by the play; but it is hoped that an impression will be conveyed to our
+own time of Henry in his habit as he lived, of his people, of the
+architecture, and of the manners and customs of that great age.
+
+
+_The Text_
+
+It has been thought desirable to omit almost in their entirety those
+portions of the play which deal with the Reformation, being as they are
+practically devoid of dramatic interest and calculated, as they are, to
+weary an audience. In taking this course, I feel the less hesitation as
+there can be no doubt that all these passages were from the first omitted
+in Shakespeare's own representations of the play.
+
+We have incontrovertible evidence that in Shakespeare's time, Henry VIII.
+was played in "two short hours."
+
+  "... 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."
+
+These words, addressed to the audience in the prologue, make it quite
+clear that a considerable portion of the play was considered by the
+author to be superfluous to the dramatic action--and so it is. Acted
+without any waits whatsoever, Henry VIII., as it is written, would take at
+least three hours and a half in the playing. Although we are not able to
+compass the performance within the prescribed "two short hours," for we
+show a greater respect for the preservation of the text than did
+Shakespeare himself, an attempt will be made to confine the absolute
+spoken words as nearly as possible within the time prescribed in the
+prologue.
+
+In the dramatic presentation of the play, there are many passages of
+intensely moving interest, the action and characters are drawn with a
+remarkable fidelity to the actualities. As has been suggested, however,
+the play depends more largely than do most of Shakespeare's works on those
+outward displays which an attempt will be made to realize on the stage.
+
+
+_Shakespeare as Stage Manager_
+
+That Shakespeare, as a stage-manager, availed himself as far as possible
+of these adjuncts is only too evident from the fact that it was the
+firing off the cannon which caused a conflagration and the consequent
+burning down of the Globe Theatre. The destruction of the manuscripts of
+Shakespeare's plays was probably due to this calamity. The incident shows
+a lamentable love of stage-mounting for which some of the critics of the
+time no doubt took the poet severely to task. In connection with the love
+of pageantry which then prevailed, it is well known that Shakespeare and
+Ben Jonson were wont to arrange the Masques which were so much in vogue in
+their time.
+
+
+_The Fire_
+
+The Globe Theatre was burnt on June 29th, 1613. Thomas Lorkins, in a
+letter to Sir Thomas Puckering on June 30th, says: "No longer since than
+yesterday, while Bourbidge his companie were acting at ye Globe the play
+of Henry 8, and there shooting of certayne chambers in way of triumph; the
+fire catch and fastened upon the thatch of ye house and there burned so
+furiously as it consumed ye whole house all in lesse than two hours, the
+people having enough to doe to save themselves."
+
+
+_Other Productions of the Play_
+
+There are records of many other productions of Henry VIII. existing. In
+1663 it was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields as a pageant play. The
+redoubtable Mr. Pepys visited this production, without appearing to have
+enjoyed the play. In contrast to him, old Dr. Johnson said that whenever
+Mrs. Siddons played the part of Katharine, he would "hobble to the theatre
+to see her."
+
+In 1707, Henry VIII. was produced at the Haymarket, with an exceptionally
+strong cast; in 1722 it was done at Drury Lane, in which production Booth
+played Henry VIII.
+
+In 1727 it was again played at Drury Lane. On this occasion the spectacle
+of the Coronation of Anne Boleyn was added, on which one scene, we are
+told, £1,000 had been expended. It will come to many as a surprise that so
+much splendour and so large an expenditure of money were at that time
+lavished on the stage. The play had an exceptional run of forty nights,
+largely owing, it is said, to the popularity it obtained through the
+Coronation of George II., which had taken place a few weeks before.
+
+The play was a great favourite of George II. and was in consequence
+frequently revived during his reign. On being asked by a grave nobleman,
+after a performance at Hampton Court, how the King liked it, Sir Richard
+Steele replied: "So terribly well, my lord, that I was afraid I should
+have lost all my actors, for I was not sure the King would not keep them
+to fill the posts at Court that he saw them so fit for in the play."
+
+In 1744, Henry VIII. was given for the first time at Covent Garden, but
+was not revived until 1772, when it was announced at Covent Garden as
+"'Henry VIII.,' not acted for 20 years." The Coronation was again
+introduced.
+
+Queen Katharine was one of Mrs. Siddons' great parts. She made her first
+appearance in this character at Drury Lane in 1788. In 1808 it was again
+revived, and Mrs. Siddons once more played the Queen, Kemble appearing as
+Wolsey.
+
+In 1822, Edmund Kean made his first appearance as Wolsey at Drury Lane,
+but the play was only given four times.
+
+In 1832, the play was revived at Covent Garden with extraordinary
+splendour, and a magnificent cast. Charles Kemble played King Henry; Mr.
+Young, Wolsey; Miss Ellen Tree, Anne Boleyn; and Miss Fanny Kemble
+appeared for the first time as Queen Katharine. Her success seems to have
+been great. We are told that Miss Ellen Tree, as Anne Boleyn, appeared to
+great disadvantage; "her headdress was the most frightful and unbecoming
+thing imaginable, though we believe it was taken from one of Holbein's."
+In those days correctness of costume was considered most lamentable and
+most laughable. In this production, too, the Coronation was substituted
+for the procession. The criticism adds that "during the progress of the
+play the public seized every opportunity of showing their dislike of the
+Bishops, and the moment they came on the stage they were assailed with
+hissing and hooting, and one of the prelates, in his haste to escape from
+such a reception, fell prostrate, which excited bursts of merriment from
+all parts of the house."
+
+In 1855, Charles Kean revived the play with his accustomed care and
+sumptuousness. In this famous revival Mrs. Kean appeared as "Queen
+Katharine."
+
+
+_Irving's Production_
+
+Sir Henry Irving's magnificent production will still be fresh in the
+memory of many playgoers. It was admitted on all hands to be an artistic
+achievement of the highest kind, and Sir Henry Irving was richly rewarded
+by the support of the public, the play running 203 nights. Miss Ellen
+Terry greatly distinguished herself in the part of Queen Katharine,
+contributing in no small degree to the success of the production. Sir
+Henry Irving, in the part of Wolsey, made a deep impression. Mr. William
+Terriss played the King. Mr. Forbes Robertson made a memorable success in
+the part of Buckingham; and it is interesting to note that Miss Violet
+Vanbrugh played the part of Anne Boleyn.
+
+[Illustration: ANNE BOLEYN
+
+From the Portrait by Holbein, at Warwick Castle]
+
+
+_The Music_
+
+An outstanding feature of the Lyceum production was Edward German's music.
+I deem myself fortunate that this music was available for the present
+production. It may be mentioned that Mr. German has composed some
+additional numbers, amongst which is the Anthem sung in the Coronation of
+Anne Boleyn.
+
+
+_Shakespeare's Accuracy of Detail_
+
+I cannot help quoting one passage from Cavendish at length to show how
+closely Shakespeare keeps to the chronicles of his time. It will be found
+that Scene 3 of Act I. is practically identical with the following
+description:--
+
+     The banquets were set forth, with masks and mummeries, in so gorgeous
+     a sort, and costly manner, that it was a heaven to behold.
+
+     ... I have seen the king suddenly come in thither in a mask, with a
+     dozen of other maskers, all in garments like shepherds.
+
+     ... And at his coming and before he came into the hall, ye shall
+     understand that he came by water to the water gate, without any
+     noise; where, against his coming, were laid charged many chambers,
+     and at his landing they were all shot off, which made such a rumble
+     in the air, that it was like thunder. It made all the noblemen,
+     ladies and gentlewomen to muse what it should mean coming so
+     suddenly, they sitting quietly at a solemn banquet. Then immediately
+     after this great shot of guns, the cardinal desired the Lord
+     Chamberlain, and Comptroller, to look what this sudden shot should
+     mean, as though he knew nothing of the matter. They thereupon looking
+     out of the windows into Thames, returned again, and showed him, that
+     it seemed to them there should be some noblemen and strangers arrived
+     at his bridge, as ambassadors from some foreign prince. With that,
+     quoth the Cardinal, "I shall desire you, because ye can speak French,
+     to take the pains to go down into the hall to encounter and to
+     receive them, according to their estates, and to conduct them into
+     this chamber, where they shall see us, and all these noble personages
+     sitting merrily at our banquet, desiring them to sit down with us and
+     to take part of our fare and pastime." Then they went incontinent
+     down into the hall, where they received them with twenty new torches,
+     and conveyed them up into the chamber, with such a number of drums
+     and fifes as I have seldom seen together, at one time in any masque.
+     At their arrival into the chamber, two and two together, they went
+     directly before the cardinal where he sat, saluting him very
+     reverently, to whom the Lord Chamberlain for them said: "Sir,
+     forasmuch as they be strangers, and can speak no English, they have
+     desired me to declare unto your Grace thus: they, having
+     understanding of this your triumphant banquet, where was assembled
+     such a number of excellent fair dames, could do no less, under the
+     supportation of your good grace, but to repair hither to view as well
+     their incomparable beauty, as for to accompany them to mumchance, and
+     then after to dance with them, and so to have of them acquaintance.
+     And, sir, they furthermore require of your Grace licence to
+     accomplish the cause of their repair." To whom the Cardinal answered,
+     that he was very well contented they should do so. Then the masquers
+     went first and saluted all the dames as they sat, and then returned
+     to the most worthiest.
+
+     ... Then quoth the Cardinal to my Lord Chamberlain, "I pray you,"
+     quoth he, "show them that it seemeth me that there should be among
+     them some noble man, whom I suppose to be much more worthy of honour
+     to sit and occupy this room and place than I; to whom I would most
+     gladly, if I knew him, surrender my place according to my duty." Then
+     spake my Lord Chamberlain, unto them in French, declaring my Lord
+     Cardinal's mind, and they rounding him again in the ear, my Lord
+     Chamberlain said to my Lord Cardinal, "Sir, they confess," quoth he,
+     "that among them there is such a noble personage, whom, if your Grace
+     can appoint him from the other, he is contented to disclose himself,
+     and to accept your place most worthily." With that the cardinal,
+     taking a good advisement among them, at the last, quoth he, "Me
+     seemeth the gentleman with the black beard should be even he." And
+     with that he arose out of his chair, and offered the same to the
+     gentleman in the black beard, with his cap in his hand. The person to
+     whom he offered then his chair was Sir Edward Neville, a comely
+     knight of goodly personage, that much more resembled the king's
+     person in that mask, than any other. The king, hearing and perceiving
+     the cardinal so deceived in his estimation and choice, could not
+     forbear laughing; but plucked down his visor, and Master Neville's
+     also, and dashed out with such a pleasant countenance and cheer, that
+     all noble estates there assembled, seeing the king to be there
+     amongst them, rejoiced very much.
+
+If Shakespeare could be so true to the actualities, why should not we seek
+to realise the scene so vividly described by the chronicler and the
+dramatist?
+
+In my notes and conclusions on "Henry VIII. and his Court," I have been
+largely indebted to the guidance of the following books:--
+
+Ernest Law's "History of Hampton Court"; Strickland's "Queens of England";
+Taunton's "Thomas Wolsey, Legate and Reformer"; and Cavendish's "Life of
+Wolsey."
+
+
+
+
+AN APOLOGY AND A FOOTNOTE
+
+
+Here I am tempted to hark back to the modern manner of producing
+Shakespeare, and to say a few words in extenuation of those methods, which
+have been assailed in a recent article with almost equal brilliancy and
+vehemence.
+
+The writer tells us that there are two different kinds of plays, the
+realistic and the symbolic. Shakespeare's plays, we are assured, belong to
+the latter category. "The scenery," it is insisted, "not only may, but
+should be imperfect." This seems an extraordinary doctrine, for if it be
+right that a play should be imperfectly mounted, it follows that it should
+be imperfectly acted, and further that it should be imperfectly written.
+The modern methods, we are assured, employed in the production of
+Shakespeare, do not properly illustrate the play, but are merely made for
+vulgar display, with the result of crushing the author and obscuring his
+meaning. In this assertion, I venture to think that our critic is
+mistaken; I claim that not the least important mission of the modern
+theatre is to give to the public representations of history which shall be
+at once an education and a delight. To do this, the manager should avail
+himself of the best archæological and artistic help his generation can
+afford him, while endeavouring to preserve what he believes to be the
+spirit and the intention of the author.
+
+It is of course possible for the technically informed reader to imagine
+the wonderful and stirring scenes which form part of the play without
+visualizing them. It is, I contend, better to reserve Shakespeare for the
+study than to see him presented half-heartedly.
+
+The merely archaic presentation of the play can be of interest only to
+those epicures who do not pay their shilling to enter the theatre. The
+contemporary theatre must make its appeal to the great public, and I hold
+that while one should respect every form of art, that art which appeals
+only to a coterie is on a lower plane than that which speaks to the world.
+Surely, it is not too much to claim that a truer and more vivid
+impression of a period of history can be given by its representation on
+the stage than by any other means of information. Though the archæologist
+with symbolic leanings may cry out, the theatre is primarily for those who
+love the drama, who love the joy of life and the true presentation of
+history. It is only secondarily for those who fulfil their souls in
+footnotes.[6]
+
+I hold that whatever may tend to destroy the illusion and the people's
+understanding is to be condemned. Whatever may tend to heighten the
+illusion and to help the audience to a better understanding of the play
+and the author's meaning, is to be commended. Shakespeare and Burbage,
+Betterton, Colley Cibber, the Kembles, the Keans, Phelps, Calvert and
+Henry Irving, as artists, recognised that there was but one way to treat
+the play of Henry VIII. It is pleasant to sin in such good company.
+
+I contend that Henry VIII. is essentially a realistic and not a symbolic
+play. Indeed, probably no English author is less "symbolic" than
+Shakespeare. "Hamlet" is a play which, to my mind, does not suffer by the
+simplest setting; indeed, a severe simplicity of treatment seems to me to
+assist rather than to detract from the imaginative development of that
+masterpiece. But I hold that, with the exception of certain scenes in "The
+Tempest," no plays of Shakespeare are susceptible to what is called
+"symbolic" treatment. To attempt to present Henry VIII. in other than a
+realistic manner would be to ensure absolute failure. Let us take an
+instance from the text. By what symbolism can Shakespeare's stage
+directions in the Trial scene be represented on the stage?
+
+"A Hall in Blackfriars. Enter two vergers with short silver wands; next
+them two scribes in the habit of doctors.... Next them with some small
+distance, follows a gentleman bearing the purse with the great seal and a
+Cardinal's hat; then two priests bearing each a silver cross; then a
+gentleman usher bareheaded, accompanied with a sergeant-at-arms bearing a
+silver mace; then two gentlemen bearing two great silver pillars; after
+them, side by side, the two Cardinals, Wolsey and Campeius; two noblemen
+with the sword and mace," etc.
+
+I confess my symbolic imagination was completely gravelled, and in the
+absence of any symbolic substitute, I have been compelled to fall back on
+the stage directions.
+
+Yet we are gravely told by the writer of a recent article that "all
+Shakespeare's plays" lend themselves of course to such symbolic treatment.
+We hear, indeed, that the National Theatre is to be run on symbolic lines.
+If it be so, then God help the National Theatre--the symbolists will not.
+No "ism" ever made a great cause. The National Theatre, to be the
+dignified memorial we all hope it may be, will owe its birth, its being
+and its preservation to the artists, who alone are the guardians of any
+art. It is the painter, not the frame-maker, who upholds the art of
+painting; it is the poet, not the book-binder, who carries the torch of
+poetry. It was the sculptor, and not the owner of the quarry, who made the
+Venus of Milo. It is sometimes necessary to re-assert the obvious.
+
+Now there are plays in which symbolism is appropriate--those of
+Maeterlinck, for instance. But if, as has been said, Maeterlinck resembles
+Shakespeare, Shakespeare does not resemble Maeterlinck. Let us remember
+that Shakespeare was a humanist, not a symbolist.
+
+
+_The End_
+
+The end of the play of Henry VIII. once more illustrates the pageantry of
+realism, as prescribed in the elaborate directions as to the christening
+of the new-born princess.
+
+It is this incident of the christening of the future Queen Elizabeth that
+brings to an appropriate close the strange eventful history as depicted in
+the play of Henry VIII. And thus the injustice of the world is once more
+triumphantly vindicated: Wolsey, the devoted servant of the King, has
+crept into an ignominious sanctuary; Katharine has been driven to a
+martyr's doom; the adulterous union has been blessed by the Court of
+Bishops; minor poets have sung their blasphemous pæans in unison. The
+offspring of Anne Boleyn, over whose head the Shadow of the Axe is already
+hovering, has been christened amid the acclamations of the mob; the King
+paces forth to hold the child up to the gaze of a shouting populace,
+accompanied by the Court and the Clergy--trumpets blare, drums roll, the
+organ thunders, cannons boom, hymns are sung, the joy bells are pealing. A
+lonely figure in black enters weeping. It is the Fool!
+
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY OF PUBLIC EVENTS DURING THE LIFETIME OF KING HENRY VIII.
+
+
+  1491.  Birth of Henry, second son of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York.
+
+  1501.  Marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, eldest son of Henry VII. and
+         Elizabeth of York, to Katharine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand
+         and Isabella of Spain.
+
+  1502.  Death of Arthur, Prince of Wales.
+
+  1509.  Death of King Henry VII.
+
+         Marriage of Henry VIII. at Westminster Abbey with Katharine of
+         Aragon, his brother's widow.
+
+         Thomas Wolsey made King's Almoner.
+
+  1511.  Thomas Wolsey called to the King's Council.
+
+         The Holy League established by the Pope.
+
+  1512.  War with France.
+
+  1513.  Battles of the Spurs and of Flodden.
+
+         Wolsey becomes Chief Minister.
+
+  1516.  Wolsey made Legate.
+
+         Dissolution of the Holy League.
+
+  1517.  Luther denounces Indulgences.
+
+  1520.  Henry meets Francis at "Field of Cloth of Gold."
+
+         Luther burns the Pope's Bull.
+
+  1521.  Quarrel of Luther with Henry.
+
+         Henry's book against Luther presented to the Pope.
+
+         Pope Leo confers on Henry the title "_Fidei Defensor_."
+
+  1522.  Renewal of war with France.
+
+  1523.  Wolsey quarrels with the Commons on question of 20 per cent.
+         property tax.
+
+  1525.  Benevolences of one-tenth from the laity and of one-fourth from
+         clergy demanded.
+
+         Exaction of Benevolences defeated.
+
+         Peace with France.
+
+  1527.  Henry resolves on a Divorce.
+
+         Sack of Rome.
+
+  1528.  Pope Clement VII. issues a commission to the Cardinals Wolsey and
+         Campeggio for a trial of the facts on which Henry's application
+         for a divorce was based.
+
+  1529.  Trial of Queen Katharine at Blackfriars' Hall.
+
+         Katharine appeals to Rome.
+
+         Fall of Wolsey. Ministry of Norfolk and Sir Thomas More.
+
+         Rise of Thomas Cromwell.
+
+  1530.  Wolsey arrested for treason.
+
+         Wolsey's death at Leicester Abbey.
+
+  1531.  Henry acknowledged as "Supreme Head of the Church of England."
+
+  1533.  Henry secretly marries Anne Boleyn.
+
+         Cranmer, in Archbishop of Canterbury's Court, declares
+         Katharine's marriage invalid and the marriage of Henry and Anne
+         lawful. Anne Boleyn crowned Queen in Westminster Abbey.
+
+         Birth of Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth).
+
+  1535.  Henry's title as Supreme Head of the Church incorporated in the
+         royal style by letters patent.
+
+         Execution of Sir Thomas More.
+
+  1536.  English Bible issued.
+
+         Dissolution of lesser Monasteries.
+
+         Death of Katharine of Aragon.
+
+         Execution of Anne Boleyn.
+
+         Henry's marriage with Jane Seymour.
+
+  1537.  Birth of Edward VI.
+
+         Death of Jane Seymour.
+
+         Dissolution of greater Monasteries.
+
+  1540.  Henry's marriage with Anne of Cleves.
+
+         Execution of Thomas Cromwell.
+
+         Henry divorces Anne of Cleves.
+
+         Henry's marriage with Catherine Howard.
+
+  1542.  Execution of Catherine Howard.
+
+         Completion of the Tudor Conquest of Ireland.
+
+  1543.  War with France.
+
+         Henry's marriage with Catherine Parr.
+
+  1547.  Death of Henry. Age 55 years and 7 months.
+
+         He reigned 37 years and 9 months.
+
+
+
+
+SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYS PRODUCED UNDER HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE'S MANAGEMENT.
+
+
+A.--AT THE HAYMARKET THEATRE
+
+  1889.  "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+
+  1892.  "Hamlet."
+
+  1896.  "King Henry IV." (Part I.)
+
+
+B.--AT HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE
+
+  1898.  "Julius Cæsar."
+
+  1899.  "King John."
+
+  1900.  "A Midsummer's Night's Dream."
+
+  1901.  "Twelfth Night."
+
+  1903.  "King Richard II."
+
+  1904.  "The Tempest."
+
+  1905.  "Much Ado About Nothing."
+
+         First Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "King Richard II."
+           "Twelfth Night."
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+           "Hamlet."
+           "Much Ado About Nothing."
+           "Julius Cæsar."
+
+  1906.  "The Winter's Tale."
+
+         "Antony and Cleopatra."
+
+         Second Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "The Tempest."
+           "Hamlet."
+           "King Henry IV." (Part I.)
+           "Julius Cæsar."
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+
+  1907.  Third Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "The Tempest."
+           "The Winter's Tale."
+           "Hamlet."
+           "Twelfth Night."
+           "Julius Cæsar."
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+
+  1908.  "The Merchant of Venice."
+
+         Fourth Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+           "The Merchant of Venice."
+           "Twelfth Night."
+           "Hamlet."
+
+  1909.  Fifth Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "King Richard III."
+           "Twelfth Night."
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+           "Hamlet."
+           "Julius Cæsar."
+           "The Merchant of Venice."
+           "Macbeth." (Mr. Arthur Bourchier's Company.)
+           "Antony and Cleopatra" (Act II., Scene 2).
+
+  1910.  Sixth Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+           "Julius Cæsar."
+           "Twelfth Night."
+           "Hamlet." (By His Majesty's Theatre Company and by Mr. H. B.
+               Irving's Company.)
+           "The Merchant of Venice." (By His Majesty's Theatre Company
+               and by Mr. Arthur Bourchier's Company.)
+           "King Lear." (Mr. Herbert Trench's Company.)
+           "The Taming of the Shrew." (Mr. F. R. Benson and Company.)
+           "Coriolanus." (Mr. F. R. Benson and Company.)
+           "Two Gentlemen of Verona." (The Elizabethan Stage Society's
+               Company.)
+           "King Henry V." (Mr. Lewis Waller and Company.)
+           "King Richard II."
+           Scenes from "Macbeth" and "Romeo and Juliet."
+
+  1910.  September 1st, "King Henry VIII."
+
+
+PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LONDON, E.C.
+
+15.311
+
+
+
+
+SPECIAL SERIAL ISSUE
+
+The Century Shakespeare
+
+  Introductions by the famous Shakespearean
+  Scholar,
+  Dr. FURNIVALL,
+  assisted by JOHN MUNRO
+
+FULL NOTES, MAPS, and GLOSSARIES
+
+Commencing with the Henry VIII Edition, published on the _eve of His
+Majesty's Theatre Revival_, the CENTURY SHAKESPEARE WILL BE ISSUED
+
+Weekly in 40 Volumes at 9{D.} net One Volume per week thus affording every
+reader an opportunity of obtaining this famous Edition, with its
+unsurpassable scholarship, at a merely nominal weekly cost.
+
+Each volume will contain a beautiful Photogravure Frontispiece, reproduced
+from a Painting by a FAMOUS ARTIST.
+
+The Henry VIII Volume bears on its cover a Colour Reproduction of Mr.
+Charles Buchel's picture of Sir Herbert Tree as "Cardinal Wolsey."
+
+The next volume is "SHAKESPEARE: LIFE AND WORK," by Dr. FURNIVALL and JOHN
+MUNRO. The most human document about the Poet yet published.
+
+_It contains a beautiful Coloured Reproduction of the famous picture,
+"ROMEO AND JULIET," by Frank Dicksee, R.A._
+
+Complete Prospectus free on receipt of a Postcard.
+
+  OF ALL BOOKSELLERS AND NEWSAGENTS
+  CASSELL AND CO., LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE,
+  LONDON, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] Cavendish was Wolsey's faithful secretary, and after his fall wrote
+the interesting "Life of Wolsey," one of the manuscript copies of which
+evidently fell into Shakespeare's hands before he wrote _Henry VIII._
+
+[2] "Pastime with Good Company," composed and written by Henry, is sung in
+the production at His Majesty's Theatre.
+
+[3] Hypocras--"A favourite medicated drink, compound of wine, usually red,
+with spices and sugar."
+
+[4] It is Wolsey's fool to whom is given the final note of the play in the
+production at His Majesty's Theatre.
+
+[5] The ceremony of bringing the Blessed Sacrament from the sepulchre
+where it had lain since the Good Friday. This took place early on Easter
+Monday.
+
+[6] Personally, I have been a sentimental adherent of symbolism since my
+first Noah's Ark. Ever since I first beheld the generous curves of Mrs.
+Noah, and first tasted the insidious carmine of her lips, have I regarded
+the wife of Noah as symbolical of the supreme type of womanhood. I have
+learnt that the most exclusive symbolists, when painting a meadow, regard
+purple as symbolical of bright green; but we live in a realistic age and
+have not yet overtaken the _art nouveau_ of the pale future. It is
+difficult to deal seriously with so much earnestness. I am forced into
+symbolic parable. Artemus Ward, when delivering a lecture on his great
+moral panorama, pointed with his wand to a blur on the horizon, and said:
+"Ladies and gentlemen, that is a horse--the artist who painted that
+picture called on me yesterday with tears in his eyes, and said he would
+disguise that fact from me no longer!" He, too, was a symbolist.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
+
+The original text contains both "playgoer" and "play-goer" and contains
+both "Guistinian" and "Giustinian."
