Page:Henry VIII (1925) Yale.djvu/142

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130
The Life of

. . . the Spauen
A Spring-halt . . .

because the two diseases are different, although each causes lameness in a horse.

I. iii. 25. Of fool and feather. Alluding to the long feathers worn in the hats.

I. iii. 27. as fights and fireworks. There had been jousting at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and the interview had ended with a display of fireworks.

I. iii. 30. tall stockings. The extreme of the fashion was very short puffed trousers and long stockings, reaching above the knee.

I. iii. 63. My barge stays. Before the Victoria Embankment was built, the palaces along the river front had steps leading down to the river, because the ordinary means of travel was by boat.

I. iv. This scene, also by Fletcher, is a dramatization of the passage from Holinshed (1587), pp. 921 ff. But Holinshed's Chronicle is itself a compilation from a number of previous works. This particular passage is an almost verbatim reprint from George Cavendish's Life of Cardinal Wolsey. According to Hall, the entertainment took place January 3, 1527. Consequently chronological order in the play is incorrect in placing it before Buckingham's death. This error arose from the fact that Holinshed, after he had finished a year-by-year account of Wolsey's career, summarized his character, drawing from Cavendish. Consequently in this part of Holinshed no dates are given to the events described. This error in dating causes another, namely, that in 1527 the Lord Chamberlain and Lord Sandys were not different persons, as Sandys had become Lord Chamberlain the year before. Sir Henry Guilford was Master of Horse.

York Place, then the residence of Wolsey, later became Whitehall, the royal palace. Cf. IV. i. 95–97.

I. iv. 49 S. d. Chambers discharged. This ap-