SCENE IV. The Presence-Chamber in York-Place. Hautboys. A small Table under a State for the Cardinal, a longer Table for the Guests. Enter at one Door ANNE BULLEN, and divers Lords, Ladies, and Gentlewomen, as Guests; at another Door, enter Sir HENRY GUILDFORD. grace GUILD. Ladies, a general welcome from his Salutes ye all: This night he dedicates To fair content, and you: none here, he hopes, In all this noble bevy, has brought with her One care abroad; he would have all as merry As first-good company, good wine, good welcome Can make good people." -O, my lord, you are tardy; noble bevy,] Milton has copied this word: "A bevy of fair dames." JOHNSON. Spenser had, before Shakspeare, employed this word in the same manner: "And whither runs this bevy of ladies bright?" Shepheard's Calender. April. Again, in his Fairy Queen: "And in the midst thereof, upon the flowre, "A lovely bevy of faire ladies sate." The word bevy was originally applied to larks. See the Glossary to the Shepheard's Calender. MALONE. "As first-good company, &c.] As this passage has been all along pointed, [As first, good company,] Sir Harry Guildford is made to include all these under the first article; and then gives us the drop as to what should follow. The poet, I am persuaded, wrote: As first-good company, good wine, good welcome, &c. i. e. he would have you as merry as these three things can make Enter Lord Chamberlain, Lord SANDS, and Sir THOMAS LOVELL. The very thought of this fair company CHAM. You are young, sir Harry Guildford. you, the best company in the land, of the best rank, good wine, &C. THEOBALD. Sir T. Hanmer has mended it more elegantly, but with greater violence: As first, good company, then good wine, &c. JOHNSON. ⚫ a running banquet-] A running banquet, literally speaking, is a hasty refreshment, as set in opposition to a regular and protracted meal. The former is the object of this rakish peer; the latter, perhaps, he would have relinquished to those of more permanent desires. STEEVENS. A running banquet seems to have meant a hasty banquet. "Queen Margaret and Prince Edward, (says Habingdon, in his History of King Edward IV.) though by the Earle recalled, found their fate and the winds so adverse, that they could not land in England, to taste this running banquet to which fortune had invited them." The hasty banquet, that was in Lord Sands's thoughts, is too obvious to require explanation. It should seem from the following lines in the prologue to a comedy called The Walks of Islington, 1657, that some double meaning was couched under the phrase, a running banquet : "The gate unto his walks, through which you may MALONE, Lov. O, that yourlordship were but now confessor To one or two of these! SANDS. A 1570eW They should find easy penance. Lov. I would, I were; 'Faith, how easy? SANDS. As easy as a down-bed would afford it. CHAM. Sweet ladies, will it please you sit? Sir Harry, Place you that side, I'll take the charge of this: His grace is ent'ring.-Nay, you must not freeze; Two women plac'd together makes cold weather:My lord Sands, you are one will keep them waking; Pray, sit between these ladies. SANDS. By my faith, And thank your lordship.-By your leave, sweet ladies: [Seats himself between ANNE BULLEN and If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me ; ANNE. Was he mad, sir? SANDS. O, very mad, exceeding mad, in love too: But he would bite none; just as I do now, He would kiss you twenty with a breath. CHAM. [Kisses her. Well said, my lord. So, now you are fairly seated:-Gentlemen, The penance lies on you, if these fair ladies Pass away frowning. SANDS. For my little cure, Hautboys. Enter Cardinal WOLSEY, attended; and takes his state. WOL. You are welcome, my fair guests; that noble lady, Or gentleman, that is not freely merry, Is not my friend: This, to confirm my welcome; And to you all good health. SANDS. [Drinks. Your grace is noble : Let me have such a bowl may hold my thanks, And save me so much talking. WOL. My lord Sands, I am beholden to you: cheer your neighbours.Ladies, you are not merry ;-Gentlemen, Whose fault is this? SANDS. The red wine first must rise In their fair cheeks, my lord; then we shall have Yes, if I make my play.9 Here's to your ladyship: and pledge it, madam, For 'tis to such a thing, ANNE. You cannot show me. 9 — if I make my play.] i. e. if I make my party. Rather-if I may choose my game. RITSON. STEEVENS, As the measure, in this place, requires an additional syllable, we may, commodiously enough, read, with Sir T. Hanmer; Yes, if I may make my play. STEEVENS. SANDS. I told your grace, they would talk anon. [Drum and Trumpets within: Chambers WOL. discharged. CHAM. Look out there, some of you. WOL. What's that? [Exit a Servant. What warlike voice? And to what end is this?-Nay, ladies, fear not By all the laws of war you are privileg❜d. Re-enter Servant. CHAM. How now? what is't? SERV. A noble troop of strangers; For so they seem: they have left their barge, and landed; And hither make, as great ambassadors From foreign princes, 1 WOL. Good lord chamberlain, Chambers discharged.] A chamber is a gun which stands erect on its breech. Such are used only on occasions of rejoicing, and are so contrived as to carry great charges, and thereby to make a noise more than proportioned to their bulk. They are called chambers because they are mere chambers to lodge powder; a chamber being the technical term for that cavity in a piece of ordnance which contains the combustibles. Some of them are still fired in the Park, and at the places opposite to the parliament-house when the king goes thither. Camden enumerates them among other guns, as follows: demi-cannons, chambers, arquebuse, musquet." Again, in A new Trick to cheat the Devil, 1636: I still think o' the Tower ordinance, "Or of the peal of chambers, that's still fir'd "When my lord-mayor takes his barge." STEEVENS. they have left their barge,] See p. 49, n. 5. -cannons, MALONE. |