Chapter: Enter two Gentlemen, meeting one another.

1 Y'are well met once againe

2 So are you

1 You come to take your stand heere, and behold
The Lady Anne, passe from her Corronation

2 'Tis all my businesse. At our last encounter,
  The Duke of Buckingham came from his Triall

  1 'Tis very true. But that time offer'd sorrow,
  This generall ioy

  2 'Tis well: The Citizens
  I am sure haue shewne at full their Royall minds,
  As let 'em haue their rights, they are euer forward
  In Celebration of this day with Shewes,
  Pageants, and Sights of Honor

  1 Neuer greater,
  Nor Ile assure you better taken Sir

  2 May I be bold to aske what that containes,
  That Paper in your hand

  1 Yes, 'tis the List
  Of those that claime their Offices this day,
  By custome of the Coronation.
  The Duke of Suffolke is the first, and claimes
  To be high Steward; Next the Duke of Norfolke,
  He to be Earle Marshall: you may reade the rest

  1 I thanke you Sir: Had I not known those customs,
  I should haue beene beholding to your Paper:
  But I beseech you, what's become of Katherine
  The Princesse Dowager? How goes her businesse?
  1 That I can tell you too. The Archbishop
  Of Canterbury, accompanied with other
  Learned, and Reuerend Fathers of his Order,
  Held a late Court at Dunstable; sixe miles off
  From Ampthill, where the Princesse lay, to which
  She was often cyted by them, but appear'd not:
  And to be short, for not Appearance, and
  The Kings late Scruple, by the maine assent
  Of all these Learned men, she was diuorc'd,
  And the late Marriage made of none effect:
  Since which, she was remou'd to Kymmalton,
  Where she remaines now sicke

  2 Alas good Lady.
  The Trumpets sound: Stand close,
  The Queene is comming.

  Ho-boyes. The Order of the Coronation. 1 A liuely Flourish of
  Trumpets. 2
  Then, two Iudges. 3 Lord Chancellor, with Purse and Mace before
  him. 4
  Quirristers singing. Musicke. 5 Maior of London, bearing the
  Mace. Then
  Garter, in his Coate of Armes, and on his head he wore a Gilt
  Copper
  Crowne. 6 Marquesse Dorset, bearing a Scepter of Gold, on his
  head, a
  Demy Coronall of Gold. With him, the Earle of Surrey, bearing the
  Rod of
  Siluer with the Doue, Crowned with an Earles Coronet. Collars of
  Esses. 7
  Duke of Suffolke, in his Robe of Estate, his Coronet on his head,
  bearing
  a long white Wand, as High Steward. With him, the Duke of
  Norfolke, with
  the Rod of Marshalship, a Coronet on his head. Collars of Esses. 8
  A
  Canopy, borne by foure of the Cinque-Ports, vnder it the Queene in
  her
  Robe, in her haire, richly adorned with Pearle, Crowned. On each
  side her,
  the Bishops of London, and Winchester. 9 The Olde Dutchesse of
  Norfolke,
  in a Coronall of Gold, wrought with Flowers bearing the Queenes
  Traine. 10
  Certaine Ladies or Countesses, with plaine Circlets of Gold,
  without
  Flowers. Exeunt, first passing ouer the Stage in Order and State,
  and
  then, A great Flourish of Trumpets.

  2 A Royall Traine beleeue me: These I know:
  Who's that that beares the Scepter?
  1 Marquesse Dorset,
  And that the Earle of Surrey, with the Rod

  2 A bold braue Gentleman. That should bee
  The Duke of Suffolke

  1 'Tis the same: high Steward

  2 And that my Lord of Norfolke?
  1 Yes

  2 Heauen blesse thee,
  Thou hast the sweetest face I euer look'd on.
  Sir, as I haue a Soule, she is an Angell;
  Our King ha's all the Indies in his Armes,
  And more, and richer, when he straines that Lady,
  I cannot blame his Conscience

  1 They that beare
  The Cloath of Honour ouer her, are foure Barons
  Of the Cinque-Ports

  2 Those men are happy,
  And so are all, are neere her.
  I take it, she that carries vp the Traine,
  Is that old Noble Lady, Dutchesse of Norfolke