+
+Superscripted letter is shown in {brackets}.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Henry VIII and His Court, by Herbert Tree
+
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Henry VIII and His Court, by Herbert Beerbohm Tree.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
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+    .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; font-style: normal;}
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Henry VIII and His Court, by Herbert Tree
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
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+Title: Henry VIII and His Court
+       6th edition
+
+Author: Herbert Tree
+
+Release Date: April 2, 2010 [EBook #31864]
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HENRY VIII AND HIS COURT ***
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+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h1>Henry VIII and His Court</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><a name="front" id="front"></a>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_005.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p class="center"><strong>HENRY VIII</strong><br />
+From the Portrait by Holbein, at Warwick Castle</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<h1>HENRY VIII<br />AND HIS COURT</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>BY</h3>
+<h2>HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>WITH FOUR FULL-PAGE PLATES</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>SIXTH EDITION</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD.<br />London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne<br />1911</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>INTRODUCTORY</h2>
+
+<div class="note">
+<p>In these notes, written as a holiday task, it is not intended to give an
+exhaustive record of the events of Henry&#8217;s reign; but rather to offer an
+impression of the more prominent personages in Shakespeare&#8217;s play; and
+perhaps to aid the playgoer in a fuller appreciation of the conditions
+which governed their actions.</p>
+
+<p><i>Marienbad, 1910</i></p></div>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="contents">
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><span class="smcaplc">PAGE</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">King Henry VIII.</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Wolsey</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Katharine</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Anne Boleyn</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Divorce</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Reformation</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Manners and Customs</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">A Note on the Production of Henry VIII. at His Majesty&#8217;s Theatre</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">An Apology and a Footnote</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">103</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Chronology of Public Events during the Lifetime of Henry VIII.</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Shakespearean Plays Produced under Herbert Beerbohm Tree&#8217;s Management at the Haymarket Theatre</span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr></table>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>LIST OF PLATES</h2>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="plates">
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Henry VIII.</span></td><td><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span></td><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="#front"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Cardinal Wolsey</span></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td><i>Facing</i></td><td><i>page</i></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_43">42</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Katharine of Aragon</span></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Anne Boleyn</span></td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="center">"</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr></table>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2>KING HENRY VIII</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+<h2>KING HENRY VIII</h2>
+
+<p><i>His Character</i></p>
+
+<p>Holbein has drawn the character and written the history of Henry on the
+canvas of his great picture. Masterful, cruel, crafty, merciless,
+courageous, sensual, through-seeing, humorous, mean, matter of fact,
+worldly-wise, and of indomitable will, Henry the Eighth is perhaps the
+most outstanding figure in English history. The reason is not far to seek.
+The genial adventurer with sporting tendencies and large-hearted
+proclivities is always popular with the mob, and &#8220;Bluff King Hal,&#8221; as he
+was called, was of the eternal type adored by the people. He had a certain
+outward and inward affinity with Nero. Like Nero, he was corpulent; like
+Nero, he was red-haired; like Nero, he sang and poetised; like Nero, he
+was a lover of horsemanship, a master of the arts and the slave of his
+passions. If his private vices were great, his public virtues were no less
+considerable. He had the ineffable quality called<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> charm, and the
+appearance of good-nature which captivated all who came within the orbit
+of his radiant personality. He was the &#8220;<i>beau gar&ccedil;on</i>,&#8221; endearing himself
+to all women by his compelling and conquering manhood. Henry was every
+inch a man, but he was no gentleman. He chucked even Justice under the
+chin, and Justice winked her blind eye.</p>
+
+<p>It is extraordinary that in spite of his brutality, both Katharine and
+Anne Boleyn spoke of him as a model of kindness. This cannot be accounted
+for alone by that divinity which doth hedge a king.</p>
+
+<p>There is, above all, in the face of Henry, as depicted by Holbein, that
+look of impenetrable mystery which was the background of his character.
+Many royal men have this strange quality; with some it is inborn, with
+others it is assumed. Of Henry, Cavendish,<small><a name="f1.1" id="f1.1" href="#f1">[1]</a></small> a contemporary, records the
+following saying: &#8220;Three may keep counsel, if two be away; and if I
+thought my cap knew my counsel,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> I would throw it in the fire and burn
+it.&#8221; Referring to this passage, Brewer says, &#8220;Never had the King spoke a
+truer word or described himself more accurately. Few would have thought
+that, under so careless and splendid an exterior&mdash;the very ideal of bluff,
+open-hearted good humour and frankness&mdash;there lay a watchful and secret
+mind that marked what was going on without seeming to mark it; kept its
+own counsel until it was time to strike, and then struck as suddenly and
+remorselessly as a beast of prey. It was strange to witness so much
+subtlety combined with so much strength.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There was something baffling and terrifying in the mysterious bonhomie of
+the King. In spite of C&aelig;sar&#8217;s dictum, it is the fat enemy who is to be
+feared; a thin villain is more easily seen through.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>His Ancestry</i></p>
+
+<p>Henry&#8217;s antecedents were far from glorious. The Tudors were a Welsh family
+of somewhat humble stock. Henry VII.&#8217;s great-grandfather was butler or
+steward to the Bishop of Bangor, whose son, Owen Tudor, coming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> to London,
+obtained a clerkship of the Wardrobe to Henry V.&#8217;s Queen, Catherine of
+France. Within a few years of Henry&#8217;s death, the widowed Queen and her
+clerk of the wardrobe were secretly living together as man and wife. The
+two sons of this morganatic match, Edmund and Jasper, were favoured by
+their half brother, Henry VI. Edmund, the elder, was knighted, and then
+made Earl of Richmond. In 1453 he was formally declared legitimate, and
+enrolled a member of the King&#8217;s Council. Two years later he married the
+Lady Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of Edward III. It was this union
+between Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort which gave Henry VII. his claim
+by descent to the English throne.</p>
+
+<p>The popularity of the Tudors was, no doubt, enhanced by the fact that with
+their line, kings of decisively English blood, for the first time since
+the Norman Conquest, sat on the English throne.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>His Early Days</i></p>
+
+<p>When Henry VIII. ascended the throne in 1509, England regarded him with
+almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> universal loyalty. The memory of the long years of the Wars of the
+Roses and the wars of the Pretenders during the reign of his father, were
+fresh in the people&#8217;s mind. No other than he could have attained to the
+throne without civil war.</p>
+
+<p>Within two months he married Katharine of Aragon, his brother&#8217;s widow, and
+a few days afterwards the King and Queen were crowned with great splendour
+in Westminster Abbey. He was still in his eighteenth year, of fine
+physical development, but of no special mental precocity. For the first
+five years of his reign, he was influenced by his Council, and especially
+by his father-in-law, Ferdinand the Catholic, giving little indication of
+the later mental vigour and power of initiation which made his reign so
+memorable in English annals.</p>
+
+<p>The political situation in Europe was a difficult one for Henry to deal
+with. France and Spain were the rivals for Imperial dominion. England was
+in danger of falling between two stools, such was the eagerness of each
+that the other should not support her. Henry, through his marriage with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+Katharine, began by being allied to Spain, and this alliance involved
+England in the costly burden of war. Henry&#8217;s resentment at the empty
+result of this warfare, broke the Spanish alliance. Wolsey&#8217;s aim was to
+keep the country out of wars, and a long period of peace raised England to
+the position of arbiter of Europe in the balanced contest between France
+and Spain.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>The Field of the Cloth of Gold</i></p>
+
+<p>It was in connection with the meetings and intrigues now with one power,
+now with the other, that the famous meeting with the French King at
+Guisnes, known as &#8220;the Field of the Cloth of Gold,&#8221; was held in 1520.</p>
+
+<p>That the destinies of kingdoms sometimes hang on trifles is curiously
+exemplified by a singular incident which preceded the famous meeting.
+Francis I. prided himself on his beard. As a proof of his desire for the
+meeting with Francis, and out of compliment to the French King, Henry
+announced his resolve to wear his beard uncut until the meeting took
+place. But he reckoned without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> his wife. Some weeks before the meeting
+Louise of Savoy, the Queen-Mother of France, taxed Boleyn, the English
+Ambassador, with a report that Henry had put off his beard. &#8220;I said,&#8221;
+writes Boleyn, &#8220;that, as I suppose, it hath been by the Queen&#8217;s desire,
+for I told my lady that I have hereafore known when the King&#8217;s grace hath
+worn long his beard, that the Queen hath daily made him great instance,
+and desired him to put it off for her sake.&#8221; This incident caused some
+resentment on the part of the French King, who was only pacified by
+Henry&#8217;s tact.</p>
+
+<p>So small a matter might have proved a <i>casus belli</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The meeting was held amidst scenes of unparalleled splendour. The
+temporary palace erected for the occasion was so magnificent that a
+chronicler tells us it might have been the work of Leonardo da Vinci.
+Henry &#8220;the goodliest prince that ever reigned over the realm of England,&#8221;
+is described as &#8220;<i>honn&ecirc;te, hault et droit</i>, in manner gentle and gracious,
+rather fat, with a red beard, large enough, and very becoming.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>On this occasion Wolsey was accompanied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> by two hundred gentlemen clad in
+crimson velvet, and had a body-guard of two hundred archers. He was
+clothed in crimson satin from head to foot, his mule was covered with
+crimson velvet, and her trappings were all of gold.</p>
+
+<p>There were jousts and many entertainments and rejoicings, many kissings of
+Royal cheeks, but the Sovereigns hated each other cordially. While they
+were kissing they were plotting against each other. A more unedifying page
+of history has not been written. Appalling, indeed, are the shifts and
+intrigues which go to make up the records of the time.</p>
+
+<p>The rulers of Europe were playing a game of cards, in which all the
+players were in collusion with, and all cheating each other. Temporizing
+and intriguing, Henry met the Spanish monarch immediately before and
+immediately after his meeting with the French King. Within a few months,
+France and Spain were again at war, and England, in a fruitless and costly
+struggle, fought on the side of Spain.</p>
+
+<p>It was the divorce from Katharine of Aragon and its momentous
+consequences,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> which finally put an end to the alliance with Spain, and to
+the struggle with France succeeded a long struggle with Spain, which
+culminated in the great event of The Armada in the reign of Henry&#8217;s
+daughter, Elizabeth.</p>
+
+<p>However, in these pages it is not proposed to enlarge upon the political
+aspect of the times, but rather to deal with the dramatic and domestic
+side of Henry&#8217;s being. In the play of <i>Henry VIII.</i>, the author or authors
+(for to another than Shakespeare is ascribed a portion of the drama), have
+given us as impartial a view of his character as a due regard for truth on
+the one hand, and a respect for the scaffold on the other, permitted.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>His Aspirations</i></p>
+
+<p>There can be no doubt that when Henry ascended the throne, he had a
+sincere wish to serve God and uphold the right.</p>
+
+<p>In his early years he was really devout and generous in almsgiving.
+Erasmus affirmed that his Court was an example to all Christendom for
+learning and piety. To the Pope he paid deference as to the representative
+of God.</p>
+
+<p>With youthful enthusiasm, the young King,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> looking round and seeing
+corruption on every side, said to Giustinian, the Venetian ambassador:
+&#8220;Nor do I see any faith in the world save in me, and therefore God
+Almighty, who knows this, prosper my affairs.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In Henry&#8217;s early reign, England was trusted more than any country to keep
+faith in her alliances. At a time when all was perfidy and treachery,
+promises and alliances were made only to be broken when self-interest
+prompted. History, like Nature itself, is ruled by brutal laws, and to
+play the round game of politics with single-handed honesty would be to
+lose at every turn. Henry was born into an inheritance of blood and
+blackmail. Corruption has its vested interests. It is useless to attempt
+to stem the recurrent tide of corruption by sprinkling the waves with holy
+water.</p>
+
+<p>Then religion was a part of men&#8217;s daily lives, but the principles of
+Christianity were set at naught at the first bidding of expediency.</p>
+
+<p>Men murdered to live&mdash;the axe and the sword were the final Court of
+Appeal. Nor does the old order change appreciably in the course of a few
+hundred years. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> international politics, as in public life, when
+self-interest steps in, Christianity goes to the wall.</p>
+
+<p>To-day we grind our axe with a difference. A more subtle process of
+dealing with our rivals obtains. To-day the pen is mightier than the
+sword, the stylograph is more deadly than the stiletto. The bravo still
+plies his trade. He no longer takes life, but character. To intrigue, to
+combine against those outside the ring is often the swiftest way to
+fortune. By such combination do weaker particles make themselves strong.
+To &#8220;play the game&#8221; is necessary to progress. The world was not made for
+poets and idealists. To quote an anonymous modern writer:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;&#8216;Act well your part, there all the honour lies&#8217;;<br />
+Stoop to expediency and honour dies.<br />
+Many there are that in the race for fame,<br />
+Lose the great cause to win the little game,<br />
+Who pandering to the town&#8217;s decadent taste,<br />
+Barter the precious pearl for gawdy paste,<br />
+And leave upon the virgin page of Time<br />
+The venom&#8217;d trail of iridescent slime.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Henry&#8217;s eyes soon opened. His character, like his body, underwent a
+gradual process of expansion.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span><i>His Pastimes</i></p>
+
+<p>Soon the lighter side of kingship was not disdained. One authority wrote
+in 1515: &#8220;He is a youngling, cares for nothing but girls and hunting.&#8221; He
+was an inveterate gambler, and turned the sport of hunting into a
+martyrdom, rising at four or five in the morning, and hunting till nine or
+ten at night. Another contemporary writes: &#8220;He devotes himself to
+accomplishments and amusements day and night, is intent on nothing else,
+and leaves business to Wolsey, who rules everything.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As a sportsman, Henry was the &#8220;<i>beau id&eacute;al</i>&#8221; of his people. In the lists
+he especially distinguished himself, &#8220;in supernatural feats, changing his
+horses, and making them fly or rather leap, to the delight and ecstasy of
+everybody.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He also gave himself to masquerades and charades. We are told: &#8220;It was at
+the Christmas festivals at Richmond, that Henry VIII. stole from the side
+of the Queen during the jousts, and returned in the disguise of a strange
+Knight, astonishing all the company<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> with the grace and vigour of his
+tilting. At first the King appeared ashamed of taking part in these
+gladiatorial exercises, but the applause he received on all sides soon
+inclined him openly to appear on every occasion in the tilt-yard.
+Katharine humoured the childish taste of her husband for disguisings and
+masquings, by pretending great surprise when he presented himself before
+her in some assumed character.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>He was gifted with enormous energy; he could ride all day, changing his
+horses nine or ten times a day; then he would dance all night; even then
+his energies were not exhausted; then he would write what the courtiers
+described as poetry, or he would compose music, or he would dash off an
+attack on Luther, and so earn from the Pope the much-coveted title of
+&#8220;<i>Fidei Defensor</i>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In shooting at the butt, it is said, Henry excelled, drawing the best bow
+in England. At tennis, too, he excelled beyond all others. He was addicted
+to games of chance, and his courtiers permitted him to lose as much as
+&pound;3,500 in the course of one year&mdash;scarcely a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> tactful proceeding. He
+played with taste and execution on the organ, harpsichord and lute. He had
+a powerful voice, and sang with great accomplishment.</p>
+
+<p>One of Henry&#8217;s anthems, &#8220;O Lord, the Maker of all thyng,&#8221; is said to be of
+the highest merit, and is still sung in our Cathedrals. In his songs,<small><a name="f2.1" id="f2.1" href="#f2">[2]</a></small>
+he particularly liked to dwell on his constancy as a lover:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;As the holly groweth green and never changeth hue,<br />
+So I am&mdash;ever have been&mdash;unto my lady true.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>and again:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;For whoso loveth, should love but one.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>An admirable maxim.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>As Statesman</i></p>
+
+<p>In spite of all these distractions, Henry was an excellent man of business
+in the State&mdash;indeed, he threw himself into public affairs with the energy
+which characterised all his doings. The autocrat only slumbered in Henry;
+and before many years had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> passed, he threw the enormous energy, which he
+had hitherto reserved for his pleasure, into affairs of State.</p>
+
+<p>Under Henry, the Navy was first organised as a permanent force. His power
+of detail was prodigious in this direction. Ever loving the picturesque,
+even in the most practical affairs of life, Henry &#8220;acted as pilot and wore
+a sailor&#8217;s coat and trousers, made of cloth of gold, and a gold chain with
+the inscription, &#8216;<i>Dieu est mon droit</i>,&#8217; to which was suspended a whistle
+which he blew nearly as loud as a trumpet.&#8221; A strange picture!</p>
+
+<p>He was a practical architect, and Whitehall Palace and many other great
+buildings owed their masonry to his hand.</p>
+
+<p>He spoke French, Spanish, Italian and Latin with great perfection.</p>
+
+<p>He said many wise things. Of the much-debated Divorce, Henry said: &#8220;The
+law of every man&#8217;s conscience be but a private Court, yet it is the
+highest and supreme Court for judgment or justice.&#8221; As the most unjust
+wars have often produced the greatest heroisms, so the vilest causes have
+often produced the profoundest utterances.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>He appears to have been at peace with himself and complacent towards God.
+In 1541, during his temporary happiness with Catherine Howard, he attended
+mass in the chapel, and &#8220;receiving his Maker, gave Him most hearty thanks
+for the good life he led and trusted to lead with his wife; and also
+desired the Bishop of Lincoln to make like prayer, and give like thanks on
+All Souls&#8217; Day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Henry confessed his sins every day during the plague. When it abated, his
+spirits revived, and he wrote daily love-letters to Anne Boleyn, whom he
+had previously banished from the Court.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>As Moralist</i></p>
+
+<p>A stern moralist in regard to the conduct of others, he had an indulgence
+towards himself which enabled him somewhat freely to interpret the Divine
+right of Kings as &#8220;<i>Le droit de seigneur</i>.&#8221; But it is human to tolerate in
+ourselves the failings which we so rightly deprecate in our inferiors.</p>
+
+<p>So strong was he in his self-assurance, that he made even his conscience
+his slave.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>Henry sometimes lacked regal taste. The night Anne Boleyn was executed he
+supped with Jane Seymour; they were betrothed the next morning, and
+married ten days later. It is also recorded that on the day following
+Katharine&#8217;s death, Henry went to a ball, clad all in yellow.</p>
+
+<p>The commendation or condemnation of Henry&#8217;s public life depends upon our
+point of view&mdash;upon which side we take in the eternal strife between
+Church and State.</p>
+
+<p>In this dilemma we must then judge by results, for the truest expression
+of a man is his work; his greatness or his littleness is measured by his
+output. Henry produced great results, though he may have been the
+unconscious instrument of Fate. The motives which guided him in his
+dealings with the Roman Catholic Church may have been only selfish&mdash;they
+resulted in the emancipation of England from the tyranny of Popedom. A
+Catholic estimate of him would, of course, have been wholly condemnatory,
+yet it must be remembered that his quarrel was entirely with the supremacy
+of the Pope, and that otherwise Henry&#8217;s Church retained every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> dogma and
+every observance believed in and practised by Roman Catholics.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>His Greatness</i></p>
+
+<p>His learning was great, and it was illuminated by his genius. Gradually he
+learned to control others&mdash;to do this he learned to control his temper,
+when control was useful, but he was always able to make diplomatic use of
+his rage&mdash;a faculty ever helpful in the conduct of one&#8217;s life! In fact, it
+is difficult to determine whose genius was greater&mdash;Wolsey&#8217;s as the
+diplomatist and administrator, or Henry&#8217;s as the man of action, the
+figurehead of the State. Around him he gathered the great men of his time,
+and their learning he turned to his own account, with that adaptiveness
+which is the peculiar attribute of genius. Shakespeare himself was not
+more assimilative. In Wolsey, Henry appreciated the mighty minister, and
+this is one of his claims to greatness, for graciously to permit others to
+be great is a sign of greatness in a King.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+<h2>WOLSEY</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+<h2>WOLSEY</h2>
+
+<p><i>His Early Life</i></p>
+
+<p>Wolsey was born at Ipswich, probably in the year 1471. His father, Robert
+Wolsey, was a grazier, and perhaps also a butcher in well-to-do
+circumstances. Sent to Oxford at the age of 11, at 15 he was made a
+Bachelor of Arts. He became a parish priest of St. Mary&#8217;s, at Lymington,
+in 1500. Within a year he was subjected to the indignity of being put into
+the public stocks&mdash;for what reason is not known. It has been said that he
+was concerned in a drunken fray. I prefer to think that, in an unguarded
+moment, he had been tempted to speak the truth. No doubt this was his
+first lesson in diplomacy.</p>
+
+<p>In 1507 Wolsey entered the service of Henry VII. as chaplain, and seems to
+have acted as secretary to Richard Fox, Lord Privy Seal. Thus Wolsey was
+trained in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> the policy of Henry VII., which he never forgot.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>His Growing Power</i></p>
+
+<p>When Henry VIII. came to the throne, he soon realised Wolsey&#8217;s value, and
+allowed him full scope for his ambition.</p>
+
+<p>Wolsey thought it desirable to become a Cardinal&mdash;a view that was shared
+by Henry, whose right hand Wolsey had become. In 1514 Henry wrote to the
+Pope asking that the Hat should be conferred on his favourite, who in the
+following year was made Lord Chancellor of England. There was some
+hesitancy which bribery and threats overcame, and in 1515 Wolsey was
+created Cardinal, in spite of the hatred which Leo X. bore him. Having won
+this instalment of greatness, Wolsey promptly asked for the Legateship
+which should give him precedence over the Archbishop of Canterbury. This
+ambition was realised three years later, but only by what practically
+amounted to political and ecclesiastical blackmail. In the Church and
+State Wolsey now stood second only to the King.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span><strong>HIS STATE</strong></p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>His Retinue</i></p>
+
+<p>As an instance of the state he kept, we are told that he had as many as
+500 retainers&mdash;among them many lords and ladies. Cavendish, his secretary,
+describes his pomp when he walked abroad as follows: &#8220;First went the
+Cardinal&#8217;s attendants, attired in boddices of crimson velvet with gold
+chains, and the inferior officers in coats of scarlet bordered with black
+velvet. After these came two gentlemen bearing the great seal and his
+Cardinal&#8217;s hat, then two priests with silver pillars and poleaxes, and
+next two great crosses of silver, whereof one of them was for his
+Archbishoprick and the other for his legacy borne always before him,
+whithersoever he went or rode. Then came the Cardinal himself, very
+sumptuously, on a mule trapped with crimson velvet and his stirrup of
+copper gilt.&#8221; Sometimes he preferred to make his progress on the river,
+for which purpose he had a magnificent State barge &#8220;furnished with yeomen
+standing on the bayles and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> crowded with his Gentlemen within and
+without.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>His stables were also extensive. His choir far excelled that of the King.
+Besides all the officials attendant on the Cardinal, Wolsey had 160
+personal attendants, including his High Chamberlain, vice-chamberlain;
+twelve gentlemen ushers, daily waiters; eight gentlemen ushers and waiters
+of his privy chamber, nine or ten lords, forty persons acting as gentlemen
+cupbearers, carvers, servers, etc., six yeomen ushers, eight grooms of the
+chamber, forty-six yeomen of his chamber (one daily to attend upon his
+person), sixteen doctors and chaplains, two secretaries, three clerks, and
+four counsellors learned in the law. As Lord Chancellor, he had an
+additional and separate retinue, almost as numerous, including ministers,
+armourers, serjeants-at-arms, herald, etc.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>(<i>b</i>) <i>Gifts from Foreign Powers</i></p>
+
+<p>Nor was he above using the gentle suasion of his office to obtain
+sumptuous gifts from the representatives of foreign powers&mdash;for
+Giustinian, on his return to Venice, reported<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> to the Doge and Senate that
+&#8220;Cardinal Wolsey is very anxious for the signory to send him a hundred
+Damascene carpets for which he has asked several times, and expected to
+receive them by the last galleys. This present,&#8221; continues the diplomat,
+&#8220;might make him pass a decree in our favour; and, at any rate, it would
+render the Cardinal friendly to our nation in other matters.&#8221; The carpets,
+it seems, were duly sent to the Cardinal.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>(<i>c</i>) <i>His Drinking Water</i></p>
+
+<p>To show his disregard for money, it may be mentioned that in order to
+obtain pure water for himself and his household, and not being satisfied
+with the drinking water at Hampton Court, Wolsey had the water brought
+from the springs at Coombe Hill by means of leaden pipes, at a cost, it is
+said, of something like &pound;50,000.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>(<i>d</i>) <i>His Table</i></p>
+
+<p>Wolsey seems to have been a lover of good food, for Skelton, for whose
+verse the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> Cardinal had perhaps expressed contempt, wrote:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;To drynke and for to eate<br />
+Swete hypocras<small><a name="f3.1" id="f3.1" href="#f3">[3]</a></small> and swete meate<br />
+To keep his flesh chast<br />
+In Lent for a repast<br />
+He eateth capon&#8217;s stew,<br />
+Fesaunt and partriche mewed<br />
+Hennes checkynges and pygges.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>(Skelton, it should be explained, was the Poet Laureate.) It appears that
+on this score of his delicate digestion, Wolsey procured a dispensation
+from the Pope for the Lenten observances.</p>
+
+<p>He had not a robust constitution, and suffered from many ailments. On one
+occasion, Henry sent him some pills&mdash;it is not recorded, however, that
+Wolsey partook of them.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>(<i>e</i>) <i>His Orange</i></p>
+
+<p>Cavendish speaks of a peculiar habit of the great Cardinal. He tells us
+that, &#8220;Whenever he was in a crowd or pestered with suitors, he most
+commonly held to his nose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> a very fair orange whereof the meat or
+substance within was taken out, and filled up again with the part of a
+sponge, wherein was vinegar and other confections against the pestilent
+airs!&#8221; The habit may have given offence to importunate mayors and
+others&mdash;the Poet Laureate himself may have been thus affronted by the
+imperious Cardinal, when he wrote:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;He is set so high<br />
+In his hierarchy<br />
+Of frantic phrenesy<br />
+And foolish fantasy<br />
+That in the Chamber of Stars<br />
+All matters there he mars.<br />
+Clapping his rod on the Board<br />
+No man dare speak a word;<br />
+<span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><span class="spacer">*</span><br />
+Some say &#8220;yes&#8221; and some<br />
+Sit still as they were dumb.<br />
+Thus thwarting over them,<br />
+He ruleth all the roast<br />
+With bragging and with boast.<br />
+Borne up on every side<br />
+With pomp and with pride.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>As a proof of his sensuous tastes, Cavendish wrote:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;The subtle perfumes of musk and sweet amber<br />
+There wanted none to perfume all my chamber.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>(<i>f</i>) <i>His Fool</i></p>
+
+<p>That Wolsey, like Henry, was possessed of a sense of humour we have
+abundant evidence in his utterances. Yet he kept a Fool about
+him&mdash;possibly in order that he might glean the opinions of the courtiers
+and common people. After Wolsey&#8217;s fall, he sent this Fool as a present to
+King Henry. But so loth was the Fool to leave his master and to suffer
+what he considered a social descent, that six tall yeomen had to conduct
+him to the Court; &#8220;for,&#8221; says Cavendish, &#8220;the poor fool took on and fired
+so in such a rage when he saw that he must needs depart from my lord. Yet,
+notwithstanding, they conveyed him with Master Norris to the Court, where
+the King received him most gladly.&#8221;<small><a name="f4.1" id="f4.1" href="#f4">[4]</a></small></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>(<i>g</i>) <i>Hampton Court</i></p>
+
+<p>At his Palace of Hampton Court there were 280 beds always ready for
+strangers. These beds were of great splendour, being made of red, green
+and russet velvet, satin and silk, and all with magnificent canopies. The
+counterpanes, of which there were many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> hundreds, we are told, were of
+&#8220;tawny damask, lined with blue buckram; blue damask with flowers of gold;
+others of red satin with a great rose in the midst, wrought with
+needlework and with garters.&#8221; Another is described as &#8220;of blue sarcenet,
+with a tree in the midst and beastes with scriptures, all wrought with
+needlework.&#8221; The splendour of these beds beggars all description.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>(<i>h</i>) <i>His Plate</i></p>
+
+<p>His gold and silver plate at Hampton Court alone, was valued by the
+Venetian Ambassador as worth 300,000 golden ducats, which would be the
+equivalent in modern coin of a million and a half! The silver was
+estimated at a similar amount. It is said that the quality was no less
+striking than the quantity, for Wolsey insisted on the most artistic
+workmanship. He had also a bowl of gold &#8220;with a cover garnished with
+rubies, diamonds, pearls and a sapphire set in a goblet.&#8221; These gorgeous
+vessels were decorated with the Cardinal&#8217;s hat, and sometimes too, less
+appropriately perhaps, with images of Christ!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>It is said that the decorations and furniture of Wolsey&#8217;s Palace were on
+so splendid a scale that it threw the King&#8217;s into the shade.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>(<i>i</i>) <i>His Prodigal Splendour</i></p>
+
+<p>Like a wise minister, Wolsey did not neglect to entertain the King and
+keep his mind on trivial things. Hampton Court had become the scene of
+unrestrained gaiety. Music was always played on these occasions, and the
+King frequently took part in the revels, dancing, masquerading and
+singing, accompanying himself on the harpsichord or lute.</p>
+
+<p>The description in Cavendish&#8217;s &#8220;Life of Wolsey&#8221; of the famous feast given
+by the Cardinal to the French ambassadors gives a graphic account of his
+prodigal splendour. As to the delicacies which were furnished at the
+supper, Cavendish writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Anon came up the second course with so many dishes, subtleties and
+curious devices, which were above a hundred in number, of so goodly
+proportion and costly, that I suppose the Frenchmen never saw the like.
