Act 1, Scene 4

A Hall in York Place.

[Hautboys. A small table under a state for the Cardinal, a longer table for the guests. Then enter Anne Bullen and divers other Ladies and Gentlemen as guests, at one door; at another door, enter Sir Henry Guildford.]
Sir Henry Guildford
628 Ladies, a general welcome from his Grace
629 Salutes ye all; this night he dedicates
630 To fair content and you. None here, he hopes,
631 In all this noble bevy, has brought with her
632 One care abroad. He would have all as merry
633 As, first, good company, good wine, good welcome,
634 Can make good people.
[Enter Lord Chamberlain, Lord Sandys, and Sir Thomas Lovell.]
Sir Henry Guildford
635 O, my lord, you're tardy;
636 The very thought of this fair company
637 Clapp'd wings to me.
Lord Chamberlain
638 You are young, Sir Harry Guildford.
Lord Sandys
639 Sir Thomas Lovell, had the Cardinal
640 But half my lay thoughts in him, some of these
641 Should find a running banquet ere they rested,
642 I think would better please 'em. By my life,
643 They are a sweet society of fair ones.
Sir Thomas Lovell
644 O, that your lordship were but now confessor
645 To one or two of these!
Lord Sandys
646 I would I were;
647 They should find easy penance.
Sir Thomas Lovell
648 Faith, how easy?
Lord Sandys
649 As easy as a down-bed would afford it.
Lord Chamberlain
650 Sweet ladies, will it please you sit? Sir Harry,
651 Place you that side; I'll take the charge of this.
652 His Grace is ent'ring. Nay, you must not freeze;
653 Two women plac'd together makes cold weather.
654 My Lord Sandys, you are one will keep 'em waking;
655 Pray, sit between these ladies.
Lord Sandys
656 By my faith,
657 And thank your lordship. By your leave, sweet ladies.
658 If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me;
659 I had it from my father.
Anne Bullen
660 Was he mad, sir?
Lord Sandys
661 O, very mad, exceeding mad; in love too;
662 But he would bite none. Just as I do now,
663 He would kiss you twenty with a breath.
[Kisses her.]
Lord Chamberlain
664 Well said, my lord.
665 So, now you're fairly seated. Gentlemen,
666 The penance lies on you, if these fair ladies
667 Pass away frowning.
Lord Sandys
668 For my little cure,
669 Let me alone.
[Hautboys. Enter Cardinal Wolsey, and takes his state.]
Cardinal Wolsey
670 You're welcome, my fair guests. That noble lady
671 Or gentleman that is not freely merry
672 Is not my friend. This, to confirm my welcome;
673 And to you all, good health.
[Drinks.]
Lord Sandys
674 Your Grace is noble.
675 Let me have such a bowl may hold my thanks,
676 And save me so much talking.
Cardinal Wolsey
677 My Lord Sandys,
678 I am beholding to you; cheer your neighbours.
679 Ladies, you are not merry. Gentlemen,
680 Whose fault is this?
Lord Sandys
681 The red wine first must rise
682 In their fair cheeks, my lord; then we shall have 'em
683 Talk us to silence.
Anne Bullen
684 You are a merry gamester,
685 My Lord Sandys.
Lord Sandys
686 Yes, if I make my play.
687 Here's to your ladyship; and pledge it, madam,
688 For 'tis to such a thing,—
Anne Bullen
689 You cannot show me.
Lord Sandys
690 I told your Grace they would talk anon.
[Drum and trumpet, chambers discharged.]
Cardinal Wolsey
691 What's that?
Lord Chamberlain
692 Look out there, some of ye.
[Exit Servant.]
Cardinal Wolsey
693 What warlike voice,
694 And to what end, is this? Nay, ladies, fear not;
695 By all the laws of war you're privileg'd.
[Re-enter Servant.]
Lord Chamberlain
696 How now! what is't?
Servant
697 A noble troop of strangers,
698 For so they seem. They've left their barge and landed,
699 And hither make, as great ambassadors
700 From foreign princes.
Cardinal Wolsey
701 Good Lord Chamberlain,
702 Go, give 'em welcome; you can speak the French tongue;
703 And, pray, receive 'em nobly, and conduct 'em
704 Into our presence, where this heaven of beauty
705 Shall shine at full upon them. Some attend him.
[Exit Chamberlain, attended. All rise, and tables remov'd.]
Cardinal Wolsey
706 You have now a broken banquet; but we'll mend it.
707 A good digestion to you all; and once more
708 I shower a welcome on ye. Welcome all!
[Hautboys. Enter the King, and others, as masquers, habited like shepherds, usher'd by the Lord Chamberlain. They pass directly before the Cardinal, and gracefully salute him.]
Cardinal Wolsey
709 A noble company! What are their pleasures?
Lord Chamberlain
710 Because they speak no English, thus they pray'd
711 To tell your Grace, that, having heard by fame
712 Of this so noble and so fair assembly
713 This night to meet here, they could do no less,
714 Out of the great respect they bear to beauty,
715 But leave their flocks; and, under your fair conduct,
716 Crave leave to view these ladies and entreat
717 An hour of revels with 'em.
Cardinal Wolsey
718 Say, Lord Chamberlain,
719 They have done my poor house grace; for which I pay 'em
720 A thousand thanks, and pray 'em take their pleasures.
[They choose ladies for the dance. The King chooses Anne Bullen.]
King Henry VIII
721 The fairest hand I ever touch'd! O beauty,
722 Till now I never knew thee!
[Music. Dance.]
Cardinal Wolsey
723 My lord!
Lord Chamberlain
724 Your Grace?
Cardinal Wolsey
725 Pray, tell 'em thus much from me:
726 There should be one amongst 'em, by his person,
727 More worthy this place than myself; to whom,
728 If I but knew him, with my love and duty
729 I would surrender it.
Lord Chamberlain
730 I will, my lord.
[Whispers the Masquers.]
Cardinal Wolsey
731 What say they?
Lord Chamberlain
732 Such a one, they all confess,
733 There is indeed; which they would have your Grace
734 Find out, and he will take it.
Cardinal Wolsey
735 Let me see, then.
736 By all your good leaves, gentlemen; here I'll make
737 My royal choice.
King Henry VIII
738 Ye have found him, Cardinal.
[Unmasking.]
King Henry VIII
739 You hold a fair assembly; you do well, lord.
740 You are a churchman, or, I'll tell you, Cardinal,
741 I should judge now unhappily.
Cardinal Wolsey
742 I am glad
743 Your Grace is grown so pleasant.
King Henry VIII
744 My Lord Chamberlain,
745 Prithee come hither. What fair lady's that?
Lord Chamberlain
746 An't please your Grace, Sir Thomas Bullen's daughter,—
747 The Viscount Rochford,—one of her Highness' women.
King Henry VIII
748 By heaven, she is a dainty one. Sweetheart,
749 I were unmannerly to take you out
750 And not to kiss you. A health, gentlemen
751 Let it go round.
Cardinal Wolsey
752 Sir Thomas Lovell, is the banquet ready
753 I' the privy chamber?
Sir Thomas Lovell
754 Yes, my lord.
Cardinal Wolsey
755 Your Grace,
756 I fear, with dancing is a little heated.
King Henry VIII
757 I fear, too much.
Cardinal Wolsey
758 There's fresher air, my lord,
759 In the next chamber.
King Henry VIII
760 Lead in your ladies, every one. Sweet partner,
761 I must not yet forsake you; let's be merry.
762 Good my Lord Cardinal, I have half a dozen healths
763 To drink to these fair ladies, and a measure
764 To lead 'em once again; and then let's dream
765 Who's best in favour. Let the music knock it.
[Exeunt with trumpets.]