  1 It is, and all the rest are Countesses

  2 Their Coronets say so. These are Starres indeed,
  And sometimes falling ones

  2 No more of that.
  Enter a third Gentleman.

  1 God saue you Sir. Where haue you bin broiling?
  3 Among the crowd i'th' Abbey, where a finger
  Could not be wedg'd in more: I am stifled
  With the meere ranknesse of their ioy

  2 You saw the Ceremony?
  3 That I did

  1 How was it?
  3 Well worth the seeing

  2 Good Sir, speake it to vs?
  3 As well as I am able. The rich streame
  Of Lords, and Ladies, hauing brought the Queene
  To a prepar'd place in the Quire, fell off
  A distance from her; while her Grace sate downe
  To rest a while, some halfe an houre, or so,
  In a rich Chaire of State, opposing freely
  The Beauty of her Person to the People.
  Beleeue me Sir, she is the goodliest Woman
  That euer lay by man: which when the people
  Had the full view of, such a noyse arose,
  As the shrowdes make at Sea, in a stiffe Tempest,
  As lowd, and to as many Tunes. Hats, Cloakes,
  (Doublets, I thinke) flew vp, and had their Faces
  Bin loose, this day they had beene lost. Such ioy
  I neuer saw before. Great belly'd women,
  That had not halfe a weeke to go, like Rammes
  In the old time of Warre, would shake the prease
  And make 'em reele before 'em. No man liuing
  Could say this is my wife there, all were wouen
  So strangely in one peece

  2 But what follow'd?
  3 At length, her Grace rose, and with modest paces
  Came to the Altar, where she kneel'd, and Saint-like
  Cast her faire eyes to Heauen, and pray'd deuoutly.
  Then rose againe, and bow'd her to the people:
  When by the Arch-byshop of Canterbury,
  She had all the Royall makings of a Queene;
As holy Oyle, Edward Confessors Crowne,
   The Rod, and Bird of Peace, and all such Emblemes
   Laid Nobly on her: which perform'd, the Quire
   With all the choysest Musicke of the Kingdome,
   Together sung Te Deum. So she parted,
   And with the same full State pac'd backe againe
   To Yorke-Place, where the Feast is held

   1 Sir,
   You must no more call it Yorke-place, that's past:
   For since the Cardinall fell, that Titles lost,
   'Tis now the Kings, and call'd White-Hall

   3 I know it:
   But 'tis so lately alter'd, that the old name
   Is fresh about me

   2 What two Reuerend Byshops
   Were those that went on each side of the Queene?
   3 Stokeley and Gardiner, the one of Winchester,
   Newly preferr'd from the Kings Secretary:
   The other London

   2 He of Winchester
   Is held no great good louer of the Archbishops,
   The vertuous Cranmer

   3 All the Land knowes that:
   How euer, yet there is no great breach, when it comes
   Cranmer will finde a Friend will not shrinke from him

   2 Who may that be, I pray you

   3 Thomas Cromwell,
   A man in much esteeme with th' King, and truly
   A worthy Friend. The King ha's made him
   Master o'th' Iewell House,
   And one already of the Priuy Councell

   2 He will deserue more

   3 Yes without all doubt.
   Come Gentlemen, ye shall go my way,
   Which is to'th Court, and there ye shall be my Guests:
   Something I can command. As I walke thither,
   Ile tell ye more

   Both. You may command vs Sir.

   Exeunt.

 The two gentlemen of the earlier public scene once again encounter each other, this time in a street in Westminister. The whole place is agog with the excitement of Annes coronation and the two men wait to catch a glimpse of the new Queen. The Archbishop of Canterbury has finalized the Kings divorce to Katherine, now the princess dowager. As the royal procession passes by the two men are all praise for the new queen. A third gentleman, who has just witnessed the coronation, joins the two men. He gives them a detailed account of the coronation ceremony. Thomas Cromwell, he tells them, has been taken under the Kings wing and has been made a member of the Privy Council. He invites the other two men to the court and they accept his offer.