+The wonder was no less than it was worthy, indeed. There were castles with
+images in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> same; Paul&#8217;s Church and steeple, in proportion for the
+quantity as well counterfeited as the painter should have painted it upon
+a cloth or wall. There were beasts, birds, fowls of divers kinds, and
+personages, most lively made and counterfeit in dishes; some fighting, as
+it were, with swords, some with guns and crossbows; some vaulting and
+leaping; some dancing with ladies, some in complete harness, justing with
+spears, and with many more devices than I am able with my wit to
+describe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Giustinian, speaking of one of these banquets, writes: &#8220;The like of it was
+never given either by Cleopatra or Caligula.&#8221; We must remember that Wolsey
+surrounded himself with such worldly vanities less from any vulgarity in
+his nature than from a desire to work upon the common mind, ever ready to
+be impressed by pomp and circumstance.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>The Mind of Wolsey</i></p>
+
+<p>If the outer man was thus caparisoned, what of Wolsey&#8217;s mind? Its
+furniture, too, beggared all description. Amiable as Wolsey could be, he
+could also on occasions be as brusque<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> as his royal master. A contemporary
+writer says: &#8220;I had rather be commanded to Rome than deliver letters to
+him and wait an answer. When he walks in the Park, he will suffer no
+suitor to come nigh unto him, but commands him away as far as a man will
+shoot an arrow.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Yet to others he could be of sweet and gentle disposition and ready to
+listen and to help with advice.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Lofty and sour to them that loved him not,<br />
+But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>To those who regard characters as either black or white, Wolsey&#8217;s was
+indeed a contradiction. Charges of a personal character have been brought
+against the great prelate, which need not here be referred to, unless it
+be to say that if they were true, by so much the less he was a priest, by
+so much more he was a man.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>His Ambition</i></p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt that the Cardinal made several attempts to become
+Pope&mdash;but this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> enterprise was doomed to failure, although in it he was
+supported warmly by the King. To gain this end much bribery was needed,
+&#8220;especially to the younger men who are generally the most needy,&#8221; as the
+Cardinal said. Wolsey was a sufficiently accomplished social diplomatist
+to conciliate the young, for their term of office begins to-morrow, and
+gold is the key of consciences. He was hated and feared, flattered,
+cajoled and brow-beaten where possible. But as a source of income he was
+ever held in high regard by the Pope.</p>
+
+<p>His own annual income from bribes&mdash;royal and otherwise&mdash;was indeed
+stupendous, though these were received with the knowledge of the King.</p>
+
+<p>So great was the power Wolsey attained to that Fox said of him: &#8220;We have
+to deal with the Cardinal, who is not Cardinal but King.&#8221; He wrote of
+himself, &#8220;<i>Ego et rex meus</i>,&#8221; and had the initials, &#8220;T. W.&#8221; and the
+Cardinal&#8217;s hat stamped on the King&#8217;s coins. These were among the charges
+brought against him in his fall.</p>
+
+<p>To his ambitions there was no limit. For the spoils of office he had &#8220;an
+unbounded<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> stomach.&#8221; As an instance of his pretensions it is recorded that
+during the festivities of the Emperor&#8217;s visit to England in 1520, &#8220;Wolsey
+alone sat down to dinner with the royal party, while peers, like the Dukes
+of Suffolk and Buckingham, performed menial offices for the Cardinal, as
+well as for Emperor, King and Queen.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>When he met Charles at Bruges in 1521 &#8220;he treated the Emperor of Spain as
+an equal. He did not dismount from his mule, but merely doffed his cap,
+and embraced as a brother the temporal head of Christendom.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;He never granted audience either to English peers or foreign ambassadors&#8221;
+(says Guistinian) &#8220;until the third or fourth time of asking.&#8221; Small wonder
+that he incurred the hatred of the nobility and the jealousy of the King.
+During his embassy to France in 1527, it is said that &#8220;his attendants
+served cap in hand, and when bringing the dishes knelt before him in the
+act of presenting them. Those who waited on the Most Christian King, kept
+their caps on their heads, dispensing with such exaggerated ceremonies.&#8221;
+Had Wolsey&#8217;s insolence been tempered by his sense of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> humour, his fall
+might have been on a softer place, as his Fool is believed to have
+remarked.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>His Policy</i></p>
+
+<p>In his policy of the reform of the Church, Wolsey dealt as a giant with
+his gigantic task. To quote a passage from Taunton: &#8220;Ignorance, he knew,
+was the root of most of the mischief of the day; so by education he
+endeavoured to give men the means to know better. Falsehood can only be
+expelled by Truth.... Had the other prelates of the age realized the true
+cause of the religious disputes, and how much they themselves were
+responsible for the present Ignorance, the sacred name of religion would
+not have had so bloody a record in this country.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Wolsey&#8217;s idea was, in fact, to bring the clergy in touch with the thought
+and conditions of the time. It is wonderful to reflect that this one brain
+should have controlled the secular and ecclesiastical destinies of
+Christendom.</p>
+
+<p>To reform the Church would seem to have been an almost superhuman
+undertaking, but to a man of Wolsey&#8217;s greatness obstacles are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> only
+incentives to energy. He was &#8220;eager to cleanse the Church from the
+accumulated evil effects of centuries of human passions.&#8221; A great man is
+stronger than a system, while he lives; but the system often outlives the
+man. Wolsey lived in a time whose very atmosphere was charged with
+intrigue. Had he not yielded to a Government by slaughter, he would not
+have existed.</p>
+
+<p>The Cardinal realised that ignorance was one of the chief causes of the
+difficulties in the Church. So with great zeal he devoted himself to the
+founding of two colleges, one in Ipswich, the other in Oxford. His scheme
+was never entirely carried out, for on Wolsey&#8217;s fall his works were not
+completed. The College at Ipswich fell into abeyance, but his college at
+Oxford was spared and refounded. Originally called Cardinal College, it
+was renamed Christ Church, so that not even in name was it allowed to be a
+memorial of Wolsey&#8217;s greatness.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>His Genius</i></p>
+
+<p>For a long time Wolsey was regarded merely as the type of the ambitious
+and arrogant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> ecclesiastic whom the Reformation had made an impossibility
+in the future. It was not till the mass of documents relating to the reign
+of Henry VIII. was published that it was possible to estimate the
+greatness of the Cardinal&#8217;s schemes. He took a wider view of the problems
+of his time than any statesman had done before. He had a genius for
+diplomacy. He was an artist and enthusiast in politics. They were not a
+pursuit to him, but a passion. Not perhaps unjustly has he been called the
+greatest statesman England ever produced.</p>
+
+<p>England, at the beginning of Henry VIII.&#8217;s reign, was weakened after the
+struggles of the Civil Wars, and wished to find peace at home at the cost
+of obscurity abroad. But it was this England which Wolsey&#8217;s policy raised
+&#8220;from a third-rate state of little account into the highest circle of
+European politics.&#8221; Wolsey did not show his genius to the best advantage
+in local politics, but in diplomacy. He could only be inspired by the
+gigantic things of statecraft. When he was set by Henry to deal with the
+sordid matter of the divorce, he felt restricted and cramped. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> was
+better as a patriot than as a royal servant. It was this feeling of being
+sullied and unnerved in the uncongenial skirmishings of the divorce that
+jarred on his sensitive nature and made his ambitious hand lose its
+cunning. A first-rate man cannot do second-rate things well.</p>
+
+<p>Henry and Wolsey were two giants littered in one day. Wolsey had realised
+his possibilities of power before Henry. But when Henry once learned how
+easy it was for him to get his own way, Wolsey learned how dependent he
+necessarily was on the King&#8217;s good will. And then, &#8220;the nation which had
+trembled before Wolsey, learned to tremble before the King who could
+destroy Wolsey with a breath.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Had Wolsey been able to fulfil his own ideals, had he been the head of a
+Republic and not the servant of a King, his public record would no doubt
+have been on a higher ethical plane. That he himself realised this is
+shown by his pathetic words to Sir William Kingston, which have been but
+slightly paraphrased by Shakespeare: &#8220;Well, well, Master Kingston, I see
+how the matter against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> me is framed, but if I had served my God as
+diligently as I have done the King, He would not have given me over in my
+grey hairs.&#8221; In this frankness we recognise once again a flicker of
+greatness&mdash;one might almost say a touch of divine humour.</p>
+
+<p>The lives of great men compose themselves dramatically; Wolsey&#8217;s end was
+indeed a fit theme for the dramatist.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>His Fall</i></p>
+
+<p>In his later years, Wolsey began to totter on his throne. The King had
+become more and more masterful. It was impossible for two such stormy men
+to act permanently in concord. In 1528, Wolsey said that as soon as he had
+accomplished his ambition of reconciling England and France, and reforming
+the English laws and settling the succession, &#8220;he would retire and serve
+God for the rest of his days.&#8221; In 1529 he lost his hold over Parliament
+and over Henry. The Great Seal was taken from him.</p>
+
+<p>The end of Wolsey was indeed appalling in its sordid tragedy. The woman
+had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> prevailed&mdash;Anne&#8217;s revenge was sufficiently complete to satisfy even a
+woman scorned. The King, too, was probably more inclined to lend a willing
+ear to her whisperings, since he had grown jealous of his minister&#8217;s
+greatness. He paid to his superior the tribute of hatred. Henry, who had
+treated the Cardinal as his friend and &#8220;walked with him in the garden arm
+in arm and sometimes with his arm thrown caressingly round his shoulder,&#8221;
+now felt very differently towards his one-time favourite.</p>
+
+<p>Covetous of Wolsey&#8217;s splendour, he asked him why he, a subject, should
+have so magnificent an abode as Hampton Court, whereupon Wolsey
+diplomatically answered (feeling perhaps the twitch of a phantom rope
+around his neck), &#8220;To show how noble a palace a subject may offer to his
+sovereign.&#8221; The King was not slow to accept this offer, and thenceforth
+made Hampton Court Palace his own.</p>
+
+<p>Wolsey, too, was failing in body&mdash;the sharks that follow the ship of State
+were already scenting their prey. As the King turned his back on Wolsey,
+Wolsey turned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> his face to God. Accused of high treason for having acted
+as Legate, Wolsey pleaded guilty of the offence, committed with the
+approval of the King. He was deprived of his worldly goods, and retired to
+his house at Esher.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_054.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p class="center"><strong>CARDINAL WOLSEY</strong><br />
+From the Portrait by Holbein, at Christ Church, Oxford</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><i>Wolsey an Exile from Court</i></p>
+
+<p>Cavendish says: &#8220;My Lord and his family continued there the space of three
+or four weeks without beds, sheets, tablecloths, cups and dishes to eat
+our meat, or to lie in.&#8221; He was forced to borrow the bare necessaries of
+life. The mighty had fallen indeed! This was in the year 1529. In his
+disgrace, he was without friends. The Pope ignored him. But Queen
+Katharine&mdash;noble in a kindred sorrow&mdash;sent words of sympathy. Death was
+approaching, and Wolsey prepared himself for the great event by fasting
+and prayer. Ordered to York, he arrived at Peterborough in Easter Week.
+There it is said: &#8220;Upon Palm Sunday, he went in procession with the monks,
+bearing his palm; setting forth God&#8217;s service right honourably with such
+singing men as he then had remaining with him.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span><i>He Washes the Feet of the Poor</i></p>
+
+<p>And upon Maundy Thursday he made his Maundy in Our Lady&#8217;s Chapel, having
+fifty-nine poor men, whose feet he washed, wiped and kissed; each of these
+poor men had twelve pence in money, three ells of canvas to make them
+shirts, a pair of new shoes, a cast of mead, three red herrings, and three
+white herrings, and the odd person had two shillings. Upon Easter Day he
+rode to the Resurrection,<small><a name="f5.1" id="f5.1" href="#f5">[5]</a></small> and that morning he went in procession in his
+Cardinal&#8217;s vesture, with his hat and hood on his head, and he himself sang
+there the High Mass very devoutly, and granted Clean Remission to all the
+hearers, and there continued all the holidays.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Arrived at York, he indulged with a difference in his old love of
+hospitality; &#8220;he kept a noble house and plenty of both meat and drink for
+all comers, both for rich and poor, and much alms given at his gates. He
+used much charity and pity among his poor tenants and others.&#8221; This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+caused him to be beloved in the country. Those that hated him owing to his
+repute learned to love him&mdash;he went among the people and brought them food
+and comforted them in their troubles. Now he was loved among the poor as
+he had been feared among the great.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>Condemned to the Tower</i></p>
+
+<p>On the 4th November, he was arrested on a new charge of high treason and
+condemned to the Tower. He left under custody amid the lamentations of the
+poor people, who in their thousands crowded round him, crying: &#8220;God save
+your Grace! God save your Grace! The foul evil take all them that hath
+thus taken you from us! We pray God that a very vengeance may light upon
+them.&#8221; He remained at Sheffield Park, the Earl of Shrewsbury&#8217;s seat, for
+eighteen days. Here his health broke down. There arrived, with twenty-four
+of the Guard from London, Sir William Kingston with order to conduct him
+to the Tower. The next day, in spite of increasing illness, he set out,
+but he could hardly ride his mule.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span><i>His End</i></p>
+
+<p>Reaching the Abbey at Leicester on the 26th of November, and being
+received by the Benedictine monks, he said: &#8220;Father Abbot, I am come
+hither to leave my bones among you.&#8221; Here he took to his last bed, and
+made ready to meet his God.</p>
+
+<p>The following morning, the 29th of November, he who had trod the ways of
+glory and sounded all the depths and shoals of honour, he who had shaped
+the destinies of Empires, before whom Popes and Parliaments had trembled,
+he who had swathed himself in the purple of kingdom, of power and of
+glory, learned the littleness of greatness and entered the Republic of
+Death in a hair-shirt.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+<h2>KATHARINE</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+<h2>KATHARINE</h2>
+
+<p>For purity and steadfastness of devotion and duty, Katharine stands
+unsurpassed in the history of the world, and Shakespeare has conceived no
+more pathetic figure than that of the patient Queen living in the midst of
+an unscrupulous Court.</p>
+
+<p>Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, she was betrothed at the age
+of five to Arthur, Henry VII.&#8217;s eldest son. Though known as the Princess
+of Wales, it was not till 1501, when only sixteen years old, that she was
+married to Prince Arthur. She had scarcely been married six months when
+Arthur died, at the early age of fifteen, and she was left a widow. Henry
+VII., in his desire to keep her marriage dower of 200,000 crowns, proposed
+a marriage between her and Arthur&#8217;s brother. Katharine wrote to her father
+saying she had &#8220;no inclination for a second marriage in England.&#8221; In spite
+of her remonstrances and the misgivings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> of the Pope, who had no wish to
+give the necessary dispensation for her to marry her deceased husband&#8217;s
+brother, she was betrothed to Henry after two years of widowhood. But it
+was not till a few months after Henry VIII. came to the throne, five years
+later, that they were actually married. Henry was five years younger than
+Katharine, but their early married life appears to have been very happy.
+She wrote to her father, &#8220;Our time is ever passed in continual feasts.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The cruel field sports of the time the Queen never could take any delight
+in, and avoided them as much as possible. She was pious and ascetic and
+most proficient in needlework. Katharine had a number of children, all of
+whom died shortly after birth. It was this consideration in the first
+instance which weighed in Henry&#8217;s mind in desiring a divorce. The first
+child to survive was Princess Mary, born in February, 1516. Henry
+expressed the hope that sons would follow. But Katharine had no further
+living children. Henry hoped against hope, and undertook, in the event of
+her having an heir, to lead a crusade against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> the Turks. Even this bribe
+to fortune proved unavailing. Henry&#8217;s conscience, which was at best of the
+utilitarian sort, now began to suffer deep pangs, and in 1525, when
+Katharine was forty years old and he thirty-four, he gave up hope of the
+much-needed heir to the throne. The Queen herself thought her
+childlessness was &#8220;a judgment of God, for that her former marriage was
+made in blood,&#8221; the innocent Earl of Warwick having been put to death
+owing to the demand of Ferdinand of Aragon.</p>
+
+<p>The King began to indulge in the superstition that his marriage with a
+brother&#8217;s widow was marked with the curse of Heaven. It is perhaps a
+strange coincidence that Anne Boleyn should have appeared on the scene at
+this moment. Katharine seems always to have regarded her rival with
+charity and pity. When one of her gentlewomen began to curse Anne as the
+cause of the Queen&#8217;s misery, the Queen stopped her. &#8220;Curse her not,&#8221; she
+said, &#8220;but rather pray for her; for even now is the time fast coming when
+you shall have reason to pity her and lament her case.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>Undoubtedly Katharine&#8217;s most notable quality was her dignity. Even her
+enemies regarded her with respect. She was always sustained by the
+greatness of her soul, her life of right doing and her feeling of being &#8220;a
+Queen and daughter of a King.&#8221; Through all her bitter trials she went, a
+pathetic figure, untouched by calumny. If she had any faults they are
+certainly not recorded in history. Her farewell letter to the King would
+seem to be very characteristic of Katharine&#8217;s beauty of character. She
+knew the hand of death was upon her. She had entreated the King, but Henry
+had refused her request for a last interview with her daughter Mary.</p>
+
+<p>With this final cruelty fresh in her mind she still could write: &#8220;My lord
+and dear husband,&mdash;I commend me unto you. The hour of my death draweth
+fast on, and my case being such, the tender love I owe you forceth me with
+a few words, to put you in remembrance of the health and safeguard of your
+soul, which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the
+care and tendering of your own body,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> for the which you have cast me into
+many miseries and yourself into many cares. For my part I do pardon you
+all, yea, I do wish and devoutly pray God that He will pardon you.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+<h2>ANNE BOLEYN</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+<h2>ANNE BOLEYN</h2>
+
+
+<p>The estimation of the character of Anne Boleyn would seem to be as varied
+as the spelling of her name. She is believed to have been born in 1507.
+The Boleyns or Bullens were a Norfolk family of French origin, but her
+mother was of noble blood, being daughter of the Earl of Ormonde, and so a
+descendant of Edward I. It is a curious fact that all of Henry&#8217;s wives can
+trace their descent from this King. Of Anne&#8217;s early life little is known
+save that she was sent as Maid of Honour to the French Queen Claude. She
+was probably about nineteen years old when she was recalled to the English
+Court and began her round of revels and love intrigues. Certainly she was
+a born leader of men; many have denied her actual beauty, but she had the
+greater quality of charm, the power of subjugating, the beckoning eye. An
+accomplished dancer, we read of her &#8220;as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> leaping and jumping with infinite
+grace and agility.&#8221; &#8220;She dressed with marvellous taste and devised new
+robes,&#8221; but of the ladies who copied her, we read that unfortunately &#8220;none
+wore them with her gracefulness, in which she rivalled Venus.&#8221; Music, too,
+was added to her accomplishments, and Cavendish tells us how &#8220;when she
+composed her hands to play and her voice to sing, it was joined with that
+sweetness of countenance that three harmonies concurred.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to speak with unalloyed admiration of Anne&#8217;s virtue. At
+the most charitable computation, she was an outrageous flirt. It would
+seem that she was genuinely in love with Lord Percy, and that Wolsey was
+ordered by the then captivated and jealous King to put an end to their
+intrigue and their desire to marry. Anne is supposed never to have
+forgiven Wolsey for this, and by a dramatic irony it was her former lover,
+Percy, then become Earl of Northumberland, who was sent to arrest the
+fallen Cardinal at York. It is said that he treated Wolsey in a brutal
+manner, having his legs bound to the stirrup of his mule like a common
+criminal. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> Henry, in his infatuation for the attractive
+Lady-in-Waiting to his Queen, as she was then, wished Wolsey to become the
+aider and abettor of his love affairs, Wolsey found himself placed in the
+double capacity of man of God and man of Kings. In these cases, God is apt
+to go to the wall&mdash;for the time being. But it was Wolsey&#8217;s vain attempt to
+serve two masters that caused his fall, which the French Ambassador
+attributed entirely to the ill offices of Anne Boleyn. This is another
+proof that courtiers should always keep on the right side of women.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing could stop Henry&#8217;s passion for Anne, and she showed her wonderful
+cleverness in the way she kept his love alive for years, being first
+created Marchioness of Pembroke, and ultimately triumphing over every
+obstacle and gaining her wish of being his Queen. This phase of her
+character has been nicely touched by Shakespeare&#8217;s own deft hand. She was
+crowned with unparalleled splendour on Whit Sunday of 1533. At the banquet
+held after the Coronation of Anne Boleyn, we read that two Countesses
+stood on either side of Anne&#8217;s chair and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> often held a &#8220;fine cloth before
+the Queen&#8217;s face whenever she listed to spit.&#8221; &#8220;And under the table went
+two gentlewomen, and sat at the Queen&#8217;s feet during the dinner.&#8221; The
+courtier&#8217;s life, like the burglar&#8217;s does not appear to have been one of
+unmixed happiness.</p>
+
+<p>In the same year she bore Henry a child, but to everyone&#8217;s disappointment,
+it proved to be a girl, who was christened Elizabeth, and became the great
+Queen of England. Anne&#8217;s triumph was pathetically brief. Her most
+important act was that of getting the publication of the Bible authorised
+in England. Two years after her coronation, Sir Thomas More, who had
+refused to swear fealty to the King&#8217;s heir by Anne, who had been thrown
+into prison and was awaiting execution, asked &#8220;How Queen Anne did?&#8221; &#8220;There
+is nothing else but dancing and sporting,&#8221; was the answer. &#8220;These dances
+of hers,&#8221; he said, &#8220;will prove such dances that she will spurn our heads
+off like footballs, but it will not be long ere her head dance the like
+dance.&#8221; In a year&#8217;s time, this prophecy came true. Her Lady-in-Waiting,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+the beautiful Jane Seymour, stole the King from her who in her time had
+betrayed her royal mistress.</p>
+
+<p>There are two versions with regard to her last feelings towards the King.
+Lord Bacon writes that just before her execution she said: &#8220;Commend me to
+his Majesty and tell him he hath ever been constant in his career of
+advancing me. From a private gentlewoman he made me a marchioness, from a
+marchioness a Queen; and now he hath left no higher degree of honour, he
+gives my innocency the crown of martyrdom.&#8221; This contains a fine sting of
+satire. Another chronicler gives us her words as follows: &#8220;I pray God to
+save the King, and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler or more
+merciful prince was there never.&#8221; One cannot but think that this latter
+version of her dying words may have been edited by his Grace of
+Canterbury.</p>
+
+<p>If it is difficult to reconcile Anne&#8217;s heartlessness with her piety, it
+should be remembered that cruelty is often the twin-sister of religious
+fervour.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever may have been her failings of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> character, whatever misfortunes
+she may have suffered during her life, Anne will ever live in history as
+one of the master mistresses of the world.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE DIVORCE</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE DIVORCE</h2>
+
+<p>As to the divorce, it will be well to clear away the enormous amount of
+argument, of vituperation and prevarication by which the whole question is
+obscured, and to seek by the magnet of common sense to find the needle of
+truth in this vast bundle of hay.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was complicated. In those days it was generally supposed
+that no woman could succeed to the throne, and a male successor was
+regarded as a political necessity. Charles V., too, was plotting to depose
+Henry and to proclaim James V. as ruler of England, or Mary, who was to be
+married to an English noble for this purpose.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>The Succession</i></p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Buckingham was the most formidable possible heir to the
+throne, were the King to die without male heirs. His execution took place
+in 1521. Desperate men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> take desperate remedies. Now, in 1519, Henry had a
+natural son by Elizabeth Blount, sister of Lord Mountjoy. This boy Henry
+contemplated placing on the throne, so causing considerable uneasiness to
+the Queen. In 1525 he was created Duke of Richmond. Shortly after he was
+made Lord High Admiral of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. It was
+suggested that he should marry a royal Princess. Another suggestion was
+that he should marry his half-sister, an arrangement which seems to have
+commended itself to the Pope, on condition that Henry abandoned his
+divorce from Queen Katharine! But this was not to be, and Mary was
+betrothed to the French prince. An heir must be obtained somehow, and the
+divorce, therefore, took more and more tangible shape. A marriage with
+Anne Boleyn was the next move. To attain this object, Henry applied
+himself with his accustomed energy. His conscience walked hand in hand
+with expediency.</p>
+
+<p>To Rome, Henry sent many embassies and to the Universities of Christendom
+much gold, in order to persuade them to yield to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> dictates of his
+conscience. His passion for marriage lines in his amours was one of
+Henry&#8217;s most distinguishing qualities.</p>
+
+<p>In 1527 an union between Francis I. and the Princess Mary was set on foot.
