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Speeches (Lines) for Second Gentleman
in "Henry VIII"

Total: 37

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# Act, Scene, Line
(Click to see in context)
Speech text

1

II,1,816

First Gentleman. Whither away so fast?

Second Gentleman. O, God save ye!
Even to the hall, to hear what shall become
Of the great Duke of Buckingham.


2

II,1,822

First Gentleman. I'll save you
That labour, sir. All's now done, but the ceremony
Of bringing back the prisoner.

Second Gentleman. Were you there?


3

II,1,824

First Gentleman. Yes, indeed, was I.

Second Gentleman. Pray, speak what has happen'd.


4

II,1,826

First Gentleman. You may guess quickly what.

Second Gentleman. Is he found guilty?


5

II,1,828

First Gentleman. Yes, truly is he, and condemn'd upon't.

Second Gentleman. I am sorry for't.


6

II,1,830

First Gentleman. So are a number more.

Second Gentleman. But, pray, how pass'd it?


7

II,1,843

First Gentleman. I'll tell you in a little. The great duke
Came to the bar; where to his accusations
He pleaded still not guilty and alleged
Many sharp reasons to defeat the law.
The king's attorney on the contrary
Urged on the examinations, proofs, confessions
Of divers witnesses; which the duke desired
To have brought viva voce to his face:
At which appear'd against him his surveyor;
Sir Gilbert Peck his chancellor; and John Car,
Confessor to him; with that devil-monk,
Hopkins, that made this mischief.

Second Gentleman. That was he
That fed him with his prophecies?


8

II,1,852

First Gentleman. The same.
All these accused him strongly; which he fain
Would have flung from him, but, indeed, he could not:
And so his peers, upon this evidence,
Have found him guilty of high treason. Much
He spoke, and learnedly, for life; but all
Was either pitied in him or forgotten.

Second Gentleman. After all this, how did he bear himself?


9

II,1,859

First Gentleman. When he was brought again to the bar, to hear
His knell rung out, his judgment, he was stirr'd
With such an agony, he sweat extremely,
And something spoke in choler, ill, and hasty:
But he fell to himself again, and sweetly
In all the rest show'd a most noble patience.

Second Gentleman. I do not think he fears death.


10

II,1,863

First Gentleman. Sure, he does not:
He never was so womanish; the cause
He may a little grieve at.

Second Gentleman. Certainly
The cardinal is the end of this.


11

II,1,870

First Gentleman. 'Tis likely,
By all conjectures: first, Kildare's attainder,
Then deputy of Ireland; who removed,
Earl Surrey was sent thither, and in haste too,
Lest he should help his father.

Second Gentleman. That trick of state
Was a deep envious one.


12

II,1,877

First Gentleman. At his return
No doubt he will requite it. This is noted,
And generally, whoever the king favours,
The cardinal instantly will find employment,
And far enough from court too.

Second Gentleman. All the commons
Hate him perniciously, and, o' my conscience,
Wish him ten fathom deep: this duke as much
They love and dote on; call him bounteous Buckingham,
The mirror of all courtesy;—


13

II,1,888

First Gentleman. Stay there, sir,
And see the noble ruin'd man you speak of.
[Enter BUCKINGHAM from his arraignment; tip-staves]
before him; the axe with the edge towards him;
halberds on each side: accompanied with LOVELL,
VAUX, SANDS, and common people]

Second Gentleman. Let's stand close, and behold him.


14

II,1,977

First Gentleman. O, this is full of pity! Sir, it calls,
I fear, too many curses on their beads
That were the authors.

Second Gentleman. If the duke be guiltless,
'Tis full of woe: yet I can give you inkling
Of an ensuing evil, if it fall,
Greater than this.


15

II,1,983

First Gentleman. Good angels keep it from us!
What may it be? You do not doubt my faith, sir?

Second Gentleman. This secret is so weighty, 'twill require
A strong faith to conceal it.


16

II,1,987

First Gentleman. Let me have it;
I do not talk much.

Second Gentleman. I am confident,
You shall, sir: did you not of late days hear
A buzzing of a separation
Between the king and Katharine?


17

II,1,996

First Gentleman. Yes, but it held not:
For when the king once heard it, out of anger
He sent command to the lord mayor straight
To stop the rumor, and allay those tongues
That durst disperse it.

Second Gentleman. But that slander, sir,
Is found a truth now: for it grows again
Fresher than e'er it was; and held for certain
The king will venture at it. Either the cardinal,
Or some about him near, have, out of malice
To the good queen, possess'd him with a scruple
That will undo her: to confirm this too,
Cardinal Campeius is arrived, and lately;
As all think, for this business.


18

II,1,1009

First Gentleman. 'Tis the cardinal;
And merely to revenge him on the emperor
For not bestowing on him, at his asking,
The archbishopric of Toledo, this is purposed.

Second Gentleman. I think you have hit the mark: but is't not cruel
That she should feel the smart of this? The cardinal
Will have his will, and she must fall.


19

IV,1,2379

First Gentleman. You're well met once again.

Second Gentleman. So are you.


20

IV,1,2382

First Gentleman. You come to take your stand here, and behold
The Lady Anne pass from her coronation?

Second Gentleman. 'Tis all my business. At our last encounter,
The Duke of Buckingham came from his trial.


21

IV,1,2386

First Gentleman. 'Tis very true: but that time offer'd sorrow;
This, general joy.

Second Gentleman. 'Tis well: the citizens,
I am sure, have shown at full their royal minds—
As, let 'em have their rights, they are ever forward—
In celebration of this day with shows,
Pageants and sights of honour.


