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ſion, contained in any of the lines in praiſe of the queen, inconſiſtent with the idea of the whole of the panegyrick on hcr having been compoſed in her life-time.
In further confirmation of what has been here advanced to ſhew that this play was probably written while queen Elizabeth was yet alive, it may be obſerved, (to uſe the words of an anonymous writer[1],) that “ Shakſpeare has caſt the diſagreeable parts of her father’s character as much into ſhade as poſſible; that he has repreſented him as greatly diſpleaſed with the grievances of his ſubjefts, and ordering them to be relieved; tender and obliging [in the early part of the play] to his queen, grateful to the cardinal, and in the caſe of Cranmer, capable of diſtinguiſhing and rewarding true merit.” “ He has exerted (adds the ſame author) an equal degree of complaiſance, by the amiable lights in which he has ſhewn the mother of Elizabeth. Anne Bullen is repreſented as affected with the moſt tender concern for the ſufferings of her miſtreſs, queen Catherine; receiving the honour the king confers on her, by making her marchioneſs of Pembroke, with a graceful humility; and more anxious to conceal her advancement from the queen, leſt it ſhould aggravate her ſorrows, than ſollicitous to penetrate into the meaning of ſo extraordinary a favour, or of indulging herſelf in the flattering proſpect of future royalty.”
It is unneceſſary to quote particular paſſages in ſupport of theſe aſſertions; but the following lines which are ſpoken of Anne Boleyn by the Lord Chamberlain, appear to me ſo evidently calculated for the ear of Elizabeth, (to whom ſuch incenſe was by no means diſpleaſing) that I cannot forbear to tranſcribe them:—
“ I have peruſed her well;
“ Beauty and honour are in her ſo mingled,
“ That they have caught the king: and who knows yet,
“ But from this Lady may proceed a gem,
“ To lighten all this iſle.”
The Globe play-houſe, we are told by the continuator of Stowe’s Chronicle, was burnt down, on St. Peter’s day. In the year 1613, while the play of K. Henry VIII. was exhibiting. Sir Henry Wotton, (as Mr. Tyrwhitt has obſerved) ſays in one of his letters, that this accident happen-
- ↑ The author of Shakeſpeare illustrated.