+Here the question of Mary&#8217;s legitimacy was debated, and this gave Henry
+another excuse for regarding the divorce as necessary.</p>
+
+<p>As the modern historian might aptly say: &#8220;Here was a pretty kettle of
+fish.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>There can be little doubt that as a man of God, Wolsey strongly
+disapproved of the divorce, but as the King&#8217;s Chancellor he felt himself
+bound to urge his case to the best of his ability. He was in fact the
+advocate&mdash;the devil&#8217;s advocate&mdash;under protest. One cannot imagine a more
+terrible position for a man of conscience to be placed in, but once even a
+cardinal embarks in politics the working of his conscience is temporarily
+suspended. In world politics the Ten Commandments are apt to become a
+negligible quantity.</p>
+
+<p>Henry&#8217;s conscience was becoming more and more tender. Much may be urged in
+favour of the divorce from a political point<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> of view, and no doubt Henry
+had a powerful faculty of self-persuasion&mdash;such men can grow to believe
+that whatever they desire is right, that &#8220;there is nothing either good or
+bad but thinking makes it so.&#8221; It is a pity, however, that Henry&#8217;s
+scruples did not assert themselves before the marriage with Katharine took
+place, for the ethical arguments against such an union were then equally
+strong. Indeed, these scruples appear to have been a &#8220;family failing,&#8221; for
+Henry&#8217;s sister Margaret, Queen of Scotland, obtained a dispensation of
+divorce from Rome on far slenderer grounds. To make matters worse for
+Henry, Rome was sacked&mdash;the Pope was a prisoner in the Emperor&#8217;s hands. In
+this state of things, the Pope was naturally disinclined to give offence
+to the Emperor by divorcing his aunt (Katharine).</p>
+
+<p>At all costs, the Pope must be set free&mdash;on this errand Wolsey now set out
+for France. But Charles V. was no less wily than Wolsey, and dispatched
+Cardinal Quignon to Rome to frustrate his endeavours, and to deprive
+Wolsey of his legatine powers. A schism between Henry and Wolsey was now
+asserting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> itself&mdash;Wolsey being opposed to the King&#8217;s union with Anne
+Boleyn. (&#8220;We&#8217;ll no Anne Boleyns for him!&#8221;) Wolsey desired that the King
+should marry the French King&#8217;s sister, in order to strengthen his
+opposition to Charles V. of Spain.</p>
+
+<p>The Cardinal was indeed in an unenviable position. If the divorce
+succeeded, then his enemy, Anne Boleyn, would triumph and he would fall.
+If the divorce failed, then Henry would thrust from him the agent who had
+failed to secure the object of his master. And in his fall the Cardinal
+would drag down the Church. It is said that Wolsey secretly opposed the
+divorce. This is fully brought out in Shakespeare&#8217;s play, and is indeed
+the main cause of Wolsey&#8217;s fall.</p>
+
+<p>There was for Henry now only one way out of the dilemma into which the
+power of the Pope had thrown him&mdash;that was to obtain a dispensation for a
+bigamous marriage. It seems that Henry himself cancelled the proposition
+before it was made. This scruple was unnecessary, for the Pope himself
+secretly made a proposition &#8220;that His Majesty might be allowed two
+wives.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>The sanction for the marriage with Anne Boleyn was obtained without great
+difficulty&mdash;but it was to be subject to the divorce from Katharine being
+ratified. Thus the King was faced with another obstacle. At this moment
+began the struggle for supremacy at Rome between English and Spanish
+influence. The Pope had to choose between the two; Charles V. was the
+victor, whereupon Henry cut the Gordian knot by throwing over the
+jurisdiction of Rome. Wolsey was in a position of tragic perplexity. He
+was torn by his allegiance to the King, and his zeal for the preservation
+of the Church. He wrote: &#8220;I cannot reflect upon it and close my eye, for I
+see ruin, infamy and subversion of the whole dignity and estimation of the
+See Apostolic if this course is persisted in.&#8221; But Pope Clement dared not
+offend the Emperor Charles, who was his best, because his most powerful
+ally, and had he not proved his power by sacking Rome? The Pope, although
+quite ready to grant dispensations for a marriage of Princess Mary and her
+half-brother, the Duke of Richmond, though he was ready to grant
+Margaret&#8217;s divorce,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> could not afford to stultify the whole Papal dignity
+by revoking the dispensation he had originally given that Henry should
+marry his brother&#8217;s wife. Truly an edifying embroglio! Henry was desirous
+of shifting the responsibility on God through the Pope&mdash;the Pope was
+sufficiently astute to wish to put the responsibility on the devil through
+Henry. There was one other course open&mdash;that course the Pope took.</p>
+
+<p>In 1528 he gave a Commission to Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio to try the
+case themselves, and pronounce sentence. Back went the embassy to England.
+Wolsey saw through the device, for the Pope was still free to revoke the
+Commission. Indeed Clement&#8217;s attitude towards Henry was dictated entirely
+by the fluctuating fortune of Charles V., Emperor of Spain. Meanwhile,
+Charles won another battle against the French, and the Pope at once gave
+secret instructions to Campeggio to procrastinate, assuring Charles that
+nothing would be done which should be to the detriment of Katharine. The
+wily Campeggio (emissary of the Pope) at first sought to persuade Henry to
+refrain from the divorce.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> Henry refused. Thereupon he endeavoured to
+persuade Katharine voluntarily to enter a nunnery. Among all these
+plotters and intriguers, Katharine, adamant in her virtue, maintained her
+position as lawful wife and Queen.</p>
+
+<p>When Wolsey and Campeggio visited the Queen she was doing needlework with
+her maids. It appears (and this is important as showing the inwardness of
+Wolsey&#8217;s attitude in the matter of the divorce) that &#8220;from this interview
+the Queen gained over both legates to her cause; indeed, they would never
+pronounce against her, and this was the head and front of the King&#8217;s
+enmity to his former favourite Wolsey.&#8221; In the first instance, Wolsey was
+undoubtedly a party, however unwilling, to the separation of the King and
+Queen, in order that Henry might marry the brilliant and high-minded
+sister of Francis I., Duchess of Alen&ccedil;on. That lady would not listen to
+such a proposal, lest it should break the heart of Queen Katharine. Wolsey
+was, either from personal enmity towards Anne Boleyn or from his estimate
+of her character, or from both,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> throughout opposed to the union with that
+lady.</p>
+
+<p>Subsequently the King sent to Katharine a deputation from his Council
+announcing that he had, by the advice of Cranmer, obtained the opinions of
+the universities of Europe concerning the divorce, and found several which
+considered it expedient. He therefore entreated her, for the quieting of
+his conscience, that she would refer the matter to the arbitration of four
+English prelates and four nobles. The Queen received the message in her
+chamber, and replied to it: &#8220;God grant my husband a quiet conscience, but
+I mean to abide by no decision excepting that of Rome.&#8221; This infuriated
+the King.</p>
+
+<p>After many delays and the appearance of a document which was declared by
+one side to be a forgery, and by the other to be genuine, the case began
+on May 31, 1529. In the great hall of Blackfriars both the King and Queen
+appeared in person to hear the decision of the Court. The trial itself is
+very faithfully rendered in Shakespeare&#8217;s play. Finding the King obdurate,
+Katharine protested against the jurisdiction of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> Court, and appealing
+finally to Rome, withdrew from Blackfriars.</p>
+
+<p>Judgment was to be delivered on the 23rd of July, 1529. Campeggio rose in
+the presence of the King and adjourned the Court till October. This was
+the last straw, and the last meeting of the Court. Henry had lost. Charles
+was once more in the ascendant. England and France had declared war on him
+in 1528, but England&#8217;s heart was not in the enterprise&mdash;the feeling of
+hatred to Wolsey became widespread. Henry and Charles made terms of peace,
+and embraced once more after a bloodless and (for England) somewhat
+ignominious war. The French force was utterly defeated in battle. The Pope
+and Charles signed a treaty&mdash;all was nicely arranged. The Pope&#8217;s nephew
+was to marry the Emperor&#8217;s natural daughter; certain towns were to be
+restored to the Pope, who was to crown Charles with the Imperial crown.
+The participators in the sacking of Rome were to be absolved from sin; the
+proceedings against the Emperor&#8217;s aunt, Katharine, were to be null and
+void. If Katharine could not obtain justice in England,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> Henry should not
+have his justice in Rome. The Pope and the Emperor kissed again, and Henry
+finally cut himself adrift from Rome. It was the failure of the divorce
+that made England a Protestant country.</p>
+
+<p>Henry now openly defied the Pope, by whom he was excommunicated, and so
+&#8220;deprived of the solace of the rites of religion; when he died he must lie
+without burial, and in hell suffer torment for ever.&#8221; The mind shrinks
+from contemplating the tortures to which the soul of His Majesty might
+have been subjected but for the timely intervention of his Grace the
+Archbishop of Canterbury.</p>
+
+<p>So far from Henry suffering in a temporal sense, he continued to defy the
+opinion and the power of the world. He showed his greatness by looking
+public opinion unflinchingly in the face; by ignoring, he conquered it.
+Amid the thunderous roarings of the Papal bull, Henry stood&mdash;as we see him
+in his picture&mdash;smiling and indifferent. &#8220;I never saw the King merrier
+than now,&#8221; wrote a contemporary in 1533. Henry always had good cards&mdash;now
+he held the ace of public opinion up his sleeve.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>Wolsey, although averse to the Queen&#8217;s divorce and the marriage of Anne
+Boleyn, expressed himself in terms of the strongest opposition to the
+overbearing Pope. A few days before the Papal revocation arrived, the
+Cardinal wrote thus: &#8220;If the King be cited to appear at Rome in person or
+by proxy, and his prerogative be interfered with, none of his subjects
+will tolerate it. If he appears in Italy, it will be at the head of a
+formidable army.&#8221; Opposed as they were to the divorce, the English people
+were of one mind with Wolsey in this attitude.</p>
+
+<p>Henry was not slow to avail himself of the new development, and he made
+the divorce become in the eyes of the people but a secondary consideration
+to the pride of England. He drew the red herring of the Reformation across
+the trail of the divorce. The King and his Parliament held that the Church
+should not meddle with temporal affairs. The Church was the curer of
+souls, not the curer of the body politic.</p>
+
+<p>Katharine&#8217;s cause sank into the background. The voice of justice was
+drowned by the birth shrieks of the Reformation.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_090.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p class="center"><i>Photo: Emery Walker</i></p>
+<p class="center"><strong>KATHARINE OF ARAGON</strong><br />
+From the Portrait in the National Portrait Gallery</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE REFORMATION</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE REFORMATION</h2>
+
+<p>We must remind ourselves that the divorce was merely the irritation which
+brought the discontent with Rome to a head. Religious affairs were in a
+very turbulent state. The monasteries were corrupt. The rule of Rome had
+become political, not spiritual. Luther had worked at shattering the
+pretensions of the Pope in Europe. Wolsey had prepared the English to
+acquiesce in Henry&#8217;s religious supremacy by his long tenure of the whole
+Papal authority within the realm and the consequent suspension of appeals
+to Rome. Translations of the New Testament were being secretly read
+throughout the country&mdash;a most dangerous innovation&mdash;and Anne Boleyn, who
+had no cause to love the Pope or his power, held complete sway over the
+King.</p>
+
+<p>She and her father were said to be &#8220;more Lutheran than Luther himself.&#8221;
+Though Henry was anti-Papal, he was never anti-Catholic, but, as the
+representative of God,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> as head of his own Church, he claimed to take
+precedence of the Pope. Moreover, the spoliation of the Church was not an
+unprofitable business.</p>
+
+<p>Rome declared the divorce illegal. Henry, with the support of his
+Parliament, abolished all forms of tribute to Rome, arranged that the
+election of Bishops should take place without the interference of the
+Pope, and declared that if he did not consent to the King&#8217;s wishes within
+three months, the whole of his authority in England should be transferred
+to the Crown. This conditional abolition of the Papal authority was in due
+course made absolute, and the King assumed the title of Head of the
+Church.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The breach with Rome&#8221; was effected with a cold and calculated cunning,
+which the most adept disciple of Machiavelli could not have
+excelled.&#8221;&mdash;(Pollard.)</p>
+
+<p>With an adroitness amounting to genius, Henry now used the moral suasion
+(not to use an uglier word) of threats towards the Church to induce the
+Pope to relent and to assent to the divorce. One by one, in this deadly
+battle, did the Pope&#8217;s prerogatives vanish,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> until the sacerdotal
+foundations of Rome, so far as England was concerned, had been levelled to
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>After many further political troubles and intrigues Henry prevailed on
+Cranmer, now Archbishop of Canterbury, as head of the Church, to declare
+the marriage between himself and Katharine to be null and void, and five
+days later Cranmer declared that Henry and Anne Boleyn were lawfully
+married. On the 1st of June, 1533, the Archbishop crowned Anne as Queen in
+Westminster Abbey. Shortly after she gave birth to a daughter, who was
+christened Elizabeth, and became Queen of England.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond this incident, with which the strange eventful history of
+Shakespeare&#8217;s play ends, it is not proposed to travel in these notes,
+which are but intended as a brief chronicle that may guide the play-goer
+of to-day (sometimes a hasty reader) to realize the conditions of Henry&#8217;s
+reign.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+<h2>MANNERS AND CUSTOMS</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+<h2>MANNERS AND CUSTOMS</h2>
+
+<p>In the days of Henry VIII., the ways of society differed from our own more
+in observance than in spirit. Though the gay world danced and gambled very
+late, they rose very early. Their conversation was coarse and lacked
+reserve. The ladies cursed freely. Outward show and ceremony were
+considered of the utmost importance. Hats were worn by the men in church
+and at meals, and only removed in the presence of the King and Cardinal.
+Kissing was far more prevalent as a mode of salutation. The Court society
+spent the greater part of their income on clothes. To those in the King&#8217;s
+set, a thousand pounds was nothing out of the way to spend on a suit of
+clothes. The predominant colours at Court were crimson and green; the
+Tudor colours were green and white. It was an age of magnificent plate,
+and the possession and display of masses of gold and silver plate was
+considered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> as a sign of power. Later on in Shakespeare&#8217;s time, not only
+the nobles, but also the better class citizens boasted collections of
+plate.</p>
+
+<p>A quaint instance of the recognition of distinctions of rank is afforded
+by certain &#8220;Ordinances&#8221; that went forth as the &#8220;Bouche of Court.&#8221; Thus a
+Duke or Duchess was allowed in the morning one chet loaf, one manchet and
+a gallon of ale; in the afternoon one manchet and one gallon of ale; and
+for after supper one chet loaf, one manchet, one gallon of ale and a
+pitcher of wine, besides torches, etc. A Countess, however, was allowed
+nothing at all after supper, and a gentleman usher had no allowance for
+morning or afternoon. These class distinctions must have weighed heavily
+upon humbler beings, such as Countesses; but perhaps they consumed more at
+table to make up for these after-meal deficiencies.</p>
+
+<p>Table manners were a luxury as yet undreamed of. The use of the fork was a
+new fashion just being introduced from France and Spain.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+<h2>A NOTE ON THE PRODUCTION OF HENRY VIII. AT HIS MAJESTY&#8217;S THEATRE</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+<h2>A NOTE ON THE PRODUCTION OF HENRY VIII. AT HIS MAJESTY&#8217;S THEATRE</h2>
+
+<p>From the descriptions which have appeared in these pages, it will be seen
+that the period of Henry VIII. was characterized by great sumptuousness;
+indeed, the daily life of the Court consisted largely of revels, masques
+and displays of splendour.</p>
+
+<p>Henry VIII. is largely a pageant play. As such it was conceived and
+written, as such we shall endeavour to present it to the public. Indeed,
+it is obvious that it would be far better not to produce the play at all
+than to do so without those adjuncts, by which alone the action of the
+play can be illustrated. Of course, it is not possible to do more than
+indicate on the stage the sumptuousness of the period of history covered
+by the play; but it is hoped that an impression will be conveyed to our
+own time of Henry in his habit as he lived, of his people, of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>architecture, and of the manners and customs of that great age.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>The Text</i></p>
+
+<p>It has been thought desirable to omit almost in their entirety those
+portions of the play which deal with the Reformation, being as they are
+practically devoid of dramatic interest and calculated, as they are, to
+weary an audience. In taking this course, I feel the less hesitation as
+there can be no doubt that all these passages were from the first omitted
+in Shakespeare&#8217;s own representations of the play.</p>
+
+<p>We have incontrovertible evidence that in Shakespeare&#8217;s time, Henry VIII.
+was played in &#8220;two short hours.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;... Those that come to see<br />
+Only a show or two and so agree<br />
+The play may pass. If they be still and willing<br />
+I&#8217;ll undertake may see away their shilling<br />
+Richly in two short hours.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>These words, addressed to the audience in the prologue, make it quite
+clear that a considerable portion of the play was considered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> by the
+author to be superfluous to the dramatic action&mdash;and so it is. Acted
+without any waits whatsoever, Henry VIII., as it is written, would take at
+least three hours and a half in the playing. Although we are not able to
+compass the performance within the prescribed &#8220;two short hours,&#8221; for we
+show a greater respect for the preservation of the text than did
+Shakespeare himself, an attempt will be made to confine the absolute
+spoken words as nearly as possible within the time prescribed in the
+prologue.</p>
+
+<p>In the dramatic presentation of the play, there are many passages of
+intensely moving interest, the action and characters are drawn with a
+remarkable fidelity to the actualities. As has been suggested, however,
+the play depends more largely than do most of Shakespeare&#8217;s works on those
+outward displays which an attempt will be made to realize on the stage.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>Shakespeare as Stage Manager</i></p>
+
+<p>That Shakespeare, as a stage-manager, availed himself as far as possible
+of these adjuncts is only too evident from the fact<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> that it was the
+firing off the cannon which caused a conflagration and the consequent
+burning down of the Globe Theatre. The destruction of the manuscripts of
+Shakespeare&#8217;s plays was probably due to this calamity. The incident shows
+a lamentable love of stage-mounting for which some of the critics of the
+time no doubt took the poet severely to task. In connection with the love
+of pageantry which then prevailed, it is well known that Shakespeare and
+Ben Jonson were wont to arrange the Masques which were so much in vogue in
+their time.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>The Fire</i></p>
+
+<p>The Globe Theatre was burnt on June 29th, 1613. Thomas Lorkins, in a
+letter to Sir Thomas Puckering on June 30th, says: &#8220;No longer since than
+yesterday, while Bourbidge his companie were acting at ye Globe the play
+of Henry 8, and there shooting of certayne chambers in way of triumph; the
+fire catch and fastened upon the thatch of ye house and there burned so
+furiously as it consumed ye whole house all in lesse than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> two hours, the
+people having enough to doe to save themselves.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>Other Productions of the Play</i></p>
+
+<p>There are records of many other productions of Henry VIII. existing. In
+1663 it was produced at Lincoln&#8217;s Inn Fields as a pageant play. The
+redoubtable Mr. Pepys visited this production, without appearing to have
+enjoyed the play. In contrast to him, old Dr. Johnson said that whenever
+Mrs. Siddons played the part of Katharine, he would &#8220;hobble to the theatre
+to see her.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In 1707, Henry VIII. was produced at the Haymarket, with an exceptionally
+strong cast; in 1722 it was done at Drury Lane, in which production Booth
+played Henry VIII.</p>
+
+<p>In 1727 it was again played at Drury Lane. On this occasion the spectacle
+of the Coronation of Anne Boleyn was added, on which one scene, we are
+told, &pound;1,000 had been expended. It will come to many as a surprise that so
+much splendour and so large an expenditure of money were at that time
+lavished on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> stage. The play had an exceptional run of forty nights,
+largely owing, it is said, to the popularity it obtained through the
+Coronation of George II., which had taken place a few weeks before.</p>
+
+<p>The play was a great favourite of George II. and was in consequence
+frequently revived during his reign. On being asked by a grave nobleman,
+after a performance at Hampton Court, how the King liked it, Sir Richard
+Steele replied: &#8220;So terribly well, my lord, that I was afraid I should
+have lost all my actors, for I was not sure the King would not keep them
+to fill the posts at Court that he saw them so fit for in the play.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In 1744, Henry VIII. was given for the first time at Covent Garden, but
+was not revived until 1772, when it was announced at Covent Garden as
+&#8220;&#8216;Henry VIII.,&#8217; not acted for 20 years.&#8221; The Coronation was again
+introduced.</p>
+
+<p>Queen Katharine was one of Mrs. Siddons&#8217; great parts. She made her first
+appearance in this character at Drury Lane in 1788. In 1808 it was again
+revived, and Mrs. Siddons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> once more played the Queen, Kemble appearing as
+Wolsey.</p>
+
+<p>In 1822, Edmund Kean made his first appearance as Wolsey at Drury Lane,
+but the play was only given four times.</p>
+
+<p>In 1832, the play was revived at Covent Garden with extraordinary
+splendour, and a magnificent cast. Charles Kemble played King Henry; Mr.
+Young, Wolsey; Miss Ellen Tree, Anne Boleyn; and Miss Fanny Kemble
+appeared for the first time as Queen Katharine. Her success seems to have
+been great. We are told that Miss Ellen Tree, as Anne Boleyn, appeared to
+great disadvantage; &#8220;her headdress was the most frightful and unbecoming
+thing imaginable, though we believe it was taken from one of Holbein&#8217;s.&#8221;
+In those days correctness of costume was considered most lamentable and
+most laughable. In this production, too, the Coronation was substituted
+for the procession. The criticism adds that &#8220;during the progress of the
+play the public seized every opportunity of showing their dislike of the
+Bishops, and the moment they came on the stage they were assailed with
+hissing and hooting, and one of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> prelates, in his haste to escape from
+such a reception, fell prostrate, which excited bursts of merriment from
+all parts of the house.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>In 1855, Charles Kean revived the play with his accustomed care and
+sumptuousness. In this famous revival Mrs. Kean appeared as &#8220;Queen
+Katharine.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>Irving&#8217;s Production</i></p>
+
+<p>Sir Henry Irving&#8217;s magnificent production will still be fresh in the
+memory of many playgoers. It was admitted on all hands to be an artistic
+achievement of the highest kind, and Sir Henry Irving was richly rewarded
+by the support of the public, the play running 203 nights. Miss Ellen
+Terry greatly distinguished herself in the part of Queen Katharine,
+contributing in no small degree to the success of the production. Sir
+Henry Irving, in the part of Wolsey, made a deep impression. Mr. William
+Terriss played the King. Mr. Forbes Robertson made a memorable success in
+the part of Buckingham; and it is interesting to note that Miss Violet
+Vanbrugh played the part of Anne Boleyn.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_112.jpg" alt="" /></div>
+<p class="center"><strong>ANNE BOLEYN</strong><br />
+From the Portrait by Holbein, at Warwick Castle</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span><i>The Music</i></p>
+
+<p>An outstanding feature of the Lyceum production was Edward German&#8217;s music.
+I deem myself fortunate that this music was available for the present
+production. It may be mentioned that Mr. German has composed some
+additional numbers, amongst which is the Anthem sung in the Coronation of
+Anne Boleyn.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>Shakespeare&#8217;s Accuracy of Detail</i></p>
+
+<p>I cannot help quoting one passage from Cavendish at length to show how
+closely Shakespeare keeps to the chronicles of his time. It will be found
+that Scene 3 of Act I. is practically identical with the following
+description:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>The banquets were set forth, with masks and mummeries, in so gorgeous
+a sort, and costly manner, that it was a heaven to behold.</p>
+
+<p>... I have seen the king suddenly come in thither in a mask, with a
+dozen of other maskers, all in garments like shepherds.</p>
+
+<p>... And at his coming and before he came into the hall, ye shall
+understand that he came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> by water to the water gate, without any
+noise; where, against his coming, were laid charged many chambers,
+and at his landing they were all shot off, which made such a rumble
+in the air, that it was like thunder. It made all the noblemen,
+ladies and gentlewomen to muse what it should mean coming so
+suddenly, they sitting quietly at a solemn banquet. Then immediately
+after this great shot of guns, the cardinal desired the Lord
+Chamberlain, and Comptroller, to look what this sudden shot should
+mean, as though he knew nothing of the matter. They thereupon looking
+out of the windows into Thames, returned again, and showed him, that
+it seemed to them there should be some noblemen and strangers arrived
+at his bridge, as ambassadors from some foreign prince. With that,
+quoth the Cardinal, &#8220;I shall desire you, because ye can speak French,
+to take the pains to go down into the hall to encounter and to
+receive them, according to their estates, and to conduct them into
+this chamber, where they shall see us, and all these noble personages
+sitting merrily at our banquet, desiring them to sit down with us and
+to take part of our fare and pastime.&#8221; Then they went incontinent
+down into the hall, where they received them with twenty new torches,
+and conveyed them up into the chamber, with such a number of drums
+and fifes as I have seldom seen together, at one time in any masque.
+At their arrival into the chamber, two and two together, they went
+directly before the cardinal where he sat, saluting him very
+reverently, to whom the Lord Chamberlain for them said: &#8220;Sir,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+forasmuch as they be strangers, and can speak no English, they have
+desired me to declare unto your Grace thus: they, having
+understanding of this your triumphant banquet, where was assembled
+such a number of excellent fair dames, could do no less, under the
+supportation of your good grace, but to repair hither to view as well
+their incomparable beauty, as for to accompany them to mumchance, and
+then after to dance with them, and so to have of them acquaintance.
+And, sir, they furthermore require of your Grace licence to
+accomplish the cause of their repair.&#8221; To whom the Cardinal answered,
+that he was very well contented they should do so. Then the masquers
+went first and saluted all the dames as they sat, and then returned
+to the most worthiest.</p>
+
+<p>... Then quoth the Cardinal to my Lord Chamberlain, &#8220;I pray you,&#8221;
+quoth he, &#8220;show them that it seemeth me that there should be among
+them some noble man, whom I suppose to be much more worthy of honour
+to sit and occupy this room and place than I; to whom I would most
+gladly, if I knew him, surrender my place according to my duty.&#8221; Then
+spake my Lord Chamberlain, unto them in French, declaring my Lord
+Cardinal&#8217;s mind, and they rounding him again in the ear, my Lord
+Chamberlain said to my Lord Cardinal, &#8220;Sir, they confess,&#8221; quoth he,
+&#8220;that among them there is such a noble personage, whom, if your Grace
+can appoint him from the other, he is contented to disclose himself,
+and to accept your place most worthily.&#8221; With that the cardinal,
+taking a good advisement among them, at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> last, quoth he, &#8220;Me
+seemeth the gentleman with the black beard should be even he.&#8221; And
+with that he arose out of his chair, and offered the same to the
+gentleman in the black beard, with his cap in his hand. The person to
+whom he offered then his chair was Sir Edward Neville, a comely
+knight of goodly personage, that much more resembled the king&#8217;s
+person in that mask, than any other. The king, hearing and perceiving
+the cardinal so deceived in his estimation and choice, could not
+forbear laughing; but plucked down his visor, and Master Neville&#8217;s
+also, and dashed out with such a pleasant countenance and cheer, that
+all noble estates there assembled, seeing the king to be there
+amongst them, rejoiced very much.</p></div>
+
+<p>If Shakespeare could be so true to the actualities, why should not we seek
+to realise the scene so vividly described by the chronicler and the
+dramatist?</p>
+
+<p>In my notes and conclusions on &#8220;Henry VIII. and his Court,&#8221; I have been
+largely indebted to the guidance of the following books:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Ernest Law&#8217;s &#8220;History of Hampton Court&#8221;; Strickland&#8217;s &#8220;Queens of England&#8221;;
+Taunton&#8217;s &#8220;Thomas Wolsey, Legate and Reformer&#8221;; and Cavendish&#8217;s &#8220;Life of
+Wolsey.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+<h2>AN APOLOGY AND A FOOTNOTE</h2>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+<h2>AN APOLOGY AND A FOOTNOTE</h2>
+
+<p>Here I am tempted to hark back to the modern manner of producing
+Shakespeare, and to say a few words in extenuation of those methods, which
+have been assailed in a recent article with almost equal brilliancy and
+vehemence.</p>
+
+<p>The writer tells us that there are two different kinds of plays, the
+realistic and the symbolic. Shakespeare&#8217;s plays, we are assured, belong to
+the latter category. &#8220;The scenery,&#8221; it is insisted, &#8220;not only may, but
+should be imperfect.&#8221; This seems an extraordinary doctrine, for if it be
+right that a play should be imperfectly mounted, it follows that it should
+be imperfectly acted, and further that it should be imperfectly written.
