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Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Anne Bullen and an old Lady. ANNE
Not for that neither. Here’s the pang that pinches:
His Highness having lived so long with her, and she
So good a lady that no tongue could ever
Pronounce dishonor of her—by my life,
She never knew harm-doing!—O, now, after 5
So many courses of the sun enthroned,
Still growing in a majesty and pomp, the which
To leave a thousandfold more bitter than
’Tis sweet at first t’ acquire—after this process,
To give her the avaunt! It is a pity 10
Would move a monster. | Anne and an Old Lady dish about the king leaving his wife. Anne thinks the whole thing is really sad; she points out that Katherine has lived a good life and has always been above reproach, but it doesn't matter now: she's on the losing end of this one. |
OLD LADY Hearts of most hard temper
Melt and lament for her. ANNE O, God’s will! Much better
She ne’er had known pomp; though ’t be temporal, 15
Yet if that quarrel, Fortune, do divorce
It from the bearer, ’tis a sufferance panging
As soul and body’s severing. OLD LADY Alas, poor lady,
She’s a stranger now again! 20 ANNE So much the more
Must pity drop upon her. Verily,
I swear, ’tis better to be lowly born
And range with humble livers in content
Than to be perked up in a glist’ring grief 25
And wear a golden sorrow. OLD LADY Our content
Is our best having. ANNE By my troth and maidenhead,
I would not be a queen. 30 | Anne even goes as far to say that it's better to be poor than to be born rich and then become poor. At least if it's all you've ever known, you can't mourn for what you've lost. Following this train of thought, Anne declares: "I would not be a queen." Um, okay. |
OLD LADY Beshrew me, I would,
And venture maidenhead for ’t; and so would you,
For all this spice of your hypocrisy.
You, that have so fair parts of woman on you,
Have too a woman’s heart, which ever yet 35
Affected eminence, wealth, sovereignty;
Which, to say sooth, are blessings; and which gifts,
Saving your mincing, the capacity
Of your soft cheveril conscience would receive
If you might please to stretch it. 40 ANNE Nay, good troth. OLD LADY
Yes, troth, and troth. You would not be a queen? ANNE
No, not for all the riches under heaven. | The Old Lady calls Anne's bluff: it would be awesome to be queen, she says. Think about all the power and money you could have. But Anne sticks to her story: she'll never be royal, she says. It's just not in her blood. She wouldn't become queen for all the money in the world. |
OLD LADY
’Tis strange. A threepence bowed would hire me,
Old as I am, to queen it. But I pray you, 45
What think you of a duchess? Have you limbs
To bear that load of title? ANNE No, in truth. OLD LADY
Then you are weakly made. Pluck off a little.
I would not be a young count in your way 50
For more than blushing comes to. If your back
Cannot vouchsafe this burden, ’tis too weak
Ever to get a boy. ANNE How you do talk!
I swear again, I would not be a queen 55
For all the world. OLD LADY In faith, for little England
You’d venture an emballing. I myself
Would for Carnarvanshire, although there longed
No more to th’ crown but that. Lo, who comes here? 60 | There's some more ribbing as Anne and the Old Lady playfully argue about
what it would be like to be queen. The Old Lady throws in a few jokes
about oral sex and having sex and fornication with the king. |
Enter Lord Chamberlain. CHAMBERLAIN
Good morrow, ladies. What were ’t worth to know
The secret of your conference? ANNE My good lord,
Not your demand; it values not your asking.
Our mistress’ sorrows we were pitying. 65 CHAMBERLAIN
It was a gentle business, and becoming
The action of good women. There is hope
All will be well. ANNE Now, I pray God, amen! CHAMBERLAIN
You bear a gentle mind, and heav’nly blessings 70
Follow such creatures. That you may, fair lady,
Perceive I speak sincerely, and high note’s
Ta’en of your many virtues, the King’s Majesty
Commends his good opinion of you to you, and
Does purpose honor to you no less flowing 75
Than Marchioness of Pembroke, to which title
A thousand pound a year annual support
Out of his grace he adds. | Just then, Lord Chamberlain enters, asking to speak with Anne privately.
He tells her the king wants to give her a swanky title—Marchioness of
Pembroke—and some bling. |
ANNE I do not know
What kind of my obedience I should tender. 80
More than my all is nothing, nor my prayers
Are not words duly hallowed, nor my wishes
More worth than empty vanities. Yet prayers and
wishes
Are all I can return. ’Beseech your Lordship, 85
Vouchsafe to speak my thanks and my obedience,
As from a blushing handmaid, to his Highness,
Whose health and royalty I pray for. CHAMBERLAIN Lady,
I shall not fail t’ approve the fair conceit 90
The King hath of you. (Aside.) I have perused her
well.
Beauty and honor in her are so mingled
That they have caught the King. And who knows yet
But from this lady may proceed a gem 95
To lighten all this isle?—I’ll to the King
And say I spoke with you. ANNE My honored lord. Lord Chamberlain exits. | Anne is blown away and says thanks. As Chamberlain is leaving, he calls Anne a "gem" because she's so pretty and honorable. |
OLD LADY Why, this it is! See, see!
I have been begging sixteen years in court, 100
Am yet a courtier beggarly, nor could
Come pat betwixt too early and too late
For any suit of pounds; and you—O, fate!—
A very fresh fish here—fie, fie, fie upon
This compelled fortune!—have your mouth filled up 105
Before you open it. ANNE This is strange to me. OLD LADY
How tastes it? Is it bitter? Forty pence, no.
There was a lady once—’tis an old story—
That would not be a queen, that would she not, 110
For all the mud in Egypt. Have you heard it? | The Old Lady points out that if Anne gets this new title and cash
without even trying, then there could be all kinds of gifts in the
future. The Old Lady herself been around the block more than once, and she never received this kind of thing. |
ANNE
Come, you are pleasant. OLD LADY With your theme, I could
O’ermount the lark. The Marchioness of Pembroke?
A thousand pounds a year for pure respect? 115
No other obligation? By my life,
That promises more thousands; honor’s train
Is longer than his foreskirt. By this time
I know your back will bear a duchess. Say,
Are you not stronger than you were? 120 ANNE Good lady,
Make yourself mirth with your particular fancy,
And leave me out on ’t. Would I had no being
If this salute my blood a jot. It faints me
To think what follows. 125
The Queen is comfortless and we forgetful
In our long absence. Pray do not deliver
What here you’ve heard to her. OLD LADY What do you think me? They exit. |
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