which has a more decided character of unity-no one from which any passage could be less easily struck out. We believe that Shakspere worked in this particular upon a principle of art which he had proposed to himself to adhere to, wherever the nature of the scene would allow. The elliptical construction, and the license of versification, brought the dialogue, whenever the speaker was not necessarily rhetorical, closer to the language of common life. Of all his historical plays, the Henry VIII is the nearest in its story to his own times. It professed to be a “truth.” It belongs to his own country. It has no poetical indistinctness about it, either of time or place: all is defined. If the diction and the versification had been more artificial it would have been less a reality.-KNIGHT, Pictorial Shakespeare. DRAMATIS PERSONE KING HENRY the Eighth CARDINAJ. WOLSEY CARDINAL CAMPEIUS CAPUCIUS, Ambassador from the Emperor Charles V CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury DUKE OF NORFOLK DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM DUKE OF SUFFOLK EARL OF SURREY Lord Chancellor GARDINER, Bishop of Winchester Bishop of Lincoln LORD ABERGAVENNY SIR HENRY GUILDFORD SIR THOMAS LOVELL CROMWELL, Servant to Wolsey GRIFFITH, Gentleman-usher to Queen Katharine Three Gentlemen DOCTOR BUTTS, Physician to the King Garter King-at-Arms Surveyor to the Duke of Buckingham BRANDON, and a Sergeant-at-Arms Door-keeper at the Council-chamber. Porter, and his Man QUEEN KATHARINE, wife to King Henry, afterwards divorced An old Lady, friend to Anne Bullen PATIENCE, woman to Queen Katharine Several Lords and Ladies in the Dumb Shows; Women attending upon the Queen; Scribes, Officers, Guards, and other Attendants Spirits SCENE: London, Westminster; Kimbolton SYNOPSIS By J. ELLIS BURDICK ACT I Henry VIII has returned from France and from his interview with the king of that country on the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The Duke of Buckingham quarrels with Cardinal Wolsey, the lord chancellor, and the cardinal has the Duke arrested, charged with high treason. A great court supper is given by Wolsey at his palace in York place. The king and his lords attend in masks and habited like shepherds. The beauty, grace, and wit of Anne Bullen, maid of honor to Queen Katharine, greatly attracts the king. ACT II Buckingham is tried, and from the testimony of bribed witness, is found guilty of high treason and condemned to death. The king's conscience begins to trouble him, for he had married his brother's widow, and he consults Wolsey as to whether he should divorce her. The queen is brought to public trial, with Wolsey and another cardinal as judges. She refuses to accept Wolsey as her judge, believing the king's desire to divorce her to be a scheme of Wolsey's to rid himself of her influence over the king. She appeals to the Pope. ACT III Suddenly Wolsey sees why Henry wishes to put away Katharine-he desires to marry Anne Bullen. The cardinal writes a letter to the Pope, which miscarries and falls into the king's hand, along with an inventory of |