+The modern methods, we are assured, employed in the production of
+Shakespeare, do not properly illustrate the play, but are merely made for
+vulgar display, with the result of crushing the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> author and obscuring his
+meaning. In this assertion, I venture to think that our critic is
+mistaken; I claim that not the least important mission of the modern
+theatre is to give to the public representations of history which shall be
+at once an education and a delight. To do this, the manager should avail
+himself of the best arch&aelig;ological and artistic help his generation can
+afford him, while endeavouring to preserve what he believes to be the
+spirit and the intention of the author.</p>
+
+<p>It is of course possible for the technically informed reader to imagine
+the wonderful and stirring scenes which form part of the play without
+visualizing them. It is, I contend, better to reserve Shakespeare for the
+study than to see him presented half-heartedly.</p>
+
+<p>The merely archaic presentation of the play can be of interest only to
+those epicures who do not pay their shilling to enter the theatre. The
+contemporary theatre must make its appeal to the great public, and I hold
+that while one should respect every form of art, that art which appeals
+only to a coterie is on a lower plane than that which speaks to the world.
+Surely, it is not too much to claim<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> that a truer and more vivid
+impression of a period of history can be given by its representation on
+the stage than by any other means of information. Though the arch&aelig;ologist
+with symbolic leanings may cry out, the theatre is primarily for those who
+love the drama, who love the joy of life and the true presentation of
+history. It is only secondarily for those who fulfil their souls in
+footnotes.<small><a name="f6.1" id="f6.1" href="#f6">[6]</a></small></p>
+
+<p>I hold that whatever may tend to destroy the illusion and the people&#8217;s
+understanding is to be condemned. Whatever may tend to heighten the
+illusion and to help the audience to a better understanding of the play
+and the author&#8217;s meaning, is to be commended.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> Shakespeare and Burbage,
+Betterton, Colley Cibber, the Kembles, the Keans, Phelps, Calvert and
+Henry Irving, as artists, recognised that there was but one way to treat
+the play of Henry VIII. It is pleasant to sin in such good company.</p>
+
+<p>I contend that Henry VIII. is essentially a realistic and not a symbolic
+play. Indeed, probably no English author is less &#8220;symbolic&#8221; than
+Shakespeare. &#8220;Hamlet&#8221; is a play which, to my mind, does not suffer by the
+simplest setting; indeed, a severe simplicity of treatment seems to me to
+assist rather than to detract from the imaginative development of that
+masterpiece. But I hold that, with the exception of certain scenes in &#8220;The
+Tempest,&#8221; no plays of Shakespeare are susceptible to what is called
+&#8220;symbolic&#8221; treatment. To attempt to present Henry VIII. in other than a
+realistic manner would be to ensure absolute failure. Let us take an
+instance from the text. By what symbolism can Shakespeare&#8217;s stage
+directions in the Trial scene be represented on the stage?</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;A Hall in Blackfriars. Enter two vergers with short silver wands; next
+them two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> scribes in the habit of doctors.... Next them with some small
+distance, follows a gentleman bearing the purse with the great seal and a
+Cardinal&#8217;s hat; then two priests bearing each a silver cross; then a
+gentleman usher bareheaded, accompanied with a sergeant-at-arms bearing a
+silver mace; then two gentlemen bearing two great silver pillars; after
+them, side by side, the two Cardinals, Wolsey and Campeius; two noblemen
+with the sword and mace,&#8221; etc.</p>
+
+<p>I confess my symbolic imagination was completely gravelled, and in the
+absence of any symbolic substitute, I have been compelled to fall back on
+the stage directions.</p>
+
+<p>Yet we are gravely told by the writer of a recent article that &#8220;all
+Shakespeare&#8217;s plays&#8221; lend themselves of course to such symbolic treatment.
+We hear, indeed, that the National Theatre is to be run on symbolic lines.
+If it be so, then God help the National Theatre&mdash;the symbolists will not.
+No &#8220;ism&#8221; ever made a great cause. The National Theatre, to be the
+dignified memorial we all hope it may be, will owe its birth, its being
+and its preservation to the artists, who alone are the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> guardians of any
+art. It is the painter, not the frame-maker, who upholds the art of
+painting; it is the poet, not the book-binder, who carries the torch of
+poetry. It was the sculptor, and not the owner of the quarry, who made the
+Venus of Milo. It is sometimes necessary to re-assert the obvious.</p>
+
+<p>Now there are plays in which symbolism is appropriate&mdash;those of
+Maeterlinck, for instance. But if, as has been said, Maeterlinck resembles
+Shakespeare, Shakespeare does not resemble Maeterlinck. Let us remember
+that Shakespeare was a humanist, not a symbolist.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p><i>The End</i></p>
+
+<p>The end of the play of Henry VIII. once more illustrates the pageantry of
+realism, as prescribed in the elaborate directions as to the christening
+of the new-born princess.</p>
+
+<p>It is this incident of the christening of the future Queen Elizabeth that
+brings to an appropriate close the strange eventful history as depicted in
+the play of Henry VIII. And thus the injustice of the world is once more
+triumphantly vindicated: Wolsey, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> devoted servant of the King, has
+crept into an ignominious sanctuary; Katharine has been driven to a
+martyr&#8217;s doom; the adulterous union has been blessed by the Court of
+Bishops; minor poets have sung their blasphemous p&aelig;ans in unison. The
+offspring of Anne Boleyn, over whose head the Shadow of the Axe is already
+hovering, has been christened amid the acclamations of the mob; the King
+paces forth to hold the child up to the gaze of a shouting populace,
+accompanied by the Court and the Clergy&mdash;trumpets blare, drums roll, the
+organ thunders, cannons boom, hymns are sung, the joy bells are pealing. A
+lonely figure in black enters weeping. It is the Fool!</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHRONOLOGY OF PUBLIC EVENTS DURING THE LIFETIME OF KING HENRY VIII.</h2>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="xyz">
+<tr><td>1491.</td><td>Birth of Henry, second son of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top">1501.</td><td>Marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, eldest son of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York,<br />to Katharine of Aragon,
+daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1502.</td><td>Death of Arthur, Prince of Wales.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1509.</td><td>Death of King Henry VII.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Marriage of Henry VIII. at Westminster Abbey with Katharine of Aragon, his brother&#8217;s widow.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Thomas Wolsey made King&#8217;s Almoner.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1511.</td><td>Thomas Wolsey called to the King&#8217;s Council.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>The Holy League established by the Pope.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1512.</td><td>War with France.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1513.</td><td>Battles of the Spurs and of Flodden.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Wolsey becomes Chief Minister.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1516.</td><td>Wolsey made Legate.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Dissolution of the Holy League.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1517.</td><td>Luther denounces Indulgences.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1520.</td><td>Henry meets Francis at &#8220;Field of Cloth of Gold.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Luther burns the Pope&#8217;s Bull.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1521.</td><td>Quarrel of Luther with Henry.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>Henry&#8217;s book against Luther presented to the Pope.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Pope Leo confers on Henry the title &#8220;<i>Fidei Defensor</i>.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1522.</td><td>Renewal of war with France.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1523.</td><td>Wolsey quarrels with the Commons on question of 20 per cent. property tax.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1525.</td><td>Benevolences of one-tenth from the laity and of one-fourth from clergy demanded.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Exaction of Benevolences defeated.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Peace with France.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1527.</td><td>Henry resolves on a Divorce.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Sack of Rome.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td valign="top">1528.</td><td>Pope Clement VII. issues a commission to the Cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio for<br />
+a trial of the facts on which Henry&#8217;s application for a divorce was based.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1529.</td><td>Trial of Queen Katharine at Blackfriars&#8217; Hall.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Katharine appeals to Rome.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Fall of Wolsey. Ministry of Norfolk and Sir Thomas More.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Rise of Thomas Cromwell.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1530.</td><td>Wolsey arrested for treason.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Wolsey&#8217;s death at Leicester Abbey.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1531.</td><td>Henry acknowledged as &#8220;Supreme Head of the Church of England.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1533.</td><td>Henry secretly marries Anne Boleyn.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>Cranmer, in Archbishop of Canterbury&#8217;s Court, declares Katharine&#8217;s
+marriage invalid<br />and the marriage of Henry and Anne lawful. Anne Boleyn crowned Queen in Westminster Abbey.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Birth of Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth).</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1535.</td><td>Henry&#8217;s title as Supreme Head of the Church incorporated in the royal style by letters patent.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Execution of Sir Thomas More.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1536.</td><td>English Bible issued.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Dissolution of lesser Monasteries.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Death of Katharine of Aragon.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Execution of Anne Boleyn.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Henry&#8217;s marriage with Jane Seymour.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1537.</td><td>Birth of Edward VI.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Death of Jane Seymour.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Dissolution of greater Monasteries.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1540.</td><td>Henry&#8217;s marriage with Anne of Cleves.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Execution of Thomas Cromwell.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Henry divorces Anne of Cleves.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Henry&#8217;s marriage with Catherine Howard.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1542.</td><td>Execution of Catherine Howard.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Completion of the Tudor Conquest of Ireland.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1543.</td><td>War with France.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Henry&#8217;s marriage with Catherine Parr.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1547.</td><td>Death of Henry. Age 55 years and 7 months.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>He reigned 37 years and 9 months.</td></tr></table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p>
+<h2>SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYS PRODUCED UNDER HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE&#8217;S MANAGEMENT.</h2>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="plays">
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><strong>A.&mdash;AT THE HAYMARKET THEATRE</strong></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1889.</td><td>&#8220;The Merry Wives of Windsor.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1892.</td><td>&#8220;Hamlet.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1896.</td><td>&#8220;King Henry IV.&#8221; (Part I.)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><strong>B.&mdash;AT HIS MAJESTY&#8217;S THEATRE</strong></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1898.</td><td>&#8220;Julius C&aelig;sar.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1899.</td><td>&#8220;King John.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1900.</td><td>&#8220;A Midsummer&#8217;s Night&#8217;s Dream.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1901.</td><td>&#8220;Twelfth Night.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1903.</td><td>&#8220;King Richard II.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1904.</td><td>&#8220;The Tempest.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1905.</td><td>&#8220;Much Ado About Nothing.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>First Annual Shakespeare Festival:</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;King Richard II.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Twelfth Night.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Merry Wives of Windsor.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Hamlet.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Much Ado About Nothing.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Julius C&aelig;sar.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1906.</td><td>&#8220;The Winter&#8217;s Tale.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>&#8220;Antony and Cleopatra.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>Second Annual Shakespeare Festival:</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Tempest.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Hamlet.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;King Henry IV.&#8221; (Part I.)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Julius C&aelig;sar.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Merry Wives of Windsor.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1907.</td><td>Third Annual Shakespeare Festival:</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Tempest.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Winter&#8217;s Tale.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Hamlet.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Twelfth Night.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Julius C&aelig;sar.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Merry Wives of Windsor.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1908.</td><td>&#8220;The Merchant of Venice.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>Fourth Annual Shakespeare Festival:</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Merry Wives of Windsor.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Merchant of Venice.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Twelfth Night.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Hamlet.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1909.</td><td>Fifth Annual Shakespeare Festival:</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;King Richard III.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Twelfth Night.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Merry Wives of Windsor.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Hamlet.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Julius C&aelig;sar.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Merchant of Venice.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Macbeth.&#8221; (Mr. Arthur Bourchier&#8217;s Company.)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Antony and Cleopatra&#8221; (Act II., Scene 2).</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1910.</td><td>Sixth Annual Shakespeare Festival:</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Merry Wives of Windsor.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Julius C&aelig;sar.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Twelfth Night.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>&#8220;Hamlet.&#8221; (By His Majesty&#8217;s Theatre Company<br /><span style="margin-left: 2em;">and by Mr. H. B. Irving&#8217;s Company.)</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Merchant of Venice.&#8221; (By His Majesty&#8217;s<br /><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Theatre Company and by Mr. Arthur Bourchier&#8217;s Company.)</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;King Lear.&#8221; (Mr. Herbert Trench&#8217;s Company.)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;The Taming of the Shrew.&#8221; (Mr. F. R. Benson and Company.)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Coriolanus.&#8221; (Mr. F. R. Benson and Company.)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;Two Gentlemen of Verona.&#8221; (The Elizabethan Stage Society&#8217;s Company.)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;King Henry V.&#8221; (Mr. Lewis Waller and Company.)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">&#8220;King Richard II.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="dent">Scenes from &#8220;Macbeth&#8221; and &#8220;Romeo and Juliet.&#8221;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1910.</td><td>September 1st, &#8220;King Henry VIII.&#8221;</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Printed by Cassell &amp; Company, Limited, London, E.C.</span><br />15.311</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="adverts"><div class="adbox">
+<h1>SPECIAL SERIAL ISSUE</h1>
+
+<h3>The</h3>
+<h2>Century Shakespeare</h2>
+
+<p class="center">Introductions by the famous Shakespearean<br />Scholar,</p>
+<h2>Dr. FURNIVALL,</h2>
+<p class="center">assisted by <big>JOHN MUNRO</big></p>
+
+<h3>FULL NOTES, MAPS, and GLOSSARIES</h3>
+
+<p class="center">Commencing with the Henry VIII Edition, published on the<br />
+<span class="u">eve of His Majesty&#8217;s Theatre Revival</span>, the CENTURY<br />
+SHAKESPEARE WILL BE ISSUED</p>
+
+<p class="center"><strong>Weekly in 40 Volumes at 9<sup>D.</sup> net One Volume per week</strong></p>
+
+<p class="center">thus affording every reader an opportunity of obtaining this<br />
+famous Edition, with its unsurpassable scholarship, at a merely<br />
+nominal weekly cost.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Each volume will contain a beautiful Photogravure Frontispiece,<br />
+reproduced from a Painting by a FAMOUS ARTIST</p>
+
+<p class="center">The Henry VIII Volume bears on its cover a Colour<br />
+Reproduction of Mr. Charles Buchel&#8217;s picture of Sir<br />
+Herbert Tree as &#8220;Cardinal Wolsey.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p class="center">The next volume is</p>
+<h3>&#8220;SHAKESPEARE: LIFE AND WORK,&#8221;</h3>
+<p class="center">by Dr. <span class="smcap">Furnivall</span> and <span class="smcap">John Munro</span>. The most<br />
+human document about the Poet yet published.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>It contains a beautiful Coloured Reproduction of the<br />
+famous picture, &#8220;ROMEO AND JULIET,&#8221;<br />
+by Frank Dicksee, R.A.</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">Complete Prospectus free on receipt of a Postcard.</p>
+
+<h4>OF ALL BOOKSELLERS AND NEWSAGENTS<br />
+CASSELL AND CO., LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE,<br />
+LONDON, E.C.</h4></div></div>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><b>Footnotes:</b></p>
+
+<p><a name="f1" id="f1" href="#f1.1">[1]</a> Cavendish was Wolsey&#8217;s faithful secretary, and after his fall wrote
+the interesting &#8220;Life of Wolsey,&#8221; one of the manuscript copies of which
+evidently fell into Shakespeare&#8217;s hands before he wrote <i>Henry VIII.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name="f2" id="f2" href="#f2.1">[2]</a> &#8220;Pastime with Good Company,&#8221; composed and written by Henry, is sung in
+the production at His Majesty&#8217;s Theatre.</p>
+
+<p><a name="f3" id="f3" href="#f3.1">[3]</a> Hypocras&mdash;&#8220;A favourite medicated drink, compound of wine, usually red,
+with spices and sugar.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name="f4" id="f4" href="#f4.1">[4]</a> It is Wolsey&#8217;s fool to whom is given the final note of the play in the
+production at His Majesty&#8217;s Theatre.</p>
+
+<p><a name="f5" id="f5" href="#f5.1">[5]</a> The ceremony of bringing the Blessed Sacrament from the sepulchre
+where it had lain since the Good Friday. This took place early on Easter
+Monday.</p>
+
+<p><a name="f6" id="f6" href="#f6.1">[6]</a> Personally, I have been a sentimental adherent of symbolism since my
+first Noah&#8217;s Ark. Ever since I first beheld the generous curves of Mrs.
+Noah, and first tasted the insidious carmine of her lips, have I regarded
+the wife of Noah as symbolical of the supreme type of womanhood. I have
+learnt that the most exclusive symbolists, when painting a meadow, regard
+purple as symbolical of bright green; but we live in a realistic age and
+have not yet overtaken the <i>art nouveau</i> of the pale future. It is
+difficult to deal seriously with so much earnestness. I am forced into
+symbolic parable. Artemus Ward, when delivering a lecture on his great
+moral panorama, pointed with his wand to a blur on the horizon, and said:
+&#8220;Ladies and gentlemen, that is a horse&mdash;the artist who painted that
+picture called on me yesterday with tears in his eyes, and said he would
+disguise that fact from me no longer!&#8221; He, too, was a symbolist.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><b>Transcriber&#8217;s Note:</b></p>
+
+<p>The original text contains both &#8220;playgoer&#8221; and &#8220;play-goer&#8221; and contains
+both &#8220;Guistinian&#8221; and &#8220;Giustinian.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Henry VIII and His Court, by Herbert Tree
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Henry VIII and His Court, by Herbert Tree
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Henry VIII and His Court
+       6th edition
+
+Author: Herbert Tree
+
+Release Date: April 2, 2010 [EBook #31864]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HENRY VIII AND HIS COURT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Walt Farrell and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Henry VIII and His Court
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HENRY VIII
+
+From the Portrait by Holbein, at Warwick Castle]
+
+
+
+
+  HENRY VIII
+  AND HIS COURT
+
+
+  BY
+  HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE
+
+
+  WITH FOUR FULL-PAGE PLATES
+
+  SIXTH EDITION
+
+
+  CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD.
+  London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
+  1911
+
+
+
+  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+
+In these notes, written as a holiday task, it is not intended to give an
+exhaustive record of the events of Henry's reign; but rather to offer an
+impression of the more prominent personages in Shakespeare's play; and
+perhaps to aid the playgoer in a fuller appreciation of the conditions
+which governed their actions.
+
+_Marienbad, 1910_
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                   PAGE
+
+  KING HENRY VIII.                                                    1
+
+  WOLSEY                                                             21
+
+  KATHARINE                                                          47
+
+  ANNE BOLEYN                                                        55
+
+  DIVORCE                                                            63
+
+  THE REFORMATION                                                    77
+
+  MANNERS AND CUSTOMS                                                83
+
+  A NOTE ON THE PRODUCTION OF HENRY VIII. AT HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE   87
+
+  AN APOLOGY AND A FOOTNOTE                                         103
+
+  CHRONOLOGY OF PUBLIC EVENTS DURING THE LIFETIME OF HENRY VIII.    111
+
+  SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYS PRODUCED UNDER HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE'S
+    MANAGEMENT AT THE HAYMARKET THEATRE                             115
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF PLATES
+
+
+  HENRY VIII.              _Frontispiece_
+
+  CARDINAL WOLSEY          _Facing page_   42
+
+  KATHARINE OF ARAGON         "     "      76
+
+  ANNE BOLEYN                 "     "      96
+
+
+
+
+KING HENRY VIII
+
+
+_His Character_
+
+Holbein has drawn the character and written the history of Henry on the
+canvas of his great picture. Masterful, cruel, crafty, merciless,
+courageous, sensual, through-seeing, humorous, mean, matter of fact,
+worldly-wise, and of indomitable will, Henry the Eighth is perhaps the
+most outstanding figure in English history. The reason is not far to seek.
+The genial adventurer with sporting tendencies and large-hearted
+proclivities is always popular with the mob, and "Bluff King Hal," as he
+was called, was of the eternal type adored by the people. He had a certain
+outward and inward affinity with Nero. Like Nero, he was corpulent; like
+Nero, he was red-haired; like Nero, he sang and poetised; like Nero, he
+was a lover of horsemanship, a master of the arts and the slave of his
+passions. If his private vices were great, his public virtues were no less
+considerable. He had the ineffable quality called charm, and the
+appearance of good-nature which captivated all who came within the orbit
+of his radiant personality. He was the "_beau garcon_," endearing himself
+to all women by his compelling and conquering manhood. Henry was every
+inch a man, but he was no gentleman. He chucked even Justice under the
+chin, and Justice winked her blind eye.
+
+It is extraordinary that in spite of his brutality, both Katharine and
+Anne Boleyn spoke of him as a model of kindness. This cannot be accounted
+for alone by that divinity which doth hedge a king.
+
+There is, above all, in the face of Henry, as depicted by Holbein, that
+look of impenetrable mystery which was the background of his character.
+Many royal men have this strange quality; with some it is inborn, with
+others it is assumed. Of Henry, Cavendish,[1] a contemporary, records the
+following saying: "Three may keep counsel, if two be away; and if I
+thought my cap knew my counsel, I would throw it in the fire and burn
+it." Referring to this passage, Brewer says, "Never had the King spoke a
+truer word or described himself more accurately. Few would have thought
+that, under so careless and splendid an exterior--the very ideal of bluff,
+open-hearted good humour and frankness--there lay a watchful and secret
+mind that marked what was going on without seeming to mark it; kept its
+own counsel until it was time to strike, and then struck as suddenly and
+remorselessly as a beast of prey. It was strange to witness so much
+subtlety combined with so much strength."
+
+There was something baffling and terrifying in the mysterious bonhomie of
+the King. In spite of Caesar's dictum, it is the fat enemy who is to be
+feared; a thin villain is more easily seen through.
+
+
+_His Ancestry_
+
+Henry's antecedents were far from glorious. The Tudors were a Welsh family
+of somewhat humble stock. Henry VII.'s great-grandfather was butler or
+steward to the Bishop of Bangor, whose son, Owen Tudor, coming to London,
+obtained a clerkship of the Wardrobe to Henry V.'s Queen, Catherine of
+France. Within a few years of Henry's death, the widowed Queen and her
+clerk of the wardrobe were secretly living together as man and wife. The
+two sons of this morganatic match, Edmund and Jasper, were favoured by
+their half brother, Henry VI. Edmund, the elder, was knighted, and then
+made Earl of Richmond. In 1453 he was formally declared legitimate, and
+enrolled a member of the King's Council. Two years later he married the
+Lady Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of Edward III. It was this union
+between Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort which gave Henry VII. his claim
+by descent to the English throne.
+
+The popularity of the Tudors was, no doubt, enhanced by the fact that with
+their line, kings of decisively English blood, for the first time since
+the Norman Conquest, sat on the English throne.
+
+
+_His Early Days_
+
+When Henry VIII. ascended the throne in 1509, England regarded him with
+almost universal loyalty. The memory of the long years of the Wars of the
+Roses and the wars of the Pretenders during the reign of his father, were
+fresh in the people's mind. No other than he could have attained to the
+throne without civil war.
+
+Within two months he married Katharine of Aragon, his brother's widow, and
+a few days afterwards the King and Queen were crowned with great splendour
+in Westminster Abbey. He was still in his eighteenth year, of fine
+physical development, but of no special mental precocity. For the first
+five years of his reign, he was influenced by his Council, and especially
+by his father-in-law, Ferdinand the Catholic, giving little indication of
+the later mental vigour and power of initiation which made his reign so
+memorable in English annals.
+
+The political situation in Europe was a difficult one for Henry to deal
+with. France and Spain were the rivals for Imperial dominion. England was
+in danger of falling between two stools, such was the eagerness of each
+that the other should not support her. Henry, through his marriage with
+Katharine, began by being allied to Spain, and this alliance involved
+England in the costly burden of war. Henry's resentment at the empty
+result of this warfare, broke the Spanish alliance. Wolsey's aim was to
+keep the country out of wars, and a long period of peace raised England to
+the position of arbiter of Europe in the balanced contest between France
+and Spain.
+
+
+_The Field of the Cloth of Gold_
+
+It was in connection with the meetings and intrigues now with one power,
+now with the other, that the famous meeting with the French King at
+Guisnes, known as "the Field of the Cloth of Gold," was held in 1520.
+
+That the destinies of kingdoms sometimes hang on trifles is curiously
+exemplified by a singular incident which preceded the famous meeting.
+Francis I. prided himself on his beard. As a proof of his desire for the
+meeting with Francis, and out of compliment to the French King, Henry
+announced his resolve to wear his beard uncut until the meeting took
+place. But he reckoned without his wife. Some weeks before the meeting
+Louise of Savoy, the Queen-Mother of France, taxed Boleyn, the English
+Ambassador, with a report that Henry had put off his beard. "I said,"
+writes Boleyn, "that, as I suppose, it hath been by the Queen's desire,
+for I told my lady that I have hereafore known when the King's grace hath
+worn long his beard, that the Queen hath daily made him great instance,
+and desired him to put it off for her sake." This incident caused some
+resentment on the part of the French King, who was only pacified by
+Henry's tact.
+
+So small a matter might have proved a _casus belli_.
+
+The meeting was held amidst scenes of unparalleled splendour. The
+temporary palace erected for the occasion was so magnificent that a
+chronicler tells us it might have been the work of Leonardo da Vinci.
+Henry "the goodliest prince that ever reigned over the realm of England,"
+is described as "_honnete, hault et droit_, in manner gentle and gracious,
+rather fat, with a red beard, large enough, and very becoming."
+
+On this occasion Wolsey was accompanied by two hundred gentlemen clad in
+crimson velvet, and had a body-guard of two hundred archers. He was
+clothed in crimson satin from head to foot, his mule was covered with
+crimson velvet, and her trappings were all of gold.
+
+There were jousts and many entertainments and rejoicings, many kissings of
+Royal cheeks, but the Sovereigns hated each other cordially. While they
+were kissing they were plotting against each other. A more unedifying page
+of history has not been written. Appalling, indeed, are the shifts and
+intrigues which go to make up the records of the time.
+
+The rulers of Europe were playing a game of cards, in which all the
+players were in collusion with, and all cheating each other. Temporizing
+and intriguing, Henry met the Spanish monarch immediately before and
+immediately after his meeting with the French King. Within a few months,
+France and Spain were again at war, and England, in a fruitless and costly
+struggle, fought on the side of Spain.
+
+It was the divorce from Katharine of Aragon and its momentous
+consequences, which finally put an end to the alliance with Spain, and to
+the struggle with France succeeded a long struggle with Spain, which
+culminated in the great event of The Armada in the reign of Henry's
+daughter, Elizabeth.