22

IV,1,2393

First Gentleman. Never greater,
Nor, I'll assure you, better taken, sir.

Second Gentleman. May I be bold to ask at what that contains,
That paper in your hand?


23

IV,1,2401

First Gentleman. Yes; 'tis the list
Of those that claim their offices this day
By custom of the coronation.
The Duke of Suffolk is the first, and claims
To be high-steward; next, the Duke of Norfolk,
He to be earl marshal: you may read the rest.

Second Gentleman. I thank you, sir: had I not known those customs,
I should have been beholding to your paper.
But, I beseech you, what's become of Katharine,
The princess dowager? how goes her business?


24

IV,1,2417

First Gentleman. That I can tell you too. The Archbishop
Of Canterbury, accompanied with other
Learned and reverend fathers of his order,
Held a late court at Dunstable, six miles off
From Ampthill where the princess lay; to which
She was often cited by them, but appear'd not:
And, to be short, for not appearance and
The king's late scruple, by the main assent
Of all these learned men she was divorced,
And the late marriage made of none effect
Since which she was removed to Kimbolton,
Where she remains now sick.

Second Gentleman. Alas, good lady!
[Trumpets]
The trumpets sound: stand close, the queen is coming.
[Hautboys]
[THE ORDER OF THE CORONATION]
1. A lively flourish of Trumpets.
2. Then, two Judges.
3. Lord Chancellor, with the purse and mace
before him.
4. Choristers, singing.
[Music]
5. Mayor of London, bearing the mace. Then
Garter, in his coat of arms, and on his
head a gilt copper crown.
6. Marquess Dorset, bearing a sceptre of gold,
on his head a demi-coronal of gold. With
him, SURREY, bearing the rod of silver with
the dove, crowned with an earl's coronet.
Collars of SS.
7. SUFFOLK, in his robe of estate, his coronet
on his head, bearing a long white wand, as
high-steward. With him, NORFOLK, with the
rod of marshalship, a coronet on his head.
Collars of SS.
8. A canopy borne by four of the Cinque-ports;
under it, QUEEN ANNE in her robe; in her hair
richly adorned with pearl, crowned. On each
side her, the Bishops of London and
Winchester.
9. The old Duchess of Norfolk, in a coronal of
gold, wrought with flowers, bearing QUEEN
ANNE's train.
10. Certain Ladies or Countesses, with plain
circlets of gold without flowers.


25

IV,1,2452

(stage directions). [They pass over the stage in order and state]

Second Gentleman. A royal train, believe me. These I know:
Who's that that bears the sceptre?


26

IV,1,2456

First Gentleman. Marquess Dorset:
And that the Earl of Surrey, with the rod.

Second Gentleman. A bold brave gentleman. That should be
The Duke of Suffolk?


27

IV,1,2459

First Gentleman. 'Tis the same: high-steward.

Second Gentleman. And that my Lord of Norfolk?


28

IV,1,2461

First Gentleman. Yes;

Second Gentleman. Heaven bless thee!
[Looking on QUEEN ANNE]
Thou hast the sweetest face I ever look'd on.
Sir, as I have a soul, she is an angel;
Our king has all the Indies in his arms,
And more and richer, when he strains that lady:
I cannot blame his conscience.


29

IV,1,2471

First Gentleman. They that bear
The cloth of honour over her, are four barons
Of the Cinque-ports.

Second Gentleman. Those men are happy; and so are all are near her.
I take it, she that carries up the train
Is that old noble lady, Duchess of Norfolk.


30

IV,1,2475

First Gentleman. It is; and all the rest are countesses.

Second Gentleman. Their coronets say so. These are stars indeed;
And sometimes falling ones.


31

IV,1,2484

Third Gentleman. Among the crowd i' the Abbey; where a finger
Could not be wedged in more: I am stifled
With the mere rankness of their joy.

Second Gentleman. You saw
The ceremony?


32

IV,1,2489

Third Gentleman. Well worth the seeing.

Second Gentleman. Good sir, speak it to us.


33

IV,1,2510

Third Gentleman. As well as I am able. The rich stream
Of lords and ladies, having brought the queen
To a prepared place in the choir, fell off
A distance from her; while her grace sat down
To rest awhile, some half an hour or so,
In a rich chair of state, opposing freely
The beauty of her person to the people.
Believe me, sir, she is the goodliest woman
That ever lay by man: which when the people
Had the full view of, such a noise arose
As the shrouds make at sea in a stiff tempest,
As loud, and to as many tunes: hats, cloaks—
Doublets, I think,—flew up; and had their faces
Been loose, this day they had been lost. Such joy
I never saw before. Great-bellied women,
That had not half a week to go, like rams
In the old time of war, would shake the press,
And make 'em reel before 'em. No man living
Could say 'This is my wife' there; all were woven
So strangely in one piece.

Second Gentleman. But, what follow'd?


34

IV,1,2531

Third Gentleman. I know it;
But 'tis so lately alter'd, that the old name
Is fresh about me.

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


35

IV,1,2536

Third Gentleman. Stokesly and Gardiner; the one of Winchester,
Newly preferr'd from the king's secretary,
The other, London.

Second Gentleman. He of Winchester
Is held no great good lover of the archbishop's,
The virtuous Cranmer.


36

IV,1,2542

Third Gentleman. All the land knows that:
However, yet there is no great breach; when it comes,
Cranmer will find a friend will not shrink from him.

Second Gentleman. Who may that be, I pray you?


37

IV,1,2548

Third Gentleman. Thomas Cromwell;
A man in much esteem with the king, and truly
A worthy friend. The king has made him master
O' the jewel house,
And one, already, of the privy council.

Second Gentleman. He will deserve more.


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