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Notes

TLN 631archaic vocab
“noble bevy, has brought with her”
'Bevy' is an archaic collective noun originally applied to a flock of larks or a company of ladies. Guildford uses it as a courtly compliment meaning 'this fine company of women.' The word carries a suggestion of light, fluttering charm rather than anything derogatory.
TLN 652cultural context
“you must not freeze; / Two women plac'd together makes cold weather”
The Lord Chamberlain cites a proverbial belief that two women seated together without a man between them will be cold company — meaning neither lively nor socially warming. The remark is a polite (if condescending) joke used to justify separating the ladies by placing the loquacious Sandys between them. The notion that mixed company is merrier than same-sex groupings was commonplace in Elizabethan social writing.
TLN 658rhetorical device
“If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me; / I had it from my father”
Sandys pre-emptively excuses any outrageous remarks by blaming heredity — 'I had it from my father,' meaning wild talk is a family trait, not a personal vice. This is a comic use of the rhetorical figure of prolepsis (anticipating and disarming an objection before it is raised). It also sets up his immediate kissing of Anne, which he frames as no worse than his 'mad' but harmless father did.
TLN 684wordplay
“You are a merry gamester, / My Lord Sandys”
'Gamester' means a playful, sport-loving person, but it also carried the sense of someone who gambles — here at the game of courtship and bawdy wit. Anne Bullen's reply is itself a pun: Sandys immediately picks up 'if I make my play,' meaning both 'if my gambit pays off' and 'if I score,' turning her light reproach into an opportunity for another double entendre.
TLN 710cultural context
“they speak no English, thus they pray'd / To tell your Grace, that, having heard by fame / Of this so noble and so fair assembly”
The arrival of the king and his party disguised as shepherds who 'speak no English' is a standard masque convention. In an Elizabethan or Jacobean court masque, noble or royal performers entered in costume and persona, often posing as foreigners or mythological figures, while a spokesperson explained their fictional purpose. The fiction of not speaking English lets the host respond ceremonially without acknowledging the obvious identity of the masquers.
historical Cardinal Wolsey
TLN 726rhetorical device
“There should be one amongst 'em, by his person, / More worthy this place than myself; to whom, / If I but knew him, with my love and duty / I would surrender it”
Wolsey performs elaborate courtly humility: he pretends not to recognize the king among the disguised masquers, inviting the 'most worthy' stranger to take his place as host. This is a set piece of ceremonial compliment — a formal surrender of precedence to the highest-ranked guest — and both Wolsey and Henry know exactly what is happening. The speech shows Wolsey's political mastery of ceremony: he controls the unmasking while appearing to be its passive instrument.
historical Cardinal Wolsey
TLN 746historical topical
“Sir Thomas Bullen's daughter,— / The Viscount Rochford,—one of her Highness' women”
Anne Bullen is identified by two titles that place her in the Henrician court hierarchy. Her father Sir Thomas Bullen (Boleyn) was a prominent courtier and diplomat; in 1525 Henry created him Viscount Rochford, making Anne the daughter of a viscount and a lady-in-waiting ('one of her Highness' women') to Queen Katherine. The audience watching the scene knows that this modest introduction marks the woman who will replace Katherine as queen and be the mother of Elizabeth I.
historical The King's Great Matter (Henry's divorce)
TLN 764archaic vocab
“let's dream / Who's best in favour. Let the music knock it”
'Best in favour' means most beautiful or most pleasing in appearance ('favour' = countenance, looks). 'Let the music knock it' means let the musicians strike up the tune forcefully — 'knock' in this sense means to play or beat out (as one knocks out a rhythm). Henry ends the scene with a cheerful double command: more dancing, more drinking, and then we can judge who has won the evening's prize of beauty.