+
+However, in these pages it is not proposed to enlarge upon the political
+aspect of the times, but rather to deal with the dramatic and domestic
+side of Henry's being. In the play of _Henry VIII._, the author or authors
+(for to another than Shakespeare is ascribed a portion of the drama), have
+given us as impartial a view of his character as a due regard for truth on
+the one hand, and a respect for the scaffold on the other, permitted.
+
+
+_His Aspirations_
+
+There can be no doubt that when Henry ascended the throne, he had a
+sincere wish to serve God and uphold the right.
+
+In his early years he was really devout and generous in almsgiving.
+Erasmus affirmed that his Court was an example to all Christendom for
+learning and piety. To the Pope he paid deference as to the representative
+of God.
+
+With youthful enthusiasm, the young King, looking round and seeing
+corruption on every side, said to Giustinian, the Venetian ambassador:
+"Nor do I see any faith in the world save in me, and therefore God
+Almighty, who knows this, prosper my affairs."
+
+In Henry's early reign, England was trusted more than any country to keep
+faith in her alliances. At a time when all was perfidy and treachery,
+promises and alliances were made only to be broken when self-interest
+prompted. History, like Nature itself, is ruled by brutal laws, and to
+play the round game of politics with single-handed honesty would be to
+lose at every turn. Henry was born into an inheritance of blood and
+blackmail. Corruption has its vested interests. It is useless to attempt
+to stem the recurrent tide of corruption by sprinkling the waves with holy
+water.
+
+Then religion was a part of men's daily lives, but the principles of
+Christianity were set at naught at the first bidding of expediency.
+
+Men murdered to live--the axe and the sword were the final Court of
+Appeal. Nor does the old order change appreciably in the course of a few
+hundred years. In international politics, as in public life, when
+self-interest steps in, Christianity goes to the wall.
+
+To-day we grind our axe with a difference. A more subtle process of
+dealing with our rivals obtains. To-day the pen is mightier than the
+sword, the stylograph is more deadly than the stiletto. The bravo still
+plies his trade. He no longer takes life, but character. To intrigue, to
+combine against those outside the ring is often the swiftest way to
+fortune. By such combination do weaker particles make themselves strong.
+To "play the game" is necessary to progress. The world was not made for
+poets and idealists. To quote an anonymous modern writer:
+
+  "'Act well your part, there all the honour lies';
+  Stoop to expediency and honour dies.
+  Many there are that in the race for fame,
+  Lose the great cause to win the little game,
+  Who pandering to the town's decadent taste,
+  Barter the precious pearl for gawdy paste,
+  And leave upon the virgin page of Time
+  The venom'd trail of iridescent slime."
+
+Henry's eyes soon opened. His character, like his body, underwent a
+gradual process of expansion.
+
+
+_His Pastimes_
+
+Soon the lighter side of kingship was not disdained. One authority wrote
+in 1515: "He is a youngling, cares for nothing but girls and hunting." He
+was an inveterate gambler, and turned the sport of hunting into a
+martyrdom, rising at four or five in the morning, and hunting till nine or
+ten at night. Another contemporary writes: "He devotes himself to
+accomplishments and amusements day and night, is intent on nothing else,
+and leaves business to Wolsey, who rules everything."
+
+As a sportsman, Henry was the "_beau ideal_" of his people. In the lists
+he especially distinguished himself, "in supernatural feats, changing his
+horses, and making them fly or rather leap, to the delight and ecstasy of
+everybody."
+
+He also gave himself to masquerades and charades. We are told: "It was at
+the Christmas festivals at Richmond, that Henry VIII. stole from the side
+of the Queen during the jousts, and returned in the disguise of a strange
+Knight, astonishing all the company with the grace and vigour of his
+tilting. At first the King appeared ashamed of taking part in these
+gladiatorial exercises, but the applause he received on all sides soon
+inclined him openly to appear on every occasion in the tilt-yard.
+Katharine humoured the childish taste of her husband for disguisings and
+masquings, by pretending great surprise when he presented himself before
+her in some assumed character."
+
+He was gifted with enormous energy; he could ride all day, changing his
+horses nine or ten times a day; then he would dance all night; even then
+his energies were not exhausted; then he would write what the courtiers
+described as poetry, or he would compose music, or he would dash off an
+attack on Luther, and so earn from the Pope the much-coveted title of
+"_Fidei Defensor_."
+
+In shooting at the butt, it is said, Henry excelled, drawing the best bow
+in England. At tennis, too, he excelled beyond all others. He was addicted
+to games of chance, and his courtiers permitted him to lose as much as
+L3,500 in the course of one year--scarcely a tactful proceeding. He
+played with taste and execution on the organ, harpsichord and lute. He had
+a powerful voice, and sang with great accomplishment.
+
+One of Henry's anthems, "O Lord, the Maker of all thyng," is said to be of
+the highest merit, and is still sung in our Cathedrals. In his songs,[2]
+he particularly liked to dwell on his constancy as a lover:
+
+  "As the holly groweth green and never changeth hue,
+  So I am--ever have been--unto my lady true."
+
+and again:
+
+  "For whoso loveth, should love but one."
+
+An admirable maxim.
+
+
+_As Statesman_
+
+In spite of all these distractions, Henry was an excellent man of business
+in the State--indeed, he threw himself into public affairs with the energy
+which characterised all his doings. The autocrat only slumbered in Henry;
+and before many years had passed, he threw the enormous energy, which he
+had hitherto reserved for his pleasure, into affairs of State.
+
+Under Henry, the Navy was first organised as a permanent force. His power
+of detail was prodigious in this direction. Ever loving the picturesque,
+even in the most practical affairs of life, Henry "acted as pilot and wore
+a sailor's coat and trousers, made of cloth of gold, and a gold chain with
+the inscription, '_Dieu est mon droit_,' to which was suspended a whistle
+which he blew nearly as loud as a trumpet." A strange picture!
+
+He was a practical architect, and Whitehall Palace and many other great
+buildings owed their masonry to his hand.
+
+He spoke French, Spanish, Italian and Latin with great perfection.
+
+He said many wise things. Of the much-debated Divorce, Henry said: "The
+law of every man's conscience be but a private Court, yet it is the
+highest and supreme Court for judgment or justice." As the most unjust
+wars have often produced the greatest heroisms, so the vilest causes have
+often produced the profoundest utterances.
+
+He appears to have been at peace with himself and complacent towards God.
+In 1541, during his temporary happiness with Catherine Howard, he attended
+mass in the chapel, and "receiving his Maker, gave Him most hearty thanks
+for the good life he led and trusted to lead with his wife; and also
+desired the Bishop of Lincoln to make like prayer, and give like thanks on
+All Souls' Day."
+
+Henry confessed his sins every day during the plague. When it abated, his
+spirits revived, and he wrote daily love-letters to Anne Boleyn, whom he
+had previously banished from the Court.
+
+
+_As Moralist_
+
+A stern moralist in regard to the conduct of others, he had an indulgence
+towards himself which enabled him somewhat freely to interpret the Divine
+right of Kings as "_Le droit de seigneur_." But it is human to tolerate in
+ourselves the failings which we so rightly deprecate in our inferiors.
+
+So strong was he in his self-assurance, that he made even his conscience
+his slave.
+
+Henry sometimes lacked regal taste. The night Anne Boleyn was executed he
+supped with Jane Seymour; they were betrothed the next morning, and
+married ten days later. It is also recorded that on the day following
+Katharine's death, Henry went to a ball, clad all in yellow.
+
+The commendation or condemnation of Henry's public life depends upon our
+point of view--upon which side we take in the eternal strife between
+Church and State.
+
+In this dilemma we must then judge by results, for the truest expression
+of a man is his work; his greatness or his littleness is measured by his
+output. Henry produced great results, though he may have been the
+unconscious instrument of Fate. The motives which guided him in his
+dealings with the Roman Catholic Church may have been only selfish--they
+resulted in the emancipation of England from the tyranny of Popedom. A
+Catholic estimate of him would, of course, have been wholly condemnatory,
+yet it must be remembered that his quarrel was entirely with the supremacy
+of the Pope, and that otherwise Henry's Church retained every dogma and
+every observance believed in and practised by Roman Catholics.
+
+
+_His Greatness_
+
+His learning was great, and it was illuminated by his genius. Gradually he
+learned to control others--to do this he learned to control his temper,
+when control was useful, but he was always able to make diplomatic use of
+his rage--a faculty ever helpful in the conduct of one's life! In fact, it
+is difficult to determine whose genius was greater--Wolsey's as the
+diplomatist and administrator, or Henry's as the man of action, the
+figurehead of the State. Around him he gathered the great men of his time,
+and their learning he turned to his own account, with that adaptiveness
+which is the peculiar attribute of genius. Shakespeare himself was not
+more assimilative. In Wolsey, Henry appreciated the mighty minister, and
+this is one of his claims to greatness, for graciously to permit others to
+be great is a sign of greatness in a King.
+
+
+
+
+WOLSEY
+
+
+_His Early Life_
+
+Wolsey was born at Ipswich, probably in the year 1471. His father, Robert
+Wolsey, was a grazier, and perhaps also a butcher in well-to-do
+circumstances. Sent to Oxford at the age of 11, at 15 he was made a
+Bachelor of Arts. He became a parish priest of St. Mary's, at Lymington,
+in 1500. Within a year he was subjected to the indignity of being put into
+the public stocks--for what reason is not known. It has been said that he
+was concerned in a drunken fray. I prefer to think that, in an unguarded
+moment, he had been tempted to speak the truth. No doubt this was his
+first lesson in diplomacy.
+
+In 1507 Wolsey entered the service of Henry VII. as chaplain, and seems to
+have acted as secretary to Richard Fox, Lord Privy Seal. Thus Wolsey was
+trained in the policy of Henry VII., which he never forgot.
+
+
+_His Growing Power_
+
+When Henry VIII. came to the throne, he soon realised Wolsey's value, and
+allowed him full scope for his ambition.
+
+Wolsey thought it desirable to become a Cardinal--a view that was shared
+by Henry, whose right hand Wolsey had become. In 1514 Henry wrote to the
+Pope asking that the Hat should be conferred on his favourite, who in the
+following year was made Lord Chancellor of England. There was some
+hesitancy which bribery and threats overcame, and in 1515 Wolsey was
+created Cardinal, in spite of the hatred which Leo X. bore him. Having won
+this instalment of greatness, Wolsey promptly asked for the Legateship
+which should give him precedence over the Archbishop of Canterbury. This
+ambition was realised three years later, but only by what practically
+amounted to political and ecclesiastical blackmail. In the Church and
+State Wolsey now stood second only to the King.
+
+
+HIS STATE
+
+(_a_) _His Retinue_
+
+As an instance of the state he kept, we are told that he had as many as
+500 retainers--among them many lords and ladies. Cavendish, his secretary,
+describes his pomp when he walked abroad as follows: "First went the
+Cardinal's attendants, attired in boddices of crimson velvet with gold
+chains, and the inferior officers in coats of scarlet bordered with black
+velvet. After these came two gentlemen bearing the great seal and his
+Cardinal's hat, then two priests with silver pillars and poleaxes, and
+next two great crosses of silver, whereof one of them was for his
+Archbishoprick and the other for his legacy borne always before him,
+whithersoever he went or rode. Then came the Cardinal himself, very
+sumptuously, on a mule trapped with crimson velvet and his stirrup of
+copper gilt." Sometimes he preferred to make his progress on the river,
+for which purpose he had a magnificent State barge "furnished with yeomen
+standing on the bayles and crowded with his Gentlemen within and
+without."
+
+His stables were also extensive. His choir far excelled that of the King.
+Besides all the officials attendant on the Cardinal, Wolsey had 160
+personal attendants, including his High Chamberlain, vice-chamberlain;
+twelve gentlemen ushers, daily waiters; eight gentlemen ushers and waiters
+of his privy chamber, nine or ten lords, forty persons acting as gentlemen
+cupbearers, carvers, servers, etc., six yeomen ushers, eight grooms of the
+chamber, forty-six yeomen of his chamber (one daily to attend upon his
+person), sixteen doctors and chaplains, two secretaries, three clerks, and
+four counsellors learned in the law. As Lord Chancellor, he had an
+additional and separate retinue, almost as numerous, including ministers,
+armourers, serjeants-at-arms, herald, etc.
+
+
+(_b_) _Gifts from Foreign Powers_
+
+Nor was he above using the gentle suasion of his office to obtain
+sumptuous gifts from the representatives of foreign powers--for
+Giustinian, on his return to Venice, reported to the Doge and Senate that
+"Cardinal Wolsey is very anxious for the signory to send him a hundred
+Damascene carpets for which he has asked several times, and expected to
+receive them by the last galleys. This present," continues the diplomat,
+"might make him pass a decree in our favour; and, at any rate, it would
+render the Cardinal friendly to our nation in other matters." The carpets,
+it seems, were duly sent to the Cardinal.
+
+
+(_c_) _His Drinking Water_
+
+To show his disregard for money, it may be mentioned that in order to
+obtain pure water for himself and his household, and not being satisfied
+with the drinking water at Hampton Court, Wolsey had the water brought
+from the springs at Coombe Hill by means of leaden pipes, at a cost, it is
+said, of something like L50,000.
+
+
+(_d_) _His Table_
+
+Wolsey seems to have been a lover of good food, for Skelton, for whose
+verse the Cardinal had perhaps expressed contempt, wrote:
+
+  "To drynke and for to eate
+  Swete hypocras[3] and swete meate
+  To keep his flesh chast
+  In Lent for a repast
+  He eateth capon's stew,
+  Fesaunt and partriche mewed
+  Hennes checkynges and pygges."
+
+(Skelton, it should be explained, was the Poet Laureate.) It appears that
+on this score of his delicate digestion, Wolsey procured a dispensation
+from the Pope for the Lenten observances.
+
+He had not a robust constitution, and suffered from many ailments. On one
+occasion, Henry sent him some pills--it is not recorded, however, that
+Wolsey partook of them.
+
+
+(_e_) _His Orange_
+
+Cavendish speaks of a peculiar habit of the great Cardinal. He tells us
+that, "Whenever he was in a crowd or pestered with suitors, he most
+commonly held to his nose a very fair orange whereof the meat or
+substance within was taken out, and filled up again with the part of a
+sponge, wherein was vinegar and other confections against the pestilent
+airs!" The habit may have given offence to importunate mayors and
+others--the Poet Laureate himself may have been thus affronted by the
+imperious Cardinal, when he wrote:
+
+  "He is set so high
+  In his hierarchy
+  Of frantic phrenesy
+  And foolish fantasy
+  That in the Chamber of Stars
+  All matters there he mars.
+  Clapping his rod on the Board
+  No man dare speak a word;
+
+   *       *       *       *
+
+  Some say "yes" and some
+  Sit still as they were dumb.
+  Thus thwarting over them,
+  He ruleth all the roast
+  With bragging and with boast.
+  Borne up on every side
+  With pomp and with pride."
+
+As a proof of his sensuous tastes, Cavendish wrote:
+
+  "The subtle perfumes of musk and sweet amber
+  There wanted none to perfume all my chamber."
+
+
+(_f_) _His Fool_
+
+That Wolsey, like Henry, was possessed of a sense of humour we have
+abundant evidence in his utterances. Yet he kept a Fool about
+him--possibly in order that he might glean the opinions of the courtiers
+and common people. After Wolsey's fall, he sent this Fool as a present to
+King Henry. But so loth was the Fool to leave his master and to suffer
+what he considered a social descent, that six tall yeomen had to conduct
+him to the Court; "for," says Cavendish, "the poor fool took on and fired
+so in such a rage when he saw that he must needs depart from my lord. Yet,
+notwithstanding, they conveyed him with Master Norris to the Court, where
+the King received him most gladly."[4]
+
+
+(_g_) _Hampton Court_
+
+At his Palace of Hampton Court there were 280 beds always ready for
+strangers. These beds were of great splendour, being made of red, green
+and russet velvet, satin and silk, and all with magnificent canopies. The
+counterpanes, of which there were many hundreds, we are told, were of
+"tawny damask, lined with blue buckram; blue damask with flowers of gold;
+others of red satin with a great rose in the midst, wrought with
+needlework and with garters." Another is described as "of blue sarcenet,
+with a tree in the midst and beastes with scriptures, all wrought with
+needlework." The splendour of these beds beggars all description.
+
+
+(_h_) _His Plate_
+
+His gold and silver plate at Hampton Court alone, was valued by the
+Venetian Ambassador as worth 300,000 golden ducats, which would be the
+equivalent in modern coin of a million and a half! The silver was
+estimated at a similar amount. It is said that the quality was no less
+striking than the quantity, for Wolsey insisted on the most artistic
+workmanship. He had also a bowl of gold "with a cover garnished with
+rubies, diamonds, pearls and a sapphire set in a goblet." These gorgeous
+vessels were decorated with the Cardinal's hat, and sometimes too, less
+appropriately perhaps, with images of Christ!
+
+It is said that the decorations and furniture of Wolsey's Palace were on
+so splendid a scale that it threw the King's into the shade.
+
+
+(_i_) _His Prodigal Splendour_
+
+Like a wise minister, Wolsey did not neglect to entertain the King and
+keep his mind on trivial things. Hampton Court had become the scene of
+unrestrained gaiety. Music was always played on these occasions, and the
+King frequently took part in the revels, dancing, masquerading and
+singing, accompanying himself on the harpsichord or lute.
+
+The description in Cavendish's "Life of Wolsey" of the famous feast given
+by the Cardinal to the French ambassadors gives a graphic account of his
+prodigal splendour. As to the delicacies which were furnished at the
+supper, Cavendish writes:--
+
+"Anon came up the second course with so many dishes, subtleties and
+curious devices, which were above a hundred in number, of so goodly
+proportion and costly, that I suppose the Frenchmen never saw the like.
+The wonder was no less than it was worthy, indeed. There were castles with
+images in the same; Paul's Church and steeple, in proportion for the
+quantity as well counterfeited as the painter should have painted it upon
+a cloth or wall. There were beasts, birds, fowls of divers kinds, and
+personages, most lively made and counterfeit in dishes; some fighting, as
+it were, with swords, some with guns and crossbows; some vaulting and
+leaping; some dancing with ladies, some in complete harness, justing with
+spears, and with many more devices than I am able with my wit to
+describe."
+
+Giustinian, speaking of one of these banquets, writes: "The like of it was
+never given either by Cleopatra or Caligula." We must remember that Wolsey
+surrounded himself with such worldly vanities less from any vulgarity in
+his nature than from a desire to work upon the common mind, ever ready to
+be impressed by pomp and circumstance.
+
+
+_The Mind of Wolsey_
+
+If the outer man was thus caparisoned, what of Wolsey's mind? Its
+furniture, too, beggared all description. Amiable as Wolsey could be, he
+could also on occasions be as brusque as his royal master. A contemporary
+writer says: "I had rather be commanded to Rome than deliver letters to
+him and wait an answer. When he walks in the Park, he will suffer no
+suitor to come nigh unto him, but commands him away as far as a man will
+shoot an arrow."
+
+Yet to others he could be of sweet and gentle disposition and ready to
+listen and to help with advice.
+
+  "Lofty and sour to them that loved him not,
+  But to those men that sought him sweet as summer."
+
+To those who regard characters as either black or white, Wolsey's was
+indeed a contradiction. Charges of a personal character have been brought
+against the great prelate, which need not here be referred to, unless it
+be to say that if they were true, by so much the less he was a priest, by
+so much more he was a man.
+
+
+_His Ambition_
+
+There is no doubt that the Cardinal made several attempts to become
+Pope--but this enterprise was doomed to failure, although in it he was
+supported warmly by the King. To gain this end much bribery was needed,
+"especially to the younger men who are generally the most needy," as the
+Cardinal said. Wolsey was a sufficiently accomplished social diplomatist
+to conciliate the young, for their term of office begins to-morrow, and
+gold is the key of consciences. He was hated and feared, flattered,
+cajoled and brow-beaten where possible. But as a source of income he was
+ever held in high regard by the Pope.
+
+His own annual income from bribes--royal and otherwise--was indeed
+stupendous, though these were received with the knowledge of the King.
+
+So great was the power Wolsey attained to that Fox said of him: "We have
+to deal with the Cardinal, who is not Cardinal but King." He wrote of
+himself, "_Ego et rex meus_," and had the initials, "T. W." and the
+Cardinal's hat stamped on the King's coins. These were among the charges
+brought against him in his fall.
+
+To his ambitions there was no limit. For the spoils of office he had "an
+unbounded stomach." As an instance of his pretensions it is recorded that
+during the festivities of the Emperor's visit to England in 1520, "Wolsey
+alone sat down to dinner with the royal party, while peers, like the Dukes
+of Suffolk and Buckingham, performed menial offices for the Cardinal, as
+well as for Emperor, King and Queen."
+
+When he met Charles at Bruges in 1521 "he treated the Emperor of Spain as
+an equal. He did not dismount from his mule, but merely doffed his cap,
+and embraced as a brother the temporal head of Christendom."
+
+"He never granted audience either to English peers or foreign ambassadors"
+(says Guistinian) "until the third or fourth time of asking." Small wonder
+that he incurred the hatred of the nobility and the jealousy of the King.
+During his embassy to France in 1527, it is said that "his attendants
+served cap in hand, and when bringing the dishes knelt before him in the
+act of presenting them. Those who waited on the Most Christian King, kept
+their caps on their heads, dispensing with such exaggerated ceremonies."
+Had Wolsey's insolence been tempered by his sense of humour, his fall
+might have been on a softer place, as his Fool is believed to have
+remarked.
+
+
+_His Policy_
+
+In his policy of the reform of the Church, Wolsey dealt as a giant with
+his gigantic task. To quote a passage from Taunton: "Ignorance, he knew,
+was the root of most of the mischief of the day; so by education he
+endeavoured to give men the means to know better. Falsehood can only be
+expelled by Truth.... Had the other prelates of the age realized the true
+cause of the religious disputes, and how much they themselves were
+responsible for the present Ignorance, the sacred name of religion would
+not have had so bloody a record in this country."
+
+Wolsey's idea was, in fact, to bring the clergy in touch with the thought
+and conditions of the time. It is wonderful to reflect that this one brain
+should have controlled the secular and ecclesiastical destinies of
+Christendom.
+
+To reform the Church would seem to have been an almost superhuman
+undertaking, but to a man of Wolsey's greatness obstacles are only
+incentives to energy. He was "eager to cleanse the Church from the
+accumulated evil effects of centuries of human passions." A great man is
+stronger than a system, while he lives; but the system often outlives the
+man. Wolsey lived in a time whose very atmosphere was charged with
+intrigue. Had he not yielded to a Government by slaughter, he would not
+have existed.
+
+The Cardinal realised that ignorance was one of the chief causes of the
+difficulties in the Church. So with great zeal he devoted himself to the
+founding of two colleges, one in Ipswich, the other in Oxford. His scheme
+was never entirely carried out, for on Wolsey's fall his works were not
+completed. The College at Ipswich fell into abeyance, but his college at
+Oxford was spared and refounded. Originally called Cardinal College, it
+was renamed Christ Church, so that not even in name was it allowed to be a
+memorial of Wolsey's greatness.
+
+
+_His Genius_
+
+For a long time Wolsey was regarded merely as the type of the ambitious
+and arrogant ecclesiastic whom the Reformation had made an impossibility
+in the future. It was not till the mass of documents relating to the reign
+of Henry VIII. was published that it was possible to estimate the
+greatness of the Cardinal's schemes. He took a wider view of the problems
+of his time than any statesman had done before. He had a genius for
+diplomacy. He was an artist and enthusiast in politics. They were not a
+pursuit to him, but a passion. Not perhaps unjustly has he been called the
+greatest statesman England ever produced.
+
+England, at the beginning of Henry VIII.'s reign, was weakened after the
+struggles of the Civil Wars, and wished to find peace at home at the cost
+of obscurity abroad. But it was this England which Wolsey's policy raised
+"from a third-rate state of little account into the highest circle of
+European politics." Wolsey did not show his genius to the best advantage
+in local politics, but in diplomacy. He could only be inspired by the
+gigantic things of statecraft. When he was set by Henry to deal with the
+sordid matter of the divorce, he felt restricted and cramped. He was
+better as a patriot than as a royal servant. It was this feeling of being
+sullied and unnerved in the uncongenial skirmishings of the divorce that
+jarred on his sensitive nature and made his ambitious hand lose its
+cunning. A first-rate man cannot do second-rate things well.
+
+Henry and Wolsey were two giants littered in one day. Wolsey had realised
+his possibilities of power before Henry. But when Henry once learned how
+easy it was for him to get his own way, Wolsey learned how dependent he
+necessarily was on the King's good will. And then, "the nation which had
+trembled before Wolsey, learned to tremble before the King who could
+destroy Wolsey with a breath."
+
+Had Wolsey been able to fulfil his own ideals, had he been the head of a
+Republic and not the servant of a King, his public record would no doubt
+have been on a higher ethical plane. That he himself realised this is
+shown by his pathetic words to Sir William Kingston, which have been but
+slightly paraphrased by Shakespeare: "Well, well, Master Kingston, I see
+how the matter against me is framed, but if I had served my God as
+diligently as I have done the King, He would not have given me over in my
+grey hairs." In this frankness we recognise once again a flicker of
+greatness--one might almost say a touch of divine humour.
+
+The lives of great men compose themselves dramatically; Wolsey's end was
+indeed a fit theme for the dramatist.
+
+
+_His Fall_
+
+In his later years, Wolsey began to totter on his throne. The King had
+become more and more masterful. It was impossible for two such stormy men
+to act permanently in concord. In 1528, Wolsey said that as soon as he had
+accomplished his ambition of reconciling England and France, and reforming
+the English laws and settling the succession, "he would retire and serve
+God for the rest of his days." In 1529 he lost his hold over Parliament
+and over Henry. The Great Seal was taken from him.
+
+The end of Wolsey was indeed appalling in its sordid tragedy. The woman
+had prevailed--Anne's revenge was sufficiently complete to satisfy even a
+woman scorned. The King, too, was probably more inclined to lend a willing
+ear to her whisperings, since he had grown jealous of his minister's
+greatness. He paid to his superior the tribute of hatred. Henry, who had
+treated the Cardinal as his friend and "walked with him in the garden arm
+in arm and sometimes with his arm thrown caressingly round his shoulder,"
+now felt very differently towards his one-time favourite.
+
+Covetous of Wolsey's splendour, he asked him why he, a subject, should
+have so magnificent an abode as Hampton Court, whereupon Wolsey
+diplomatically answered (feeling perhaps the twitch of a phantom rope
+around his neck), "To show how noble a palace a subject may offer to his
+sovereign." The King was not slow to accept this offer, and thenceforth
+made Hampton Court Palace his own.
+
+Wolsey, too, was failing in body--the sharks that follow the ship of State
+were already scenting their prey. As the King turned his back on Wolsey,
+Wolsey turned his face to God. Accused of high treason for having acted
+as Legate, Wolsey pleaded guilty of the offence, committed with the
+approval of the King. He was deprived of his worldly goods, and retired to
+his house at Esher.
+
+[Illustration: CARDINAL WOLSEY
+
+From the Portrait by Holbein, at Christ Church, Oxford]
+
+
+_Wolsey an Exile from Court_
+
+Cavendish says: "My Lord and his family continued there the space of three
+or four weeks without beds, sheets, tablecloths, cups and dishes to eat
+our meat, or to lie in." He was forced to borrow the bare necessaries of
+life. The mighty had fallen indeed! This was in the year 1529. In his
+disgrace, he was without friends. The Pope ignored him. But Queen
+Katharine--noble in a kindred sorrow--sent words of sympathy. Death was
+approaching, and Wolsey prepared himself for the great event by fasting
+and prayer. Ordered to York, he arrived at Peterborough in Easter Week.
+There it is said: "Upon Palm Sunday, he went in procession with the monks,
+bearing his palm; setting forth God's service right honourably with such
+singing men as he then had remaining with him.
+
+
+_He Washes the Feet of the Poor_
+
+And upon Maundy Thursday he made his Maundy in Our Lady's Chapel, having
+fifty-nine poor men, whose feet he washed, wiped and kissed; each of these
+poor men had twelve pence in money, three ells of canvas to make them
+shirts, a pair of new shoes, a cast of mead, three red herrings, and three
+white herrings, and the odd person had two shillings. Upon Easter Day he
+rode to the Resurrection,[5] and that morning he went in procession in his
+Cardinal's vesture, with his hat and hood on his head, and he himself sang
+there the High Mass very devoutly, and granted Clean Remission to all the
+hearers, and there continued all the holidays."
+
+Arrived at York, he indulged with a difference in his old love of
+hospitality; "he kept a noble house and plenty of both meat and drink for
+all comers, both for rich and poor, and much alms given at his gates. He
+used much charity and pity among his poor tenants and others." This
+caused him to be beloved in the country. Those that hated him owing to his
+repute learned to love him--he went among the people and brought them food
+and comforted them in their troubles. Now he was loved among the poor as
+he had been feared among the great.
+
+
+_Condemned to the Tower_
+
+On the 4th November, he was arrested on a new charge of high treason and
+condemned to the Tower. He left under custody amid the lamentations of the
+poor people, who in their thousands crowded round him, crying: "God save
+your Grace! God save your Grace! The foul evil take all them that hath
+thus taken you from us! We pray God that a very vengeance may light upon
+them." He remained at Sheffield Park, the Earl of Shrewsbury's seat, for
+eighteen days. Here his health broke down. There arrived, with twenty-four
+of the Guard from London, Sir William Kingston with order to conduct him
+to the Tower. The next day, in spite of increasing illness, he set out,
+but he could hardly ride his mule.
+
+
+_His End_
+
+Reaching the Abbey at Leicester on the 26th of November, and being
+received by the Benedictine monks, he said: "Father Abbot, I am come
+hither to leave my bones among you." Here he took to his last bed, and
+made ready to meet his God.
+
+The following morning, the 29th of November, he who had trod the ways of
+glory and sounded all the depths and shoals of honour, he who had shaped
+the destinies of Empires, before whom Popes and Parliaments had trembled,
+he who had swathed himself in the purple of kingdom, of power and of
+glory, learned the littleness of greatness and entered the Republic of
+Death in a hair-shirt.
+
+
+
+
+KATHARINE
+
+
+For purity and steadfastness of devotion and duty, Katharine stands
+unsurpassed in the history of the world, and Shakespeare has conceived no
+more pathetic figure than that of the patient Queen living in the midst of
+an unscrupulous Court.
+
+Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, she was betrothed at the age
+of five to Arthur, Henry VII.'s eldest son. Though known as the Princess
+of Wales, it was not till 1501, when only sixteen years old, that she was
+married to Prince Arthur. She had scarcely been married six months when
+Arthur died, at the early age of fifteen, and she was left a widow. Henry
+VII., in his desire to keep her marriage dower of 200,000 crowns, proposed
+a marriage between her and Arthur's brother. Katharine wrote to her father
+saying she had "no inclination for a second marriage in England." In spite
+of her remonstrances and the misgivings of the Pope, who had no wish to
+give the necessary dispensation for her to marry her deceased husband's
+brother, she was betrothed to Henry after two years of widowhood. But it
+was not till a few months after Henry VIII. came to the throne, five years
+later, that they were actually married. Henry was five years younger than
+Katharine, but their early married life appears to have been very happy.
+She wrote to her father, "Our time is ever passed in continual feasts."
+
+The cruel field sports of the time the Queen never could take any delight
+in, and avoided them as much as possible. She was pious and ascetic and
+most proficient in needlework. Katharine had a number of children, all of
+whom died shortly after birth. It was this consideration in the first
+instance which weighed in Henry's mind in desiring a divorce. The first
+child to survive was Princess Mary, born in February, 1516. Henry
+expressed the hope that sons would follow. But Katharine had no further
+living children. Henry hoped against hope, and undertook, in the event of
+her having an heir, to lead a crusade against the Turks. Even this bribe
+to fortune proved unavailing. Henry's conscience, which was at best of the
+utilitarian sort, now began to suffer deep pangs, and in 1525, when
+Katharine was forty years old and he thirty-four, he gave up hope of the
+much-needed heir to the throne. The Queen herself thought her
+childlessness was "a judgment of God, for that her former marriage was
+made in blood," the innocent Earl of Warwick having been put to death
+owing to the demand of Ferdinand of Aragon.
+
+The King began to indulge in the superstition that his marriage with a
+brother's widow was marked with the curse of Heaven. It is perhaps a
+strange coincidence that Anne Boleyn should have appeared on the scene at
+this moment. Katharine seems always to have regarded her rival with
+charity and pity. When one of her gentlewomen began to curse Anne as the
+cause of the Queen's misery, the Queen stopped her. "Curse her not," she
+said, "but rather pray for her; for even now is the time fast coming when
+you shall have reason to pity her and lament her case."
+
+Undoubtedly Katharine's most notable quality was her dignity. Even her
+enemies regarded her with respect. She was always sustained by the
+greatness of her soul, her life of right doing and her feeling of being "a
+Queen and daughter of a King." Through all her bitter trials she went, a
+pathetic figure, untouched by calumny. If she had any faults they are
+certainly not recorded in history. Her farewell letter to the King would
+seem to be very characteristic of Katharine's beauty of character. She
+knew the hand of death was upon her. She had entreated the King, but Henry
+had refused her request for a last interview with her daughter Mary.
+
+With this final cruelty fresh in her mind she still could write: "My lord
+and dear husband,--I commend me unto you. The hour of my death draweth
+fast on, and my case being such, the tender love I owe you forceth me with
+a few words, to put you in remembrance of the health and safeguard of your
+soul, which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the
+care and tendering of your own body, for the which you have cast me into
+many miseries and yourself into many cares. For my part I do pardon you
+all, yea, I do wish and devoutly pray God that He will pardon you."
+
+
+
+
+ANNE BOLEYN
+
+
+The estimation of the character of Anne Boleyn would seem to be as varied
+as the spelling of her name. She is believed to have been born in 1507.
+The Boleyns or Bullens were a Norfolk family of French origin, but her
+mother was of noble blood, being daughter of the Earl of Ormonde, and so a
+descendant of Edward I. It is a curious fact that all of Henry's wives can
+trace their descent from this King. Of Anne's early life little is known
+save that she was sent as Maid of Honour to the French Queen Claude. She
+was probably about nineteen years old when she was recalled to the English
+Court and began her round of revels and love intrigues. Certainly she was
+a born leader of men; many have denied her actual beauty, but she had the
+greater quality of charm, the power of subjugating, the beckoning eye. An
+accomplished dancer, we read of her "as leaping and jumping with infinite
+grace and agility." "She dressed with marvellous taste and devised new
+robes," but of the ladies who copied her, we read that unfortunately "none
+wore them with her gracefulness, in which she rivalled Venus." Music, too,
+was added to her accomplishments, and Cavendish tells us how "when she
+composed her hands to play and her voice to sing, it was joined with that
+sweetness of countenance that three harmonies concurred."
+
+It is difficult to speak with unalloyed admiration of Anne's virtue. At
+the most charitable computation, she was an outrageous flirt. It would
+seem that she was genuinely in love with Lord Percy, and that Wolsey was
+ordered by the then captivated and jealous King to put an end to their
+intrigue and their desire to marry. Anne is supposed never to have
+forgiven Wolsey for this, and by a dramatic irony it was her former lover,
+Percy, then become Earl of Northumberland, who was sent to arrest the
+fallen Cardinal at York. It is said that he treated Wolsey in a brutal
+manner, having his legs bound to the stirrup of his mule like a common
+criminal. When Henry, in his infatuation for the attractive
+Lady-in-Waiting to his Queen, as she was then, wished Wolsey to become the
+aider and abettor of his love affairs, Wolsey found himself placed in the
+double capacity of man of God and man of Kings. In these cases, God is apt
+to go to the wall--for the time being. But it was Wolsey's vain attempt to
+serve two masters that caused his fall, which the French Ambassador
+attributed entirely to the ill offices of Anne Boleyn. This is another
+proof that courtiers should always keep on the right side of women.
+
+Nothing could stop Henry's passion for Anne, and she showed her wonderful
+cleverness in the way she kept his love alive for years, being first
+created Marchioness of Pembroke, and ultimately triumphing over every
+obstacle and gaining her wish of being his Queen. This phase of her
+character has been nicely touched by Shakespeare's own deft hand. She was
+crowned with unparalleled splendour on Whit Sunday of 1533. At the banquet
+held after the Coronation of Anne Boleyn, we read that two Countesses
+stood on either side of Anne's chair and often held a "fine cloth before
+the Queen's face whenever she listed to spit." "And under the table went
+two gentlewomen, and sat at the Queen's feet during the dinner." The
+courtier's life, like the burglar's does not appear to have been one of
+unmixed happiness.
+
+In the same year she bore Henry a child, but to everyone's disappointment,
+it proved to be a girl, who was christened Elizabeth, and became the great
+Queen of England. Anne's triumph was pathetically brief. Her most
+important act was that of getting the publication of the Bible authorised
+in England. Two years after her coronation, Sir Thomas More, who had
+refused to swear fealty to the King's heir by Anne, who had been thrown
+into prison and was awaiting execution, asked "How Queen Anne did?" "There
+is nothing else but dancing and sporting," was the answer. "These dances
+of hers," he said, "will prove such dances that she will spurn our heads
+off like footballs, but it will not be long ere her head dance the like
+dance." In a year's time, this prophecy came true. Her Lady-in-Waiting,
+the beautiful Jane Seymour, stole the King from her who in her time had
+betrayed her royal mistress.
+
+There are two versions with regard to her last feelings towards the King.
+Lord Bacon writes that just before her execution she said: "Commend me to
+his Majesty and tell him he hath ever been constant in his career of
+advancing me. From a private gentlewoman he made me a marchioness, from a
+marchioness a Queen; and now he hath left no higher degree of honour, he
+gives my innocency the crown of martyrdom." This contains a fine sting of
+satire. Another chronicler gives us her words as follows: "I pray God to
+save the King, and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler or more
+merciful prince was there never." One cannot but think that this latter
+version of her dying words may have been edited by his Grace of
+Canterbury.
+
+If it is difficult to reconcile Anne's heartlessness with her piety, it
+should be remembered that cruelty is often the twin-sister of religious
+fervour.
+
+Whatever may have been her failings of character, whatever misfortunes
+she may have suffered during her life, Anne will ever live in history as
+one of the master mistresses of the world.
+
+
+
+
+THE DIVORCE
+
+
+As to the divorce, it will be well to clear away the enormous amount of
+argument, of vituperation and prevarication by which the whole question is
+obscured, and to seek by the magnet of common sense to find the needle of
+truth in this vast bundle of hay.
+
+The situation was complicated. In those days it was generally supposed
+that no woman could succeed to the throne, and a male successor was
+regarded as a political necessity. Charles V., too, was plotting to depose
+Henry and to proclaim James V. as ruler of England, or Mary, who was to be
+married to an English noble for this purpose.
+
+
+_The Succession_
+
+The Duke of Buckingham was the most formidable possible heir to the
+throne, were the King to die without male heirs. His execution took place
+in 1521. Desperate men take desperate remedies. Now, in 1519, Henry had a
+natural son by Elizabeth Blount, sister of Lord Mountjoy. This boy Henry
+contemplated placing on the throne, so causing considerable uneasiness to
+the Queen. In 1525 he was created Duke of Richmond. Shortly after he was
+made Lord High Admiral of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. It was
+suggested that he should marry a royal Princess. Another suggestion was
+that he should marry his half-sister, an arrangement which seems to have
+commended itself to the Pope, on condition that Henry abandoned his
+divorce from Queen Katharine! But this was not to be, and Mary was
+betrothed to the French prince. An heir must be obtained somehow, and the
+divorce, therefore, took more and more tangible shape. A marriage with
+Anne Boleyn was the next move. To attain this object, Henry applied
+himself with his accustomed energy. His conscience walked hand in hand
+with expediency.
+
+To Rome, Henry sent many embassies and to the Universities of Christendom
+much gold, in order to persuade them to yield to the dictates of his
+conscience. His passion for marriage lines in his amours was one of
+Henry's most distinguishing qualities.
+
+In 1527 an union between Francis I. and the Princess Mary was set on foot.
+Here the question of Mary's legitimacy was debated, and this gave Henry
+another excuse for regarding the divorce as necessary.
+
+As the modern historian might aptly say: "Here was a pretty kettle of
+fish."
+
+There can be little doubt that as a man of God, Wolsey strongly
+disapproved of the divorce, but as the King's Chancellor he felt himself
+bound to urge his case to the best of his ability. He was in fact the
+advocate--the devil's advocate--under protest. One cannot imagine a more
+terrible position for a man of conscience to be placed in, but once even a
+cardinal embarks in politics the working of his conscience is temporarily
+suspended. In world politics the Ten Commandments are apt to become a
+negligible quantity.
+
+Henry's conscience was becoming more and more tender. Much may be urged in
+favour of the divorce from a political point of view, and no doubt Henry
+had a powerful faculty of self-persuasion--such men can grow to believe
+that whatever they desire is right, that "there is nothing either good or
+bad but thinking makes it so." It is a pity, however, that Henry's
+scruples did not assert themselves before the marriage with Katharine took
+place, for the ethical arguments against such an union were then equally
+strong. Indeed, these scruples appear to have been a "family failing," for
+Henry's sister Margaret, Queen of Scotland, obtained a dispensation of
+divorce from Rome on far slenderer grounds. To make matters worse for
+Henry, Rome was sacked--the Pope was a prisoner in the Emperor's hands. In
+this state of things, the Pope was naturally disinclined to give offence
+to the Emperor by divorcing his aunt (Katharine).
+
+At all costs, the Pope must be set free--on this errand Wolsey now set out
+for France. But Charles V. was no less wily than Wolsey, and dispatched
+Cardinal Quignon to Rome to frustrate his endeavours, and to deprive
+Wolsey of his legatine powers. A schism between Henry and Wolsey was now
+asserting itself--Wolsey being opposed to the King's union with Anne
+Boleyn. ("We'll no Anne Boleyns for him!") Wolsey desired that the King
+should marry the French King's sister, in order to strengthen his
+opposition to Charles V. of Spain.
+
+The Cardinal was indeed in an unenviable position. If the divorce
+succeeded, then his enemy, Anne Boleyn, would triumph and he would fall.
+If the divorce failed, then Henry would thrust from him the agent who had
+failed to secure the object of his master. And in his fall the Cardinal
+would drag down the Church. It is said that Wolsey secretly opposed the
+divorce. This is fully brought out in Shakespeare's play, and is indeed
+the main cause of Wolsey's fall.
+
+There was for Henry now only one way out of the dilemma into which the
+power of the Pope had thrown him--that was to obtain a dispensation for a
+bigamous marriage. It seems that Henry himself cancelled the proposition
+before it was made. This scruple was unnecessary, for the Pope himself
+secretly made a proposition "that His Majesty might be allowed two
+wives."
+
+The sanction for the marriage with Anne Boleyn was obtained without great
+difficulty--but it was to be subject to the divorce from Katharine being
+ratified. Thus the King was faced with another obstacle. At this moment
+began the struggle for supremacy at Rome between English and Spanish
+influence. The Pope had to choose between the two; Charles V. was the
+victor, whereupon Henry cut the Gordian knot by throwing over the
+jurisdiction of Rome. Wolsey was in a position of tragic perplexity. He
+was torn by his allegiance to the King, and his zeal for the preservation
+of the Church. He wrote: "I cannot reflect upon it and close my eye, for I
+see ruin, infamy and subversion of the whole dignity and estimation of the
+See Apostolic if this course is persisted in." But Pope Clement dared not
+offend the Emperor Charles, who was his best, because his most powerful
+ally, and had he not proved his power by sacking Rome? The Pope, although
+quite ready to grant dispensations for a marriage of Princess Mary and her
+half-brother, the Duke of Richmond, though he was ready to grant
+Margaret's divorce, could not afford to stultify the whole Papal dignity
+by revoking the dispensation he had originally given that Henry should
+marry his brother's wife. Truly an edifying embroglio! Henry was desirous
+of shifting the responsibility on God through the Pope--the Pope was
+sufficiently astute to wish to put the responsibility on the devil through
+Henry. There was one other course open--that course the Pope took.
+
+In 1528 he gave a Commission to Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio to try the
+case themselves, and pronounce sentence. Back went the embassy to England.
+Wolsey saw through the device, for the Pope was still free to revoke the
+Commission. Indeed Clement's attitude towards Henry was dictated entirely
+by the fluctuating fortune of Charles V., Emperor of Spain. Meanwhile,
+Charles won another battle against the French, and the Pope at once gave
+secret instructions to Campeggio to procrastinate, assuring Charles that
+nothing would be done which should be to the detriment of Katharine. The
+wily Campeggio (emissary of the Pope) at first sought to persuade Henry to
+refrain from the divorce. Henry refused. Thereupon he endeavoured to
+persuade Katharine voluntarily to enter a nunnery. Among all these
+plotters and intriguers, Katharine, adamant in her virtue, maintained her
+position as lawful wife and Queen.
+
+When Wolsey and Campeggio visited the Queen she was doing needlework with
+her maids. It appears (and this is important as showing the inwardness of
+Wolsey's attitude in the matter of the divorce) that "from this interview
+the Queen gained over both legates to her cause; indeed, they would never
+pronounce against her, and this was the head and front of the King's
+enmity to his former favourite Wolsey." In the first instance, Wolsey was
+undoubtedly a party, however unwilling, to the separation of the King and
+Queen, in order that Henry might marry the brilliant and high-minded
+sister of Francis I., Duchess of Alencon. That lady would not listen to
+such a proposal, lest it should break the heart of Queen Katharine. Wolsey
+was, either from personal enmity towards Anne Boleyn or from his estimate
+of her character, or from both, throughout opposed to the union with that
+lady.
+
+Subsequently the King sent to Katharine a deputation from his Council
+announcing that he had, by the advice of Cranmer, obtained the opinions of
+the universities of Europe concerning the divorce, and found several which
+considered it expedient. He therefore entreated her, for the quieting of
+his conscience, that she would refer the matter to the arbitration of four
+English prelates and four nobles. The Queen received the message in her
+chamber, and replied to it: "God grant my husband a quiet conscience, but
+I mean to abide by no decision excepting that of Rome." This infuriated
+the King.
+
+After many delays and the appearance of a document which was declared by
+one side to be a forgery, and by the other to be genuine, the case began
+on May 31, 1529. In the great hall of Blackfriars both the King and Queen
+appeared in person to hear the decision of the Court. The trial itself is
+very faithfully rendered in Shakespeare's play. Finding the King obdurate,
+Katharine protested against the jurisdiction of the Court, and appealing
+finally to Rome, withdrew from Blackfriars.
+
+Judgment was to be delivered on the 23rd of July, 1529. Campeggio rose in
+the presence of the King and adjourned the Court till October. This was
+the last straw, and the last meeting of the Court. Henry had lost. Charles
+was once more in the ascendant. England and France had declared war on him
+in 1528, but England's heart was not in the enterprise--the feeling of
+hatred to Wolsey became widespread. Henry and Charles made terms of peace,
+and embraced once more after a bloodless and (for England) somewhat
+ignominious war. The French force was utterly defeated in battle. The Pope
+and Charles signed a treaty--all was nicely arranged. The Pope's nephew
+was to marry the Emperor's natural daughter; certain towns were to be
+restored to the Pope, who was to crown Charles with the Imperial crown.
+The participators in the sacking of Rome were to be absolved from sin; the
+proceedings against the Emperor's aunt, Katharine, were to be null and
+void. If Katharine could not obtain justice in England, Henry should not
+have his justice in Rome. The Pope and the Emperor kissed again, and Henry
+finally cut himself adrift from Rome. It was the failure of the divorce
+that made England a Protestant country.
+
+Henry now openly defied the Pope, by whom he was excommunicated, and so
+"deprived of the solace of the rites of religion; when he died he must lie
+without burial, and in hell suffer torment for ever." The mind shrinks
+from contemplating the tortures to which the soul of His Majesty might
+have been subjected but for the timely intervention of his Grace the
+Archbishop of Canterbury.
+
+So far from Henry suffering in a temporal sense, he continued to defy the
+opinion and the power of the world. He showed his greatness by looking
+public opinion unflinchingly in the face; by ignoring, he conquered it.
+Amid the thunderous roarings of the Papal bull, Henry stood--as we see him
+in his picture--smiling and indifferent. "I never saw the King merrier
+than now," wrote a contemporary in 1533. Henry always had good cards--now
+he held the ace of public opinion up his sleeve.
+
+Wolsey, although averse to the Queen's divorce and the marriage of Anne
+Boleyn, expressed himself in terms of the strongest opposition to the
+overbearing Pope. A few days before the Papal revocation arrived, the
+Cardinal wrote thus: "If the King be cited to appear at Rome in person or
+by proxy, and his prerogative be interfered with, none of his subjects
+will tolerate it. If he appears in Italy, it will be at the head of a
+formidable army." Opposed as they were to the divorce, the English people
+were of one mind with Wolsey in this attitude.
+
+Henry was not slow to avail himself of the new development, and he made
+the divorce become in the eyes of the people but a secondary consideration
+to the pride of England. He drew the red herring of the Reformation across
+the trail of the divorce. The King and his Parliament held that the Church
+should not meddle with temporal affairs. The Church was the curer of
+souls, not the curer of the body politic.
+
+Katharine's cause sank into the background. The voice of justice was
+drowned by the birth shrieks of the Reformation.
+
+[Illustration: _Photo: Emery Walker_
+
+KATHARINE OF ARAGON
+
+From the Portrait in the National Portrait Gallery]
+
+
+
+
+THE REFORMATION
+
+
+We must remind ourselves that the divorce was merely the irritation which
+brought the discontent with Rome to a head. Religious affairs were in a
+very turbulent state. The monasteries were corrupt. The rule of Rome had
+become political, not spiritual. Luther had worked at shattering the
+pretensions of the Pope in Europe. Wolsey had prepared the English to
+acquiesce in Henry's religious supremacy by his long tenure of the whole
+Papal authority within the realm and the consequent suspension of appeals
+to Rome. Translations of the New Testament were being secretly read
+throughout the country--a most dangerous innovation--and Anne Boleyn, who
+had no cause to love the Pope or his power, held complete sway over the
+King.
+
+She and her father were said to be "more Lutheran than Luther himself."
+Though Henry was anti-Papal, he was never anti-Catholic, but, as the
+representative of God, as head of his own Church, he claimed to take
+precedence of the Pope. Moreover, the spoliation of the Church was not an
+unprofitable business.
+
+Rome declared the divorce illegal. Henry, with the support of his
+Parliament, abolished all forms of tribute to Rome, arranged that the
+election of Bishops should take place without the interference of the
+Pope, and declared that if he did not consent to the King's wishes within
+three months, the whole of his authority in England should be transferred
+to the Crown. This conditional abolition of the Papal authority was in due
+course made absolute, and the King assumed the title of Head of the
+Church.
+
+"The breach with Rome" was effected with a cold and calculated cunning,
+which the most adept disciple of Machiavelli could not have
+excelled."--(Pollard.)
+
+With an adroitness amounting to genius, Henry now used the moral suasion
+(not to use an uglier word) of threats towards the Church to induce the
+Pope to relent and to assent to the divorce. One by one, in this deadly
+battle, did the Pope's prerogatives vanish, until the sacerdotal
+foundations of Rome, so far as England was concerned, had been levelled to
+the ground.
+
+After many further political troubles and intrigues Henry prevailed on
+Cranmer, now Archbishop of Canterbury, as head of the Church, to declare
+the marriage between himself and Katharine to be null and void, and five
+days later Cranmer declared that Henry and Anne Boleyn were lawfully
+married. On the 1st of June, 1533, the Archbishop crowned Anne as Queen in
+Westminster Abbey. Shortly after she gave birth to a daughter, who was
+christened Elizabeth, and became Queen of England.
+
+Beyond this incident, with which the strange eventful history of
+Shakespeare's play ends, it is not proposed to travel in these notes,
+which are but intended as a brief chronicle that may guide the play-goer
+of to-day (sometimes a hasty reader) to realize the conditions of Henry's
+reign.
+
+
+
+
+MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
+
+
+In the days of Henry VIII., the ways of society differed from our own more
+in observance than in spirit. Though the gay world danced and gambled very
+late, they rose very early. Their conversation was coarse and lacked
+reserve. The ladies cursed freely. Outward show and ceremony were
+considered of the utmost importance. Hats were worn by the men in church
+and at meals, and only removed in the presence of the King and Cardinal.
+Kissing was far more prevalent as a mode of salutation. The Court society
+spent the greater part of their income on clothes. To those in the King's
+set, a thousand pounds was nothing out of the way to spend on a suit of
+clothes. The predominant colours at Court were crimson and green; the
+Tudor colours were green and white. It was an age of magnificent plate,
+and the possession and display of masses of gold and silver plate was
+considered as a sign of power. Later on in Shakespeare's time, not only
+the nobles, but also the better class citizens boasted collections of
+plate.
+
+A quaint instance of the recognition of distinctions of rank is afforded
+by certain "Ordinances" that went forth as the "Bouche of Court." Thus a
+Duke or Duchess was allowed in the morning one chet loaf, one manchet and
+a gallon of ale; in the afternoon one manchet and one gallon of ale; and
+for after supper one chet loaf, one manchet, one gallon of ale and a
+pitcher of wine, besides torches, etc. A Countess, however, was allowed
+nothing at all after supper, and a gentleman usher had no allowance for
+morning or afternoon. These class distinctions must have weighed heavily
+upon humbler beings, such as Countesses; but perhaps they consumed more at
+table to make up for these after-meal deficiencies.
+
+Table manners were a luxury as yet undreamed of. The use of the fork was a
+new fashion just being introduced from France and Spain.
+
+
+
+
+A NOTE ON THE PRODUCTION OF HENRY VIII. AT HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE
+
+
+From the descriptions which have appeared in these pages, it will be seen
+that the period of Henry VIII. was characterized by great sumptuousness;
+indeed, the daily life of the Court consisted largely of revels, masques
+and displays of splendour.
+
+Henry VIII. is largely a pageant play. As such it was conceived and
+written, as such we shall endeavour to present it to the public. Indeed,
+it is obvious that it would be far better not to produce the play at all
+than to do so without those adjuncts, by which alone the action of the
+play can be illustrated. Of course, it is not possible to do more than
+indicate on the stage the sumptuousness of the period of history covered
+by the play; but it is hoped that an impression will be conveyed to our
+own time of Henry in his habit as he lived, of his people, of the
+architecture, and of the manners and customs of that great age.
+
+
+_The Text_
+
+It has been thought desirable to omit almost in their entirety those
+portions of the play which deal with the Reformation, being as they are
+practically devoid of dramatic interest and calculated, as they are, to
+weary an audience. In taking this course, I feel the less hesitation as
+there can be no doubt that all these passages were from the first omitted
+in Shakespeare's own representations of the play.
+
+We have incontrovertible evidence that in Shakespeare's time, Henry VIII.
+was played in "two short hours."
+
+  "... 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."
+
+These words, addressed to the audience in the prologue, make it quite
+clear that a considerable portion of the play was considered by the
+author to be superfluous to the dramatic action--and so it is. Acted
+without any waits whatsoever, Henry VIII., as it is written, would take at
+least three hours and a half in the playing. Although we are not able to
+compass the performance within the prescribed "two short hours," for we
+show a greater respect for the preservation of the text than did
+Shakespeare himself, an attempt will be made to confine the absolute
+spoken words as nearly as possible within the time prescribed in the
+prologue.
+
+In the dramatic presentation of the play, there are many passages of
+intensely moving interest, the action and characters are drawn with a
+remarkable fidelity to the actualities. As has been suggested, however,
+the play depends more largely than do most of Shakespeare's works on those
+outward displays which an attempt will be made to realize on the stage.
+
+
+_Shakespeare as Stage Manager_
+
+That Shakespeare, as a stage-manager, availed himself as far as possible
+of these adjuncts is only too evident from the fact that it was the
+firing off the cannon which caused a conflagration and the consequent
+burning down of the Globe Theatre. The destruction of the manuscripts of
+Shakespeare's plays was probably due to this calamity. The incident shows
+a lamentable love of stage-mounting for which some of the critics of the
+time no doubt took the poet severely to task. In connection with the love
+of pageantry which then prevailed, it is well known that Shakespeare and
+Ben Jonson were wont to arrange the Masques which were so much in vogue in
+their time.
+
+
+_The Fire_
+
+The Globe Theatre was burnt on June 29th, 1613. Thomas Lorkins, in a
+letter to Sir Thomas Puckering on June 30th, says: "No longer since than
+yesterday, while Bourbidge his companie were acting at ye Globe the play
+of Henry 8, and there shooting of certayne chambers in way of triumph; the
+fire catch and fastened upon the thatch of ye house and there burned so
+furiously as it consumed ye whole house all in lesse than two hours, the
+people having enough to doe to save themselves."
+
+
+_Other Productions of the Play_
+
+There are records of many other productions of Henry VIII. existing. In
+1663 it was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields as a pageant play. The
+redoubtable Mr. Pepys visited this production, without appearing to have
+enjoyed the play. In contrast to him, old Dr. Johnson said that whenever
+Mrs. Siddons played the part of Katharine, he would "hobble to the theatre
+to see her."
+
+In 1707, Henry VIII. was produced at the Haymarket, with an exceptionally
+strong cast; in 1722 it was done at Drury Lane, in which production Booth
+played Henry VIII.
+
+In 1727 it was again played at Drury Lane. On this occasion the spectacle
+of the Coronation of Anne Boleyn was added, on which one scene, we are
+told, L1,000 had been expended. It will come to many as a surprise that so
+much splendour and so large an expenditure of money were at that time
+lavished on the stage. The play had an exceptional run of forty nights,
+largely owing, it is said, to the popularity it obtained through the
+Coronation of George II., which had taken place a few weeks before.
+
+The play was a great favourite of George II. and was in consequence
+frequently revived during his reign. On being asked by a grave nobleman,
+after a performance at Hampton Court, how the King liked it, Sir Richard
+Steele replied: "So terribly well, my lord, that I was afraid I should
+have lost all my actors, for I was not sure the King would not keep them
+to fill the posts at Court that he saw them so fit for in the play."
+
+In 1744, Henry VIII. was given for the first time at Covent Garden, but
+was not revived until 1772, when it was announced at Covent Garden as
+"'Henry VIII.,' not acted for 20 years." The Coronation was again
+introduced.
+
+Queen Katharine was one of Mrs. Siddons' great parts. She made her first
+appearance in this character at Drury Lane in 1788. In 1808 it was again
+revived, and Mrs. Siddons once more played the Queen, Kemble appearing as
+Wolsey.
+
+In 1822, Edmund Kean made his first appearance as Wolsey at Drury Lane,
+but the play was only given four times.
+
+In 1832, the play was revived at Covent Garden with extraordinary
+splendour, and a magnificent cast. Charles Kemble played King Henry; Mr.
+Young, Wolsey; Miss Ellen Tree, Anne Boleyn; and Miss Fanny Kemble
+appeared for the first time as Queen Katharine. Her success seems to have
+been great. We are told that Miss Ellen Tree, as Anne Boleyn, appeared to
+great disadvantage; "her headdress was the most frightful and unbecoming
+thing imaginable, though we believe it was taken from one of Holbein's."
+In those days correctness of costume was considered most lamentable and
+most laughable. In this production, too, the Coronation was substituted
+for the procession. The criticism adds that "during the progress of the
+play the public seized every opportunity of showing their dislike of the
+Bishops, and the moment they came on the stage they were assailed with
+hissing and hooting, and one of the prelates, in his haste to escape from
+such a reception, fell prostrate, which excited bursts of merriment from
+all parts of the house."
+
+In 1855, Charles Kean revived the play with his accustomed care and
+sumptuousness. In this famous revival Mrs. Kean appeared as "Queen
+Katharine."
+
+
+_Irving's Production_
+
+Sir Henry Irving's magnificent production will still be fresh in the
+memory of many playgoers. It was admitted on all hands to be an artistic
+achievement of the highest kind, and Sir Henry Irving was richly rewarded
+by the support of the public, the play running 203 nights. Miss Ellen
+Terry greatly distinguished herself in the part of Queen Katharine,
+contributing in no small degree to the success of the production. Sir
+Henry Irving, in the part of Wolsey, made a deep impression. Mr. William
+Terriss played the King. Mr. Forbes Robertson made a memorable success in
+the part of Buckingham; and it is interesting to note that Miss Violet
+Vanbrugh played the part of Anne Boleyn.
+
+[Illustration: ANNE BOLEYN
+
+From the Portrait by Holbein, at Warwick Castle]
+
+
+_The Music_
+
+An outstanding feature of the Lyceum production was Edward German's music.
+I deem myself fortunate that this music was available for the present
+production. It may be mentioned that Mr. German has composed some
+additional numbers, amongst which is the Anthem sung in the Coronation of
+Anne Boleyn.
+
+
+_Shakespeare's Accuracy of Detail_
+
+I cannot help quoting one passage from Cavendish at length to show how
+closely Shakespeare keeps to the chronicles of his time. It will be found
+that Scene 3 of Act I. is practically identical with the following
+description:--
+
+     The banquets were set forth, with masks and mummeries, in so gorgeous
+     a sort, and costly manner, that it was a heaven to behold.
+
+     ... I have seen the king suddenly come in thither in a mask, with a
+     dozen of other maskers, all in garments like shepherds.
+
+     ... And at his coming and before he came into the hall, ye shall
+     understand that he came by water to the water gate, without any
+     noise; where, against his coming, were laid charged many chambers,
+     and at his landing they were all shot off, which made such a rumble
+     in the air, that it was like thunder. It made all the noblemen,
+     ladies and gentlewomen to muse what it should mean coming so
+     suddenly, they sitting quietly at a solemn banquet. Then immediately
+     after this great shot of guns, the cardinal desired the Lord
+     Chamberlain, and Comptroller, to look what this sudden shot should
+     mean, as though he knew nothing of the matter. They thereupon looking
+     out of the windows into Thames, returned again, and showed him, that
+     it seemed to them there should be some noblemen and strangers arrived
+     at his bridge, as ambassadors from some foreign prince. With that,
+     quoth the Cardinal, "I shall desire you, because ye can speak French,
+     to take the pains to go down into the hall to encounter and to
+     receive them, according to their estates, and to conduct them into
+     this chamber, where they shall see us, and all these noble personages
+     sitting merrily at our banquet, desiring them to sit down with us and
+     to take part of our fare and pastime." Then they went incontinent
+     down into the hall, where they received them with twenty new torches,
+     and conveyed them up into the chamber, with such a number of drums
+     and fifes as I have seldom seen together, at one time in any masque.
+     At their arrival into the chamber, two and two together, they went
+     directly before the cardinal where he sat, saluting him very
+     reverently, to whom the Lord Chamberlain for them said: "Sir,
+     forasmuch as they be strangers, and can speak no English, they have
+     desired me to declare unto your Grace thus: they, having
+     understanding of this your triumphant banquet, where was assembled
+     such a number of excellent fair dames, could do no less, under the
+     supportation of your good grace, but to repair hither to view as well
+     their incomparable beauty, as for to accompany them to mumchance, and
+     then after to dance with them, and so to have of them acquaintance.
+     And, sir, they furthermore require of your Grace licence to
+     accomplish the cause of their repair." To whom the Cardinal answered,
+     that he was very well contented they should do so. Then the masquers
+     went first and saluted all the dames as they sat, and then returned
+     to the most worthiest.
+
+     ... Then quoth the Cardinal to my Lord Chamberlain, "I pray you,"
+     quoth he, "show them that it seemeth me that there should be among
+     them some noble man, whom I suppose to be much more worthy of honour
+     to sit and occupy this room and place than I; to whom I would most
+     gladly, if I knew him, surrender my place according to my duty." Then
+     spake my Lord Chamberlain, unto them in French, declaring my Lord
+     Cardinal's mind, and they rounding him again in the ear, my Lord
+     Chamberlain said to my Lord Cardinal, "Sir, they confess," quoth he,
+     "that among them there is such a noble personage, whom, if your Grace
+     can appoint him from the other, he is contented to disclose himself,
+     and to accept your place most worthily." With that the cardinal,
+     taking a good advisement among them, at the last, quoth he, "Me
+     seemeth the gentleman with the black beard should be even he." And
+     with that he arose out of his chair, and offered the same to the
+     gentleman in the black beard, with his cap in his hand. The person to
+     whom he offered then his chair was Sir Edward Neville, a comely
+     knight of goodly personage, that much more resembled the king's
+     person in that mask, than any other. The king, hearing and perceiving
+     the cardinal so deceived in his estimation and choice, could not
+     forbear laughing; but plucked down his visor, and Master Neville's
+     also, and dashed out with such a pleasant countenance and cheer, that
+     all noble estates there assembled, seeing the king to be there
+     amongst them, rejoiced very much.
+
+If Shakespeare could be so true to the actualities, why should not we seek
+to realise the scene so vividly described by the chronicler and the
+dramatist?
+
+In my notes and conclusions on "Henry VIII. and his Court," I have been
+largely indebted to the guidance of the following books:--
+
+Ernest Law's "History of Hampton Court"; Strickland's "Queens of England";
+Taunton's "Thomas Wolsey, Legate and Reformer"; and Cavendish's "Life of
+Wolsey."
+
+
+
+
+AN APOLOGY AND A FOOTNOTE
+
+
+Here I am tempted to hark back to the modern manner of producing
+Shakespeare, and to say a few words in extenuation of those methods, which
+have been assailed in a recent article with almost equal brilliancy and
+vehemence.
+
+The writer tells us that there are two different kinds of plays, the
+realistic and the symbolic. Shakespeare's plays, we are assured, belong to
+the latter category. "The scenery," it is insisted, "not only may, but
+should be imperfect." This seems an extraordinary doctrine, for if it be
+right that a play should be imperfectly mounted, it follows that it should
+be imperfectly acted, and further that it should be imperfectly written.
+The modern methods, we are assured, employed in the production of
+Shakespeare, do not properly illustrate the play, but are merely made for
+vulgar display, with the result of crushing the author and obscuring his
+meaning. In this assertion, I venture to think that our critic is
+mistaken; I claim that not the least important mission of the modern
+theatre is to give to the public representations of history which shall be
+at once an education and a delight. To do this, the manager should avail
+himself of the best archaeological and artistic help his generation can
+afford him, while endeavouring to preserve what he believes to be the
+spirit and the intention of the author.
+
+It is of course possible for the technically informed reader to imagine
+the wonderful and stirring scenes which form part of the play without
+visualizing them. It is, I contend, better to reserve Shakespeare for the
+study than to see him presented half-heartedly.
+
+The merely archaic presentation of the play can be of interest only to
+those epicures who do not pay their shilling to enter the theatre. The
+contemporary theatre must make its appeal to the great public, and I hold
+that while one should respect every form of art, that art which appeals
+only to a coterie is on a lower plane than that which speaks to the world.
+Surely, it is not too much to claim that a truer and more vivid
+impression of a period of history can be given by its representation on
+the stage than by any other means of information. Though the archaeologist
+with symbolic leanings may cry out, the theatre is primarily for those who
+love the drama, who love the joy of life and the true presentation of
+history. It is only secondarily for those who fulfil their souls in
+footnotes.[6]
+
+I hold that whatever may tend to destroy the illusion and the people's
+understanding is to be condemned. Whatever may tend to heighten the
+illusion and to help the audience to a better understanding of the play
+and the author's meaning, is to be commended. Shakespeare and Burbage,
+Betterton, Colley Cibber, the Kembles, the Keans, Phelps, Calvert and
+Henry Irving, as artists, recognised that there was but one way to treat
+the play of Henry VIII. It is pleasant to sin in such good company.
+
+I contend that Henry VIII. is essentially a realistic and not a symbolic
+play. Indeed, probably no English author is less "symbolic" than
+Shakespeare. "Hamlet" is a play which, to my mind, does not suffer by the
+simplest setting; indeed, a severe simplicity of treatment seems to me to
+assist rather than to detract from the imaginative development of that
+masterpiece. But I hold that, with the exception of certain scenes in "The
+Tempest," no plays of Shakespeare are susceptible to what is called
+"symbolic" treatment. To attempt to present Henry VIII. in other than a
+realistic manner would be to ensure absolute failure. Let us take an
+instance from the text. By what symbolism can Shakespeare's stage
+directions in the Trial scene be represented on the stage?
+
+"A Hall in Blackfriars. Enter two vergers with short silver wands; next
+them two scribes in the habit of doctors.... Next them with some small
+distance, follows a gentleman bearing the purse with the great seal and a
+Cardinal's hat; then two priests bearing each a silver cross; then a
+gentleman usher bareheaded, accompanied with a sergeant-at-arms bearing a
+silver mace; then two gentlemen bearing two great silver pillars; after
+them, side by side, the two Cardinals, Wolsey and Campeius; two noblemen
+with the sword and mace," etc.
+
+I confess my symbolic imagination was completely gravelled, and in the
+absence of any symbolic substitute, I have been compelled to fall back on
+the stage directions.
+
+Yet we are gravely told by the writer of a recent article that "all
+Shakespeare's plays" lend themselves of course to such symbolic treatment.
+We hear, indeed, that the National Theatre is to be run on symbolic lines.
+If it be so, then God help the National Theatre--the symbolists will not.
+No "ism" ever made a great cause. The National Theatre, to be the
+dignified memorial we all hope it may be, will owe its birth, its being
+and its preservation to the artists, who alone are the guardians of any
+art. It is the painter, not the frame-maker, who upholds the art of
+painting; it is the poet, not the book-binder, who carries the torch of
+poetry. It was the sculptor, and not the owner of the quarry, who made the
+Venus of Milo. It is sometimes necessary to re-assert the obvious.
+
+Now there are plays in which symbolism is appropriate--those of
+Maeterlinck, for instance. But if, as has been said, Maeterlinck resembles
+Shakespeare, Shakespeare does not resemble Maeterlinck. Let us remember
+that Shakespeare was a humanist, not a symbolist.
+
+
+_The End_
+
+The end of the play of Henry VIII. once more illustrates the pageantry of
+realism, as prescribed in the elaborate directions as to the christening
+of the new-born princess.
+
+It is this incident of the christening of the future Queen Elizabeth that
+brings to an appropriate close the strange eventful history as depicted in
+the play of Henry VIII. And thus the injustice of the world is once more
+triumphantly vindicated: Wolsey, the devoted servant of the King, has
+crept into an ignominious sanctuary; Katharine has been driven to a
+martyr's doom; the adulterous union has been blessed by the Court of
+Bishops; minor poets have sung their blasphemous paeans in unison. The
+offspring of Anne Boleyn, over whose head the Shadow of the Axe is already
+hovering, has been christened amid the acclamations of the mob; the King
+paces forth to hold the child up to the gaze of a shouting populace,
+accompanied by the Court and the Clergy--trumpets blare, drums roll, the
+organ thunders, cannons boom, hymns are sung, the joy bells are pealing. A
+lonely figure in black enters weeping. It is the Fool!
+
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY OF PUBLIC EVENTS DURING THE LIFETIME OF KING HENRY VIII.
+
+
+  1491.  Birth of Henry, second son of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York.
+
+  1501.  Marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, eldest son of Henry VII. and
+         Elizabeth of York, to Katharine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand
+         and Isabella of Spain.
+
+  1502.  Death of Arthur, Prince of Wales.
+
+  1509.  Death of King Henry VII.
+
+         Marriage of Henry VIII. at Westminster Abbey with Katharine of
+         Aragon, his brother's widow.
+
+         Thomas Wolsey made King's Almoner.
+
+  1511.  Thomas Wolsey called to the King's Council.
+
+         The Holy League established by the Pope.
+
+  1512.  War with France.
+
+  1513.  Battles of the Spurs and of Flodden.
+
+         Wolsey becomes Chief Minister.
+
+  1516.  Wolsey made Legate.
+
+         Dissolution of the Holy League.
+
+  1517.  Luther denounces Indulgences.
+
+  1520.  Henry meets Francis at "Field of Cloth of Gold."
+
+         Luther burns the Pope's Bull.
+
+  1521.  Quarrel of Luther with Henry.
+
+         Henry's book against Luther presented to the Pope.
+
+         Pope Leo confers on Henry the title "_Fidei Defensor_."
+
+  1522.  Renewal of war with France.
+
+  1523.  Wolsey quarrels with the Commons on question of 20 per cent.
+         property tax.
+
+  1525.  Benevolences of one-tenth from the laity and of one-fourth from
+         clergy demanded.
+
+         Exaction of Benevolences defeated.
+
+         Peace with France.
+
+  1527.  Henry resolves on a Divorce.
+
+         Sack of Rome.
+
+  1528.  Pope Clement VII. issues a commission to the Cardinals Wolsey and
+         Campeggio for a trial of the facts on which Henry's application
+         for a divorce was based.
+
+  1529.  Trial of Queen Katharine at Blackfriars' Hall.
+
+         Katharine appeals to Rome.
+
+         Fall of Wolsey. Ministry of Norfolk and Sir Thomas More.
+
+         Rise of Thomas Cromwell.
+
+  1530.  Wolsey arrested for treason.
+
+         Wolsey's death at Leicester Abbey.
+
+  1531.  Henry acknowledged as "Supreme Head of the Church of England."
+
+  1533.  Henry secretly marries Anne Boleyn.
+
+         Cranmer, in Archbishop of Canterbury's Court, declares
+         Katharine's marriage invalid and the marriage of Henry and Anne
+         lawful. Anne Boleyn crowned Queen in Westminster Abbey.
+
+         Birth of Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth).
+
+  1535.  Henry's title as Supreme Head of the Church incorporated in the
+         royal style by letters patent.
+
+         Execution of Sir Thomas More.
+
+  1536.  English Bible issued.
+
+         Dissolution of lesser Monasteries.
+
+         Death of Katharine of Aragon.
+
+         Execution of Anne Boleyn.
+
+         Henry's marriage with Jane Seymour.
+
+  1537.  Birth of Edward VI.
+
+         Death of Jane Seymour.
+
+         Dissolution of greater Monasteries.
+
+  1540.  Henry's marriage with Anne of Cleves.
+
+         Execution of Thomas Cromwell.
+
+         Henry divorces Anne of Cleves.
+
+         Henry's marriage with Catherine Howard.
+
+  1542.  Execution of Catherine Howard.
+
+         Completion of the Tudor Conquest of Ireland.
+
+  1543.  War with France.
+
+         Henry's marriage with Catherine Parr.
+
+  1547.  Death of Henry. Age 55 years and 7 months.
+
+         He reigned 37 years and 9 months.
+
+
+
+
+SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYS PRODUCED UNDER HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE'S MANAGEMENT.
+
+
+A.--AT THE HAYMARKET THEATRE
+
+  1889.  "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+
+  1892.  "Hamlet."
+
+  1896.  "King Henry IV." (Part I.)
+
+
+B.--AT HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE
+
+  1898.  "Julius Caesar."
+
+  1899.  "King John."
+
+  1900.  "A Midsummer's Night's Dream."
+
+  1901.  "Twelfth Night."
+
+  1903.  "King Richard II."
+
+  1904.  "The Tempest."
+
+  1905.  "Much Ado About Nothing."
+
+         First Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "King Richard II."
+           "Twelfth Night."
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+           "Hamlet."
+           "Much Ado About Nothing."
+           "Julius Caesar."
+
+  1906.  "The Winter's Tale."
+
+         "Antony and Cleopatra."
+
+         Second Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "The Tempest."
+           "Hamlet."
+           "King Henry IV." (Part I.)
+           "Julius Caesar."
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+
+  1907.  Third Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "The Tempest."
+           "The Winter's Tale."
+           "Hamlet."
+           "Twelfth Night."
+           "Julius Caesar."
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+
+  1908.  "The Merchant of Venice."
+
+         Fourth Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+           "The Merchant of Venice."
+           "Twelfth Night."
+           "Hamlet."
+
+  1909.  Fifth Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "King Richard III."
+           "Twelfth Night."
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+           "Hamlet."
+           "Julius Caesar."
+           "The Merchant of Venice."
+           "Macbeth." (Mr. Arthur Bourchier's Company.)
+           "Antony and Cleopatra" (Act II., Scene 2).
+
+  1910.  Sixth Annual Shakespeare Festival:
+           "The Merry Wives of Windsor."
+           "Julius Caesar."
+           "Twelfth Night."
+           "Hamlet." (By His Majesty's Theatre Company and by Mr. H. B.
+               Irving's Company.)
+           "The Merchant of Venice." (By His Majesty's Theatre Company
+               and by Mr. Arthur Bourchier's Company.)
+           "King Lear." (Mr. Herbert Trench's Company.)
+           "The Taming of the Shrew." (Mr. F. R. Benson and Company.)
+           "Coriolanus." (Mr. F. R. Benson and Company.)
+           "Two Gentlemen of Verona." (The Elizabethan Stage Society's
+               Company.)
+           "King Henry V." (Mr. Lewis Waller and Company.)
+           "King Richard II."
+           Scenes from "Macbeth" and "Romeo and Juliet."
+
+  1910.  September 1st, "King Henry VIII."
+
+
+PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LONDON, E.C.
+
+15.311
+
+
+
+
+SPECIAL SERIAL ISSUE
+
+The Century Shakespeare
+
+  Introductions by the famous Shakespearean
+  Scholar,
+  Dr. FURNIVALL,
+  assisted by JOHN MUNRO
+
+FULL NOTES, MAPS, and GLOSSARIES
+
+Commencing with the Henry VIII Edition, published on the _eve of His
+Majesty's Theatre Revival_, the CENTURY SHAKESPEARE WILL BE ISSUED
+
+Weekly in 40 Volumes at 9{D.} net One Volume per week thus affording every
+reader an opportunity of obtaining this famous Edition, with its
+unsurpassable scholarship, at a merely nominal weekly cost.
+
+Each volume will contain a beautiful Photogravure Frontispiece, reproduced
+from a Painting by a FAMOUS ARTIST.
+
+The Henry VIII Volume bears on its cover a Colour Reproduction of Mr.
+Charles Buchel's picture of Sir Herbert Tree as "Cardinal Wolsey."
+
+The next volume is "SHAKESPEARE: LIFE AND WORK," by Dr. FURNIVALL and JOHN
+MUNRO. The most human document about the Poet yet published.
+
+_It contains a beautiful Coloured Reproduction of the famous picture,
+"ROMEO AND JULIET," by Frank Dicksee, R.A._
+
+Complete Prospectus free on receipt of a Postcard.
+
+  OF ALL BOOKSELLERS AND NEWSAGENTS
+  CASSELL AND CO., LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE,
+  LONDON, E.C.
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes:
+
+[1] Cavendish was Wolsey's faithful secretary, and after his fall wrote
+the interesting "Life of Wolsey," one of the manuscript copies of which
+evidently fell into Shakespeare's hands before he wrote _Henry VIII._
+
+[2] "Pastime with Good Company," composed and written by Henry, is sung in
+the production at His Majesty's Theatre.
+
+[3] Hypocras--"A favourite medicated drink, compound of wine, usually red,
+with spices and sugar."
+
+[4] It is Wolsey's fool to whom is given the final note of the play in the
+production at His Majesty's Theatre.
+
+[5] The ceremony of bringing the Blessed Sacrament from the sepulchre
+where it had lain since the Good Friday. This took place early on Easter
+Monday.
+
+[6] Personally, I have been a sentimental adherent of symbolism since my
+first Noah's Ark. Ever since I first beheld the generous curves of Mrs.
+Noah, and first tasted the insidious carmine of her lips, have I regarded
+the wife of Noah as symbolical of the supreme type of womanhood. I have
+learnt that the most exclusive symbolists, when painting a meadow, regard
+purple as symbolical of bright green; but we live in a realistic age and
+have not yet overtaken the _art nouveau_ of the pale future. It is
+difficult to deal seriously with so much earnestness. I am forced into
+symbolic parable. Artemus Ward, when delivering a lecture on his great
+moral panorama, pointed with his wand to a blur on the horizon, and said:
+"Ladies and gentlemen, that is a horse--the artist who painted that
+picture called on me yesterday with tears in his eyes, and said he would
+disguise that fact from me no longer!" He, too, was a symbolist.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Passages in italics are indicated by _underscore_.
+
+The original text contains both "playgoer" and "play-goer" and contains
+both "Guistinian" and "Giustinian."
+
+Superscripted letter is shown in {brackets}.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Henry VIII and His Court, by Herbert Tree
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